Slashdot Mirror
Identity Theft Countermeasures?
gbell asks: "Stories about reconstructing shredded documents and horrific tales of rampant identity theft (at least 750K victims/year) have me scared and wondering if I'm being careful enough. What are savvy Slashdot readers doing to protect their financial identity? I already have fraud alerts on my credit reports, which make sure I'm contacted if any requests for additional credit happen. I've called 800-5-OPT-OUT and stopped all the credit card offers. I use unique passwords on all of my online financial accounts. I shred and pulp-ify all documents. I order periodic copies of my credit reports (although I'm irked that I have to pay for them - they're only free if you've been recently denied credit). Is there anything else I should be doing? People spend years sorting out ID theft, and I'm wondering when credit-abusers will start crying 'fraud' just to get out of debt... making things even harder for the true victims. Cops don't have time to do anything, even if you find the perp yourself. The situation looks like it's going to get much worse, and I'm willing to take steps now to increase my security at the cost of convenience. Suggestions?"
IMO this is just another case of the media sesationalizing news to drive up ratings. The article you cited only proves my theory, it reads like one of those community interest pieces on local TV telling the whole sad life story of Michael Berry... like i give a damn.
use unique passwords on all of my online financial accounts. I shred and pulp-ify all documents. I order periodic copies of my credit reports...
I really don't think all of this is necessary. And where did you hear that there were 750,000 cases of identity theft anually? I think this is a stretch. How is identity theft being defined in this report? Would you clasify credit card fraud as identity theft? In that case the number might be accurate, but cc fraud is mostly just a hassle for you as the credit card company and their insurance company are the ones who are liable.
Visualize the world of wine
when you get a receipt, tear out your credit card number and tear it into smaller pieces. People can pick them out of the trash. I'm always careful to do this, many places put your number on your receipt.
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god." - Thomas Jefferson
I would just like to point out that this is not necessarily a problem of "not having time" as much as it's a problem of incentives. Cops are not incentivized to reduce the quantity of crime. Legislators are somewhat incentivized to reduce crime, or at least appear to be trying, but almost none of that actually trickles down to the department itself. Certainly there are plenty of honest individuals in the police force - but an institution as a whole, unfortunately, tends to follow its incentives regardless of how moral and honest its constituent members are. What we need is to reward police departments for actually reducing the reported crime. This of course would require a separate third party or ombudsman to report the crime to so that departments couldn't just ignore the crime reports. But IMHO this would force police departments to be more creative and proactive about reducing actual crime. Right now their biggest incentive is to get their traffic ticket quotas in each month.
-Ansel.
G=C800:5
Something similar happened to me, when someone changed their name to exactly the name of my father, and our credit reports got mixed up. (They lived in the same town, so it was odd.) All it took was a call to the credit company to get it straightened out, but we need to call occasionally to make sure that the credit gets fixed. 'das all.
1. Delete your identity. I mean, really, do you need one? Just pay with cash and work for money under the table!
2. Steal someone elses and use it as your own. Then, if it's stolen, your real identity is still safe, and you can go steal another one.
don't give out anything that would identify me online, if I can possibly avoid it.
As a result, very few online know anything about me. It's just easier that way.
Why not steal the suckers identity! An eye for an eye... a credit card bill for no credit card bill....
Ask Slashdot: Identity Theft Countermeasures? (-1, Troll)
...because of two simple reasons:
1) Social security numbers are being used as "unique identifying numbers" EVERYWHERE. When you've gotten someone's SS#, you're halfway to having their identity.
2) Corporations and government agencies now operate almost exclusively on "scripts" and set patterns of behavior. In other words, there is a system to how each and every corporation or government entity does each and every thing that it does. Once you learn the system, all it takes is a little clever social engineering to pass your way through the entity's "checkpoints" (say, the question "What is your mother's maiden name?" or "What are the last four digits of your social security card?") and voila, they believe you are the person you're trying to become.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
Just do what I did ...ruin your credit and stay unemployed. I couldn't give my identity away.
If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it. -- Calvin Coolidge
Tin, not aluminium.
don't you watch tv? its `actor' now
Such as Bill Gates.
I mean who is going to try and steal his identity?
I buy SCO shares, write to my government in support of DMCA, advise Microsoft on their competitor's moves and ways to hurt them, complain about the lack of options in Slashdot polls, think that patents are essential to modern economies and current US patent practices are lax and do not provide enough incentives, use Visual Basic, buy Disney movies, drive an SUV and am Microsoft-certified.
Everyone who tried to steal my identity so far died of shame and contempt from fellow citizens.
If everyone (or a governement on their behalf) would publish their names with their Social Security Numbers, then society would quickly come up with a better way to deal with ID theft, than half-hearted attempts at keeping them secret from everyone but any employer or potential employer or health provider or insurance agent or.....
It would also put us all at equally (low) risk.
... in a remote mountain top cave, it doesn't sound like there is much else that you can be doing. One question for you; did you move all your money to into the paper dominated Bulgarian banking system in 1999 as well?
Just steal an extra identity and use that.
I suggest you sell all your worldy possessions, move to a cabin in Montana, and write lengthy rants on the cruelty of technology while simultaneously sending out bombs in paper bags.
are about to be pounced upon by a man-eating tiger. One man starts to properly lace up and tighten his running shoes. The second one looks at him and says, "Do you think you can outrun a tiger?"
The first man replies, "I don't have to outrun the tiger - I just have to outrun you."
You're taking all the right steps to protect yourself - short of becoming an unperson, you can't become totally secure. People who resort to breaking the law to get what they want, as a general rule, are not interested in working any harder than necessary. Make sure that stealing your identity is quite a bit tougher than that of the guy next door, and let diminishing returns work for you.
Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
They make some much cheaper models ($200-300), but the Olie model would be pretty cool to have.
Visit http://www.transunion.com/content/page.jsp?id=/per sonalsolutions/general/data/FraudInformation.xml
...by totally trashing my credit and getting myself accused of murder. Anyone who steals my identity is in for a rude awakening.
Is there anything else I should be doing?
Consider getting one of these.
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance" - Derek Bok
Do not use your social security number for anything other than taxes and social security. Once someone has your name and SSN, they can sign up for credit cards in your name.
Health insurance, higher education organizations, etc. love using SSN because it is unique. These organizations can not require you to give your SSN.
When signing up for new service, write Please assign number in the SSN box. Most places I have done this with are happy to comply. If you already have accounts with your SSN as your id, CHANGE IT and just tell your doctors your insurance number changed.
I was incredibly annoyed when my health insurance company printed my social security number on my health insurance card. I no longer carry that card with me. :P
- AmitIs just under 1/3% based on 2000 census data
Based on your current practices I calculate that you are more likely to be eaten by a grue than to have your ID stolen.
-Peter
I was a victim of this crime from 86 - 99 without ever knowing it.... I cant even get a credit report because the info on mine is soo skewed it doesnt reflect that I am even who I am. I now use other names and heavy encryption to stay safe. I only pay in cash. I'm quite paranoid. Dont let it happen to you.
Words are only yours until someone else uses them...
They track your every move with those strips in the CC's. Shhhhh, carry them in tin foil.
Do like I do, don't use my real identity. If someone starts using one of my identities, I stop using it, and continue with another one.
Just kidding. But some people do this..
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Your mothers swimsuit is full of dried up knicker bacon.
Mod this twit the fuck down.
Change your name by deed poll to 'My Name Has Been Stolen!'
You may have problems in airports and anywhere else where proof of identity is required, but at least nobody else will steal it...
I was selling a video card for a friend on eBay, and someone writes me from Spain, saying she's starting a computer shop in Amsterdam or something and needs parts. She was completely insane, but I just chalked it up to the language barrier. I cancelled the auction and waited for her to transfer money to my PayPal account. I wasn't really concerned because I figured since I got the money first, what did I have to lose?
A lot, it turns out. So she finally transfers me the money, I transfer the money to my bank account, and I go right down to FedEx and send the card 2-day. When I get back home, I have an email from PayPal telling me that the person who sent me the money had their account hijacked and PayPal had taken the money back. This, I suppose, was fine. I couldn't argue because I had agreed to their terms. I was a little pissed because I wasn't the idiot who had their account hijacked, but such is life.
So I immediately called FedEx and had them stop the shipment, but it was already over the Atlantic, so they couldn't stop it until it got to Spain. This caused me to have to pay for it to be shipped back, effectively doubling my shipping costs. Not cheap...this was 2-day to Spain.
I was further irked by PayPal's bad programming. Instead of intercepting and canceling my bank transfer, they just deducted the money from my PayPal account, so now I was in the negative, and had to wait for the transfer to go through, and then transfer the money back. Annoying, but at least it was free.
So what about PayPal's protection policy? Doesn't apply to international orders. Also, you have to ship to the person's registered address. Not sure I know how to even look that up.
Oh, also, I checked the eBay ID of the person, and that was a hijacked account, too. The person sold a lot of "exotic" drinking glasses and had a high feedback rating. Obviously, not someone in the computer fraud business.
Anyway, the point of my story was that you have to be careful even if you're the seller. Only ship to registered PayPal addresses and check what sort of stuff a person is selling on eBay. I recently saw someone selling a really cheap Powerbook, but all their previous items were dolls, or something. Definitely something fishy there.
Good luck.
If you live in one of the following states you are entitled to one free credit report/year:
Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Vermont.
As far as getting one when you are denied credit, all it really takes is an inquiry. The credit agency doesn't know if the credit card, loan office, etc. approved or denied you. So if you've applied for anything recently you can call up and get a free report.
Call these numbers and follow the prompts for having been denied credit:
Experian 800.353.0809
Equifax 888.567.8688
TransUnion 800.680.7293
To opt-out from credit card and other marketing offers, call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT. It's no longer 800-5-OPT-OUT.
You should note that the 1-800-5-OPT-OUT number has changed to 1-888-5-OPT-OUT. Anyone looking to opt out of credit card offers should call the new number.
Common sense. Use it.
Just this week, I was registering to take the FE exam (for engineering certification) in October. DAPE (who adminsters the test) then sends you a packet including a pre-addressed card that has to be sent in immediately (You've already sent them all this information. I don't understand why they want it all again) You put your information on it and mail it back to them. They actually want people to put their SSN on the card (no envelope) and mail it back. I sent it back to them (in an envelope, of course) with a little sticky-note telling them that I didnt think it was wise sending my SSN in plain sight through the mail.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
hmm.. i thought that you could always get a free copy of your credit report from any of the 3 credit reporting agencies as gauranteed by the FCRA ( read section 610 at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm#609)...all you have to do is ask them in writing and they are obligated to do it. All these companies that offer free credit reports are data mining scams (or maybe just lesser scams)
Every time you check your credit you risk damaging your credit. Stupid but true. As few as two checks can damage your credit score. So don't go checking your report a lot.
I've called 800-5-OPT-OUT and stopped all the credit card offers. I use unique passwords on all of my online financial accounts. I shred and pulp-ify all documents. I order periodic copies of my credit reports
Erm... you really think they're after you, don't you?
Say what?? An ethnic?? Wtf
Such scripts can also be used to help the 'victum' in this case... or as in my own case... many of the people along that scripts chain have misspelled or mistook my name so badly and in so many ways... that even if someone 'stole' my identity... they could only get one of many of them and would be quiet unsure what one would be me for real. And if they don't get the right one...
Well.... they be doomed to confusion.
This also works with the government. So far most of them have not a clue who I really am.
