Free Identity Theft Protection: Does It Work?

Who would want to pay for something when they could get it for free; right? That sentiment makes some people wary of identity theft protection services that charge a monthly or annual fee. However, what many don’t research is how effective these free services really are. It is a case of getting what you pay for, at least according to a recent article in PC World magazine. The publication reported on free services, such as the one offered by Xfinity and had some surprising findings.

• While some free services offer credit report monitoring, it’s rare that you will get timely alerts regarding suspicious activity on your accounts. This can make said monitoring not quite as useful as you would have hoped.
• Many free services are offered simply to whet your appetite and encourage you to upgrade to a paid plan. This is similar to the services that offer “free” credit reports when you enroll in some other type of promotion.
• Some services actually have free trials only; not completely free service. That means that if you don’t pay attention you could see monthly charges appearing on your credit card statement due to not taking the time to cancel.
• There are some free services that are simply antivirus packages for your computer, such as the services offered by Earthlink and Time Warner Road Runner. They just provide you with popup warning windows when you’re submitting personal information over the Web.

While some free identity theft services offer minimal protection, it’s nothing compared to what you can receive if you use the right paid service. In a 2010 Javelin Strategy and Research Study, it was reported that about 11.1 million individuals in the U.S. were victims of identity theft, and that they collectively lost $54 billion. The Better Business Bureau further reports that the out of pocket costs per person average at $400. Simply using a free service could turn out to be quite costly in the long run.

RFID Speed Pass Can Lead to Identity Theft

Oh, the conveniences we have in life. Now, you don’t even have to actually swipe your credit card for a machine to capture your number so you can make your purchases. Thanks to a technology called “radio frequency identification” or RFID, you can simply place your “Speed Pass” near a reader and get on with your day.

While this saves you a little bit of time, it can also pose a problem. Recently, a television station in Memphis filmed an investigative story and found that with a portable scanner costing less than $100, an individual could simply walk around the neighborhood and pick up credit card information from passersby’s pockets or purses– no pick pocketing required. The device simply recorded the information from the nearby RFIDs.

There is little evidence that identity thieves are going through the trouble of purchasing RFID scanners, but this story does bring up a good point. As technology advances, there are greater – or at least different – risks associated with it. With every change you make to how you operate in the credit world, you need to think about how you need to change the way you protect yourself from identity theft – whether this means purchasing an identity theft protection plan or simply being more cautious in your day to day life.

If you have an RFID, it’s fairly simple to protect the information on it at this point. You can purchase a commercially available sleeve for it to block the radio signal when you’re not using it, or you can simply wrap it in aluminum foil. Keep a close eye on your keys when out in public. If someone gets a hold of them, he or she can not only take your car, but can also take charge of the attached credit card account. The latter is actually likely to be easier to do and harder to detect.

Lovely Faces Shows How Fragile a Virtual Identity Can Be

If you don’t know by now that Facebook and other social networking sites can be a virtual gold mine for identity thieves, Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico are doing their darndest to convince you. The two men, a media artist and a magazine editor in Italy, respectively, are responsible for a “dating site” called Lovely Faces.

To create the profiles for this website, the two essentially stole the personal information of 250,000 Facebook users so that they could list and categorize each individual under one of six categories, such as “sly” and “easy going.”
The point, according to the creators, was to show how people make snap judgments based on not really knowing someone.

Getting the information proved pretty simple for them. They used an automated bot to capture publicly available details from one million Facebook profiles over several months. The two even commented, “If we start to play with the concepts of identity theft and dating, we should be able to unveil how fragile a virtual identity given to a proprietary platform can be.” The proprietary platform refers to Facebook, since the information on there is essentially owned by the company.

Anyone who has their Facebook profile set to public, or uses the “suggested” security settings, which open up at least a third of their profiles to “everyone” is essentially asking for trouble. When using the site, you may not realize that everyone can constitute millions of people. While it’s unlikely millions of people are interested in what you’re doing this weekend, it only takes one thief out of the millions of regular people to make off with your information.

