Consumer Blog
More reasons to watch for ID theft
Three articles just in the last week are strong arguments that we should all be taking steps to detect ID theft. No need to fear it - just watch for it.
These are known as data breaches: First, a federal government agency has audited the IRS and found it's doing an inadequate job of protecting taxpayer data.
Second, the Texas AG sues a local Radio Shack store for failing to protect customer data. Allegedly, store workers threw records in the dumpster without destroying them. Note the part about the shredder receipt.
Third, the State of Georgia announced that a disk containing personal information of almost 3 million citizens is missing, lost by a private company that contracts with the state.
ID theft statistics leave a lot to be desired. Most victims don't know how their info gets stolen. But so far the numbers show that data breaches don't lead to a lot of ID theft. For example, in the cases above, all we know is that the info was potentially available to thieves. We don't know a) if any thieves got it and b) if they did, whether they used it to commit a crime.
More commonly, friends and relatives steal IDs, or thieves use lost or stolen purses and wallets.
Still, all this is a reminder that there's only so much prevention you can do. A lot of this is out of your control, so you need to be detecting. AG Nixon's publication on ID theft has the basic steps for prevention and detection.
Technorati Tags: Radio Shack, consumer protection, id theft, identity theft, personal information, moagoconsumer, consumer protection
Posted by on April 10, 2007 10:54 am :: Comments (1) :: Permalink
1 Response to "More reasons to watch for ID theft"
says:
April 17, 2007 10:23 am
We were recently victims of I.D. theft. One of the ways they were able to use our credit card data on line was by obtaining our home mailing address. It is readily available from those "people search" data bases. Now, I know what you are going to say. I've removed our information from the data bases, only to have them show up again at a later date.
I emailed on and asked how to "permanently remove" our data. The response was for us to have our information sealed at the "county level". So the People Search data bases obtain the information directly from the county. (Recently, my county started to make our tax information accessible to anyone online.) I called the county I live in and started with the assessors office. I was told they had no idea how to go about sealing my records, going so far as to suggest I try to contact a lawyer and have them tell me for free.(??!!) I then was referred to another department, the second department suggested I contact the County Commissioners office, as they are over both departments. I emailed the County Commissioners almost 3 weeks ago; to date, I've heard nothing. I find it very frustrating that I am trying to protect my family and myself from further theft, only to find that my information is readily distributed by the county government.
I also hold several MO state licenses. That information is also being sold. I contacted the state several weeks ago via email. I did get a response asking which licenses I hold, I responsded. That was 2 weeks ago, and I've heard nothing since.
