In the book  If You Are Me, Then Who Am I: The Personal and Business Reality of Identity Theft, you will learn what Identity Theft really is and what you can do about it. Confused about what Identity Theft products actually do for you. Read inside about the good, the bad and the ugly of Identity Theft products. Are you a business owner? Find out what the government is doing to try to stem the tide of Identity Theft and what you can do to protect yourself and meet the compliance requirements of these new laws. Finally, how do all of the pieces of Identity Theft fit together to tell you where we are going? Find out inside…

John P. Gardner, Jr. is an attorney and one of the nation’s leading experts on Identity Theft.  He consults with various states on Identity Theft, Privacy and Data Protection legislation.  He is a former member of the South Carolina General Assembly.

James McCartney is an identity management and privacy consultant with BearingPoint. He is currently working to reduce the unnecessary use of the Social Security Number in the Department of Defense and Veterans Health Adminstration.

Jeffrey Omtvedt resides in MI, with his wife and son, where he consults on issues pertaining to Risk Management, IT, HR Strategies, Life Events Legal Plans, Identity Theft Awareness and Liability, and the Erosion of Privacy.

The authorities are doing their part. The Social Security Administration, Medical Information Bureau, local Department of Motor Vehicles and credit bureaus register a death as soon as they’re informed. The Social Security Administration’s Death Master file includes the names and Social Security numbers of all deceased individuals. The credit bureaus use the file to update their records periodically, as do DMVs throughout the country.

However, it may take days, weeks or months after a person dies for authorities to include a new death in their databases.  Until then, criminals have free reign to open credit cards, get state identification cards, open bank accounts and apply for a job using a dead person’s identity.   And although each organization keeps a record of deceased individuals, their databases don’t always overlap.   They all do not report to each other. 

Credit bureaus routinely collects Social Security numbers of the deceased as reported by the Social Security Administration. However, the Social Security Administration can only report a number as deceased if they are notified and in many cases they are not notified. 

If the person who died never worked or received Social Security benefits – or if a surviving family member becomes eligible for a benefit after the death, then the SSA may not be informed about it. 

The SSA says they receive about 2.5 million reports of death each year.   These reports come from a variety of sources, including family members, funeral homes, hospitals, financial institutions, the U.S. Postal Service, Medicare, Veterans Affairs and other state and federal agencies. This means the SSA receives death reports for people who are not necessarily Social Security beneficiaries.   That is not to suggest that every death is reported, but the vast majority are.

If you want to secure the identity of a deceased family member or friend, you’re better off informing all authorities about their death, so crooks cannot take advantage of your family’s loss. Here are eight steps to locking a loved one’s identity:

1. Get multiple copies of the death certificate. Most authorities request one to reflect the death in their records.

2. Request a copy of the deceased individual’s credit report from each of the three credit bureaus. The requirements to obtain it may differ according to the bureau, so call them in advance to find out. For example, Equifax requests a copy of the death certificate, a letter of testamentary from the probate court and a copy of a photo ID of the individual receiving the credit report.

3. On the letter you send to the credit bureaus, request that the deceased person’s credit file be suppressed. This means that an annotation will be added to their file stating that the person is deceased and that no one will be able to obtain credit in the person’s name, says Identity Theft 911’s Levin.

4. Notify all creditors of the person’s death by sending a copy of the death certificate. (Get a list of creditors from the person’s credit reports.)

5. Call the Social Security Administration and request a benefits statement for review. This will help ensure that no one is using your relative’s name or Social Security number to work. 

6. Cancel their driver’s license and any other group membership or affiliation that offers an identification card, such as their AAA membership or health insurance (or Medicare/ Medicaid).

7. Make sure all documents that contain the SSN of the deceased person are securely stored.

8. Don’t share too many details about your loved one in any public announcement of their death. Crooks often comb through obituaries for information that could help inform their efforts to steal a person’s identity. 

To learn more about Michael Hill, an information security specialist, privacy professional and nationally recognized as an identity theft expert >>  – http://idtprofessional.wordpress.com/about/ 

www.idtheft101.net

John Gardner – http://www.legalspan.com/catalog2/faculty.asp?UserID=D2003012365719013131733   &OwnerColor=%23007272&recID=20100318-248138-140706

James McCatney – http://www.legalspan.com/catalog2/faculty.asp?UserID=20100318248138141059      &OwnerColor=%23007272&recID=20100318-248138-140706

Preview of webinar – http://www.scbar.org/member_resources/continuing_legal_education/distance_learning/johngardnermedium/

Identity Theft, Data Protection and Privacy: Obstacles and Opportunities for all Attorneys

3.0 Total CLE Credits (No Ethics)

Note: This live webcast (audio & video) will be broadcast LIVE over the internet on Thursday, May 20, 2010, starting 12:55 PM Eastern Time. You may access this event from anywhere with an established internet connection.

Click here for more details >> http://www.legalspan.com/scbar/webcasts.asp?ItemID=20100318-248138-140706

[...]

Computerworld -  In a somewhat unusual data breach, hackers recently
stole the login credentials of an unknown number of customers of payroll
processing company PayChoice Inc., and then attempted to use the data to
steal additional information directly from the customers themselves.

The breach, first reported by the Washington Post this week, took place
on Sept. 23 and involved PayChoice’s onlineemployer.com portal site.
Hackers broke into the site and managed to access the real legal name,
username and the partially masked passwords used by customers to log
into the site.