Please repost. This does not decode to txt. Again: This does not decode to txt.
I love how the credit agencies are fear mongering so they can sell their credit alert services. If they were really concerned about indentity theft they would allow us free acess to check our reports. Instead of making us spend $65 a year to notify us about credit changes. And BTW that $65 is for one credit agency there's two others as well. Such a scam.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
God Bless America, where the best rapper is a white dude.
God Bless America, where the best golfer is a black dude.
God Bless America, when it wants to go to war and the Germans dont.
God Bless America
God Bless America
God Bless America
God Bless America
God Bless America
The number is actually 1-888-5-OPT-OUT. It changed recently, according to the recorded message.
You have the option of getting "off the lists" for 2 years, or forever. You also have the option of getting back on the lists -- why you'd want to, I don't know.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
he means a nigger.
you ss# is on no less than 40 public records. Thats PUBLIC, as in go down to your local court house and look up someones info, property taxes, titles, whatever and you have their ss#. People freak-out way too much over their ss#'s, if I want your SS# all i need is your name and county of residence...
In my town, the cops get to confiscate vehicles and then drive them as a "company car" they paint DARE all over them but its still a porsche.
Every time you request a copy of your credit report, your credit rating declines. Doing it several times a year will quickly put you on the wrong side of the credit game.
This aggrivates me to no end. The US Army requires its soldiers to put their SSNs on almost every official peice of paperwork relating to them. Home addresses are only a 201 file away. I'm pretty sure that identity theft is rampant in the US military. Officers and high-ranking NCOs are probably even more vulnerable because of their higher salaries. I wish we would abandon SSNs for a military-only serial number.
That way if anything does happen, you will notice any false transactions straight away and takes steps to stop it immediately.
I'm going to tell that one to my children. Well put.
Quack, quack.
+1, paranoid
If you're sending snail-mail, dropt it off at the post office or in an official postal service collection box. Trust me, I know from experience.
I have two good tips for people- I recently had to get a rather large line of credit, and had a few tips from the banker:
1) Have all your cheques, and credit cards just use your first and middle inital, and of course your full last name. That way, if someone is trying to forge your signiture, (at least for cheques) they have no idea how you sign your name, ie do you include the intials ect...
2) Use a strange name/password on all your bank accounts instead of your mothers maiden name. With all the info available in a wallet, this is sort of a last line of defence for you, you're better off using something they can't figure out themselves by doing a little research. You dont need to make it a 'strong' password (I can just picture someone talking to the operators at visa:'lower case h, upper case J, 5, ') but make it difficult to guess or research.
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, now would it?' -Albert Einstein-
you ss# is on no less than 40 public records. Thats PUBLIC, as in go down to your local court house and look up someones info, property taxes, titles, whatever and you have their ss#. People freak-out way too much over their ss#'s, if I want your SS# all i need is your name and county of residence...
I try to make my identity as unattractive as I can to thieves... Huge debt load, multiple bankrupcties, name in all of the telemarketing databases, etc. Let the bastards have it.
--- http://foo.ca
He means a wetback.
If you are like me and really pissed off, and have some good advice on legislation that can be supported to change all this, please post it below.
I'm willing to take steps now to increase my security at the cost of convenience.
(emphasis mine)
Not to rain on your parade or anything, but from the trouble you've taken (different passwords everywhere, spending money on periodic credit reports, premptive fraud alarms attached to your credit that will make applying for any sort of acredit a Pain for you) you already ARE at the point where you've given up a lot of convienence.
That being said, the one thing I've done that is 'inconvienent' is I don't sign my credit cards. Now, I don't mean I leave them blank - thats asking to get ripped off (anyone who steals the card can sign your name) - I put 'SEE ID' in the signature area. Mind you, a few places don't even bother to check the sig area, so you're still SOL if someone steals your card and uses it at a lax restraunt or gas station, but having the guy behind the counter ask to see a photo ID every time I buy something expensive feels like a good tradeoff to me.
Of course, someone could always make a fake ID with their photo and my name on it, but thats a lot of effort, and frankly, I'm not That paranoid. I have fraud insurance on all of my accounts, and have very clean credit. If I loose a card at an ATM (by forgetting it), or loose a imprinted recipt, I call the card company immediatly. Having a track record of getting new cards whenever something like that happens does wonders when there is something questionable on your statement and you call about it.
Along that vein, a friend of mine recommends reporting your card lost once or twice a year, just to get new cards with different numbers.
Then again, that friend is a little bit more paranoid then I am... He's about as paranoid as you are...
Hey, wait a second, you're name isn't Bryan is it?
man is machine
I feel more comfortable having the card with me (it's a huge headache going to the emergency room without it and having to pay/submit the bills later--it happened to my partner).
What I have done instead is to cut out my social security number from the card. It hasn't phased any of the people I've given it to at hospitals or clinics, they just ask me to give them my social so they can write it on the photocopy of the card that they make.
It's important to remember that even though identity thieves are among the lowest of criminals, they aren't necessarily stupid. It's a common tactic for thieves to prey upon those who offer the greatest "return" on the investment of the thieves' time. Those most at risk are likely to have a number of common factors: high-limit or even limitless credit cards, excellent credit ratings, a complex network of high-balance accounts in various banks, a significant amount of money in savings and investments, etc. In order to best protect yourself and your loved ones, I recommend that you minimize your profile to the would-be thieves. There are a number of simple steps you can take to ensure your safety. For example:
* Do you have student loans? If so, consider letting the payments slip a little. Nobody wants an identity that can't take out student loans!
* Keeping up on your car payments? Stop. Thieves are less likely to steal the identity of someone who is being harassed by a repo man. As an added bonus, your chances of being victim to auto-theft just decreased significantly!
* Do you have a mortgage? Possibly, but I doubt you have enough of them! No thief wants to inherit the wrath of a bank trying to track down three mortgages' worth of money!
* How are your long-term investments? CD's? Mutual funds? Privately-managed portfolio? It doesn't matter; all of these glitter to the eyes of a veteran identity thief. You are much safer holding your money in an interest-free highly-liquid invesment account (coffee can). By reducing your apparent (and real) wealth, you become a much less desirable target.
* Employed? Then why not just toss your credit cards out the window? Nothing says "bullseye" like reliable employment. And consider this: when's the last time your heard someone in the unemployment line complain about identity theft. Never? Nobody likes to go through the effort of stealing an identity only to be rewarded with food stamps and meager checks.
In the end, identity theft will remain a significant problem in America--but only to those unlucky enough to ignore the above advice. The intelligent self-accountant will even find some more creative ways to be less attractive to thieves; consider child-support payments, court-ordered deportation, and terrorist sponsorship as well! Your safety in these trying times is only limited by your imagination.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
Shit, what key are you using, try this one:-
8 hvu34ch9hvuiowncjidshvc823yfu4c ui34vbe bviog98y32rbjh4fgewyf23
vrhjfvy98ewth43uiyf834nfoirvy98ernv34rf34
bijvy9
uifh97ecbihhf79hv
cuy4f2hfu32bfui32hf82vnwkevuowqf9
gogg9v
wbfi8
Finally, a good use for used diapers.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Already. My wife sells telecom equipment for a major vendor, and they've had one guy try it. He bought something, and wanted to return it, but knew their policy wouldn't allow it. Instead, he claimed he never placed the order, that it was someone else stealing his card. Nice, huh?
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Also, you can instruct the credit reporting services that you do not want "instant credit." These are the deals you see at various stores where you can get one of that store's credit cards simply by showing you already have a Master Card, Visa, Discover, etc. and a driver's license. They even offer you 10% off your purchases as an additional incentive for signing up on the spot. If your wallet gets stolen, these deals make it all too easy for someone to open up a bunch of accounts at a variety of places and you *don't even know the accounts exist* until they don't get paid and a collection agency backtracks the applications to you.
Its a hassle since you can't get a credit card on the spot but its one less way for someone to easily pretend to be you.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Most of the shredded document recovery things that exist work on the principle of long strips of shredded documents. You can get better ones that do cross cutting and essentially turn your shredded documents into confetti. Or hell, go to Home Depot and get an industrial grade garbage disponsal. Dump all your documents into one of those bad boys and nobody will ever reconstruct them.
Or you can do what my old workplace did, any shredded documents were thrown away in cycles so you never have all of a document in the trash. A little logic and common sense is all you need if you're worried about this.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
"Do better than average..."
The unofficial
Go here: www.identitytheft.org
Once you've been a victim, the onus is on you to clear it up. The dificulty is that once 'Joe Sixpack' discovers he's had his identity stolen, the credit cards are already 90 days past due. The only way to clear up the credit report at that point is to produce irrefutable evidence that you were actually a victim, and not a deadbeat debtor. So here's the rub; It is nearly impossible to collect that proof 90 days after the crime. (I swear, thats not my signature!)
Nobody wants to help you, because true deadbeat debtors are claiming victim status as well. Credit card companies won't help, they want their money. Essentially, nobody is on your side. When you have finally obtained irrefutable evidence, you must prove and prove again to every entity your victim status. The credit card company (or whomever the debt is owed to), the company that is holding the debt (collection agencies) et al, and THEN you must convince the Credit Bureaus (all three of them).
This is why getting the ID stolen is such a pain. I know, I was once a victim.
Switching gears here...
I performed a security audit on a College last year. I was horrified to discover that even today they are using the students Social Security Numbers as the Student ID's. I realize this is nothing new, but the fact that this information is used in such an open forum is staggering. Professors post student grades on tests under the "Student ID's" so you don't know who got the A's, and who got the F's. Take that list of SSN#'s, correlate to names, figure out where they live and you've got a whole slate full of pristine credit reports.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
(Well, I'm 19, so read the above: about 6 years ago) I was hanging out with some of my young and stupid "friends" in a mall, and some lady had left her obviously expensive looking Visa card on the counter at an expensive store. Don't do this. (The lady had apparently cancelled it before it was of any use to the perpetrator, who tried to use it to dial 900 numbers of his liking).
While I wasn't the one who picked it up, I've still never mentioned this account to anybody. It's really easy to lose your credit cards and such no matter where you are. At a fancy restaurant? Ask if you run the card through the machine yourself. Perhaps it ruins the mood for a second, but it's better than the disgruntled 23-year old waiter who didn't like the tip you gave him.
Money surely can't buy everything, but it sucks total ass when somebody else has it.
Keep your friends close, your enemies closer and never let other people touch your credit card. 'Nuff said.
www.sitetronics.com/wordpress
personally, i just don't watch Fox News.
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)
God bless America
Wrap all your credit cards and identification in tinfoil. Encase it in solid cement and bury it under a tonne of scrap metal. Then shoot anyone that comes within 100 meters of your id stash.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
You've obviously never worked with any police departments before.
/Qualif.
I work at a software company that builds CAD (Comptuer Aided Dispatch) software, and builds the systems for Dispatch Centers. I get to spend regular time with all sorts of emergency centers around the country.
These people are some of the most underpaid, underappreciated lot in our society (with the exceptions of teachers). They work long, hard, mentally-disturbing stints...in a community that probably doesn't even give a rats backside port about them.
They place their lives on the line, every day...even for somthing as stupid as a pull-over for a bad tail light.
Here's the kicker...Identity theft is a minor offense...with extremely limited resources (thanks Bush for cutting back on this), which would you rather have them pursue $Priorities?"Murder":"Petty Theft";
Meh...my $0.02
GOD BLESS AMERICA, Because we dont have to deal with so many godless commies writing stupid poems about how bad our country sucks.
