Archive for May, 2010

Reduce Mail Offer Credit Related Fraud

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Mail is a prime target for criminals involved in identity theft, as many pieces of incoming or outgoing mail contain enough information about you to be useful for stealing your personal data. Pre-approved mailbox offers for credit are an especially easy target for identity thieves. When you sign up for LifeLock’s identity theft protection services, LifeLock works to reduce the number of pre-approved credit card offer mailing lists that your name appears on – reducing the possibility of someone rifling through your mail and stealing financial information to open credit accounts using your name.

The possibility that someone might use personal information stolen from mailboxes or acquired via the internet to open fraudulent credit accounts in your name is unfortunately not an insignificant one: (more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in LifeLock Command Center | No Comments »

LifeLock’s WalletLock

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

ID Theft Quiz and LifeLock offer Command Center services to help protect members from the threat posed by the loss of personal and financial documents such as credit cards

Even with the well-publicized threat posed by identity thieves working over the internet, phishing scams, e-mail fraud and spyware that can put your sensitive personal and financial information at risk, almost half of all identity theft cases are still the “low-tech” type – and begin with the loss or theft of personal documents. A lost or stolen wallet or purse can cause hours of work contacting police, banks, credit card companies and government agencies – in a nerve-wracking race to protect your information (and money) before an identity thief steals it. (more…)

Tags: ,
Posted in LifeLock | No Comments »

Identity Theft & Online Documents

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

The National Governors Association has warned states that identity theft from online documents is a “growing threat.” Public court records for a divorce proceeding may contain information such as addresses, dates of birth, credit information, Social Security numbers, and spouse’s and children’s information,” according to the 2006 governor’s association report. Even more frightening is the increasing threat of criminal identity theft. Labeled the “worst-case scenario for identity theft” by Beth Givens, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) Director, criminal identity theft occurs when an impostor provides to law enforcement another person’s name and personal information (such as a drivers’ license, date of birth, or Social Security Number) during an investigation or upon arrest. A criminal record is then created when a warrant for arrest is issued. Even if the impostor’s false identity is revealed, the false information entered into criminal records databases of the identity theft victim may remain. Depending on the seriousness of the crime, this information may also likely to be entered into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Identity Theft | No Comments »

LifeLock Identity SDS Service

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

LifeLock Identity SDSTM Service for Protection Credit Monitoring Alone Cannot Provide

LifeLock’s new Identity SDS (Search, Detect, Secure) service gives members more complete protection from identity theft in its myriad forms, not just financial ID theft or credit card fraud.

Evidence of identity theft can often be spotted on credit reports as new credit card accounts or a precipitous drop in credit score. Though that type of financial identity theft may be the kind most people are familiar with, it might not be the most damaging.

That’s why LifeLock now offers their exclusive Identity SDS as part of their Command Center suite of services — a new kind of protection that is far more complete than credit monitoring alone. Identity SDS painstakingly searches millions of private and public records sources for any evidence that members’ identifying information is being used fraudulently to acquire payday loans or evade criminal arrest and prosecution. (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in LifeLock Command Center | No Comments »

ID theft prevention begins at the mailbox

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Identity theft protection tips always include steps for protecting your mail. It’s simple. It’s inexpensive. And, it’s a lesson many residents of the Spokane area learned the hard way this year.

Jacquelyn Crawford and Charlene Haggard have been arrested and indicted for stealing checks out of mailboxes and drivers licenses from cars. According to the indictment, the women made bogus checks printed with the account numbers from the stolen checks. They allegedly forged the signatures on the checks and, providing the stolen driver’s licenses as identification, passed more than 100 checks valued at more than $40,000 at 35 area businesses.

Crawford, 40, was actually relieved when the three-month-long spree came to an end, said Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Dean Meyer. “She just began injecting methamphetamine, so in a way she was thankful she was caught.”

Haggard, 42, who has eight felony convictions related to forgery, already faces several counts of forgery and identity theft in Thurston County. Haggard has not yet appeared in U.S. District Court on the federal charges.

Crawford, who has 11 felony convictions, including theft and forgery, pleaded innocent to the indictment last week and remains in Spokane County Jail. (more…)

Tags: , ,
Posted in identity theft protection | No Comments »

LifeLock Command Center

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

LifeLock Command Center Searches Records for Evidence of Criminal ID Theft

Most people think of ruined credit when they hear the words “identity theft.” Financial identity theft can be devastating, but criminal identity theft can rob you of your reputation, your home, your family—even your freedom. That is why LifeLock Command Center digs deep into legal records for any indication their members’ personal or financial information may have been stolen.

Criminal identity theft is the use of a stolen identity to evade criminal prosecution. The crime often comes to light when the ID theft victim is denied a job or stopped for a minor traffic violation but quickly finds himself handcuffed accused of drug trafficking or worse.

LifeLock Command Center searches the records of country courts, departments of correction, administrative courts and other legal agencies for any appearance of members’ names, Social Security numbers and birth dates. If LifeLock finds evidence of members’ stolen information, they notify them immediately and help them navigate through the recovery process. (more…)

Tags:
Posted in LifeLock Command Center | No Comments »

Data Breach

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Data breaches reported from 12 medical facilities last month

A dozen medical data breaches were added to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse list last month – and that doesn’t even include Affinity Health Plan’s leaving personal information of more than 400,000 people on their digital copier when the lease was up.

  • Our Lady of Peace (Louisville, KY)
    Someone lost or stole a flash drive containing personal information of nearly 25,000 of the psychiatric hospital’s patients. Some of the records are from as far back as 2002.
  • St. Jude Heritage Medical Group (Orange, CA)
    Five computers storing the information of 20,000 patients were stolen during a break-in. In this case, the info included names, birth dates and Social Security numbers; some patients’ health information was also on the computers.

  • The Medical Center (Bowling Green, KY)


    • Someone stole a hard drive that contained the info of women who had bone density testing at the mammography suite between 1997 and 2009.

  • Hutcheson Medical Center and a plastic surgery center (Chattanooga, TN)
    Thousands of patient files dating back to 1998 were sent to the Dupont Recyling Center. Information within the files included personally identifying info. Patients who underwent plastic surgery will be mortified to know their photos were also up for grabs. (This data breach actually occurred May 2009, but just made the list April 2010.)
  • DRC Physical Therapy Plus (Monticello, NY)
    Thousands of patients’ records were unceremoniously dumped when the business folded. Police impounded a dump truck loaded with boxes of files and removed another 12 boxes of patient records from the bucket of a front-end loader.

    • (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Data breach | No Comments »