Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Warning- You Have Been Datamined!!!

Here are everyday occurances which we really don't think about but can have profound effects.


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Warning Data Burglars

This is also part of the problem which is closely related but not being addressed. You can see my article all about it in the next post.


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ID Theft Spy

Advice from A Personal Data Security Expert

See Identity Theft Spy Here

Monday, January 16, 2006

Identity Theft Statistics Cases per year




Most identity theft cases are still not reported to the police so exact numbers are impossible to guage.

Up to 700,000 people in the United States may be victimized by identity bandits each year, according to the Justice Department (during press release- 2002 Federal Trade Commission Study). Recent reports now talk about 10,000,000 victims.

The Secret Service estimates that in 1997 consumers lost more than $745 million due to identity theft. These days it is probably in the billions.
A recent report on identity theft warned that there is likely to be "mass victimization" of consumers within the next two years. The report said consumers should be extra careful to monitor all their financial transactions for unexplained account activity, withdrawals, or fund transfers.

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. The average victim spends 175 hours and $1000.00 repairing the damage.


The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says that identity theft is its number one source of consumer complaints - 42 percent of all complaints, in 2001.


" Every 79 seconds, a thief steals someone's identity, opens accounts in the victim's name and goes on a buying spree."

-CBSnews.com, 1/25/2001



A study by Gartner Group reveals that 1 in 50 consumers has suffered identity theft. The survey, conducted by Gartner Inc., also indicates consumers are so concerned about the problem that they are calling for changes in the way electronic transactions are performed.



According to the FTC's figures, ID theft is the most popular form of consumer fraud, in part because it is the most profitable. ID thieves stole nearly $100 million from financial institutions last year, or an average of $6,767 per victim.

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Thursday, January 05, 2006

Identity Theft (R&R)?




Identity Theft (R&R)?

One of the hottest buzzwords in the news today is Identity Theft which is now reaching epidemic proportions...


Identity theft is the most prolific crimes committed today and it knows no boundaries. So by now most people know of the problem but are unaware of how it all got started.

It's basically what's old is new again thus the teaser ID Theft R&R??? Which stands for Retrospective and Rebirth.

Its started back in the 60's which was a time of conflict and change the Vietnam war and Civil Right protesters and the Underground mainly SDS and the Weathermen among others.

During this time to avoid the military draft you could goto Canada,Mexico or to college. But a cheaper and more eficient option arose by assuming a new identity and staying in this country.

This was easily done by reading the obituaries and finding one close to your age getting the vital info and applying for the birth certificate from there drivers liscense and so on.

There are still a few left from this era as from time to time you'll see on the news an arrest of someone who disappeared 25 yrs ago. The war ended in 1975 and so the threat of the draft ended so there was a brief respite. In the background at this time was the Internet which was a sleeping giant waiting to be stirred.

It was now 1985 and PC's were now penetrating the home and the Net was beginning to be commercialized. Identity theft was once again making a comeback but it was still largely an one on one event. Finally reaching 1990 the net was beginning to flourish with the infancy of the dot-com boom. The world is now truly becoming a global village. By 1996 ther were in excess of 300,000 annual reports of this crime and it's beeen growing daily. Like anything else in the world it reflects all of it's community both good and bad. Identity theft was now splitting into 2 main camps.

The first being 1 on 1 events where you come into contact with the theft personally either through physical contact or lost personal info,phishing, or spyware on your computer.

The second is wholesale theft of info by hackers breaking into bank and credit card companies where thousands to millions of people are compromised all at once.

As recently as a few years ago the technique of dumpster diving was perfected where you'd go to a dumpster behind a business bank ,dept store ,restaurant and look for cc reciepts. But this has now been replaced by spyware which is software which invades your computer to access all your acct info and phishing which is an email sent to you representing maybe your bank or cc company requesting acct. info to which if you respond lose your money.

To check or elimiminate spyware from your computer goto spybot.com which is an excellent free tool. As for phishing a good rule of thumb is if contacted and not absolutey sure it's a company or person you do business with just hang up or you can call them back so you know who your in contact with.

If you do become a victim it can be likened to entering a blackhole as you go in but never really sure when you'll get out. The personal costs can be excessive and and can take years to clear up.

On a positive note I see whole new industries popping up to combat the problem with plenty of growth for them in the future.

Anti-spyware, biometrics, insurance, prevention, and detection to name a few. For more info goto:

Spyware Remover Information - Discover and eliminate spyware adware and other evil programs that are lurking on your PC. Keep your information and browsing behavior private! Reduce SPAM. Award winning software from reputable vendors.



Welcome To My Web Portal

Identity theft is a problem that has been swept under the rug for too long and it's time for us to take a stand. This blog will help lots of folks out there please feel free to post any questions or insights. I've experienced first-hand of what happens but more on that later. But first -please read my article published a number of months ago.