How do you know he wasn't telling the truth ?
If you are required to provide a social security number for some purpose, consider using 078-05-1120, which was printed on "sample" cards inserted in thousands of new wallets sold in the 40's and 50's. It's been used so widely that both the IRS and SSA recognize it immediately as bogus, while most clerks haven't heard of it.
See this page.
Steal somebody elses Identity and use theirs.
Insert Witty Remark Here ===>____________________________
God Bless America, with the worst crime levels in the first world
***Because it is better to let the guilty go free, than to let an innocent man go to jail.
God Bless America, where "democracy" means a rich, white male as President
***Then move here, become a citizen, and VOTE
God Bless America, the biggest consumer of the world's natural resources
***Whaaaa Whaaaaa
God Bless America, where "freedom of speech" means race-hate groups like KKK
***Better than banning thier right to speech, then the ACLU's, then the press's, then my neighbor's, then mine (slippery slope and all that)
God Bless America, and its massive and ever-growing poverty gap
***Because a lot of people like to be lazy. You don't have to be poor. It may take a while, but ANYONE can make SOMETHING of themselves if they want to work for it.
God Bless America, with the highest obesity levels in the developed world
***See response above
God Bless America, all its appalling "sitcoms" with no grasp of irony
***You got me there....
God Bless America, because corporations should be allowed to run amok
***Yea, it happens and needs to be fixed. NO ONE is perfect.
God Bless America, wasting billions to attack foreign countries
***We had to do what we had to do. Sometimes you need to kick the shit outta someone else in order to make the world a better place. Do you HONESTLY believe that the Iraqis would be better of if Sadam was still in power?
God Bless America, and thank God I don't have to live there.
***My sentiments exactly
Sorry for the rant. I get sick and tired of people bashing to US. No we aren't perfect, yes we have a lot of problems that need to be solved. But damn, we can't be perfect.
Don't believe all the hype. Who do you think is behind all these "identity theft" articles and statistics.
You are not liable for more than fifty bucks or something like that if someone steals your credit card. Big banks and credit card companies know this so they try to scare you with the boogeyman "identity theft" stories.
One time someone stole my credit card to go bar hopping and buy a bunch of stuff he could trade for drugs. I never had to pay a dime, and nothing went on my credit report. I just told the CC company and they wrote it off.
Why do they send out millions upon millions of offers per year? Why do they make it so easy to get more credit, both from a procedural and financial perspective, even when you can't afford it?
Easy. Money. They should be held responsible for each and every time their system fails. When they suddenly realise that there needs to be a balance between them making money and them losing it through the courts, maybe they will open their eyes.
Don't even be visible that much. Live in a house under someone elses name, be unlisted in the phonebook, don't volunteer any information to anyone unless *absolutely* neccessary(such as a job, mortgage, etc.) In non-essential things, always use fake info.
I once had to get rid of a few hundred checks because I moved. The account was still valid. I couldn't figure out how to destroy them, and I didn't want to throw them away. So I put them in my attic. My kids can throw them away when I die.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Something like this happened recently to my mom. Someone used her credit card to buy a domain name and some other services... luckily the company they bought it from called us. We had to cancel the card, but we don't have any idea if they bought anything else; she might even have paid for it already. Today we got a letter from a local Costco store saying that they had lost one of her checks, and asking her to cut another one - the check they say they lost already cleared a week ago.
So this brings to mind a point - it's very easy for someone who works at a store to get their hands on all the necessary information they need to screw you, especially stores with membership like Costco. Right at their fingertips they have your home address, your name, credit card information, checks, even a photo. If they were to spend some time and money to get their hands on your SSN, they'd have everything they need to pretend to be you. It's pretty frightening.
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
See this post. Your method would work, but it is unnecessary unless you're trying to steal the identity of a particular person. Why make it easier for identity thieves?
I undid the base64 and found a bitmap file - has anyone figured out what it means?
Stop using credit cards.
Yes - they can charge you to view your own credit report. That's a service they provide. You can request a free copy if you have been recently rejected when applying for credit. The company declining to extend you credit will generally issue a letter stating what, if any, credit bureau was used in scoring your credit application.
-rick
The first problem, that SSNs are used everywhere, isn't really a security problem. SSNs aren't secret by a long stretch. To use them as passwords (as in problem 2) is just not right. The problem with SSNs being used everywhere is that it makes it trivial to combine records from different databases, which would not otherwise be easily automated. Gleaning information from databases that are combined can benefit companies, and hurt consumers.
Your health insurance people sure would like to know if you're ordering books on amazon.com that were also ordered by people who bought "Advancing Smoker's Rights" or "100% LARD - gravy recipes for every day of the month".. If every database listed your SSN, a unique identifier, it's a hell of a lot easier than figuring out whether J.Doe at 31 Palacestreet is also John K. Doe at 31 Palacest.
Of course, SSNs do make it easier to access information in general, so an identity thief can make life easier on himself by using your SSN to get ahold of your credit report or medical records, but that's not a failing of the SSN itself. That's just not keeping things secret.
Mother's maiden name authentication schemes suck ass (donkey!). In general not a lot of thought is given to security, especially when everything is done on paper; it took the internet before credit cards got those numbers on the back that change when you get a new card (smartest thing ever; my CCnumber is on the invoices I get. Which also list the expiration date when the invoice is for the yearly fee.. I've not been asked for the CVC/CVV code yet..)
It's basically a choice for convenience over security.
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
OR
Get out of your paranoid delusion. You are much more likely to be knocked on the head and left in a dumpster than to have your identity stolen. You don't find yourself "Checking all local dumpsters at least 8 times a year" do you?
Take reasonable precautions and the GET A GRIP.
The reason why "SEE ID" is a bad idea is that now you've made it EASIER for somebody to use your credit cards fraudulently.
See, real identity criminals can often obtain fake IDs. So, now they don't even have to TRY to forge your signature.. they just have to get a fake ID with the same scrawl.
The decoded file is ANOTHER base64 file which when unbase64'd contains a bitmap graphic. No idea about the enclosed data though.
First things first, get your fingerprints removed. A good big bucket of nitric acid should do the trick. Next up: those pesky iris patterns. I recommend you gouge out your eyeballs with a spoon and use the sockets to mount a pair of webcams. There was a story on slashdot a while back about a neural interface for these puppies. Remember, if you don't have eyeballs they can't steal your iris patterns! So far, so good. The next problem is your DNA. The bad news is, this is a cinch to steal and there isn't much you can do about it short of going round in a giant body condom for the rest of your life. The good news is, it's quite hard to use. However, before the time when ATMs authenticate you by taking a cheek cell sample I recommend you look into the latest in DNA resequencing technology and splice in a good long GPG public key somewhere. You'll have to memorize the secret key, all 4096 bits of it, and then wear a metal Faraday cage round your skull to prevent people reading it right out of your brain. -- There's a bunch of loonies in here. Loonies, I tell you!
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
with this economy, i ask; what financial identity??
...is not valid.
"Your search - "who has the software with the most security bugs ever" - did not match any documents."
No unauthorized use. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.
IAAL, and this is way overblown. You have more rights than you could shake a stick at! If you are denied credit, all you have to do is to get a copy of the notice of denial,and then write to that creditor and the consumer reporting agency (i.e., credit bureau,and there are only three that matter) and you credit report will thereafter infom anyone who asks for it that there is an identity theft issue.
Be sure to RTF credit denial notice thoroughly. Also RTF credit card bill, etc. and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS under the Fair Credit Billing Act, which are printed on the back of every one.
I figured I'd get that one after I posted. He wasn't a new customer - he placed the order by email, and she recognized his emails (I guess his sig or something). So sounds pretty suspicious.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Word of caution. If you read the card contracts, you MUST sign the back. Many places will accept a 'see id' note, but more and more places will not (like the us post office for instance and many car rental places).
Save youself some trouble, put 'see id' and sign it as well. I get about a 70% hit rate.
Dogu
I feel more comfortable having the card with me (it's a huge headache going to the emergency room without it and having to pay/submit the bills later--it happened to my partner).
Amen! In my case sorting out the bills from an ER visit (I was not concious at the time, they didn't check my ID) was more painful, and took more time (over a year too comletion), than the actual ER visit. It sucks.
Fake identity (either fabricated or stolen) is more common than most people think.
......
I don't have the figures to hand, but here in Australia, there are several million more tax file numbers (the equivalent to Socian Security Numbers in the USA, or NI numbers in the UK) than the census would lead you to expect. The 'extra' tax files are basically criminals laundering money, various tax frauds (the second job in a false name to avoid tax) etc.
Trust me, you don't want to have your identity stolen.
A USAian friend some years ago had no end of trouble with the taxman there. She lived in NY, someone in Montana was working in a gas station under her SSN. Guess who got the tax bill?
The IR seemed to believe she was commuting most of the way across the USA for a part time job at minimum wage, and were very persistent in chasing her for the money. Every attempt to reason with them was met with "but our records show..."
Now imagine that the identity thief is not some redneck low-life, but a cocaine smuggler, international terrorist, serial killer
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Credit reports are free in Canada. (if you mail/fax in) Online reporting costs.
Why not suggest they make them free in the US?
It really is in the your, the credit bureaus and the creditors best interest to have accurate information.
The smarter identity theifs actually pay the minimum payment to keep sucking money without alerting you.
BTW my favourite financial advice site is fool.com. They have many intelligent and well written articles that give guidance on these topics.
It would be nice if police did decide to have some semblance of a rational prioritization of infractions. So, if 'identity theft' is too piddling an issue for law enforcement to bother handling, why should having a broken tail light consume their 'precious' time?
You're right about that SSN stuff. I bank at Wells Fargo and until a few months(2-3) back, I only had the option of using my SSN instead of a username.
:)
I've used a key logger on my computer for ~2 years now(legal reasons). Whenever my friends visited my apartment, they would ask me to login so that they could check their email etc. I used to flatly refuse and tell them my machine had a key logger in it.
One way to check if a machine has a keylogger is to type some stuff like "yakyak", reboot and do a search for text files containing that term.
I had to do this a few times to convince my friends and sometimes explain what a key logger was.
In my department, somebody had installed Half life and what not on computers running NT. It never occured to me at that time that somebody might also run keyloggers in the dept computers.
2 reasons. One- Eventhough the admin never came down to the basement lab(mostly used by MS, Phd students), he kept meticulous logs.
Two- I didn't think anybody was stupid enough to risk their freedom(expulsion, jail, maybe deportation) doing such stuff and again because of the logs.
So if your at a friend's house or some public library/cybercafe, its possible that a key logger might be installed.
So in this case you might have to "pulpify" somebody's head.
Also, if your bank/credit card company offers online only statements, definitely sign up. It's saved me the headaches of keeping them safe. I can always ask my bank for previous statements if I need them.
For instance:
;-) card arrived in an open letter at the mailbox....Post office says it's not their fault / can't do anything about....
1. My son's SS
2. My wife's DL renewal form NEVER arrived (DMV says they sent it)
Things like that are totally out of your hand....
You paid for it in the merchant fees.
Of course, since the credit card companies illegally withhold credit card services from merchants who have a different price for cash and credit, even people who don't qualify for a credit card help pay for your addiction to an insecure system.
You fucking theif.
Remember that ID theft is generally a crime of opportunity. Given the choice between reconstruct a credit card application from a crosscut shredder ($50) or just go into a apartment mailbox or dumpster, I think the latter is easier. Common sense helps a lot, no need to lecture the obvious.