Always make your profile as private as possible and do not “friend” people you don’t know –e ver. It’s super easy to create a fake Facebook account, and the cute girl or guy you add may really be an identity thief in disguise. Remember, they are good at that whole disguising thing.

Back From the Dead – A Strange Identity Theft Case

Some identity theft cases are indeed strange, but not many are as odd as to feature a man coming back from the dead. This is exactly what happened to British citizen, Paul Woodhouse, who recently discovered not only that his long lost brother, Roy, thought dead is indeed alive, but also that his brother had been using his identity since the 1960s – using it to obtain a fraudulent passport following an arrest. Paul had not heard from his brother since 1967.

In fact, it wasn’t Paul who even realized that his identity had been stolen. The mystery was discovered because Roy confessed it to immigration officials when he was detained in Hawaii on an undisclosed crime. He had been living there for over 15 years. The officials took months trying to determine for sure who Roy really was so that they could get him real papers, which would allow him to return to the UK.

It’s amazing that it took over 40 years for this crime to be detected, and it’s even more amazing that Paul is willing to readily forgive his half brother and is simply overjoyed that he is alive. While Paul doesn’t seem to have suffered any credit trouble due to the theft, it’s likely that he has an extensive criminal record on file in the United States.

This situation is one that identity theft protection may have not been able to help with, due to the fact that it transcended the Atlantic. However, it brings to light just how difficult it can be to catch an identity thief, even one who had been operating in a pretty obvious fashion for several decades. Had this crime occurred solely in the U.S., it would have been easy for an identity theft protection plan to alert Paul to changes of address associated with his personal information. Some plans also have a criminal record search feature that would have proved invaluable.

While Paul is finally having his identity restored, it’s troublesome to think of what could have happened. It’s somewhat lucky that his half brother had a tendency toward committing crimes instead of toward making expensive purchases.

Stolen Credit Cards Used to Buy Apple Products

Who doesn’t love products from Apple Computers? The iPod, the iPhone, and the ubiquitous iPad? The members of one crime loved them so much that they bought products and gift cards at Apple stores in 12 states and the District of Columbia using stolen credit card information over the course of the past three years. They were then able to resell them in Brooklyn to the tune of over $300,000 in profit.

This group of 27 individuals, who were recently indicted, got the credit card information, including both numbers and names, by purchasing it from online traffickers. These traffickers were able to get this information from victims of identity theft. That brings to life one of the most important aspects of an identity theft protection plan.

With an identity protection service, it is possible to have the online black market records searched to see if your information is present on them. If it is, you can have your credit information changed before there is a problem. How it worked out, though, is that many of the victims of this crime may still not know that their information was compromised, especially if they don’t read their statements carefully and they don’t check their credit reports.

Members of the ring have been charged with conspiracy and grand larceny, as well as other crimes, so it is likely that this particular one is not long for this world. However, a member of this ring had already branched off and formed his own similar ring. What does that tell you? Chopping the head off the dragon does not mean that it can’t live to fight another day. What you have to do is fight back.

Don’t Add Strangers to Your Facebook Page

I cannot stress this enough. If you don’t know a person, do not become Facebook friends with said person, even if it means you won’t end up with 500 people posting to your wall. A woman in Minnesota did just that and she ended up becoming friends with Timothy Peter Noirjean, an alleged identity thief who is accused of stealing more than 200 women’s email addresses and password information via the social networking site.

The 20-year-old woman, who has not been publicly identified, chatted with Noirjean and, during the course of the conversation, ended up divulging her password. He allegedly used this information to hack into her email and retrieve photos of her, which he then posted to an adult website. He is also accused of contacting some of her Facebook friends and sending at least one of them a link that caused her computer to crash when she clicked on it.

Noirjean identified himself as Steven Mills on the website. It sounds like a fairly innocent kind of name. At least eight women had their photos posted to the adult website without their consent, and five women had their Facebook accounts hacked and passwords changed, according to police. All of these women must have added Noirjean as a “friend” so that he could access their accounts.

