Posts Tagged ‘LifeLock’
Guard yourself from medical identity theft
Friday, February 3rd, 2012How much of your child’s personal info does your school release?
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012Police in Baton Rouge, La. have arrested a 17-year-old girl in connection with an identity theft at an area high school.
During a routine traffic stop, officers found the young woman to be in possession of several sheets of paper listing the names, dates of birth and the Social Security numbers of 159 people, all students at the school. The young woman is a former student at the school, and is believed to have obtained the printout from the school. She is accused of using the information to file fraudulent income tax returns.
The young woman was arrested with two other young people, and the trio was found in possession of Walmart gift card, which police said were obtained for credit by returning stolen merchandise.
The U.S. Department of Education has released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which will help provide for the increased safety of students’ personal information. Generally speaking, schools must have written permission from a parent or eligible student to release any information from a student’s educational records.
Schools can disclose, without consent, directory information like name, address, telephone number, date of birth, place of birth, honors and awards and dates of attendance. But schools must notify parents or guardians about the disclosure, and parents or guardians can request that the information be withheld.
Check with your child’s school to find out what is being done to protect your child’s personal and educational information.
Know the ‘life’ of the documents in your business
Friday, January 27th, 2012Child safety – It’s every parent’s responsibility
Monday, January 23rd, 2012Some people think they can do what LifeLock does for themselves – and they can do it for free. But in order to monitor your information just as LifeLock does, you’d have to invest a considerable block of time. And if you’re also concerned about the identities of your family, then it will require even more time and energy.
Think about it. Child identity theft accounts for about 5 percent of all identity thefts reported each year. But that’s only the ones that are reported – there are many more that aren’t reported because the ones perpetrating the crimes are family members or friends, and it gets sticky when you point the finger at family or friends. Then there are thousands of cases each year that occur, but aren’t reported because child identity theft can go undiscovered for years.
But monitoring your children’s identities is incredibly important, because their Social Security numbers are given out almost as often as yours.
If you have LifeLock, then consider adding your kids for just a small amount per month. You can pull your child’s credit report each year as well, but the peace of mind you’ll get from knowing that LifeLock is checking 24/7 to be sure your child’s information is safe is worth the extra couple of bucks you’ll pay per month.
It’s a parent’s responsibility to watch out for the welfare of his kids. We all know to make sure they are fed, clothed, get an education and are healthy. But how often do we think about protecting their personal information? It should be on the forefront of every parent’s mind. Ignoring the possibility won’t make it go away. If you already are signed up with LifeLock, take the extra step to protect your whole family today.




