Go Ahead and Junk Your Shredder! Read Why.....

I always get a huge kick out of ID theft commercials where they do a "voice over" on a little old lady with the biker that used her credit card to buy motorcycle stuff. Or the one where the huge body builder has the voice of the girl that used his credit card to go on a lingerie shopping trip. Do you know the commercials I'm talking about?

We all have become much wiser about identity theft, but as sometimes occurs, we put a lot of emphasis on one aspect while ignoring another. Now days, when I talk with people about identity theft, their reaction is usually, "I have a shredder and I shred everything!"

That is a terrific first step but it pertains to only about 3% of all stolen identities. On a daily basis I see people going about their lives completely ignoring the need to protect their identity where it is most likely to be stolen. Let me explain. According to a recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research and the Better Business Bureau, the following are the main methods criminals use to carry out identity fraud:
28.8% - Lost or stolen wallet, purse, checkbook or credit card
12.9% - Accessed as part of a transaction (waitress or clerk takes info while processing purchase) - Don't let the card out of your site.
11.4% - Accessed by friend, acquaintance or relative
11.1% - Criminal refused to answer
8.7% - Information accessed by corrupt employee
8.0% - Stolen paper mail or fraudulent change of address
7.4% - Obtained some other way
5.2% - Computer spyware (hidden software on websites to snoop info
2.6% - Information stolen from garbage (shredding does help)
2.2% - Computer viruses or hackers
1.7% - Emails sent by criminals posing as legitimate businesses

Holy Cow! We are all shredding away, yet I see purses left in shopping carts regularly. I rarely see customers watching what the waitress is doing with their card at restaurants. Who would ever suspect a friend or relative of stealing their information? Yet it accounts for 4 times more stolen identities than people stealing out of our garbage.

There is no way I'm going to follow my waitperson at the restaurant to see what he/she is doing with my credit card... that is way to uncomfortable for me. And heck, nobody means to lose their wallet... but it happens. You simply can't plan for or prevent all, or even most, of the things on this list from happening.

Either Protect yourself or hire someone to protect you.

Don't just wait and react once your identity has been stolen. Hiring credit monitoring services is costly and doesn't prevent identity theft. It just tells you that you have just become its latest victim. I guess that is of some help, but isn't their a way to be proactive and prevent identity theft completely?

Yes, there is.

You can “lock up” your identity. You can inform all the credit agencies that all of your credit is locked and that they are not to let anyone (even you) open an account without your expressed and protected approval.
I have known about this for years but have never hired them.

However, there is now a service that does it easily and conveniently. It is called LifeLock. Here’s their guarantee:
“In the unlikely event that your lock is picked and you find yourself fighting to regain your good name, we’re going to do the fighting for you. We’re going to pay for the fight and we’re going to make sure that you get every dollar back: lost wages, attorney fees, costs, actual losses, and every dollar up to $1 million. Period! No fine print. If your Identity is stolen while you are our client, and your claim is legitimate, we’re going to do whatever it takes, for however long it takes, however much it costs, to fix it and you won’t lost\e another nickel up to $1 million.” - LifeLock

For more information on LifeLock and the serveices they provide visit: www.LifeLock.com
You may have heard about this company in the news. Its president announced his full Social Security Number live on CNN! Can you imagine? He has that much faith in his service. So I thought I would give you another idea on how to protect what you have worked so hard to row. I hope you find it useful.
As usual, if you have any question on this, or if there is anything else I can do for you, please give me a call!