The "See ID" and other misconceptions are usually worse. Think how easily a fake ID can be obtained from any college campus.
I shred all my documents. Thats a good start. Another one, is not to give any information over the phone, unless you have call display, and you know the person on the other end.
I change my identity every other day. Now nobody, including myself remembers my real name.
... stopping all use of money, and move in the middle of Alaska, while making sure to leave a 50 miles buffer between you and, not just human beings, but any living creature (you never know, when the Evil Bunny might lurk upon your wallet).
But that's just my humble opinion.
PS: beware of the bunny!
that is hilarious.
I moved to the Northwest a few years ago and was denied a driver's license due to "a suspended license for DUI in New Jersey." I'm from Texas. Some bloke in New Jersey with my exact name AND BIRTHDATE got his license suspended in New Jersey. Database matched me to his record and I was denied. So, thinking aloud, I told the clerk/officer that I am from TX and had never lived in NJ, never visited NJ, never flew over NJ nor had been to a neighboring state of NJ (*not completely true - I did visit Binghampton, NY once*). Then I asked a question: did his SSN match mine? "No." *WHEW* I got my license. Strange that my identity was proven by a number specifically bared from becoming an identification number (until the 1970's).
One other story...I went to open a checking account when I moved to CA. I was denied and the reason given is that I had used a fraudulent SSN#. Huh? I asked to see the report from their system and saw that, according to their check of Social Security Admin records my stated SSN was issued BEFORE I was born. I asked to see the date that their system said the number was assigned. Let's say I was born March 12, 1968 (I wasn't). The SSA's record for my SSN had Mar 0, 1968 as the assignment date. March ZERO? Turns out until sometime after the 1960's the day of issuance was not recorded. Unfortunately three things converged:
- SSA didn't record the day of issuance
- My dad, being a CPA specializing in Tax, signed me up for a SSN within days of my birth
- Bank of America's DBAs decided that Null fields in the Day of issuance were Zeroes and, ergo, my birthdate 19680312 was after the interpolated issue date 19680300
So, I had to traipse down to the SSN office and get a signed document validating my identity. *Sheesh*-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
I was in an auto accident a few months ago and required lots of medical services. They all had my SSN as an identifier, even though I didnt give it to them!
My employer also uses SSN for many of its benefits, though this is not legal.
is a good offense. What are the chances an identity thief is going to steal another identity thief's identity? Damn small, I'll tell you -- it's like the chance of TWO people bringing a bomb onto a plane (so always bring your own). It's best to start small, though; identity theft is a tough business. For instance, I steal slashdot identities for their karma bonus.
According to Visa's Chargeback Management Guide for Visa Merchants:
g t. pdf
3 .html for an anecdote.
"Some customers write "See ID" or "Ask for ID" in the signature panel, thinking that this is a deterrent against fraud or forgery. In reality, criminals don't take the time to practice signatures: they use cards as quickly as possible after theft and prior to the accounts' being blocked. They are actually counting on you not to look at the back of the card and compare signatures -- they may even have access to counterfeit identification with a signature in their own handwriting.
""See ID" is not a valid substitute for a signature. The customer must sign the card in your presence, as stated above."
http://usa.visa.com/media/business/chargeback_m
Also see http://www.livejournal.com/users/hornswoggle/2237
It's not identity theft, but just today I got a call from the title company that is handling the closing on the sale of my house, and lo and behold there are three judgements attatched to my house. Apparently there is another couple with my exact name and my ex-wifes middle name. Apparently they don't pay their rent or the judgements against them. Unfortunately, the attorney's for the plaintiffs against them (on three separate occasions unbeknownst to me) did a simple name lookup and found property with a name similar to the deadbeats and said, "Hey, when they sell their house... give the money to us!" I spoke to the courthouse, and they had no idea how I should go about fixing it. Now, I have to pay for an attorney to get everything cleared up... for the county's mistake! Infuriating.
There's no place I can be, since I found Serenity.
Look man ;-)
;-)
I'm going to start this by smoothly, under the cover of darkness, light up this legitimate cigarette over here.
Now, there is something we must discuss. It's about your recent caffeine consumption. It seems to have gone up a little. What? You say you don't want to sleep anymore ? Hmmm i can see by the looks you haven't slept for a long time.. What you say ? Some strangers are stealing everyone else's credit identity and you think they might be after you ? And so you stay awake in order to protect your identity.
How peculiar. I guess a little of paranoia never hurt anymore. Personally i don't find numbers coming from 'Some government officials' to be very reliable and even if they were, it still doesn't impress me at all. Ask yourself how many people in North America report their wallet stolen in a year? Twice those numbers? Maybe 10 times higher? How many people actually recover their wallet with all the content and are not victims of identity theft? Yet no one is alarmed at the obvious lack of security a wallet provides.
IMHO taking more precautions because of some alarmist numbers thrown by the medias does not spell the word wisdom.
Now light up that cone so we can relax a bit. Thanks
Heck, even I can outrun someone sitting around tying their shoes. Too much preparation sometimes hurts you more than just going with it.
I shred documents, and use different passwords, etc, but remember that the hardest piece of information to get about you is your DOB. That means lying about your age on those billion websites that require it for some idiotic reason.
In order for me to help you. I will need your full name, ssn, date of birth, and a major credit card.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
I am a victim of identity theft, and it is hell dealing with the fallout of it. Someone opened store credit accounts in my name, ran up huge charges, and never paid them. It doesn't take an AFDB to be worried about this. It happens, and it's not easy to fix.
I have been round and round with the companies that were scammed with my identity. I am just now learning how to make sure my credit reports are annotated that the bad accounts are from identity theft. The bad info stays on the accounts, which as far as scoring goes, is just as bad if they weren't annotated.
The difficult part in dealing with this is you can't prove a negative. The companies love to say "prove you didn't open the account." There is no protection for this, and plans I've had for home ownership are ruined, at least for the past couple years, thanks to identity theft.
To those of you saying the poster needs an AFDB, think about what you'd do if you found false information, using your SSN, on your credit report tomorrow. That is what has happened to me.
Yo, I'll solve it.
Check out the hook
While my DJ revolves it.
I work with many people that are under H1-Bs. Out of those, many have access to the same data that I have. What is it that I have you say? Access to 250k or more names each month that are new accounts.
Let's do some math:
Average price per name US identity $30
That's 7.5 Million.
What's stopping me?
Hmm morals, US citizenship that I wish to keep, going to jail, family I would want to see again.. etc..
Now what's it take to buy yourself protection in Indonesia, India, Russia, China.. blah blah blah.. Do you think if that H1-B person garnered data for 2-3 months, after they found a contact that would buy the names, and made 22.5 million that they would care if they did something illegal? Hell no.. they have their original citizenship, they care nothing for the US now that they have made enough money to buy a small army of guns and lawyers to keep extridtion nothing buy a distant nightmare. What's worse, do you think anyone would ever find out what the source of this theft was? Probably not until Joe Somebody is arrested in his own home for a crime he didn't commit.
The dependency of good credit on incurring debt makes sense. Credit is the record of your performance in paying back debt. You can't have one without the other.
As for having to pay for a credit report: The credit bureaus are private, commercial, profit-making businesses. If they didn't charge you for a report, they'd just pass the cost on to their other customers -- the people you're trying to borrow money from. And, those folks would just raise the price of whatever it is that you're buying. One alternative might be to have the government do all this...if you're comfortable with that. I'm not.
Sucks all around, doesn't it?
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Lots, and lots of tinfoil.
Hey,
If it's so important to you that you don't get it stolen and you're gonna loose sleep over it I'd suggest just getting rid of your identity.
It's probably pretty lame anyway. I know mine is....
Caution: Contents under pressure
Someone will post, "Use linux!" and then someone will point out Microsoft "flaws" and soon we'll be totally off topic :^)
Seriously, if you max out all your own cards, no one will steal your identity, because they won't be able to get any credit with it!
I personally spent all my time over the past few years never paying bills on time, but at the very last minute. I especially did not pay any credit debts I had, but kept the merchandise and settled for a small payment with the credit company who loaned me the money for buying the items in the first place.
This all gave me an excellent (unusable to anyone) credit rating. In fact it is so good that now no one will loan me money. I cannot even buy a house or a car on credit.
You cannot imagine the peace of mind this gives me as no one will ever steal my credit identity for any reason. On top of all this, my present credit situation has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit interest over the past few years which I would have been paying had I still had good credit. It has allowed me to buy everything with cash, saving up for those things I really need. A small side effect of this is that impulse purchases, like that new sports car I really want, but which I do not need, are effectively impossible with my current credit standing. What a blessing!
I did not start out to do all this, but having gotten cancer and being unable to work for a few years has helped me tremendously to achieve my current credit status.
=)
Roger "Dodger" Born
writing.bonrgraphics.com
Other than for big ticket items like a mortgage or a car loan, don't use credit or debit cards unless you absolutely have to (ie for emergencies).
You may think the cashless society is more convenient (and in many ways it is unless you are in line behind ten people collecting airmiles and using their debit cards - if they could just pick the right account or PIN....), but the cashless society also makes tracking all your habits much easier for the IRS, the FBI, CIA, DARPA, or any other acronym you choose. Why make it too easy for them.
Use cash (and the barter system is always good too, wherever possible), and give out as little personal information in any given transaction as you can. this helps to protect you not just from ID thieves, but from unwanted corporate data-mining or government intrusion as well.
A thriving black market is a neccesary check against unlimited government control.
Identify; to establish the identity - e.g. ask a user name (c.f. anonymous ftp).
Authenticate; checking the proofs of identification are legit, e.g. check that photo ID isn't a fake, check credentials w/ password.
Authorization; making sure this schmo you identified and whos id you authenticated is actually allowed to do what he's doing, e.g. permissions.
Auditing; keeping records, i.e. logging.
Non-repudiation; making sure some one can't claim "it wasn't me", e.g. videotaping ATM users. (Cryptographic non-repudiation often depends on keeping a secret, such as a secret key. Not a good assumption; "it was my 0wnx0r!")
Confidentiality; keeping secrets, i.e. don't give out private information.
Integrity; making sure stuff isn't changed (if it is changed, make sure it's audited)
Accesibility; make sure legit users can actually use their stuff.
Identity theft wouldn't be such a big problem if corporations and branches of government would authenticate properly. People's dogs are getting pre-approved credit card spam! If you know someone's momma's maiden name, banks will roll over and give you the key to the vault. Sure, they've got tons of money spent on all the other security features (except auditing of course. and integrity/accesibility, disaster data recovery people gotta make a buck to) but it doesn't help if you think someone's mom's maiden name is a secret!
About the author Walther fon Bernstien is a 31 year old technical writer from Houston, TX. He lives a quiet life writing from the historical "McDuff's Castle" building on 33nd Elm Street, left to him in 1989 by his mother, an accomplished pianist who performed under her maiden name Mary Jane Smythe. His interests include golfing at the Nine Yards Club, his dogs Whisky and Brandy, and numerology; he beliefs it's no coincidence that his social security number is 696969, while both his VISA and Mastercard creditcards have 6969 as the last 4 digits as well! Send him a card on his birthday, the 9th of June!
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
When I was a senior in college our senior project was a web based system where students could log in and see their grades, select courses to take for the coming year, etc.
