“In less than a month, this woman destroyed what I had worked for, for fifteen years…”

]]> http://www.identitytheftinformation.org/information-identity-theft-video-lives-destroyed-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/feed/ 0 http://www.identitytheftinformation.org/information-identity-theft-threats-in-the-workplace/ http://www.identitytheftinformation.org/information-identity-theft-threats-in-the-workplace/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:32:51 +0000 Guest Author http://www.identitytheftinformation.org/?p=1093 They smile at you all the time knowing they’re about to take what you’ve just given them and use it for personal gain.

Information identity theft may sound like an out of sequence group of words. The rest of this article reveals otherwise.
Johnny May writes in this article that information you give to others under seemingly innocent circumstances can be used against you.
Hence, identity theft of your information.

Workplace Identity Theft: The Threat From Within
By Johnny May

Recent headlines have shed light on a growing problem, individuals who retrieve and sell personal information that a business has collected for legitimate reasons. Consider the following:

• A former help desk worker used his position at a credit checking company to obtain the personal information of thousands of individuals. The worker allegedly conspired with an accomplice to sell the victims’ credit reports to an identity theft ring. The ring supplied the pair with the name and social security numbers of the individuals whose identities they wanted to steal. The worker, who left the company in 2000, allegedly used codes he had obtained as an employee to access credit reports. He was also accused of providing access codes and passwords to at least one cohort who then used the codes to obtain consumer credit reports.
• A ring of identity thieves targeted a group of high-ranking executives. A temporary employee working at the company’s world headquarters obtained personal information about company executives and then sold it. The information, including social security numbers and birthrates was used to obtain credit cards. The police estimated about $100,000 was charged to the cards.
• The former employee of an insurance company stole a database containing 60,000 personnel records and sold some of the private information over the Internet. The suspect posted a message on an electronic bulletin board announcing that he had thousands of names and social security numbers for sale. Further investigation revealed he had also posted the credit card number of a former supervisor. At the same time, he allegedly created false e-mail addresses and sent harassing messages to colleagues.

So how does this happen? An individual can do everything right, from shredding documents containing sensitive personal information to monitoring credit reports but the reality is your personal information is only as safe as the organization protecting it.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses the identifying information of another person, such as name or social security number to commit fraud or engage in other unlawful activities. While numerous variations of the crime exist, an identity thief can fraudulently use personal identifying information to, among other things:

• Open new credit card accounts
• Take over existing credit card accounts
• Apply for loans
• Rent apartments
• Establish services with utility companies
• Write fraudulent checks
• Steal and transfer money from existing bank accounts
• Steal and transfer money from existing bank accounts
• File bankruptcy
• Obtain employment using the victim’s name

Identity theft rings have been known to recruit individuals who work within an organization or they seek employment themselves in positions where they have access to personnel records, credit reports or other sources of personal information. Identity theft rings pay individuals anywhere from $20-60 an identity.

One major problem with incidents of this nature is some organizations try to avoid potential embarrassment and negative publicity by not informing employees or customer that their personal information may have been compromised.

When whole groups of people are victimized, there are more clues.

In one case, a teacher at a middle school complained to a colleague when bill collectors started calling him at work. Another teacher who had also been victimized overheard him. When they began to inquire they soon found out various other teachers had also been the victims of identity theft.

After checking credit records four teachers found they had the same fraudulent address on their credit reports. The identity thieves had also applied for the same card on almost every teachers record.

Times have changed and organizations can no longer take a head in the sand approach when dealing with identity theft.

Organizations can implement the following safeguards to prevent identity theft in the workplace:

• Properly dispose of personal information and other sensitive material. This could be accomplished by shredding documents. Do not allow intact documents containing personal information to be thrown in dumpsters.
• Conduct background checks on all individuals with access to personal and/or sensitive information, including cleaning and temporary service.
• Limit the number of temporary agencies your company uses. If possible, maintain the services of one trusted firm.
• Develop guidelines to safeguard personal and/or sensitive information; the guidelines should address issues such as practices for handling such information responsibly.
• Train staff on information security issues and include information on the topic in new employee orientations. Educate them on why certain information needs protection and procedures on how to protect it.
• Limit the use of social security numbers in the workplace. Don’t use the number on items such as employee identification badges, time cards or paychecks for the whole world to see. Use alternative numbers.
• Control access to personal information and limit it to those employees who have a legitimate reason for access. Audit who looks at what personal information.
• Secure employees’ personal information in a locked file cabinet or other secure area. Sensitive files stored on the computer should be password protected and encrypted.
• Implement and enforce password security procedures for all computer users. Passwords should be changed on a regular basis.

