New York Times Article "Identity Theft Is Epidemic. Can It Be Stopped?"
The New York Times has just published an extensive article at: http://www.NewYorkTimes.com
You can find the article under the "Most Emailed Articles" or simply go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/business/yourmoney/24theft.html?ex=1099721511&ei=1&en=d752c2aece8a1579
This article details the successful investigation of a ring of Identity Thieves who victimized 30,000 people nationwide and illicitly netted more than $50 Million. This ring was only caught because the principal character had left a link to his home phone! Typically, people like this are only caught when they make a dumb mistake, like this one.
The victims spend sleepless nights and months repairing their credit history. The task is beyond what most people can actually do on their own. Our Identity Theft Shield and Kroll Background Investigations take most of that work and expense off your hands--as long as you become a member before you have reason to know that you have become a victim. The clock is ticking! You may already be a victim and not know it--yet!
"Analysts say several factors have combined to make identity theft a particularly intractable crime: the growth of the internet and digital finance, decades of expanding consumer credit worldwide, the hodgepodge nature of local and federal law enforcement, and the changing but often still inadequate regulations governing the credit industry."
"Everyone is fair game. Thieves recently snatched the identity of a three-week-old infant in Bothell, Washington. And authorities say that the dead have been favorite targets of identity thieves for years......"
"In a report prepared by its consumer portection bureau, the F.T.C. said 27.3 million Americans had their identities stolen from April 1998 to April 2003--with more than a third of them, or 9.9 million, victimized the the last 12 months of that period alone...."
"Many of the most vicious cases, say analysts, involve corporate insiders who hijack sensitive personal information from corporate databases in order to begin picking people's pockets."
You have almost certainly given all of your most critical personal information out on a legitimate basis to lenders, refinance companies, employers, car dealers, insurance companies--you name it. If they have it, and they do, you are vulnerable and need to protect yourself.
The insider on the case described in the article was an employee of Equifax. Whoops! Can you trust any company with your personal data? The obvious answer is "NO". You need a means of protecting yourself.
In this case, the data providers were paid $60 for each identity. "Both Mastercard and Visa monitor Websites that broker stolen credit card numbers and other personal information. 'One of the things we have discovered is that your identity is worth about $10 on the Internet', said Linda Locke, a MasterCard spokeswoman."
I personally was hit by an identity thief in Ontario, Canada on a recent vacation trip. Someone at our hotel, the car rental agency, or a restaurant, copied down my name and credit card number. They proceeded to use that information to order $419 worth of athletic apparel from a catalog company for shipment to Ontario. Fortunately for us, American Express personnel thought this was a bit fishy, since my wife's name is not "Helen" and shipping the purchases off to Ontario didn't ring true, since we clearly don't live there.
Noone can prevent you from becoming a victim of Identity Theft. You cannot avoid it, no matter how careful you are, even though there are many things you should do to minimize the risk.
What you can do is check immediately to see if you may already be a victim, and find out faster when anyone is using your identity for unauthorized purposes. You can also get the help of Kroll Background Investigations to help clear up your accounts and your credit after you become a victim of identity theft. Kroll will furnish you with a fresh credit report, do a background investigation to see if your identity is being used, then continuously monitor ALL of your accounts--not just a credit card or bank account--anything that could affect your credit. They will let you know immediately if there is ANY activity that could affect your credit.
If you become a victim, Kroll will assign an experienced investigator to work with you to clean up your credit and rid yourself of the black marks on your credit. You probably could not do this yourself, and even if you could, it could take you months or years while your credit is ruined.
Don't wait! if you have reason to know that you have become a victim, items related to that theft will NOT be covered. BUT--if you have already become a victim, you need this service even more, because your identity is already out there to be used again.
Get yourself protected today for as little as $9.95 per month if added to a Legal Plan, or $12.95 per month as a stand-alone service, covering both your accounts and those of your spouse--two accounts for one membership fee. There is a one-time $10 enrollment fee. Existing or previous Pre-Paid Legal members will need a paper application rather than enrolling on-line. Just send me your mailing address, and I will get a package off to you right away!
