IDENTITY THEFT REPORT IDENTITY THEFT PROTECTION INFORMATION

It is in our best effort to keep you informed about identity theft. In our efforts we do our best to link you to the original identity theft report. We do this for two main reasons,
1.) Copyright laws and,
2.) We want you to understand the things we say about identity theft is not just from us, but third party validations from all over the country and world. We are not here to scare you, but to give you honest identity theft information, at the end of the day you still have to ask are you at risk? How would you find out? How will you prevent identity theft?

Our primary (1 - 30 - top right) identity theft reports, consist mostly of news videos, so you can learn the basics of id theft causes quickly. ID theft causes a lot of unwanted stress to the victims, and for some it seams like a never ending challenge. We continue to add more identity theft reports into our support area, or like an id theft chat room, an area were you can vent or sound off. Those posted last are listed below.

ID Theft Ads Bite Pitchman

ID Theft Ring Bust - 1000’s of Victims

Skimming Device Found In Tulsa

Worm Attacks Increase

RFID Forced Human Tagging Banned

Teenager in New Zealand Takes 20 M

Retailers Systems Easy To Hack

Techniques Change Constantly

Multi-National Cyber Crime - Busted

Red Flags Id Theft Rule

Getting Your Name Back

We also offer links to id theft causes, and ways to prevent identity theft from our main Identity Theft Information page.
All reports we have reviewed are linked to:

By title (in the News Tab)

By name of business with a breach.

By identity theft victims name (with a brief of case).

To be updated when we post new reports be sure to request our newsletter.

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MYTHS of ID THEFT
by Leon Carlson
Owner and author of Stolen Identity Report.

As we continue to bring you identity theft report after, identity theft report, some facts continue to amaze me. There is currently just a over 300,000 people who live in the United States - Yet at the time of this posting there are 245,303,523 (current reported data breaches) from the United States alone. This means that 1 in 5 people are already identity theft victims (15 million in 2006 alone, and 10 million a year for each of the 5 years prior). Based on these numbers 2 out of 3 people have already had their identity stolen; the thieves just haven’t used it YET - that you know of! Also note this is REPORTED breaches, this doesn’t count those not reported, or the fact that actual victim counts are about a year behind. Or those in which when reported, was noted as UNKNOWN number of breaches.

Add this to the fact that despite more awareness, tougher laws, and even special task forces that were developed just to catch identity theft in the past few years, the crooks are still ahead of the game. Less then 5% are caught. Those that are caught, most serve very little time, pay a small fine, and are out on probation. An example of this is the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team they employ 200 full time employees, who’s job it is to monitor, track and arrest those committing computer related crimes in the United States. That’s 200 people working 8 -12 hours a day. While the crooks, in some of the underground chat rooms, have 600 people logged on in a single hour (24 hours a day) selling stolen identities, melware, password readers, and other identity theft tools, in a format like eBay. That’s just one chat room. See report 2.

There is a new identity theft victim every 2 1/2 seconds!

In addition one case of identity theft can cost a police department $1000 or more, and thus the reason many cases never get investigated, unless it involves someone very important, rich, or a very large theft. That’s if it is reported properly. Even myself, I spend about a 1/3 of my working time, reviewing, and indexing identity theft articles and videos, (not investigating) in order to help keep you informed as to what’s going on. And I’m about 6 months and 75 emails behind. If I and the police can’t keep up, what makes you think you can?

Which brings me to some of the most common myths of identity theft.
1.) Why should I worry about identity theft - It can’t kill me? The myth is that most people consider only Financial Identity Theft - but Medical Identity Theft can kill you, and Criminal Identity Theft can put you in jail.

2.) I have no money, and bad credit so I can’t become a victim! Just because you have no money, doesn’t mean someone can’t create new accounts, or drain what you have in your current accounts. Some victims have been denied welfare, and charged with tax fraud, because someone else was working or owned a business with their Social Security Number.

3.) Besides if my identity was stolen, the police, the government and the credit companies would fix it, right?
Above, I already stated the limitations of the police department, not to mention if it’s within their jurisdiction. While the government writes and enforces the law, and provide different places to report identity theft. They do not fix your identity. As for the credit card companies - think about it - they write contracts that charge huge fees just because you’re late - they make their money while you owe them. Are they going to say “Oh, thanks for calling Mrs. Johnson, we’ll just wipe your slate clean”? You and only you are responsible for fixing the problem. For most, this takes 175 - 600 hours, lots of money and legal consultation.

If it’s a case of someone stealing your social security number, and that person then sells it on the internet, one person buys it and uses it right away, you’re a victim. Other persons may also purchase your social security number, but wait several months to use it, then you’re a victim again. Some have been victims over ten times (some sources say the average is 32 times). In order to break this cycle, you not only need a service that will monitor your credit report, but that will also monitor other data bases. Data bases that contain you social security, criminal, medical, drivers license and other information, so you will know when your information is being used. You need professionals who know how to correct each form of identity theft, not just hand you a do it yourself kit. Before you become a victim is the time to buy id theft protection. For most people the restoration is the costly and time consuming part of being a victim, not just the fact that they became a victim.

L Carlson - (AKA “Sir” owner of Stolen Identity Report”)