This is the danger of social networking online. Since it is such an impersonal avenue of communication, a lot of people think nothing of simply adding anyone who friend requests them. You need to be more picky than that. Don’t add people that are strangers to you, and even be careful if these people are friends with your friends. You never know when one of your buddies may have added a scam artist. Never chat online with people you don’t know. You don’t know who they really are, and there is no way to be sure of their motives.

If a person you think you do know requests you, you may even want to contact that person using information you know to be correct, just to make sure that this person is who he or she is claiming to be. This is especially important for people with common names. Identity thieves don’t want to stand out and create some kind of crazy profile. It’s a lot easier to gain someone’s trust if you are able to blend in.

Cell Phones and Identity Thieves

When you get a new cell phone, what do you do with the old one? You might recycle it, you might sell it or you might throw it in the trash. Or, maybe you’ll just throw it in a drawer to worry about later. No matter which of these methods you go with, you likely soon forget about it

This is when it’s the optimum time for a thief to step in. According to Mike Newman, president of ReCellular, a company that purchases used cell phones, Americans retire 130 million cell phones a year. Even if thieves only get their hands on a small fraction of these phones, they can do some major damage.

Think about all of the things that you store on your cell phone: your name; the names, phone numbers and possibly addresses of your contacts; Web addresses; passwords … even if all the thief can get is your name and phone number, he can be in business. He can use that phone and your name to call U.S. citizens from a foreign country and make it look like he’s calling from just down the street.

To keep thieves from spending your minutes, figuratively, you don’t have to lock your old phones in a safe for all eternity. Instead, just follow the steps that your cell phone manufacturer provides to make sure you delete all of your data before you get rid of your phone. It’s not as simple as just deleting the phone numbers and the text messages.

If you need help ReCellular provides a free DataEraser search that lets you receive the instructions on how to clear your phone via email. Note that you do have to provide a first and last name, email address, carrier name and model name to get this information. If you’d rather not do that, go to the website of the manufacturer that makes your phone and call the customer service number to find out exactly what you need to do.

You can also try paying a visit to the store where you originally purchased your phone. It’s likely someone will be able to help you, especially if it means they’ll be making a sale on a new phone at the same time.

Other than that, you may want to consider purchasing an identity theft protection service to help you stay protected.

Plastic Surgery ID Theft

While a lot of identity thieves use others’ personal information to buy things like cars and boats or pay their utility bills, some have more important things they need to spend stolen credit on – such as tummy tucks. A woman from Washington State is currently being charged with a felony for using a coworker’s stolen credit card to pay $2000 toward just such a surgery at a local clinic, as well as to finance a liposuction procedure.

This woman, Alexandra Polack, also allegedly attempted to persuade both her coworker and her doctor not to cooperate with police, once they heard wind of the crime. She apologized to her coworker, and she also claimed she had nothing to do with the victim’s missing passport or the identity theft committed on two additional employees of the same company at around the same time. It’s safe to say that neither of the two were particularly impressed.

Besides the theft of the tummy tuck funds, it’s also alleged that Polack tried to charge over $11,000 at the local Best Buy using the same credit card as she used for the tummy tuck, which more closely follows the actions of other thieves. If she was so repentant of making a $2000 charge, it’s likely she wouldn’t have tried to make one for about five times that number.

Luckily, this thief was caught before she could do any further damage. In fact, she confessed her crimes to at least one of her alleged victims – but only after the police were already suspicious. Getting one identity thief – and not a particularly savvy one at that – is of course great news for both her alleged victim and her assumedly former boss, it doesn’t stop what might be called an epidemic of the crime in this country.

Identity theft is not limited to just credit card fraud. It can involve Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, passports and even medical or insurance cards. One of the best ways to protect yourself from identity theft – like over 10 million others last year – is to keep an eye on your purse or wallet at all times, or lock it up somewhere safe.

