ID Theft Articles and Newsletters

Your Information First Newsletters:

August 2010 - What You Need to Know About Social Media and ID Theft in the New School Year

"As the 2010-11 school year begins for middle school, high school and college students throughout the United States – parents, teachers and students need to know and/or be reminded of the risks related to social media."

July 2010 - The Internet was Created For Convenience and Reliability, Not ID Theft and Data Breach Events

"The Internet was created for convenience and reliability, NOT your security where ID Theft and Data Breach events have become commonplace in almost every business, across every industry group."

June 2010 - Your Personal Privacy - Are You in Control?

"Your personal privacy is not so private anymore based on the use of rapidly changing technology, social media, and laws - which makes all of our information more and more available - and more and more vulnerable."

May 2010 - ID Theft and Fraud in the News... Last Week, This Week and Next Week

"On occasion, most individuals who write a regularly scheduled column or news article have what is called "writers block." For example, I write a monthly ID Theft article for our business clients that have a combined 4 million employees and customers."

April 2010 - Preventing Senior ID Theft and Financial Fraud

"The senior population in the United States is a growing segment in our society which is living longer and as a result is at risk of Senior ID Theft and Financial Fraud."

March 2010 - Fast Facts on the IRS and Cyber Tax Day

"According to the IRS (http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=217790,00.html), most taxpayers and tax preparers will take advantage of the IRS e-file to file federal tax returns. At the same time, the IRS e-file will also be used as a resource to request for an extension to file a tax return."

February 2010 - Data Breach Events and ID Theft Continue to Rise

"According to a newly released Javelin Strategy & Research 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report (http://www.javelinstrategy.com/), the number of identity fraud victims in the United States has jumped by 12 percent to 11.1 million adults - the highest increase to-date since the survey started in 2003 - while the total overall fraud amount increased by 12.5 percent to $54 billion."

January 2010 - Password 101 and a New Year’s Resolution: Making Sure Your Password is Difficult to Break

"According to Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength), the definition of password strength is: "a measure of the effectiveness of a password in resisting guessing and brute-force attacks.""

December 2009 - 2010 Advice: Know Program Details and Exclusions of any ID Theft Program Before You Buy

"My primary objective in writing my last consumer ID Theft newsletter article in 2009 is to communicate the premise that NO ONE COMPANY can PREVENT you (or any family member) from EVER becoming a victim of ID Theft."

November 2009 - Consumer Alert: Protect your Identity, Wallets, On-line Purchases, Cars, and Luggage from Holiday Thieves

"According to new research conducted by Merchants Information Solutions, Inc, protecting your identity and the identity of family members is the number one consumer concern with the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and year-end Holiday events taking place.

Based on a consumer survey of 200 teenagers and adults ranging in ages from 16 to 83 years old, the Top five consumer concerns relating to Holiday thieves include the following"

October 2009 - Identity Theft versus Identity Fraud

"Since 2005, I have written numerous articles about identity theft and information security with the purpose of educating individual consumers about consumer risk management and educating businesses about information security and data breach risk management."

September 2009 - Merchants Warns of 2010 Census and Small Business ID Theft Scams

"In the almost three years I have written a monthly newsletter article on the topics of ID Theft, Consumer Risk Management and Data Breach events, I have never mentioned my company (Merchants Information Solutions, Inc.) which is a leading ID Theft Management Services and Background Screening company in the United States or the leadership of our company in any way – as this newsletter is designed to support ID Theft education and consumer risk management."

August 2009 - Students and ID Theft: How to Protect Their Personal Information

"As the end of August brings us closer to Labor Day – which is a national holiday in honor of working people – I began to think about the beginning of the school year for my two daughters."

July 2009 - Is your Doctor, Dentist, Home & Auto Insurance Agent (and other creditor relationships) prepared for the new FTC Red Flags Rule?

"While you and your family, as individual consumers are not required to be very familiar with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Red Flags Rule (which goes into affect on November 1, 2009), you should be responsible with respect to knowing whether or not the companies and organizations that you have a “creditor” relationship with are prepared and in compliance with the new Red Flags Rule."

June 2009 - Protecting Yourself from ID Theft While on Summer Vacation

"Now that June 21st – which is known as the Summer Solstice, longest day of the year, the first day of summer, and Father’s day (when the third Sunday in June falls on the 21st day) – has arrived, it is a good time to think about the continuing trend and challenge of identity theft when most families in the United States are on summer vacation."

May 2009 - Non-Financial ID Theft is a Trend You Need to Know About

"According to the February 2009 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Report (see http://www.ftc.gov/sentinel/ for more information), ID Theft and fraud related events are much more than a financial event – where only 35 percent of ID Theft is related to your credit card, debit card, checking account, savings account, auto loan, personal loan, etc."