:)
When we presented this to our professors (these were computer science professors, btw), most of them we rather impressed but we had one professor that absolutely hated it. His hatred was so bad he was borderline hostile. His reason: we had decided that the students would log on using the same ID and Password they used for the web based email system. He was insisted that they should be using their social security numbers.
It was quite shocking to me. Fortunately, we were able to ignore him and continue with the presentation and got a good grade for it
I don't think he is overreacting. Identity theft is much easier and more lucrative than mugging. You MUST protect yourself because law enforcement don't care or know what to do about identity theft. I should know because my identity was stolen a couple years ago.
The culprit sent the Seattle Post Office a change-of-address form on my behalf, forwarding my mail to his personal residense (in another state). I quickly changed my address back. I tried to get the Seattle Postal Inspector to investigate, but he did not care. He literally showed me the change-of-address card. He had the guy's fingerprints, handwriting, and HOME ADDRESS in his hands, but he said there was nothing he could do. He gave me his business card and sent me on my way. When I called him the next week, he replied angerly, "how the hell did you get this phone number?!" I guess he must not like his job because he is certainly not doing it well.
The culprit must have received some of my mail with my stock brokerage statements. A few weeks later he contacted my stock brokerages and told them to my new address was his home address. Thanks a LOT, Etrade and DLJ Direct! He changed my brokage address about SIX TIMES before I transfered all my funds to a new brokerage. The police in my state did NOT care. The police in his state did NOT care.
By this time, I had canceled my credit cards and put an alert on my credit reports. This saved my butt! Six months later, I get a call from Sears Credit Services asking permission to issue a credit in my name. The guy was trying to use my SSN (from my brokerage statements) to get a Sears credit card. Finally, the police were interested.
They captured the guy and he did three months in jail. This was just for credit card fraud. He did no time for inter-state mail fraud or tampering with my brokerage accounts. The police officer told me that he was surprised the guy even got three months because he was a first time offender, claimed to have a drug problem, and (to quote the police officer) "he looked like a god-damned choir boy".
Unfortunately, the story didn't end there. Six months later, I got my credit report and noticed some unpaid long-distance phone bills to his home address. I had to jump through many hoops to prove to the debt collection agency that those debts were his and not mine.
The greated irony is that this guy and I went to the same university. We share the same first and last names, but different middle names. In school, I would occassionlly receive a few of his letters in my mailbox, including checks (made out to our shared name), angry bank letters, and a break-up letter. I returned all of his mail to him, with an apology for accidentally opening his letters. He never thanked me.
cpeterso
Don't use your credit card numbers online. They will get stolen. Never give your bankcard number out. Use checks, and although those numbers can be stolen when your payment is processed, you set up a pattern that your bank can identify. Give your Bank your phone number where you can be reached, they will call you if they have an unusual charge to your account, and remember, they are responsible for fraudient charges made to your account. You need to review your bank statement carefully, and pay them a visit if something strange appears. Prepare to sign a statement at the Bank that the questionable charge is not yours, and wait a short while for them to investigate, then they will reimburse your account. If your account number gets stolen, they will want to close the account, after putting a lock on it preventing new charges. Once they have made reimbursements, they will then close the account, and you will open a new one. Review your account on line, every few days, to get a jump on the suspicious charges that may be made. If you have to make charges online, use a "virtual credit card number" from Citi Bank. It's only good one time.
I gotta post this as anonymous everytime slashdot runs this story, because I will be modded down by people who don't like the truth.
There is hardly any such thing as being a victim of identity theft.
The classic senario is that someone steals or defrauds money from a variety of banks and credit companies by claiming to be you. The victims are the banks and credit card companies. The most you are victimized for is the cost of writing a few letters.
I already hear the wails (and remember the downmods from past stories): "But my credit record!"
So what ? Now you can't spend money that isn't yours (unless you are on welfare). "But how will I buy a house ?" Buying a house begins with going to a bank to get pre-approved for a mortgage, and you should go to several banks anyway to get the best deal. You may have to mail a few certified letters or go to a few more banks. Big deal, the banks that are losing your business are dependent on an unreliable reputation system anyway. Besides, the best way to buy a house is with cash at a county auction, and with Bush still in for a few years you can expect plenty of real deals.
Occasionally you will meet someone who actually paid the fraudulant charges to protect their credit. They are no more a victim than someone who bought a license from SCO. You can't feel sorry for someone who paid money just because someone asked on nice stationary, or who paid for things they didn't buy just to preserve their future ability to buy things with money they don't have.
So what exactly is all this noise about "identity theft" ?
The credit card companies have been running a pathetically insecure system for decades. It needs to be insecure because they need to give out the cards like beads to shirtless girls at Mardi Gras. There is a reason why there is no 3.5% merchant fee on bank debit cards, which use the same system.
Now the automated exploitation of these credit card systems is getting to where the fraud is unacceptable. It's always been huge, but now even the monopoly enforced "same price credit / cash" scheme can't hold it up much longer.
Will the credit card companies take the American path, and innovate something that makes them secure ?
No, that's the OLD American way. The new American way is to ask the whole country to subsidize your broken business model in a socialist system run by a private corporation backed with government power. All that hype about identity theft is just an attempt ( a succeeding one, too ) to get Congress to approve new fees to cover the loses, subsidize with the taxes of non-credit card users the credit card companies loses as well as expensive "hacker hunts."
This is not something that people like me can quietly ignore and laugh at, while not having a credit card or just one for emergencies that we never use. It's important because everytime I shop at a store that accepts credit cards from other people, I end up paying to subsidize the stupidity of everyone else.
That's why we have got to educate people about this, and let them see the whole scheme. Only when retailers tack that merchant fee onto the reciept along with the sales tax will the credit card companies be forced to operate in the honest, open market that can price their services.
Add a single curl of hair in the middle of your forehead. Nobody will be able to detect your true identity.
Oooh, diddums. Did someone touch a sore spot? Feeling a bit defensive about the shortcomings of your lovely homeland? I suggest you poke your head up for a second or two and see what's going on in the rest of the world.
Frankly the US press has filled Americans' heads with so much crap about what it means to be American, and so little information about anything else thats happening on this planet that I utterly despair for the idea that Americans have some democratic responsibility for their own government. With a bit less jingoism and a bit more education, you might realize that the US government is not yet the responsible international citizen that most Americans apparently believe it to be.
"The Americans were all for an international space station, until they realized that 'international' doesn't just mean Americans abroad". -- Star Cops
I have diligently followed a series of procedures that have ensured the safety of my identity from damage by theft. The key decisionsI have made have left me poor and with lousy credit. Nobody wants to be me.....
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Sorry about that!
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
If you live in California, you can put a security freeze on your credit record. That means that nobody but you (or the usual government agencies, I suppose) can request a credit report unless you unfreeze it. Although this doesn't prevent someone from using your identity, it does make it harder for them to get credit or open accounts, since most banks or other entities will want to check your credit report first.
AFAIK, California is the only state that has security freezes. Needless to say, it's not something that the credit agencies have been exactly jumping for joy about, since they are in the business of selling reports.
In all states, you can request (and pay for) a security alert, which means you are notified when somebody pulls a credit report.
Seriously. Hunt them down, and kill them. If they are going to ruin your life, you might as well have some fun with their entrails.
After a couple of us crazies "settle accounts", I think you'll have a hard time finding someone willing to commit identity theft again.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
no one will want to have your life and you cant get credit anyway
It's the system that causes this problem, the banks are suposto protect YOU and your money, not the other way around, what are you all stupid or something?
Why just the other day I was shopping and tried to use that exact same number! The clerk said that he thought it was a fake number, and that he heard it was passed around in wallets back during the 40's and 50's. Of course I had to weasel out of this. I explained to him that I felt giving me SS number was too much and I was worried about privacy issues. He then said I didn't need to worry since the free market would ensure companies would work hard to keep my info secret. I asked how, and he went on about the negative publicity a corp could receive if it was found out to be leaking personal info. Therefore, since they wanted my business, it was in their best interest to safeguard my data. I retorted with the fact that since so many computer crimes go unreported, his theory doesn't hold true for all situations. I said that until laws like the one passed recently in California go into effect nationwide, we all have to be careful with our data. The clerk responded that the free market would, in time, iron itself out and end up with a situation in which our data is safe. He went on to tell me he didn't believe in the protectionist role of government. I argued that the government wouldn't be protectionist, it would simply be enforcing the will of the people and not simply acting in their best interests. He was still leery of this proposition and said he was more comfortable with a system that didn't overburden corporations with unnecessary legislation. We finally agreed that this was primarily a wait-and-see issue, and laws or lack thereof would have to be determined at a future point when e-commerce and such had fully spread. Eventually I did get my Big Mac and fries from him, even though I disagree with him on principle.
I suggest you poke your head up for a second or two and see what's going on in the rest of the world.
Are you French or something? Oh wait...maybe you're some sort of filthy commie fuck-pig that uses Unix and wears black all the time and has tremendous self-hatred because nobody will talk to you. Go fuck yourself.
And by the way: the rest of the world doesn't mean shit to us. We don't have to poke our heads up and look around. Sure, the sand niggers got a few of us on 9/11, but we out killed 'em at least ten to one since then.
Our job as Americans is this: go to other countries and get your cheap stinking cunt whores (i.e. your twelve year olds) to give us blowjobs for fifty cents. You should know: you've been pimping your sand nigger daughter to the infidel jews for the last several years in order to support yourself.
Yeah, don't forget the tin foil hat to keep out the Martian mindcontrol rays. :-P Hey, I'm not tryin' to flame here, this is just "constructive critisicm".
Seriously though, maybe you should just be sure to look both ways before crossing the street. I bet lots of people each year get killed by buses, run-away cars, etc. And then there's cancer and West Nile virus.
Note that those two deseases shouldn't be allowed to show up in the same sentence but many wouldn't notice the incongruity. That's the point I'm obliquely making:
There are many, many, many bad things happening to lots of people all over the world all the time. In the grand scheme of things, ID theft is only one of a seemingly infinite array of things that could happen to you that would suck. It's certainly a Good Thing(tm) to be (Warning: G.W.B.-style rhetoric follows) vigilant against the threat of identity theft. Just be sure that the amount of resources you commit to that is proportional to the actual threat posed to you personally by ID theft.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
My solution: the remains of 2 weeks of cat excrement. Anybody that gets something outta my garbage is gonna pay a hefty stanky price.
ehintz
When you file a "fraud alert" to a credit reporting agency, they cooperate to share the data, and will send you copies of your report.
It's an automated system by phone call. Try calling in fraud alerts on a regular basis to keep track of your files.
Not even going that far, I once sent them a letter about wanting to investigate potential fraud. They all sent me free credit reports.
Seriously, why not?
1-877-ID-THEFT
"The cup... the drop... it's a YES!"
Buy a house, sink every bit of cash you can into it, run up your credit cards to the max and declare bankruptcy. No one will steal your identity, at least for credit purposes. You still have a house which you can sell after the heat dies down and then you just pay cash for whstever you want. Costa Rica is nice, I've heard.
Vote Quimby!
1. Don't go nuts getting a dozen credit cards
2. Use one of the companies that will email you if your credit report changes.
3. Keep an eye on your bank/credit card statements for "unusual" activity
> The situation looks like it's going to get much
> worse, and I'm willing to take steps now to
> increase my security at the cost of convenience.
> Suggestions?