A lot of people think of the office as a safe haven and simply put these items in an unlocked drawer or leave them on the desk or chair. This is not a good idea, no matter how close-knit you think you and your workmates are. If can’t think of anything else, you can always lock these items in the trunk of your car. Then simply carry your keys in your pocket during the day.

Need more help with identity theft protection? Explore our site and find the right protection for you.

A Look Back at the Gonzales Sentencing

One of the most high profile identity theft cases to occur in the past few years reached a conclusion in the sentencing of Albert Gonzalez last spring. Gonzalez, who some might call the brains behind the multimillion dollar scam that resulted in credit card information theft from retail giants like T.J. Maxx, DSW and Dave and Buster’s, received a sentence of two concurrent 20 year terms in federal prison on conspiracy charges. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to these charges in hopes of a lighter sentence.

While these charges were not identity theft charges, per se, they were related to the fact that Gonzalez sold the credit card information to other criminals. So really, those secondhand criminals were the ones committing the identity theft. Much better, huh? It seems so according to Gonzalez’s defense attorney, who argued in court for 15 years. He also argued that many of the credit accounts that were compromised had expired.

According to PC World, Gonzales told his partners in crime that he was planning to continue his schemes until he had the money he needed to buy a yacht. After that, his goal was to retire from the criminal life. When he was arrested in 2008, he so far only had a BMW, a condo in Miami, 1.65 million in cash, computers and a Glock 27 gun. Too bad he had to give all of these items away as part of his guilty plea agreement.

Part of the filing from the Department of Justice read as follows, “Albert Gonzalez was motivated by ego, challenge and greed and was proud of the national attention his computer intrusion and data thefts drew.” His success in this arena likely inspired more thieves to follow in his footsteps.

This means that even though Gonzalez is in prison now, and will be for a very long time, you are – unfortunately – still very much at risk for identity theft. The number of victims still stands at about 10 million per year, and this case didn’t factor into the number for 2009. Remember, the thieves don’t think of you as anything but a number.

They don’t worry about the impact compromising your information can have on your life. They may even be proud of what they do and also proud of what they can get away with. Don’t count on them to grow a conscience, either overnight or in the years to come. Instead, count on an identity theft protection plan to help keep you protected from America’s fastest growing crime.

Check Washing Scam Leads to Charges

Have you ever heard of washing checks? No, it is not the same thing as forgetting you have one in your pocket and accidentally running it through the spin cycle. Just ask a Reno couple who recently got busted for this type of identity theft. Kevin Frank Curtis and Jesseka Ashlee Koivisto were arrested on December 27 after a witness tipped off the Reno police department’s financial fraud unit.

The couple was allegedly stealing people’s mail and using the information from it to alter checks and attempt to cash them. When the police searched Koivisto’s home, they found stolen mail, magnetic ink, and other equipment which is commonly used for the purpose of financial fraud. What was really damning is the fact that the couple is accused of washing checks, which happens when you take an already written check and remove the ink on it. This allows you to keep the signature, if you wish, but to alter the amount and the recipient. The couple was busted when police detectives caught Koivisto trying to use such a check to get $800 in cash at Walmart.

Most times, business owners were smart enough to realize that the checks they were dealing with were not on the up and up. However, a small percentage were happy to cash them, and that’s really all it takes. I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep personal checks out of an unlocked mailbox. Even if you don’t make it obvious what is inside an envelope, a thief has no problem grabbing all of your mail and meticulously going through it. After all, he or she has likely been successful with this method in the past.

Curtis was booked on suspicion of “possession of a financial laboratory” and Koivisto was booked on “forgery, burglary and getting money using false pretenses.” So, it’s likely these alleged thieves will be off the streets for a while, but there are plenty more where they came from. Keep an eye on your bank statements, making sure they are accurate each month. While credit card companies are likely to call you if they see charges that are out of the ordinary, the same cannot be said for check cashing.

An identity theft protection service can also help, particularly one that has an insurance plan to help you if you are a victim of fraud. Just remember that you need to sign up for it before the fraud happens for it to be of any use to you if that time comes.

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