April 2009 - ID Theft and Safeguarding Your Child's Identity

"In the February 2009 Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Report – which reported on identity theft and fraud complaints for the year 2008 (see click here to read the full report) -- most parents should know that seven percent of children (19 years old and younger) are at risk of having their social security numbers stolen and their identities compromised."

March 2009 - Be Alert to ID Theft When Filing Your 2009 Taxes

"According to the February 2009 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Sentinel Report (see http://www.ftc.gov/sentinel/ for more information), government documents/benefits fraud is now the second most common reported type of identity theft after credit card fraud. Fraudulent tax return-related identity theft, a subtype of government documents/benefits fraud, has increased nearly six percentage points since 2006!"

February 2009 - ID Theft and Your Online Job Search: Things you should know

"Based on the current economic climate combined with unscrupulous cyber criminals, online jobseekers need to be cautious when using employment websites and even more cautious in screening for fraudulent job listings."

January 2009 - Consumer Risk Management: Protecting You and Your Family from ID Theft in 2009

"Whenever I speak or write about ID Theft trends and scams, I talk about how targeted attacks from professional thieves, organized crime, current and former employees, and/or current and former vendors break through internal controls to steal and sell sensitive employee and customer information."

December 2008 - Lesson Learned in 2008: No One Can Protect Your Information From Being Lost or Stolen

"Question: What does a federal government agency (FEMA), state government agencies (New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Louisiana Department of Revenue, Central California Appellate Program, Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation), the university and college system (Ohio University, University of North Carolina, Austin Peay State University, Oregon Health & Science University, Cal Poly Pomona), the medical industry (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), the auto dealership industry (Bill Dube Ford/Toyota), the movie theater industry (Zyacorp Entertainment Cinemagic Stadium), and the computer industry (Hewlett-Packard/Symantec) all have in common?"

August 2008 - Protect Your Identity Through Your Credit, Medical, and Drivers License Reports

"According to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT Act), every consumer in the United States – since September 1, 2005 – has had access to their free credit files disclosure or credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com."

May 2008 - Schools Out , Summer Vacation Is In and ID Theft Risks Increase

"Now that the school year has either ended or is ending for most families across the United States, it might be a good time to think about the growing trend of identity theft."

March 2008 - ID Theft and Tax Preparation; Did You Know?

"As I was preparing to write this month’s column on identity theft and tax preparation, it occurred to me that everyone could learn something from three personal and real life stories that made me scratch my head and say, "Huh!""

December 2007 - Embrace the New Year and Your Financial Health by Protecting Your Identity in 2008

"According to Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia), " a New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to project a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year’s Day and remain until the set goal has been achieved, although many resolutions go unachieved and are often broken fairly shortly after they are set.""

October 2007 - Synthetic Identity Fraud: A Growing Trend In ID Theft

"Most consumers think of identity theft as a financial related event including their credit and debit cards, checking and savings accounts, and/or their personal, student, auto or home loans."

August 2007 - A New School Year Brings More Opportunities for ID Theft

"As the school year begins in many areas of the country during the next few weeks, I was reminded of how children can become victims of identity theft – as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has estimated that about 400,000 children have their identities stolen each year."

June 2007 - ID Theft Is Bigger Than The Headlines

"Since February 2005 – when the watershed ChoicePoints data breach event took place – there have been over 450 data breaches (that we know of) affecting over 140 million records containing sensitive customer and employee information."

March 2007 - The Difference Between ID Theft Insurance and an ID Theft Program

"There have been some recent news articles questioning why an individual consumer would or should purchase an identity theft insurance policy."

December 2006 - A Resolution You'll Want To Keep

"If you’re like me, then you know how the end of each year brings out the best intentions in all of us. Every year, I take inventory of the past 12 months, plan how I’m going to better my life and then charge forward with some ironclad New Year’s resolutions. No matter how hard I try, however, a few of my resolutions from last year always seem to end up on this year’s list."

October 2006 - A New Perspective On Identity Theft

"While I knew identity (ID) theft could happen to me, I always believed that my odds of becoming a victim were small; after all, helping businesses and consumers protect themselves from ID theft is my business. When both my wife and I became victims of ID theft on three separate occasions in the last three years, however, I came to the conclusion that our personal information and the information of every consumer is not as secure as we may think."

July 2006 - Eliminating the Threat of Identity Theft? A Modern Fairy Tale

"Identity theft is a serious crime with damaging consequences: loss of credit, problems obtaining a loan, renting an apartment, constant calls from bill collectors… the list goes on. Victims of identity theft often spend more than 100 hours making phone calls and filing documents in an effort to repair the damage."