Try being poor. Works for me.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
There seems to be a very strong correlation between zip codes where the mail boxes are in a central location and not on the houses and id theft rates. Most places where the mail boxes are on houses have very low counts of ID theft while places where everybodys mail box is in a cluster have very high rates of ID theft. I'm guessing people find it easier to pick up someone elses mail when they don't have to walk up to someone elses house.
The USPS keeps raising the rates but can't get someone to walk the route in all new areas?
It's not the nicest feeling to know that someone is stealing your identity and your money right from under your nose. It makes me angry that it is so easy to do, and so hard to get caught.
----- Friends, l33tists, l4m3z0rs! Lend me thy keyboards.
Let's not get hysterical.
First of all, the Australian tax file number (TFN) isn't equivalent to the US SSN. There are strict laws about who may ask for your TFN, and how it may be stored. It won't be requested when buying products, and you certainly won't see it passed between businesses behind your back. The bogus TFNs mentioned are useful for evading tax, but beyond that, they don't matter in identity theft.
Secondly, 'identity theft' (we used to call it 'fraud', but 'identity theft' sounds scarier, and sells more newspapers) is generally used by small-time criminals to make a few bucks here and there. The 'cocaine smuggler, international terrorist, serial killer...' hardly matter on the risk scale. The stakes are so high in their games that they'll pay for a high-quality fake ID, thanks.
Except for the 'serial killer'. Seriously, do you think that serial killers are stealing your ID? Name one case where that's happened. Just one.
Doesn't happen, eh? Overreacting? Let's count up my experience...started with a stolen box of checks and a faked ID. Turned into...
1. Destroyed credit report, six years and still not fixed.
2. Can't get credit.
3. Can't get a job without going through hell (good thing I like my current one)and most employers don't want to deal with trying to figure out if you are telling the truth or not.
4. $2,500.00 in direct financial damage from the actual crime (banks don't cover anything when it's checks that are stolen)
5. I spend between five to ten hours a week, every week, for the last six years, dealing with this. Can't even guess what that has cost.
But don't worry, it doesn't happen, just read some of the posts!
So, by all means, don't shred your receipts, that's paranoid. Don't bother with checking credit reports every year, the banks cover it, right? By all means, use your Social Security number for your Slashdot ID, and never worry about buying stuff online or subscribing to that porn site in Taiwan. You're just overreacting.
Boycott everything - they're all trying to fuck you one way or another
FYI, you can get a free report everyear if you live in Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Vermont. See this areticle.
This happened to my wife as well. Someone worked for 9mos in Las Vegas using her SSN, while she was living and working in Los Angeles. Beauty of it all; she didn't file taxes for about 4 years. The IRS lets you challenge data for 3 years, but beyond that they won't listen. Meanwhile, they hold onto data for as long as they want to collect. End result, even though it was quite clearly fraudulent, she ended up paying taxes on those earnings in Vegas. Fortunately it was a menial job, and she was also in menial work at the time, so the dollar figure was reasonably small.
ehintz
It'll be a fun couple of hours, and when you get turned down for credit, you'll get your report free.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I have heard that you can order a credit report for free once a year. Might want to check on that.
If you are REALLY insecure about this, here's a paranoid's list of things that will make you harder to find than most, which will induce lazy crooks to look for easier pickings. Frankly, I think most of this stuff is as effective as snapping your fingers to keep away elephants (hey - see any elephants? It works, then!) but some folks swear by them.
1) Don't maintain more cyber access than you really need. Protect the cyber access you do need by using different user IDs (if possible) and ALWAYS use different, strong passwords for each account. Keep them in a safe if you must write them down.
2) Stay off everyone's profile list. Never, EVER give your privacy or profile information to anyone that calls you. Give it to those you call when you have a legitimate need, or when filling in an application for something you need, like an auto loan.
3) Set your browser up to refuse cookies, or notify you and ask if it should accept cookies from a site. NEVER store passwords in your browser. Set your cache to wipe itself out after each session.
4) Don't use credit cards unless you have to, and never use them on the net unless you have the one-time use version like AMEX has. Even then, make sure the site is secure and has a good security track record.
5. Don't sign up for "free services" especially those on the internet. Do you really need automatic bill paying, on-line bill paying, e-mail news, and who knows what else?
This approach is as much a way of thinking as it is a list of actions to take or to avoid. Consider the benefits, the costs, and the risks of each act where you reveal your private information, then make a rational decision.
English -- gotta love it! / The engineers refuse to refuse the rocket until the refuse is removed from the launch pad.
1) Buy yourself a cabin in remote Montana.
2) Don't have a phone, cable, internet, bank account, or any subsciptions.
3) Pay for everything in cash.
4) Cancel all your credit cards.
Beyond that hope that with all the measures you are taking now (all which I do except the opt out number, thanks for the info!), you won't be randomly selected out the millions of people in the databases crackers rip off.
There's an old dilbert comic where Dilbert is explaining to his date how he doesn't order off the internet because he doesn't trust people from stealing his credit card number. He then hands the waitress his card, and she comes back in new jewelry and a fur coat.
Number one tip: never, ever let your credit card go anywhere you can't see it. Ever. By far, most credit card theft occurs when a thief "skims" your card data and then rewrites it on an existing card (say, a prepaid or expired one.) This works because, despite credit cards having a million security features (UV writing, microprint, special emobossed characters, heat-press holos, etc) no one knows how to check them. People just assuming anyone using a credit card should be using that. I mean, logically, is there any reason you need ID to write a check, but not to use a credit card?
If you don't believe me, go out somewhere and try and use your wife or girlfriend's credit card. See if the person swiping it even notices that you're not Jane Doe.
Go talk to a car dealer. Act interested in a car and have them run a credit report. They'll show you the results, and generally let you keep them. Since you don't care about the results unless your score has dropped 400 points in three months, you're just there for the fun of it. Plus you get to act like you've got money.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
>Is there anything else I should be doing?
Yes, there is: drop the fear. This new cult of fear is absurd. I know it's easy to get into that rut (in fact in the US it's practically your duty as a citizen), but seriously, the conceit that leads people to assume that *they*, of all people, will be targeted is ridiculous... and the fear that this engenders is counterproductive.
The article says that 750 THOUSAND people (or more) per year suffer from identity theft. So, in the 10 years that encompass my time in college and my career, an estimated 7.5 MILLION people have suffered from identity theft. The population of the US in that time has averaged around 290 million. So (math majors please don't get your panties in a bunch, these are just loose calculations and are not meant to represent actual statistics) 7.5 out of every 290 people (2.6%), or 1 in 38 people, have had this problem in the last ten years.
So why is it that NOBODY I know has had this happen to them? Of the thousands of people I have met in school, in my engineering job, traveling, online friendships, MMORPGs, teaching, socializing, meeting the new neighbors, out of all of these people, no one has had this happen to them. I've never even heard of anyone who had it happen to them.
It is possible that I live in a Rosencrantz-and-Guildensternian probability bubble wherein this event occurs more infrequently than elsewhere, but it's more possible that this is just another one of those fear virii that self-propagate through our culture.
This issue gives me a raging soft-on. It's a cousin of the Y2K fearbug, and about as relevant to my life and the lives of everyone I know as that non-event was. Drop the fear and move on, people, there's nothing to see here...
Tried calling the opt out number (800 5OPT OUT). Got the message "This number has changed. The new number is 888 5OPT OUT" (how stupid is that?). Called that number. Busy...
Let's use the term "theft" correctly, just like we do in the case of copyright infringement. Identity "theft" is no more "theft" than copyright infringement is, since the victim is still left with his identity. If someone pretends to be me, they haven't stolen my identity -- I'm still me. It's just plain old FRAUD.
I urge those of you who would argue that copyright infringement is different from theft to follow through on your beliefs and agree that "identity theft" isn't theft either, it's simply fraud. If anything, they're making a copy of your identity, but you're still left with the original identity.
"But wait," you say, "they have stolen something from me! My good name is gone, and credit opportunitites I might have had are gone." So fine, call it "reputation assault", or "credit fraud". But let's not use the sensationalist term "identity theft". That's a term made up to sell more newspapers.
Don't put all your different passwords on your monitor with sticky notes. The Tin Foil hats are OK for stopping mind readers, but I don't think they would stop identity thieves. Try wrapping your credit cards in tin foil since that's what your really trying to protect.
Get a gun so you once you track down your identity thief and confirm the cops won't do anything. Once you prove that, you can shoot him and when they check his identity they will mark you as being dead and you won't have to worry about your identity being stolen again. Check the laws about suicide in your area, since at least one of you is likely to survive.
Relax already.
Not to be a pessimist, but aren't most of the identity theft cases a result of a dishonest employee working for a credit agency?
...just apply for credit cards you can never possibly get. You know, the rich-people-only ultra-gold-platinum-reward cards or whatever... You'll surely be denied and then you can get your reports free. You can even apply for the same card twice sometimes. ;)
" I shred and pulp-ify all documents."
What I want to know is, how the hell does this guy "pulpify" his documents?!
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
Blow your credit to hell and buy only the things you can afford to spend cash for.
Pity the fool who tries to use your identity if your credit is shot.
The drawback is you'll only be able to rent poor quality dwellings and buy cars with 100K+ miles.
and invest in Smith & Wesson. These days, laws don't mean anything even to the people who passed them.
Use gold.
Basically I make sure my bank accounts are overdrawn at all times. I have a zero credit rating because I used to do most transactions in cash only and to top it all off I was laid off by the national DSL ISP that decided to shut down with no warning 12 days before xmas. Luckily to help us out we got no severance pay. Since I live in Portland Oregon (8.5% unemployment and thounsands of tech jobs dissapearing) I don't to worry about a pesky job getting in the way of my attempts to keep identity theives at bay.
I'd always adhered to strict restraint in regards to personal information. Had this policy long before it became a hotbutton issue.
But I've found that in the course of avoiding starvation, my efforts to obtain employment requires me to provide perspective employers with information that is vulernable to identity theft. That includes all the regular stuff, SS number and so forth. But even more than that companies require copies of birth certificates, extensive personal surveys (including mother's maiden name), and so on. Excaberating the issue is these companies demand permission to share this information with "associates" , which most likely include anyone, anything, including the gential lice that browse the nether regions of every whore on the planet.
I am a person who is aware of, and values extremely, the preservation of personal information. I cannot maintain those attitudes and find employment. The only place in town that's hiring requires a copy of my birth certificate. I had the choice of following my ideals and starving or submitting to a policy that I found repulisive and having enough money to buy food.
And now that piece of information lies in digitized form somewhere, most likely destined to be shared with "associates", who may very well be scattered across the country, or even places like India.
If companies connot prove they can keep personal information secure, they should not be in the business of collecting such information.
If you kill the person who steals your identity, is it suicide?
IMarv
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
On college campuses it's extremely easy to get someone's ss#. Everything we get from the school (that includes small things like phone bills) has our ss numbers on them. At the end of the year I saw lots of people just throwing them into the garbage with out even tearing them up. I tried to tear mine up best I could, but it's not that difficult to put them back together.
I'm considering contacting the proper person and advising them to take off our ss numbers from all mailings. It's definitely not necessary. I could have had 10 people's ss numbers by the end of the day last May.
If your a college student, beware. One of the last things you want to happen is your credit history being destroyed before you even enter the real world.
Just go bankrupt. You get out of debt, and get the good feeling of sticking it to those creditors.
Damn it feels so good to breath again.
AAAAhhhhhhhhhh!
side affect?
No one will touch your identity with a 10 foot pole.
Um...Yeah...he's just a regular poster boy for how successful you can be with the right shredder...
