Types of Identity Theft
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Learn what to look out for, and protect yourself!
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Think you're safe from identity theft on campus? Think again.   College students face about the same risk of having their identity stolen as the average person -- roughly one in 30.
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By Dennis Rockstroh, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  Dec. 12--For the holidays, don't give an identity thief the gift of your personal information, says the California Department of Consumer Affairs.   The state has tips to protect yourself from identity theft.
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Sensitive customer details are lost in an Atlanta burglary - the third such theft in a year. For the third time in a year, criminals have stolen computers that contained names and sensitive financial information of customers of Wells Fargo &amp; Co.
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The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers is soaring to unprecedented levels, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.
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Hacking tools nick nicked data Many of the people behind identity theft scams are themselves having data stolen from them in the process, a security researcher has revealed.â¦
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Thousands of Wells Fargo &amp; Co. mortgage and student-loan customers might be at risk for identity theft after four computers were stolen in October from a vendor that prints loan statements.
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Data breaches contribute less to ID theft and fraud that most people think, according to a recent survey by Javelin Strategy & Research. Losing your checkbook or wallet is more likely to put you at risk.
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Time to call the credit bureaus? Almost 1.4 million records containing the personal information of Californians likely stolen.
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Despite the hoopla, most identity theft occurs offline. Also: Amazon uses video and GPS to create virtual tours of city businesses.... Rumors of SBC's bid to buy AT & #038;T & hellip;.  Plan to scan Arabic to preserve culture and aid intelligence & hellip;. and more.
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(InfoWorld) - Most large data breaches don't appear to lead to identity theft, and proposals that would require companies to notify customers of most breaches may lead to increased costs without significant benefits, says a report from a U.S. government agency released Thursday. The report, from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), said only four of the 24 largest data breaches between January 2000 and June 2005 appear to have resulted in identity fraud. Wide-ranging data breach notification laws that would require nearly all breaches to be reported could lead to notifications that "present little or no risk, perhaps leading consumers to disregard notices altogether," the report said. While a breach notification law would have several benefits, a law that requires notification for nearly all breaches could also create significant costs for businesses, the report added. The U.S. Congress is currently considering several breach notification bills, including some that would require notification for nearly all breaches. Instead, Congress may want to consider a notification rule based on the potential for the risk of ID theft, the report said. The U.S. President's Identity Theft Task Force has recommended a national standard for determining when government agencies and private companies should report breaches, the report pointed out. A risk-based standard "could avoid undue burden on organizations and unnecessary and counterproductive notifications of breaches that present little risk," the report said. A data breach law would create costs for businesses, including the cost of developing incident response plans and notifying customers, the report said. While it's difficult to determine costs, a Ponemon Institute study in 2006 found that 31 companies with breaches incurred an average cost of $1.4 million per breach for notifying customers, staffing call centers, paying legal fees, and other expenses, the report said. The GAO researched 24 large data breaches reported in the media between 2000 and 2005, and found that 18 of them had no ID theft or fraud identified. Three of the breaches, at CardSystems Solutions, DSW, and CD Universe, had reports of fraud associated with existing customer accounts. And a breach at ChoicePoint had reports of unauthorized new accounts opened. In the remaining two breaches, GAO was unable to determine if there had been ID fraud. It's difficult to track ID theft resulting from data breaches, the report said. In some cases, thieves don't attempt to use the data until a year or more after the breach, the report said. A breach notification law could be beneficial because it would encourage organizations to improve data security, the report said. "Care is needed in defining appropriate criteria for data breaches that merit notification," the report said. "Because breaches vary in the risk they present, and because most breaches have not resulted in detected incidents of identity theft, a notification that is risk based appears appropriate." Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a security research and training company in Maryland, praised the report, saying some in Congress have focused too much on data breaches. Some lawmakers have "dropped the ball on the far more important area of attack-based defenses," he said. The report is important because it gives Congress more information about data breaches, added Thomas Lenard, senior fellow and acting president at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank. "Itâs very good to have more data on this issue," he said. "[The report] reinforces my view that we should only adopt new regulations in this area if it can be shown that their benefits are greater than their costs."
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FTC is mailing forms to consumers who believe they were victims of identity theft.
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(InfoWorld) - An identity theft task force created by U.S. President George Bush has recommended nationally accepted police reports that victims could fill out online, and a change in U.S. law that would require those convicted of such crimes to pay victims for the time used to clear up identity problems. The President's Identity Theft Task Force, which met Tuesday, also recommended that U.S. agencies examine whether their use of Social Security numbers is necessary and called on an interagency working group on ID theft to develop best practices for data security in government. The U.S. government needs to lead by example in protecting consumers from ID theft, Deborah Platt Majoras, chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said. "Identity theft truly is a direct assault on our citizens and attacks the very foundation of the information economy," Majoras said in a joint press conference with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The task force's recommendations are an interim list, with a full plan of how to attack ID theft to be released in November. But the recommendations released Tuesday are steps U.S. agencies and other groups can take immediately, Gonzales said. About 4 percent of U.S. residents are ID theft victims every year, Gonzales said. Bush established the task force because of "the prevalence of this crime, combined with the lingering burdens and effects on victims," Gonzales said. "When we look at the problem of identity theft, we are reminded that the same technological advances that have improved our lives have also given new and broad opportunities to criminals, including identity thieves," he added. "As with any crime, victims suffer feelings of violation and stress, but in these cases, victims have the added burden of essentially cleaning up the mess that the identity thieves leave behind." Among the task force's recommendations: -- The U.S. Congress should change laws to require that defendants convicted of ID theft pay victims for the time they spent clearing up the mess. -- The U.S. should adopt a universal police report that ID theft victims can fill out online, print out and take to their local police station. -- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management should speed up its review of the use of Social Security numbers by federal agencies. -- U.S. agencies should work with experts to find other ways of authenticating people's identities, such as biometrics. -- U.S. agencies should develop better plans to disclose data breaches to potential victims. In May, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had a laptop and hard drive stolen from an analyst's home, and the agency took about two weeks to report the theft to the public. Majoras and Gonzales didn't talk about the VA case, but members of Congress have called for the VA to do a better job of notifying potential victims.
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TAMPA, Fla., June 19  /PRNewswire/ -- Computers may have sensitive data that identity thieves would love to get their hands on. Magnets, degaussers, and other x-ray or magnetic techniques do not work, even the large bulk eraser magnets are not effective.
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Property scams create legal chaos Identity thieves posed as home owners in order to sell the rental property of an elderly Canadian immigrant.â¦
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Americans lost at least &#36;548 million to identity theft and consumer fraud last year as the Internet provided new victims for age-old scams, according to government statistics released Tuesday.
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A man charged in one of the largest identity theft scams in U.S. history pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and fraud in connection with identity documents Tuesday and could face up to 50 years in prison, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney David Kelley, of the Southern District of New York.