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/idt/grschmidt
Watch the video at the website
If you want to order both the Family Plan (legal protection for yourself and covered family members) and the Identity Theft Shield, you will get the discounted rate on the Identity Theft Shield and have access to our top-ranked attorneys nation-wide. For both, go to:
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/grschmidt
Site has a video on our Family Plan
George Schmidt
925-676-1926 or
888-559-2135 (Toll Free For Messages Only)
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/grschmidt
You can find the article under the "Most Emailed Articles" or simply go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/business/yourmoney/24theft.html?ex=1099721511&ei=1&en=d752c2aece8a1579
This article details the successful investigation of a ring of Identity Thieves who victimized 30,000 people nationwide and illicitly netted more than $50 Million. This ring was only caught because the principal character had left a link to his home phone! Typically, people like this are only caught when they make a dumb mistake, like this one.
The victims spend sleepless nights and months repairing their credit history. The task is beyond what most people can actually do on their own. Our Identity Theft Shield and Kroll Background Investigations take most of that work and expense off your hands--as long as you become a member before you have reason to know that you have become a victim. The clock is ticking! You may already be a victim and not know it--yet!
"Analysts say several factors have combined to make identity theft a particularly intractable crime: the growth of the internet and digital finance, decades of expanding consumer credit worldwide, the hodgepodge nature of local and federal law enforcement, and the changing but often still inadequate regulations governing the credit industry."
"Everyone is fair game. Thieves recently snatched the identity of a three-week-old infant in Bothell, Washington. And authorities say that the dead have been favorite targets of identity thieves for years......"
"In a report prepared by its consumer portection bureau, the F.T.C. said 27.3 million Americans had their identities stolen from April 1998 to April 2003--with more than a third of them, or 9.9 million, victimized the the last 12 months of that period alone...."
"Many of the most vicious cases, say analysts, involve corporate insiders who hijack sensitive personal information from corporate databases in order to begin picking people's pockets."
You have almost certainly given all of your most critical personal information out on a legitimate basis to lenders, refinance companies, employers, car dealers, insurance companies--you name it. If they have it, and they do, you are vulnerable and need to protect yourself.
The insider on the case described in the article was an employee of Equifax. Whoops! Can you trust any company with your personal data? The obvious answer is "NO". You need a means of protecting yourself.
In this case, the data providers were paid $60 for each identity. "Both Mastercard and Visa monitor Websites that broker stolen credit card numbers and other personal information. 'One of the things we have discovered is that your identity is worth about $10 on the Internet', said Linda Locke, a MasterCard spokeswoman."
I personally was hit by an identity thief in Ontario, Canada on a recent vacation trip. Someone at our hotel, the car rental agency, or a restaurant, copied down my name and credit card number. They proceeded to use that information to order $419 worth of athletic apparel from a catalog company for shipment to Ontario. Fortunately for us, American Express personnel thought this was a bit fishy, since my wife's name is not "Helen" and shipping the purchases off to Ontario didn't ring true, since we clearly don't live there.
Noone can prevent you from becoming a victim of Identity Theft. You cannot avoid it, no matter how careful you are, even though there are many things you should do to minimize the risk.
What you can do is check immediately to see if you may already be a victim, and find out faster when anyone is using your identity for unauthorized purposes. You can also get the help of Kroll Background Investigations to help clear up your accounts and your credit after you become a victim of identity theft. Kroll will furnish you with a fresh credit report, do a background investigation to see if your identity is being used, then continuously monitor ALL of your accounts--not just a credit card or bank account--anything that could affect your credit. They will let you know immediately if there is ANY activity that could affect your credit.
If you become a victim, Kroll will assign an experienced investigator to work with you to clean up your credit and rid yourself of the black marks on your credit. You probably could not do this yourself, and even if you could, it could take you months or years while your credit is ruined.
Don't wait! if you have reason to know that you have become a victim, items related to that theft will NOT be covered. BUT--if you have already become a victim, you need this service even more, because your identity is already out there to be used again.
Get yourself protected today for as little as $9.95 per month if added to a Legal Plan, or $12.95 per month as a stand-alone service, covering both your accounts and those of your spouse--two accounts for one membership fee. There is a one-time $10 enrollment fee. Existing or previous Pre-Paid Legal members will need a paper application rather than enrolling on-line. Just send me your mailing address, and I will get a package off to you right away!
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/idt/grschmidt
Watch the video at the website
If you want to order both the Family Plan (legal protection for yourself and covered family members) and the Identity Theft Shield, you will get the discounted rate on the Identity Theft Shield and have access to our top-ranked attorneys nation-wide. For both, go to:
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/info/grschmidt
Site has a video on our Family Plan
George Schmidt
925-676-1926 or
888-559-2135 (Toll Free For Messages Only)
http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/grschmidt
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