New law reduces risk of ID theft in North Dakota

A new state law that takes effect today will make it easier for North Dakotans to protect themselves from identity theft.

The law enables people who have been victims of identity theft to put a security freeze on their credit reports for free. A freeze denies unauthorized access to their credit history, which typically stops companies from extending any new credit.

Anyone who isn’t a victim, but is concerned about possible theft can request the freeze at a cost of $5 per each of the three major credit bureaus, or $15 total.

A consumer can request a security freeze from the three credit bureaus by telephone or mail. Security freeze request forms are available on the Attorney General’s Web site at (ag.state.nd.us).

The forms require identifying information, including a Social Security number. If placing the freeze by phone, a consumer must followup by faxing or mailing verifying documents.

Consumers who are victims of identity theft must provide a copy of the police report or the Affidavit of Identity Theft from the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office. Others must send a payment of $5 with the request to each credit bureau. Spouses must freeze their separate credit files with separate requests.

If consumers wish to lift freezes temporarily to open accounts or apply for loans, they can do so by phone. Upon receiving the request for a freeze, the credit bureaus each will send a Personal Identification Number and provide instructions for using the PIN to lift a freeze. The fee for lifting the freeze temporarily is $5 per bureau.

Even with a freeze, a credit report still can be released to existing creditors or to collection agencies. A freeze also doesn’t stop pre-approved credit offers. To end the offers, people can call 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688).

Former Head of NYPD Orgznized Crime Task Force on Identity Theft

Here is what Joe Coffey has to say:

600 Kraft Food Employees Victims of Identity Theft Gang

A gang of identity thieves who stole the identities of 600 employees of Kraft Foods have been indicted.

The defendants stole the employees’ information, including names, addresses and social security numbers, and used that personal information to create counterfeit identifications and open credit card accounts at Costco stores throughout the United States. The defendants then used those bogus credit accounts to purchase or attempt to purchase over $200,000 in expensive items, such as plasma screen televisions and expensive jewelry for their own use or for re-sale, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Read the whole story here

New Identity Protection program is available

FraudGuard recommended to it's readers PrivacyMatters 1-2-3 Identity Theft Protection Program.

Local government to supply free shredding services to fight Identity Theft

Consumer experts say one of the best ways to avoid identity theft is to carefully dispose of sensitive documents like old tax records, bank and credit card statements and pay stubs.
The best way to do it is to shred them.

Home-office supply stores sell shredders. But if you, like many homeowners, have boxes or drawers full of old documents the home-office models might not hold up under the strain.

To help those hoping to get rid of a backlog of pertinent papers the Anne Arundel Police Community Relations Council is holding a countywide shredding event on May 12.
FULL STORY HERE

Identity Theft Spring Fever to continue....

Like it wasn't enough with TJMaxx and RadioShack now we have another report that Neiman Marcus Group lost a laptop with sensitive personal information of 160,000 employees! The records stored on the stolen equipment include names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers and salary information. It happened on April 11, 2007. If I was their former or current employee I would run to enroll into Identity Protection Program and monitor it daily!

When Credit Report is not enought - The Identity Theft Report

Because checking a credit report is not enough to prevent identity theft, PrivacyMatters.com, a leading online destination for credit management and identity theft protection services, presents the Identity Theft Report. As part of the Privacy Matters Identity membership program, PrivacyMatters.com now offers a free Identity Theft Report when signing up for the program at http://identity.privacymatters.com in their effort to help consumers assess whether their confidential personal, professional and financial information is exposed to the wrong eyes.
Full story here

Over 90% of Americans worry about Identity Theft

The online survey, which includes a respondent base that is comfortable with the Internet, also shows that of those, half (50 percent) said they were very concerned about identity theft. Older adults are the most concerned -- 94 percent of those age 65 and older said they worry about the possibility of their identity being compromised. Even though younger adults are slightly less concerned, 86 percent of those age 18 to 29 said they worry about identity theft. Overall, 92 percent said protecting their identity is important.
The Zogby Interactive poll of 6,703 adults nationwide was conducted March 23-26, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.2 percentage points.

In addition to identity theft, the survey also shows respondents worry about what companies might to do with personal information gathered about customers. The vast majority of respondents (91 percent) said they are concerned that retailers, credit card companies, banks and other firms could sell their personal information for marketing purposes. Nearly as many (83 percent) said they are concerned that information provided to retailers could end up in the hands of others, either through theft or sale.

Respondents' confidence in how aggressively their personal information is protected by such companies from theft also varies -- one in three (34 percent) said they are not confident that retailers, credit card companies, banks and other firms that have detailed records of a customer's personal information are taking the appropriate steps to safeguard that information. But more than one in four (28 percent) said they believe companies are doing a good job of keeping their information safe.

Not surprisingly, 85 percent of respondents said privacy of their personal information is important to them as consumers. But that is apparently not enough to drive people to the fine print -- 29 percent said they rarely read the privacy policies from retailers, credit card companies and banks about how they will use a customer's personal information -- and another 8 percent said they never do.

If a company says they will not share or sell customer information, nearly half (48 percent) believe the company will not do so, but 35 percent said they're skeptical that companies follow through with their promises to protect consumer privacy.

Read the full story here