They then used the information to send very realistic looking phishing
e-mails to PayChoice’s customers directing them to download a Web
browser plug-in to be able to continue using the onlineemployer.com
service. Each of the messages addressed people by their real names and
contained their real username and passwords (partially masked), which
had been harvested earlier from PayChoice.

Users who clicked on the link to download the plug-in instead got
infected with a username and password stealing Trojan.

[...]

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all
the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. ‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.

‘Petawawa. We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan. 

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time..

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill.  Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.’

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were
seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best – beef or chicken?’

‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first
class. ‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’

Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand. With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A  man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to
the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a
sandwich. God Bless You.’

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow
travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals.

It seemed so little…

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.’

May God give you the strength and courage to pass this along to many on your email buddy list…. I JUST DID

BY Oren Yaniv and Bill Hutchinson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Monday, September 7th 2009, 4:00 AM

Officials at a Manhattan school are coming under fire for leaving student records dumped on the street for anyone to pick up.

Boxes of student records were piled on E. 25th St. near Park Ave. yesterday in front of the old home of the School for the Physical City.

Some records contained the Social Security numbers, grades, signatures and even psychological reports of former students ofthe public intermediate/high school.

The boxes were sitting next to a trash bin filled with old desks and other discarded school supplies.

The School for the Physical City moved to a new W. 14th St. location over the summer and apparently the records were thrown out with the trash during the relocation.

An Education Department official said an investigation has been launched to determine how the records ended up on the street. Officials apparently picked up the boxes of records last night.

“This is not acceptable,” school officials said in a statement last night. “If true, we will take appropriate action.”

(See the full letter by clicking on the link above)

March 30, 2009

Linda Conte, Esq” Assistant Attorney General

Maine Attorney General’s Office

6 State House Station

Augusta, Maine 04330

Dear Ms. Conte:

Please consider this letter the notice required by Maine’s Act, conducted by MaineGeneral Medical Center (“MGMC”) to determine whether the security and privacy of the consumer’s personal information had been reached,……………..

As he approached my business partner, John Gardner, the aforementioned accountant said, “If I had only known!”  He was attending an Identity Theft and Red Flags Rule Compliance Seminar being sponsored by a local benefits provider.  He said that clients he had never had a harsh word with were calling him and cussing him out.  Others, who he had never had anything but pleasant dealings, were coming to his office violently mad.  He was sitting in his office when he received a call from an attorney at the FTC.  He was caught off guard; why would the Federal Government call about a small breach, in a small community?  The lawyer asked, ‘What did you do before the theft to protect your client’s records?  What have you done since?  And what is your mitigation plan?’

Understand clearly, in a rapidly growing number of cases following the upcoming November 1, such an occurrence is going to be a career ending/business ending event!  It need not be. One can put in place an Identity Theft Prevention Plan with little or no business disruption. Virtually every business that does not require payment up front is going to be required to do this and the thing that matters most is that most business owners and their employees need to be trained on the real consequences of identities being stolen.  Consumers and businesses will be asking if YOUR business is Red Flags Rule compliant.  What will be your answer?  Better yet, if an auditor or the FTC comes knocking and ask you to produce your Identity Theft Prevention Plan, What will you produce?

To learn more about John Gardner, go to www.JohnGardnerOnline.com – attorney, privacy professional, identity theft risk management specialist, author and professional speaker. 

To learn more about Michael Hill, an information security specialist, privacy professional, and nationally recognized as an identity theft expert >>  – http://idtprofessional.wordpress.com/about/ 

For more information about the reality of Identity Theft:   www.idtheft101.net

For more information about Red Flags compliance:  www.AccurateDataPartners.com

Most parents aren’t surprised by the most likely answer: social networks.  But they may be unsettled by what their kids are doing on those sites, according to a survey to be released Monday by Common Sense Media, a San Francisco advocacy group.

The survey polled 1,013 teens and 1,002 parents. The bottom line: Parents consistently underestimate how much time their kids spend on social networks and how often they engage in risky behavior, such as posting revealing photos of themselves, bullying other kids or hacking into their friends’ accounts or posting personally identifiable information.  The study mirrors an earlier report from Common Sense Media on kids using technology to cheat in school.

Here’s a sample of the new report’s findings: 

• 37% of teens said they used social networks to make fun of other students, but only 18% of parents believe their own angels do so.
• 13% of teens said they posted naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves. Only 2% of parents said their kids have done that.
• 24% of teens said they signed on to someone else’s account without permission, while only 4% of parents said their kids have done that.
• 28% of teens posted personal information that they normally would not have revealed in public, but 16% of parents said their kids did that.

What to do?  Here are a few suggestions.

… parents first learn about these networks by registering and exploring the networks their children are in. Because Facebook and MySpace don’t allow kids under 13 to open accounts, parents with younger children should check their browsers’ histories to see where their kids are going.

For parents of teens who are already on social networks, the suggestion is that parents should talk with their kids about privacy settings, whom not to friend and precautions to take when posting personal information.  Do not allow your kids to post there age, street address or even what school they attend.   Parents should peruse through the message their kids are sending.  The predators are out there.

Remind teens that everything they post can essentially be seen by a vast, invisible audience,” the group said in its report. “And tell them that online stuff can last forever and ever regardless wheterh they delete it later.    May come to haunt them later in life.  If they wouldn’t put something on the hallway in school, they shouldn’t post it on their pages.”

To learn more about Michael Hill, an information security specialist, privacy professional and recognized as an identity theft expert >>  – http://idtprofessional.wordpress.com/about/ 

www.idtheft101.net