Please help metamoderate.
And I got to pay for the right to not see the raw data or the methods used. Yah, this is really a good system.
I've been lucky on this subject. I've only had one genuine attempt at fraud attempted on me, and I was saved by using a Commercial Mail Receiving Agent (CRMA). Think The UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes, Etc.) I get all my mail of any importance there, even the state is willing to send stuff there now.
One day I received a letter in the mail thanking me for changing my address to somewhere in Colorado, and by the way if you didn't do this CALL NOW! Well, I did, the account was regenerated with new numbers, and all was well. While the Post Office tries to portray CMRAs as one step up from a fraud shop, they are an answer to many postal deficiencies and have thier uses. One thing is that the Post Office will not process change of address orders for a CMRA customer. This removes mail intercept as an option unless the thief somehow scams your agent. Without diversion, security letters can alert you to the problem.
This also makes delivery interception difficult if they try to scam places that only deliver to the credit card address. Also, the card companies are getting better about checking. I applied for a card to shift to a lower APR, and the card company called back with questions about my credit report and my use of a CMRA.
Sigmentation fault - core dumped
snap out of it! use some common sense! i had my checking acct raided -- and it wasn't "identity theft." it was a simple thing like ... stealing my mail. some people stole my bills out the outbox at my (locked entrance) apt building, used my checks to get my acct number, printed up new checks with my account number and somebody else's name, and wrote about $1000 worth of checks against the acct. (1) my bills didn't get paid (2) my money disappeared.
folks, anybody wants access to your acct, it is as simple as stealing your mail on bill-paying day. furthermore, there is a team of thieves circulating in massachusetts with an even simpler scheme: they cover the card reader in an ATM with their own cardreader & put a wireless web cam where it can see the touchpad. then they line up the scanned cards with the pin numbers ... and they own you. so far, they've gotten away with over $100,000. so much for your elaborate schemes with password protection.
how many financial accts are there in this country? 100 million? what's the actual percentage of them getting raided? try putting it into perspective. get your finger off the panic button.
mp
"The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets." -- Whitfield Diffie
I went in for a passport, provided all the paperwork, photo, birth certificate. The gal said that my passport would be mailed to me. I asked her if that was safe, and she said yes.
A few month later, shortly before my international trip, a cop showed up at my door. Apparently someone had tried using my passport to cash a bogus check at a local bank, and had left the passport at the scene. I had to go in and be un-ID'd by the bank employees to prove I wasn't the perp. Great. The bastard even signed my passport, so I have this hokey signature on my passport (that is, if it hasn't been stolen - I haven't seen it in a few years). The passport, I recovered. However, my birth certificate is still out there. When I still lived in that town (Portland, OR), every so often I would get bad check notices. I even recieved a truck title from the DMV! In the process of doing all this, I learned that the perp, or another, used the birth certificate to obtain an Oregon drivers license. But, could I see a copy of this person's photo??? HELL NO. Despite the fact that I'm the victim, they wouldn't show it to me.
I have kept a file on all this, including the police report # and info. Oddly enough, my credit rating is still 97%. We had no trouble at all buying a house.
My question is... would I have a case against the passport people (State Dept?)?
The morals of this story are as follows:
Thanks for listening.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
Get outstanding warrants on your arrest for murder, by... um....
Watch hilarity ensue as the person who stole your identity gets the chair!
Squeal with delight when he recognises you in the gallery!
Scream with laughter when he tries to convince the guards that you are the person who should be about to fry!
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
First off, it seems somehow a bad idea to use a number which lots of other people know about when your SSN might be used as a unique identifier. (It isn't and shouldn't be, but organizations do it anyway). "Sorry, it looks like you've already registered for classes!"
Besides that, I can't imagine that you'll get much in the way of credit if most of your transactions are conducted under a fake SSN. Goodbye house, goodbye car.
The alternative -- and a much better solution, imo -- is simply to tell the nice representative that you don't want to disclose your SSN because you've had trouble with identity theft in the past, and you'd rather they use another unique identifier. If they refuse, bollocks to their business anyway. Most colleges and large organizations that ask about SSNs are more than willing to provide you with another UIN; ask first, then use Richard Nixon's Social Security number.
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
Frankly I'm quite worried about becoming a victim of identity theft. I use my Visa Check Card everywhere for online purchases, at gas stations, etc... I REALLY shouldn't since it takes $$ straight from my checking account. The good news is I have all the protection afforded every Visa card. The bad news is I'm out real $$ until the problem is resolved and my account credited.
The problem is with the overuse SSNs! It is ridiculous that you cannot go to the hospital or buy cell service without giving out your SSN. SSNs are a lame 67-year-old system that is in dire need of an upgrade.
e ft .htm
The system needs to be redesigned with PKI like solution, so your financial identity cannot be reused by anyone that you need to give it to.
Some lowly medical insurance worker stole my SSN off my insurance bill 2 years ago and I'm still trying clean up my credit so I can buy a house.
Contact your congressional representative so can we revamp the system and stop this real crime!
The only options you have today can be found here:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idth
Keylogging in Internet cafes is a concern of mine. So I wrote a program that stores my passwords in it. It is password protected, but that is useless to them is they don't have the program. The program then lets you search for, and cut and paste usernames and passwords from the screen to your webpage or whatever. This is much safer to do in a intarweb cafe.
http://pcblues.com - Digits and Wood
Now theres a law with a lot of sense to it.
One way to check if a machine has a keylogger is to type some stuff like "yakyak", reboot and do a search for text files containing that term.
Also, look behind it for something like this but keep in mind it's also very easy to install something like that inside the case, even to the back-side of the motherboard where youn can't readily see it.
Let's face it, if somebody wants to steal YOUR identity, it's so fucking easy there's really nothing you can do to prevent it short of living like the unabomber and having no identity to steal.
The best you can do is try to prevent yourself from ending up in a lot of databases, and try to avoid using your credit card in places like grovery stores and gas stations where it's just going to pile up in a stack of receipts behind the counter, guarded by some punnk making 4.75 who doesn't give a shit about your AMEX with the $100000 limit. Most identify theft is not targeted - these guys harvest stacks of receipts and computer printouts, test which identies or credit cards are useable, and go from there.
the most brilliant, hillarity wise, post I have ever read in Slashdot in years.
Cover your eyes and click this link!
We all have every right to be a bit paranoid about identity theft. Considering the Wild-Wild- West nature of the internet, and every software vendors' use of indemnity clauses, no corporation seems to want to step up to the plate and accept some responsibility. The new law enacted in California that requires corporations that have had sensitive data exposed to inform their customers doesn't go far enough, IMHO. Perhaps the time has come for a biometrically- secure national identity card, based upon a combination of fingerprints, iris scans, dna, and photogragh, all SHA-encrypted on a tamper- proof card. The loss of some personal privacy may be a small price compared to the loss of one's identity. One problem with such a scheme is universal acceptence. But the bigger problem is enforcement and associated costs. No new law is much good without uniform enforcement. The legal penalties for identity theft need to be sufficient to dissuade the perpetrators --- personally I think drawing-and-quartering is the most appropriate penalty, preferably on some new reality TV program by John Walsh ...
The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your check book they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks.
When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.
Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box use your work address.
Never have your SS# printed on your checks (DUH!) -- you can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also, carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad.
Here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily.
File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
But here's what is perhaps most important:
Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
The numbers are:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
Do you happen to know how to tell the credit reporting services not to give you instant credit (Like maybe a phone #, URL, etc.)? I've googled and searched equifax.com and haven't been able to narrow it down yet.
I refuse to use sigs because they provide redundant, useless information that repeats itself for no purpose whatsoever.
Nobody can steal the unstealable.
Who want's a identity with $10k of debt?
They can't get credit or loans. All they can do is pay the debt back. Plus they'll get pestered to death by SPAM, telemarkters and debt collection agencies.
So, do your part today to prevent identity theft: rack up $10k in non-equity debt (spending the money on consumables such as beer and/or (illegal) drugs is highly effective).
Think of it as the credit industry's little gift to you for the problems they have created.
stealing my identity could only *improve* my credit history.
.sigs are for the lazy .sigs have no limit :-)
auto
manual
peace be with you all.
He strongly suggests people lock their mailboxes. Ideally you can have a slot in your home that mail is put into (so it lands right in your living room) but if you can't have that then a lockable mailbox is your next best alternative.
A lock is a small cost towards a potential huge savings in both time and money. Lock up your mail!
What's worse than someone across the country making phony ID cards and writing bad checks in your name? It's when they do it in the same town. What is your alibi going to be?
A woman here in Georgia spent almost a year in jail thanks to a person who stole her identity (and some checks) and wrote bad checks all over town. Because she had no money, she could not afford a lawyer. And let's just say that in Georgia the quality of service from the public defenders can be, ummm, variable.
To protect your identity, all you have to do is make sure your identity isn't worth stealing. I personally suggest going broke, having a crappy job, no car or house, and dumping any signifigant other(s) you may have. Live out of a cardboard box if at all possible. Then NOBODY'll want to steal your identity.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
One thing to add to the submitter's list of precautions is to either us a POBox for receiving mail or to have a lock on the one outside your house. A few years back our neighborhood was hit by the rather low-tech approach of a person going mailbox to mailbox and simply rifling through for sensitive data.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Well, traffic accidents killed about 41,000 people and injured about 3.2 million more. Many of these accidents could have been prevented, and the police are charged with preventing crime, as well as prosecuting it.
So I don't really mind that police spend more time on traffic enforcement than on identity theft investigations. Yes, identity theft costs money, but some things are more important than money.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
Seriously, although identity theft also occasionnally happens here, it's a much rarer occurrence than on the other side of the pond. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that banks and other financial institutions don't rely on the knowledge of a publically known number as a password... When opening an account, you need to show a proof of identity that is somewhat more conclusive than just knowing the SSN of the person you claim to be.
I actually melted off one of my fingerprints in high school for the hell of it. It was smooth for about 4 months but then the ridges came back.
[sizzle is probably a better word than melt]
Gee, and having a fake ID made up is easier todo then just use an already signed card? The whole point is to make it tougher for the criminal so that you have more time to report the card stolen.
Brain, meet faedle.
man is machine
n/t
This company is the major credit reference supplier in Aus/NZ. Identity fraud is a major issue for them, too. Here is their tips page about protecting yourself from identity fraud.
a ti on/prevention.asp?CountryID=1&UserTypeID=11
http://www.baycorpadvantage.com/personal_inform
I think the interesting information is "Studies show identity fraud victims typically know the person who uses, or tries to use, their identity."
-A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed-
In my friends case, it was an annoyance, and possibly a few thousand dollars expense (it was still going on when I last saw her, so I don't know how it turned out).
In the current climate, just imagine trying to explain to the guards at Guantanamo that you were in NY when someone bought a truckload of fertilizer in your name in LA. Or that you know nothing about that rental car that someone paid for with your credit card details, and exploded outside a government building. Or those airline tickets someone bought on the internet.....
The problem with the current paranoia in law enforcement (esp in the US) is that if they have 'proof' you were at place X, and you claim you were at Y at the time, then that's going to be seen as further evidence of your guilt. And you'll be in a cell being denied access to a lawyer, your family, and anyone else who can back up your story.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Sorry. Not off the top of my head and its been long enough ago I just don't remember. Pick one and give them a call. Be prepared for having to wind your way through a menu system that is designed to not let you talk to a real person.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
I was also the victim of identify theft a couple years ago. It was a very *long*, frustrating and at times intimidating process to have everything returned back to normal. I think the warnings above should be taken seriously - it is very un-fun to have your identity stolen.
