Latest ID Theft Stats

July 27, 2009

Identity theft continues to hold our attention – and rightly so. Here are some recent stats from SpendOnLife.com that bear consideration:

  • There were 10 million victims of identity theft in 2008 in the United States
  • Households with incomes higher than $70,000 were twice as likely to experience identity theft than those with salaries under $50,000
  • Online methods accounted for only 11% of ID theft
  • Stolen wallets and physical paperwork account for almost half (43%) of all identity theft
  • More than 35 million data records were compromised in corporate and government data breaches in 2008
  • 43% of victims knew the perpetrator
  • In cases of child identity theft, the most common perpetrator is the child’s parent
  • 38-48% discover their identity has been stolen within three months, but 9-18% of victims don’t discover problem for four or more years
  • The mean cost per victim is $500

6 steps to reduce your risk of identity theft and deal with the aftermath

  1. Everyone above the age of 14 needs to actively monitor his or her credit history. You have the right to one FREE credit disclosure in a twelve-month period from each of the three national credit reporting companies—TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. The easiest way to get these reports is through AnnualCreditReport.com, a service created by these three credit institutions specifically to help consumers get free annual reports. You can also pay credit monitoring services to watch your account for you.
  2. Consider if you want all, part, or none of your information viewable in online directory searches. It usually costs money to keep your information private (often referred to as a privacy tax) but the few dollars it costs may be well worth it to you.
  3. If your identity has been stolen, contact your bank(s) and other financial institutions immediately. Contact local law enforcement and file a report. Contact your insurance company. Freeze your credit with the three credit reporting companies listed above.
  4. If you are a victim of identity theft, go to the FTC’s Identity Theft Web site to get information about additional steps you may need to take.
  5. If your reputation or images have been stolen, contact the Web site where the abuse occurred and where the material is displayed. They should work with you to take it down and discipline the offender.
  6. Identity theft victims should alert their friends and family. Your identity theft means friends and family may also be affected, depending on the information stolen or abused.

Click to read the full data set.

Linda

Comments Off | Linda's Blog | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Linda Criddle

Protect your credit: one free step towards peace of mind

January 14, 2007

When did you last check your credit report?

It’s a question I frequently ask audiences, yet invariably only a few hands go up. If I ask when they last checked the credit report for their teen, no hands go up. Why aren’t people checking? The answer appears to be twofold:

  1. It hasn’t become a habit. We lead busy lives and checking credit scores hasn’t yet become part of our things-to-do lists.
  2. People don’t know how to get a credit report, and don’t trust that it’s really free.

Yet you have the right under recent amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act to one free credit disclosure in a twelve-month period from each of the three national credit reporting companies—TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. You can compare your credit reports from all three companies once a year, or you can get a report from each company separately spaced over the year—say Feb 1st from TransUnion, June 1st from Experian, and October 1st from Equifax.

The easiest way to do this is through AnnualCreditReport.com, a service created by these three credit institutions specifically to help consumers get free annual reports. You can also pay for credit monitoring services from each credit reporting company. Decide for yourself if you want to pay for more proactive protection or stick with the free services. [1]

Get a free credit report

First off: get it on your calendar to check your credit and that of any minors over 13 in your care. Then, there are three ways to request all three reports at once from AnnualCreditReport.com:

  • Go to the Web site. Through this highly secure site, you can instantly see and print your credit report.
  • Call toll-free: (877) 322-8228. You’ll go through a simple verification process over the phone after which they’ll mail the reports to you.
  • Request by mail. If you live in certain states, fill out the request form and mail it to the Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. (Get more details.)

Note: Remember that after you request a report, you will have to wait a year to get it free of charge again from the same credit reporting company. (Of course you can pay for a copy of your credit report at any time.)

Review your credit report to see if there are new credit cards, loans or other transactions on your account that you are not aware of.

If you have been a victim of credit card fraud,

If you think your identity has been stolen, here’s what to do:

  • Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies
  • Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently
  • File your complaint with the FTC.
  • File a report with your local police or police in the community where the identity theft took place.

Get the details at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft//

Protecting your credit from fraud

Ironically, in spite of repeated measures to congress, no national legislation has been passed to better protect consumers from ID theft. 18 states currently allow you to place an “extended fraud alert” (the term for protection that stays on your account for 7 years) An additional 7 states allow consumers to protect yourself from identity theft or credit fraud AFTER you can prove you’ve already been a victim. (For proof you’ll need an identity theft report that includes a copy of a credit fraud report filed with local, state, or federal law enforcement).

Help change this by contacting your state and national elected officials (click for listing of Senators, representatives) to demand three things:

  • The right to place a freeze on your credit history before you’re a victim to prevent thieves from opening new accounts in your name
  • The right to know if your private information has been stolen or exposed – something businesses are not required to do for citizens in most states
  • Stronger security to protect your personal information, and more help for victims

To learn more about Internet fraud and protecting personal information, read Chapter 14 (“Get Savvy About Financial Scams and Fraud”) in Look Both Ways: help protect your family on the Internet and go to OnGuardOnline.gov.

Linda

[1]

 

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

Experian: 1-888- 397-3742

TransUnion : 1-800-680-7289

Comments Off | Linda's Blog | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Linda Criddle

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.