This is an appropriate question to ask right now.  On the eve of the Presidential inauguration we should wonder what the future holds.  What new laws will be enacted?  Where will the new president focus his attention?

I'm asking myself that question right now with regard to identity theft.  Laws are being enacted on a regular basis both by state and federal government.  Somewhere around 44 states now have some type of laws on the books addressing either identity theft or information security.  Some of these laws speak of redress  for victims, others speak to responsibility or liability for for protecting consumer information.  Either way laws are being enacted that effect you.

Funny thing about laws being enacted though.  Unless we are lawyers, politicians or have a specific reason to spend a lot of time keeping up with new laws, we rarely know about them.  Normally a new or pending law only becomes public when someone it will affect makes a big stink about it.  Other wise they simply get enacted without any fanfare.

Identity theft, privacy and security are "hot" issues right now.  Finding a way to handle this problem is complex and tricky.  It takes all of us doing our part in the fight.  You don't have to be an expert but you do need to do your part.

For individuals:

Be diligent in protecting your own personal information.  Report all identity thefts to the proper authorities.  When you are a victim, you have two choices.  Have a service to restore your identity or deal with and restore your identity yourself.  If you do it yourself keep meticulous records in the event the thief is caught those records could be vital evidence.

For businesses:

Take the time to learn what laws are on the books and the impact it could have on your business.  Take all recommended steps to protect your business and the information of your clients.  Put reasonable measures in place now.  Be sure you are doing everything recommended.  A conversation with a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist can make you aware of what you need to do and they can help you actually do what needs to be done.

For us all there is an old proverb that we have all heard:

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"  Doing what we need to do today is prevention, not addressing the problem now means we wait until something happens and then we are looking at a pound of cure through legislation, liability laws and and who knows what else.

 

Identity theft is a problem that is not going to go away.  The risk to the thief is so low as to be non existent.  Somewhere around 5% actually get arrested only about 2% ever get prosecuted, for the thief is great odds.  The statistics on arrests are so low because the thief is often in another state or even another country.  Also most police departments just don't have the resources to investigate every identity theft case that gets reported.

Even though many people are taking the lessons and advise to heed about personally protecting their information, they still fall victim.  We shred, we avoid giving our information to people we don't know we don't click on unknown links, so how does it happen?  Well Identity theft is "big business" for organized crime.  Identity theft rings are operating all around us and it's almost impossible to spot them.

The new waitress at your favorite restaurant, the receptionist at your doctor's office, the clerk at the local DMV may all be moonlighting as a "Product Acquisition Specialists" for an identity theft ring.  In each of those cases it's already happened.  The employees were stealing customer information for the purpose of identity theft.  Sometimes they used the information themselves and sometimes they sold it.  But the best deal for an identity theft ring is "buying in bulk".  Security breaches at businesses, schools and government agencies happen so often they don't even make the news anymore unless they are huge like the TJ MAXX breach last year.  Unfortunately for us when a breach occurs that information is no longer secure.

The other big misconception is people thinking, "They are going to monitor my credit for the next year so I'll know if I'm a victim."  While credit monitoring is one of the best ways to track if someone is trying to steal your identity, it's not perfect.  It tracks your credit history. .If the thief avoids using your identity for things that will trigger activity on your credit report, you will never know your identity was stolen until a non financial issue occurs.  Say that warrant out of Idaho for your arrest when you've never been to Idaho a day in your life.  Or maybe the audit letter from the IRS because you did not report the income you made working at that Walmart in California when you live in New York.  

The other danger is in thinking that you made it through a year, now you're safe.  Your personal information does not have a "use by" date.  It does not go rancid or rot after a year, that information is just as fresh and usable five years from now as it is today.  It's a non perishable item and the folks running these rings know that.  They can just sit on it and age it until the monitoring period is over and then use, sell it or do anything else they want with it.  You won't even realize that this is the information your college lost five years ago.

Identity theft will happen.  Statistics indicate that it is not if you fall victim but when.  All we can do is to educate ourselves and have a plan to minimize the damage.

I have always thought it is important to know a bit about the people around us, so I like to make it a point to introduce myself to others.  So my first blog post is to let you know who I am and what I do.

Of course my name is Cheryl and I'm an Independent Associate with PrePaid Legal Services and a  Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist.   My focus however is on identity theft.

I'm Certified through the Institutue of Fraud Risk Management.  These are the same people who certify CPA's.  What this means is that I have studied identity theft, I'm Familiar with the laws that address identity theft and also with the different products out there to protect against identity theft.  No I'm not a an attorney and if I mention a law it is only to let you know it exists, you should talk to your attorney to find out how that law can affect you.

I choose to focus on Identity theft because the information we have is so incomplete or false.  not necessarily false by design but false from being passed around until it starts to develop into urban legend.  You remember the old game where you whisper something to one person and then they whisper it to the next until it gets back to you and it's nothing like what you first said?  That's how it is with identity theft so it's a point for me to educate on what identity theft really is.

I got into this career field after retiring from a small police department.  In the 12 years with that department I saw identity theft snowball into the epidemic it is today.  I also saw how identity theft could affect more than yoour bank accounts and credit cards.  There's actually 5 areas that make up your identity and your finances are only one type.

But there's even a lot of misconceptions and missing information on how it happens.  It's not always some nameless hacker that steals your identity.  Hopefully through this blog I can give you vital pertinent information to make you more aware and better informed.  After all the biggest defense is education.