There are numerous opportunities to educate employees on identity theft prevention and the steps to take if they become victims: new employee orientations, annual staff orientations, training conferences, workshops, and departmental meetings are just a few. Brown-bag lunch training sessions have also been found to be helpful.

Security awareness could also be increased through the use of posters, newsletter articles, e-mails, video presentations and other promotion vehicles such as brochures or booklets that address identity theft. Stock relevant publications and audio-visual programs and make them accessible to company executives and employees.

Identity theft is a crime of opportunity. Vigilance and awareness is essential in combating the fast growing non-discriminatory crime.

Johnny May is an independent trainer/consultant who specializes in protecting individuals and organization from identity theft. He is also the author of Johnny May’s Guide to Preventing Identity Theft and the featured expert in the video production Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Credit, Your Money and Your Good Name. For more information visit http://www.identitytheftinfo.com or e-mail at secres@prodigy.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_May

Criminals have a special way of stealing everything from us. Most of the time, they acquire the people’s information through the use of recent technology advances and through people’s carelessness. If we allow this theft to happen, we will be the one to suffer. Aside from the fact that we will be losing everything that we own, we will have an aftershock of destroying everything that we have started, wrecking our own integrity as a person and as a citizen.

Identity theft occurs when someone takes hold of specific personal information such as credit/debit card information, email address, or even complete name and address. Well, if you are a victim of identity theft, there may be regrets but we have to arm ourselves with some precautions to minimize the impact of the theft to our lives. This article will be dealing more about what should be done if ever you will be a victim of identity theft.

Get a copy of your credit card report/bank statement. Once you have suspected that someone is stealing funds from your back, contact the bank at once and ask for the most comprehensive credit/debit card report. If you are not into using the car a lot, but there are some discrepancies entail with the charges on it, you don’t just wait until everything that is within your funds are taken away from you. You have to arm yourself so you have to make it a point of checking your credit/debit card information report to keep track of your expenses as well as getting rid of all possibilities of identity theft.

Get the police involved. Once you have necessary documents to prove that someone have used your identity and draft unauthorized transaction with your back, call the local police at once. At least you will have a back-up investigation about the nature and the cause of the fraud.

File a fraud alert to your back records. Some banks will freeze your account for some time until all necessary investigation has been done. It is also important that you keep track of the development to know where you stand and to make sure the case is given ample attention.

Keep track of the documentations and records about the incident. It I always wise to keep track of anything and everything that had happen and all the transactions that you have made before the fraud of theft took place. Aside from you will show them all the evidences about the fraud or theft, they will know that you are really into looking the template on how and when did the fraud or theft happen.

This stuff might be minute one for you but the hazards are real. It is very essential for us to guard ourselves against fraud of identity theft. Since everything right now are electronic, we cannot predict when and how they are going to do that. Even if we will be at risk of sharing the same burden, the second time that we will be getting the same problem, will arm ourselves as well as protect it from happening again.

View the original article here

“Location awareness” is the term they use and it fits nicely.

For the love of God and your own safety people. Don’t use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare to tell people where your are or where you’re gonna be.

Because…

It’s also telling people where your NOT gonna be.

Home.

Careful, careful, careful…

Pleaserobme.com

Hospital patient record identity theft hazard alert!

Seems there was a ton of patient care records that ended up in a landfill, and not an industrial shredder as they should have.

That is, if they were supposed to have been disposed of.

And of course there’s shock, disgust and the usual things people interviewed say.

Blah, blah, blah

Yes, this could happen to you and the sad part is there is really nothing you can do to prevent it.

Unless, you possess your own patient care records.

Be afraid…

Be very afraid…

The full story is here…

http://identitytheftinformation.or/patientrecorddumping

Suppose you won the lottery for 4 million dollars and 3,999,999 other people drew the same number.

Bummer.

An article came to my attention shedding light on the probability my “exclusive” Social Security number may not be mine alone.

Highlights:

• 20 million+ people have multiple SSNs associated with their name.
• 40 million+ SSNs are associated with multiple persons.
• 100,000+ Americans have 5+ numbers associated with their name.
• 27,000+ Social Security numbers are associated with 10+ people.

Catch the full article here: Not Just Your Social Security Number Anymore