2008 Research Report: Both Good and Bad News

Earlier this year, Javelin Strategy & Research published their fourth annual Identity Fraud Survey Report. The (2008) report contained a number of items. Some are positive, others disconcerting.

The most significant good news is that identity fraud actually declined slightly. The previous estimate of the cost of identity fraud was $51 Billion, the report identifies a decline to an estimate of $45 Billion. While somewhat encouraging in terms of overall losses, $45 Billion is still a pile of cash and no one should feel they have a reason to become complacent.

To underscore the need for continued vigilence, the fraudsters continue to test new tactics and try new approaches. Significantly among these new tactics is something called Vishing. Vishing is defined as combination of Internet Telephony (VoIP) and Social Engineering.

With Vishing (like its twin Phishing) the purpose is to get you to divulge useful details about your identity so that it may be stolen. A typical attack can involve Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems controlled by the fraudster making a telephone call to your home phone, cell phone, or office phone. The system fraudulently identifies itself as a charity or other non-profit, a utility company, government, bank, or other billing or financial organization. The system then asks a number of questions and confirms a number of details designed to entice you into divulging your identity (Social Security number, account number, etc.).

These new vishing attacks now account for 40 percent of identity fraud in 2007. This is a stunning number given that the same attack accounted for only 3 percent in the prior year.

Identity theft is also becoming more costly each time it occurs. In 2006, the average cost was $554 per incident. In 2007, that figure grew to $691.

The report concludes with six recommendations for consumers to protect themselves from identity theft. At the very top of the list is credit monitoring. That is a service we provide here at Merchants. Not only can we watch your credit, we send you email alerts, and can act as your agent to resolve and ID theft event were to occur.

Our suite of services for identity theft protection is robust, comprehensive, and available. Stop by the website or give us a call (toll-free at 1.800.966.0576), see how we can help keep you safe.

Teacher Fails Students

An article I read today on FOX 4 TV in Kansas City shows that at least one educational system is failing their students, but not in the way you would expect. You pay good money to get an education and you would think the school you attend should take every precaution to keep your personal information safe. Not so with one college teacher at least.

In Manhattan, Kansas, one teacher had his backpack stolen from his vehicle parked outside a home. No biggie, right? Well, it just so happens that he had the papers of 86 students and their Social Security numbers in that backpack. These were his students from Fall of 2007 to Summer of 2008. I can understand why a teacher would have papers with him if he were taking them home to grade. But papers from students a year ago? And if he was taking them home to grade, why didn't he take them in the house? And why did he have the students SSN's? Is that required to turn in a paper? Something is wrong with that.

This teacher deserves a failing grade for failing his students. Now they are all exposed to the possibility of identity theft and have to monitor their credit (which they should anyway) and identities for the next few years. Hopefully, the burden of expense will fall on the university and not the students.

Click here to read the full article.

This is similar to an incident that happened to me a few years ago. The financial institution handling my student loan had a server stolen from their facility. Just my luck, my personal information was on that server, and at least the bank knew that. In an effort to apologize, the bank was at least nice enough to foot the bill for credit and identity monitoring for the next year for myself and all the other thousands of students that had their information on that server.

Consider these two incidents for a moment. One occurred as theft from a car (a random smash and grab from the sounds of it), and the other occurred at a well-known financial institution. How exactly someone walks off with a server from a data center is beyond me. Where's the security? But to the point, both incidents bring to light the fact that your identity is at risk in many different ways, and unfortunately most often beyond your control. You can be as cautious as humanly possible about your personal information and do everything within your means to prevent someone from stealing your identity, yet some moron is allowed to walk off campus or out of a bank with your personal information in tow and you're put at risk.

Now, with an identity theft protection and recovery solution in place from Merchants Information Solutions, I feel a little more assured that at least if something like this should happen to me again and resulted in some devastating financial activities, I'd be able to clean it up. But I wonder what many other people are doing about this type of crisis? What kind of plan do you have in place for such incidents? Leave a comment and let me know.

College Students At Risk

By J. Crismon
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Most students enjoy returning to campus at the beginning of the school year. The start of new classes, perhaps the final year school, the friends they missed over the Summer, etc. But one of the things they would not enjoy is becoming the victim of identity theft. College students can be an easy target for identity thieves. Sharing a dorm room and leaving personal items laying around, such as mail or personal files stored on a shared computer, can turn the college life into a life of agony.

I read an interesting news article today about students returning to college and the dangers they may face from identity thieves. You can read the article here, but here's my take on college life and protecting yourself, including some great ideas from the article itself.

If you live on campus, or even if you don't, here are a few tips to keep your personal data out of the hands of thieves and make the school year more enjoyable:

- Have your personal mail sent to your home address rather than your dorm address. This keeps personal information out of the view of prying eyes, including your roommate's. In case there's ever anything of significant importance in the mail, rent a PO box and have your parents forward that mail to that PO box. However, don't use your PO box for general mail. Have that all sent to your permanent address. And, as an added bonus, when the school year is over, you don't have to fill out any change of address forms at the Post Office. Just cancel your PO Box.

