Thursday, April 26, 2007
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!
Monday, April 23, 2007
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
Friday, April 06, 2007
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
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
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Medical Identity Theft
In a report last year, the World Privacy Forum found that the number of Americans identifying themselves in government documents as victims of medical identity theft had nearly tripled in just four years, to more than a quarter-million in 2005.
What is Medical Identity Theft?
Motives for medical identity theft can vary. Some thieves are seeking controlled medications. Others are seeking federal money.
Five health care providers pleaded guilty to stealing more than $900,000 in 2003 by luring hundreds of elderly Vietnamese patients to a fake medical clinic in Milpitas, where they would offer free checkups. According to prosecutors, they would copy the patients' Medicare records and then use the information to bill the government for phantom services.
Of all the forms of identity theft, misappropriation of your medical records is among the most damaging. It's not just the financial toll - if your medical identity is stolen, erroneous entries can turn up in your records, which could end up killing you.
For example, if an identity thief presents himself at the hospital in your name and is identified as having a different blood type, that blood type ends up registered in your medical history, with potentially disastrous consequences if you end up in a serious accident.
What is Medical Identity Theft?
Motives for medical identity theft can vary. Some thieves are seeking controlled medications. Others are seeking federal money.
Five health care providers pleaded guilty to stealing more than $900,000 in 2003 by luring hundreds of elderly Vietnamese patients to a fake medical clinic in Milpitas, where they would offer free checkups. According to prosecutors, they would copy the patients' Medicare records and then use the information to bill the government for phantom services.
Of all the forms of identity theft, misappropriation of your medical records is among the most damaging. It's not just the financial toll - if your medical identity is stolen, erroneous entries can turn up in your records, which could end up killing you.
For example, if an identity thief presents himself at the hospital in your name and is identified as having a different blood type, that blood type ends up registered in your medical history, with potentially disastrous consequences if you end up in a serious accident.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Identity Theft Spring Fever...
Can we blame spring for all these boo-boos companies make exposing our private information data? To name a few RadioShack and T J Maxx found themselves in lawsuit for Identity Theft Violations.
State of Texas suing RadioShack for identity theft violations - The Attorney General’s office of Texas has sued the retailing giant RadioShack claiming that the company violated the 2005 Texas Identity Theft Act.
The act requires the companies to shred or erase documents with sensitive information. If RadioShack is found guilty of the crime, they might have to pay up to $50,000 per violation.
Attorney General Greg Abbott has claimed that the employees of the retailer dumped more than 20 boxes which were full of documents containing customer credit applications and receipts.
What can we say? Have you heard of dumpster diving?? Use the shredder!!!!!
What's the story with TJMaxx?
More than two months after first disclosing that hackers accessed customers' financial data from its computers, discount retailer TJX Cos. has revealed that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen over an 18-month period.
In a regulatory filing that gives the first detailed account of the breach initially disclosed in January, the owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and other stores in North America and the United Kingdom also said another 455,000 customers who returned merchandise without receipts had their personal data stolen, including driver's license numbers.
State of Texas suing RadioShack for identity theft violations - The Attorney General’s office of Texas has sued the retailing giant RadioShack claiming that the company violated the 2005 Texas Identity Theft Act.
The act requires the companies to shred or erase documents with sensitive information. If RadioShack is found guilty of the crime, they might have to pay up to $50,000 per violation.
Attorney General Greg Abbott has claimed that the employees of the retailer dumped more than 20 boxes which were full of documents containing customer credit applications and receipts.
What can we say? Have you heard of dumpster diving?? Use the shredder!!!!!
What's the story with TJMaxx?
More than two months after first disclosing that hackers accessed customers' financial data from its computers, discount retailer TJX Cos. has revealed that information from at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards was stolen over an 18-month period.
In a regulatory filing that gives the first detailed account of the breach initially disclosed in January, the owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and other stores in North America and the United Kingdom also said another 455,000 customers who returned merchandise without receipts had their personal data stolen, including driver's license numbers.
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