According to a report by the US Treasury Department, identity theft rose 123% in the past 5 years. The question that begs to be asked is why we aren't taking it seriously? Most believe that monitoring will be enough. What if I told you that monitoring only covers less than 20% of identity theft? Most of identity theft has nothing to do with credit cards and credit reports and if you wait for it to notify you, it's too late.
When you think that all it takes is knowing your name and your date of birth to steal your identity then everyone is at risk because the only form of proving your identity is your driver's license and it has enough information to steal it, use it, and repeatedly abuse it for years to come.
Protecting it is useless if it doesn't include a plan what you are going to do when it happens to you. Ask the 22 year old I met at Applebees the other day when I inquired about how they ID people. Her identity was stolen when she was 6 years old and she just found out. Six hundred hours won't begin to cover what has to be reversed in her case. The cost will be with her for a lifetime. For others the cost will be their lives.
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraud. Show all posts
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Our Nation Is Unprepared According to CSIS Study
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently issued a study called “A Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity,” that highlights how the United States is facing a chronic shortage in cybersecurity experts. According to the study our nation is in a very weak position when it comes to cyber security and our nation is unprepared to defend itself against increasingly sophisticated online attacks.
And you wonder why identity theft is rising. Forty percent of privacy breaches are cyber related. It is not that your IT support is not good at what they do. It is because there is no fail safe method.
And you wonder why identity theft is rising. Forty percent of privacy breaches are cyber related. It is not that your IT support is not good at what they do. It is because there is no fail safe method.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
ID Theft, Fraud, and Real Estate Transactions: Save a World of Hurt
The real estate process generally includes a buyer (or renter), seller (or landlord), financial officer, lawyer, and agent to execute the sale successfully. Within that process many more people become involved. Depending upon the deal, it includes a prequalified mortgage, credit check, offer to purchase (or rent), contract (or lease), mortgage application ($$$ paid in advance), title insurance, exterminator, homeowner’s insurance, closing, and recording the sale among it. The amount of people and sets of eyes that look at every detail of the transaction becomes an easy target for identity theft. [I have not even touched what happens after the transaction is completed … a conversation for another day.]
When you consider that eighty percent of identity theft occurs from negligence due to lack of knowledge or lack of care, and the fact that the sale is recorded for public scrutiny, it leaves every new homeowner and every old homeowner at much higher risk. Never mind the number of people that view the property in the process which may have access to enough information within view. (No one thinks of these things do they?)
This week alone, an IT guy employed by a major bank was arrested for bilking millions from both employees and unsuspecting consumers. What makes you think that identity theft doesn’t happen in real estate transactions?
Despite new laws governing how everyone in the chain of events must act with respect to the real estate transaction, there is no law that says you can’t recommend identity theft protection as a standard policy. What the feds want is transparency and clean lines of relationships.
Add a standard recommendation to every home buyer (renter) and seller (landlord) that they should consider identity theft protection. It will save a world of hurt later. Identity theft is a repeatable crime.
It will also demonstrate that the organization goes one-step beyond the FTC and State identity theft law to make consumers and landowners aware they are vulnerable and empower them with what they can do about it.
There is no statute of limitation for identity theft. If the buyer/seller decline to obtain services, then you have it as a matter of record. They can’t turn around and tell you that you didn’t advise them, making you criminally or civilly liable later. Think about it and then email me at services@m2powerinc.com to learn how to develop an identity theft and fraud program in your organization.
When you consider that eighty percent of identity theft occurs from negligence due to lack of knowledge or lack of care, and the fact that the sale is recorded for public scrutiny, it leaves every new homeowner and every old homeowner at much higher risk. Never mind the number of people that view the property in the process which may have access to enough information within view. (No one thinks of these things do they?)
This week alone, an IT guy employed by a major bank was arrested for bilking millions from both employees and unsuspecting consumers. What makes you think that identity theft doesn’t happen in real estate transactions?
Despite new laws governing how everyone in the chain of events must act with respect to the real estate transaction, there is no law that says you can’t recommend identity theft protection as a standard policy. What the feds want is transparency and clean lines of relationships.
Add a standard recommendation to every home buyer (renter) and seller (landlord) that they should consider identity theft protection. It will save a world of hurt later. Identity theft is a repeatable crime.
It will also demonstrate that the organization goes one-step beyond the FTC and State identity theft law to make consumers and landowners aware they are vulnerable and empower them with what they can do about it.
There is no statute of limitation for identity theft. If the buyer/seller decline to obtain services, then you have it as a matter of record. They can’t turn around and tell you that you didn’t advise them, making you criminally or civilly liable later. Think about it and then email me at services@m2powerinc.com to learn how to develop an identity theft and fraud program in your organization.
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