- Rather than receiving a check from your parents, have them deposit money directly into your account. This leaves little chance that your check will be intercepted and your funds depleted by someone other than yourself.

- Make sure you keep your personal information off of public and shared computers. Carry a large capacity USB thumb-drive around with you and keep your personal information on that instead. This way your files stay with you, not where they can be accessed by prying eyes. This will also come in handy should your computer be stolen or hacked into as your data, including your valuable homework, will remain safe.

- Keep as little identifying information that an identity thief might be able to use on you at all times. Keep whatever personal identifiers you have with you (Social Security card, birth certificate, etc.) stored in a safety deposit box at the local bank. You might need those now and again, but overall, they should be kept in a secure place and off of your person for safety. And, since they're still in a nearby bank, you can access them when needed.

- For guys, keep your wallet in your front pocket rather than in your back pocket. This is something I personally have been doing since Junior High. It's a lot more difficult for your wallet to slide out of your front pocket than it is from the back. Also, carrying the wallet in your front leaves you less vulnerable to pick pockets. I also have a habit of checking my pockets every time I stand up from a chair, the couch, etc. Make sure you know where your personal items are before you leave anywhere.

- For the ladies, keep your purse within site of you at all times and keep as little identifying information as possible in there. If you plan on going to a party, don't take your purse. Just take what you need, money, etc. and put it in your pockets.

This list is not complete by any means, but the point is clearly made. There are thousands of people attending your school. Several of them live in your dorm, or near your on-campus home. But even more important are the thieves and identity thieves that know you are a college student, that know where you live, and that are waiting to take advantage of you at a moments notice. They'll take whatever they can get. Don't let it be your identity.

*You* might be a victim

Today, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced indictments against 11 people for (according the allegation) stealing more than 40 million credit cards. The credit cards were stolen by hacking into the computer networks of at least nine major US retailers:
- TJX Corporation (TJ Maxx and Marshalls)
- BJ's Wholesale Club
- Barnes and Noble
- Sports Authority
- Boston Market
- Office Max
- Dave and Busters
- DSW shoe stores
- Forever 21

With so many major retailers having been hacked and so many credit card numbers stolen; what are the chances that *you* might be a ID Theft Victim?

If you have ever purchased clothing, accessories, or home decor from TJ Maxx or Marshalls; you might be a victim.

If you have ever acquired electronics, accessories, home decor, sports equipment or toys from BJ's Wholesale Club; you might be a victim.

If you have ever obtained books, DVD's, magazines, toys, or even a gift card from Barnes and Noble; you might be a victim.

If you have ever procured clothing, footwear, or sports equipment from the Sports Authority; you might be a victim.

If you have ever grabbed lunch, dinner, or even a snack at Boston Market; you might be a victim.

If you have ever secured office supplies, technology, electronics, or furniture from Office Max; you might be a victim.

If you have ever earned the high score on the games, or enjoyed food or drinks at Dave and Busters; you might be a victim.

If you have ever collected footwear (boots, slippers, pumps, clogs, mules, athletic, casual, or even slippers) from DSW; you might be a victim.

If you have ever expanded your wardrobe (top, bottoms, dresses, outerwear, or even intimates) by shopping at Forever21; you might be a victim.

Let's pause for a moment and consider how vast the scope of the theft was. Let's bring this into focus by comparing it to something more tangible. If we were to compare the number of credit cards stolen against the population of New York City how would that turn out? The US Census Bureau estimates that New York has a 2007 population of 8,274,527. It is not even close (40 million versus 8.2 million).

If our most populous city (bear in mind that we're counting every man, woman, and child) doesn't stack up against the size of the theft. How about if we were to add Los Angeles(3,834,340), Chicago(2,836,658), Houston(2,208,180), and Phoenix(1,552,259)? Nope. The combined population of the five largest cities still doesn't compare to the scope of the theft (18,705,964 vs 40,000,000) . To approach the size of the theft, we would need to have the entire populations of the top 33 most populous cities (New York through Atlanta) to equal the number of credit cards stolen. That is a staggering sum!


So, if you are concerned about your chances of becoming a victim of Identity Theft, what should you do? An excellent choice is enrolling in Merchants SmartIDentity plus. There are several companies offering ID Theft services that you might turn to, but Merchants distinguishes itself by offering "Fully Managed Recovery".

Fully managed recovery services are different than most others. Most other service providers offerings are limited to "consultation". In other words, they provide only advice on how *you* go about recovering your credit and good name. At Merchants, Recovery Advocates (RA's) can act on your behalf to contact retailers, credit institutions and others and clean your record. With the "consultation" from other providers, you bear the full (sole) responsibility for knowing and taking all of the steps required to restore your good name. At Merchants, the RA's can act on your behalf (once you have executed a limited power of attorney) to do the legwork for you.