If you’ve noticed that a lot of financial institutions are advertising their “safety and security” lately, this is not a coincidence. It is not just a side effect of banks merging and going out of business either. The current economic situation is making people think more about the real risk of identity theft. People are stealing information and using it to buy products and services to the tune of millions of dollars, and they’re taking insurance information and using it to get complementary medical treatment – on the insured person’s dime.
According to Mintel, an international market research organization, nearly 50% of adults have become more worried about identity theft since the economic downturn. Many fear that banks have enough to worry about just to stay in business, so they are taking a bit of a laxe approach on account security. While bank representatives surely say this is not true, it may be in some circumstances.
Credit card fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry. Skimming is one of the financial industry’s fastest-growing crimes, according to the U.S. Secret Service. ATM skimming alone is responsible for $350,000 of fraud daily exceeding a billion dollars in losses annually.
Skimming can occur in a few different ways;
Wedge Skimming
The most common skim is when a store clerk/waiter etc. takes your card and runs it through a card reader device that copies the information from the magnetic strip. Once the thief has the credit or debit card data he downloads it to his PC then he can burn the data to a gift card or blank “white card” or place orders over the phone or online.
POS Swaps
EFTPOS (electronic funds transfers at the point of sale) skimming occurs when the point of sale terminal is replaced with a skimming device. People commonly swipe both credit and debit cards through the in-store machines to pay for goods and services at these outlets.
Chicago police warn consumers that identity thieves are using skimming devices to steal debit card, credit card and pin numbers. The skimming devices can be attached to a real ATM machine and the information is collected can be downloaded later.
Using the downloaded information they withdraw money from your account using the internet. It happened last week in Buffalo Grove and Wheeling Illinois.
More than 150 people reported money unknowingly withdrawn from their accounts, after ATM cards were used at a local grocery store. One customer checked her bank account and found $1,500 just disappeared.
Police say the transactions were done in California.
Chicago police also warn people to watch out for what they call “shoulder surfers” — people who peek over your shoulder at the ATM.
This story is about a victim of criminal identity theft. The victim is a trucker who discovered that his identity had been stolen when his commercial driver’s license was suspended because the thief who stole his identity had been busted for drinking and driving on four different occasions. Imagine.
The consequences of identity theft are often so overwhelming that the pressure affects every aspect of the victims’ lives. Sometimes the stress is so great that people just fall apart. In the case, the victim lost his license, his possessions, and his marriage.
After testifying against the identity thief, the victim, Earl Robert Hood, told the Associated Press, “It was just hard to sit there in that room with him, knowing what he’d done to me and my family. It’s not just me that it affected; it affected all four of my children, too. Because for two years, they didn’t have Christmas.” The victim went on to say the thief didn’t just steal his name; he stole his life.
Q: If I get my “FICO” credit score from all 3 credit bureaus and they are all within the same range (+/- ten points), what other credit score do I need to know before I apply for a loan, and how do I get that score?
A: You’ve taken a huge step in the right direction, as FICO is the most prevalently used credit score by lenders. I also give you kudos for knowing that you have 3 different credit reports, one from each of the 3 credit bureaus. I’m assuming you’ve read through each of your credit reports, to ensure they all contain accurate information. Although you mention that your scores are pretty much the same across all your credit reports, there may be some sort of discrepancy which accounts for the 10 point difference. Probably not anything big, but it does pay to fix any errors.
There are other companies that provide credit scores, but they generally use the same criteria as FICO (read about how your FICO score is calculated). The 3 credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Transunion – each have their own brand of credit score. Some major credit issuers have also developed their own branded scores. Since all these scores are based on your credit history, as long as your credit history and FICO scores are in good shape, you should be OK.
Instead of worrying about all the different scores out there, it makes more sense to take a look at other factors creditors consider when extending a mortgage or other type of loan. In addition to your credit scores and credit reports, potential lenders examine criteria like your income and employment history. They then take all this information, combine it with their own underwriting policies, determine whether you will be extended a loan and, if so, what the terms will be. This means that even if you have a good FICO score and a good income, if you’ve only been employed for 3 months and want a $700,000 loan, the lender may consider the credit risk to be too high to extend a loan. In addition, creditors in different regions of the US may perceive your information differently.
The bottom line is that you shouldn’t depend on a single creditor for your loan. Shop around and compare offers to make sure you’re getting the best one.
If you want a Puerto Rican identity, it’s about $6000 for a “tripleta,” which can be used to hide illegal immigrants. Other forms of identification vary in price. A United States passport can range from $950 to $1650 to as much as$5500.
In the U.S., we have as many as 200 different forms of identification circulating, including passports from state to state, plus another 14,000 birth certificates and 49 versions of the Social Security card. These are paper and plastic documents that can be recreated with a PC, scanner, printer, and laminator.
McAfee Avert Labs researcher Francois Paget found and posted an ad showing U.S. identities for $650 each. It’s not incredibly difficult to buy fake IDs online, but will they pass muster with technologies that look for tampering?
LifeLock, one of the largest and most well known providers of identity theft protection in the United States, recently received recognition from Arizona Business Magazine. The company was given the Most Admired Companies Award, or MAC Award. As the recipient of this honor, LifeLock was recognized at a reception on September 14 at the Ritz Carlton in Phoenix and featured in a special report in the magazine during the same month, along with other winners.
The magazine gives the MAC award to companies who display excellence in corporate citizenship, judging them based on three major criteria: workplace culture, leadership and social responsibility and customer opinion.
According to Cheryl Green, vice president of marketing for Arizona Business Magazine, “These companies truly exemplify what it means to be a good corporate citizen.