In my case I was *very* lucky because one credit card company tracked me down through my employer to verify that I had applied for an account (which I hadn't). I'm not sure what prompted them to do so. At that point they informed me that I was likely a victim of identify theft and the steps that should be taken next (which was a huge help because at the time I knew *nothing* about how the credit reporting agencies, etc. worked).
I called all the credit bureaus explaining I was a fraud victim and promptly received free credit reports from all of them. When I received these, I looked through the list of "current accounts" and observed that 3 credit card accounts (not mine) had been recently been successully opened in my name. In addition, I looked in the section that lists who has been *looking* at my account, and called everyone listed there to make sure there were no *pending* accounts. I discovered one more and had that canceled before it was even approved.
Initially a little scary, it was actually pretty easy dealing with the credit card companies (fraud departments) to have the accounts closed. Among other things, each company sent me an affidavit to sign indicating I did not open the account or make any charges. Several required these to be *notarized*. One credit card company (Fleet) was particularly slow in sending the affidavit and one day after receiving it, I received a rather nasty and threatening letter from another department at that company billing me for the $7000 in charges to the account because they had not received the signed affidavit from me.
Dealing with the credit bureaus was another matter. They sent me the credit reports in a hurry, but would not let me correct any of the account information. I could verify my name and SSN, but the address and birthdate they had on file for me had been switched (indirectly) by the culprit. It turns out that when you apply for a receive a new credit card, that credit card company will update your credit report with whatever address AND BIRTHDATE you put on that application form. So this is what happened to me... I had to mail in a paystub and recent utilities bill to "prove" I was at my new address. Once they had that, they reluctantly corrected my birthdate on file as well. Fortunately only one bureau had incorrect information.
At the same time, I put fraud alerts into all my credit reports, and opted out of all junk mail. (Certain credit companies can access your credit report to see if you are a good candidate receive junk mail from them.) I found it very annoying that you cannot put a "permanent" status on any of these things. Even though I've opted out, the occasional credit offer still comes through.
My best guess of what happened in my case is that a credit offer (junk mail) was sent to my old address and intercepted by the culprit (perhaps from the garbage if the current resident just tosses mail addressed to other people). I'm not sure how they got my SSN... I suspect one of the credit card offers listed it, or perhaps just didn't require it to be verified on the application. In the future I will be careful to update my address at the credit bureaus (I didn't realize one should have to do this, but I now realize it is a good idea) if for no other reason than to make sure junk mail gets to the right place.
As I said above, I was *very* lucky because one of the credit card companies caught a bogus application early. If they had not, then I probably would have been dealing with collection agencies and had all kinds of negative entries in my credit history. The credit bureaus really don't seem to give a rat's ass about having valid info or about helping you to correct mistakes. Negative entries stay in your rep
My hat is off to you Sir/Madame/Alf.
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
-----------
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
Read this account of how far you'd have to go to get them to reject a signature (answer: extremely far).
...carry a fake ID.
*rimshot*
I moved 3 years ago and had the druggie who moved in after me at my former address open a credit card with my bank in my name (not too hard, I was born, married, and bought a house in this state). I didn't find out until 6 months later, since they'd never gotten payment (it was opened with the old address and for whatever reason no bills were ever forwarded to me). I got a call at work, from the bank, wondering why I wasn't paying on my credit card. "What credit card, I only have an ATM/Debit card with you?" Found it he'd opened it 2 weeks after I moved, don't know how he got all the info. He tested it for a fill-up at the gas station right down the street, then went to SF and filled up one more time, then bought a $1000 digital camera, and never used the card again.
I took the rest of the day off to get things taken care of (file a police report, call all the places I had major accounts with, write them letters, etc.). Basically nothing came of it, it was marked fraud and removed from my credit report (but would have caused me problems if I'd not known about it and had been trying to buy a car or a house, fortunately I'd already bought both).
Since then I've had another credit card used fraudulently. It's a card I use exclusively for online purchases, nothing else. I was happening to check the balance and saw 3 charges the day before, two in England and one in France - two were expensive travel cruises and one was for a couple hundred dollars worth of sports gear from an online store (all of it booked online). I called my credit card company and told them I had no clue what the purchases were. They put a freeze on the account and none of the transactions went through (even though I'd not have been liable anyway), but that was just dumb luck.
What I really like about that credit card company (MBNA) is that they new offer a feature called "Shop Safe." It allows you to set a maximum amount for a purchase and an expiration date, and then generates a temporary credit card number. I love this idea and I cannot understand why more companies don't do it.
I really think credit card companies should allow you to specify that you won't allow the card to be used for online purchases. I've got 3 cards with photos on them, and that's how I'd have those set: no purchases that are not in person (ban both online and phone purchases). For those purchases I'll generate a random number thru MBNA with a cap set.
Even that wouldn't stop the places that don't have humans handling the cards (gas pumps, self-checkouts at Home Depot, etc.,) and even places with humans aren't helpful (restraunts never ask for ID even with it written on the signature strip, and some places with the VISA/ATM stand out for the customer to swipe it themselves).
My brother was recently doing credit checks and compiled the following info for those that wish to (if you're denied a job or credit, you're elibable to free report):
credit report info.
Added bonus: If you make a habit of never signing electronically and you are the victim of fraud, when the company says "We have an electronic copy of your signature right here," you can retort, "We,, that's impossible because I NEVER sign electronically." Paper signatures are much harder to forge.
I consider myself careful with my info, but 2 years ago, I (and several co-workers) were victimized by a restaurant waiter at our favorite sushi place. Apparently he had a small hand-held device that read the data off our cards on his way to or from the POS terminal. Here's http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2551132362&category=46973 one for sale on EBay. I know they have legitimate uses, but this guy grabbed at least 7 CC numbers in a weeks time from people I know. Lord knows how many people I don't know got hit.
What happened then was that new cards with the data were made, and then used. One friend of mine tracked transactions all the way to Hong Kong. Mine just went to southern CA.
My card was charged for over $4K -- mostly in tickets to Disneyland. In working this through with the bank, it turned out that the individual who charged the tickets had used an actual card - not a phone or internet transaction.
I never knew there was a problem until the bank called and asked if I had made any transactions at Disneyland. I was living in northern CA at the time, but have never been south. What triggered their attention was that I made a purchase just a few minutes away from their purchase, and since both were using cards, something was up.
After switching card numbers I didn't have to pay any of the bogus charges -- it took about 60 days to clear up.
So as careful as you are, if you use credit cards at all, you could be victimized.
Do you store passwords somewhere on your hard drive? Do the passwords protect any valuable data (e.g. financial)? This data could escape if:
- Your computer catches a virus/trojan with backdoor, and an intruder snoops your files
- A co-worker snoops into your files
- Your data BACKUPS go somewhere insecure
- Your old hard drive is recovered by someone else
- Valuable data is inadvertently copied somewhere you don't expect, which is insecure
- Your computer is stolen!
I keep all my vital passwords, account numbers and other identification inside a PGP encrypted file which I keep on a portable USB flash drive which I keep on my person all the time. I also store other vital files (such as emails) only on this portable drive.Why do I store it off the computer? Because even a private PGP key file residing on your hard drive is dangerous. Best to keep it portable, and on you. The trick I use is to remind myself: any data on fixed storage can easily 'escape'.
Don't be stupid.
Today I was filling up my car at Sams. Sitting by the gas pump were two little papers. One was the first page of a bank statement, with name, address, and account number. The second was a pay stub with a social security number and the place of employment. I looked in the trashcan next to the pump and aparently this woman had emptied out her car there at Sams and her important shit was on top.
Genuis. When you do stupid shit like that, expect identity theft.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Actually been the subject of Identity theft? I have(well Actually my parents) anyways a couple of quick notes. They dont only go after the rich. Were in the true middle class on a good day. And to the best of my knowledge neither I nor any other parts of my family have ever entered credit card information from anywere besides the computer I'm typing from now, and the one in the other room. My parents were paranoid about this for years to so even before it happened they would shred or burn all sorts of diffrent documents we got in the mail. Luckily after a few large purchases we were notified by our credit union and the account was canceled, but in just over 2 hours some bastard got 5,000 dollars worth of electronics, gas, and movies using our cc.
On another note, when someone steals your identity, and rings up huge expenses, and you dont pay them because you didnt buy the stuff who pays it? Your bank or the store or uncle sam? How much money is wasted like this every year?
You are correct, I have not worked directly with any police departments, except in the same sense that most people have encountered some form of police enforcement.
These people are some of the most underpaid, underappreciated lot in our society (with the exceptions of teachers). They work long, hard, mentally-disturbing stints...in a community that probably doesn't even give a rats backside port about them.
I agree, in fact I realized after I posted that I should've elaborated on that a little. I'm sure that 99% of the law enforcement personnel out there are hard working, honest, and yes, underappreciated. But my point is that we could have an even better system. You raise points about people putting their lives in danger for something as stupid as a bad tail-light. And yes, of course murder is orders of magnitude worse than petty theft. The system as it is works pretty well. I think it could be improved by some restructing. IMHO it's more important to pursue identity thiefs than it is to fine a broken taillight.
I disagree that identity theft is a minor offense. People (banks or individuals) can be out tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours due to ID theft, and that adds up to grand theft. It's like stealing a car. No, not worse than murder, but certainly much worse than petty theft. When a department is severely underfunded, they should be spending their scant resources in as productive a way as possible. And just because the money is stolen from a bank or an insurance company doesn't make it okay.
-Ansel.
G=C800:5
... would be useful in catching identity thieves.
Here in Sweden all banks use single session randomized passwords. Not only to log in, but also every time you want to transfer any money.
Just shed your identity and be done with it.
Identity theft is a problem because our government identically is holding people responsible for their identity, and at the same time actively destroying the infrastructure, which results in theft, and puts a premium on the sale of identities.
The solution, it would seem, is simple: don't have an identity!
Listen to yourself: "It's easy, low-risk, and quite lucrative." Is it illegal? If so, then that means that the government is deliberately not enforcing those laws. Which means that the government actually wants identity theft to be happening. Which means that anything you do is not going to work:
Pass laws: Oh. Riiight. Do you know how many laws we have? Do you know how many laws just your state has? Do you know what they say? Do you know what percentage make sense, grammatically speaking? This is an answer that our government loves.
Hold companies accountable Stop the world... that isn't America any more, and America has conquered the world. Companies are there specifically to avoid accountability.
No. Sorry, but the answer is just to shed your identity. Once your identity has been stolen, take advantage of it. Give up your three names -- who needs them anyway? -- and just call yourself "Bill" (or whatever your first name is). Make it official. Then go out, and start dropping your social security number out there to as many illegal immigrant rings as you can. Why, even SELL the information. Make sure that you all are "Bill", and take control of the world's largest voting block.
Note to the unaware: This is parody, but as with all humor, there is a touch of truth somewhere here....
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
Paranoia is another big problem affects a very large portion of the population (undoubtedly well over 750k cases/year). So I think you should hold up on all that identity theft stuff, and instead concern yourself more about the implications of suffering from paranoia. It is a serious problem, and should not be ignored or dismissed. From your "ask slashdot" question, you are most certainly affected by it.
Just thought I'd like to point out: if you do things the way he suggests, you'll only control 1/330,000 of a Congressman, but you can easily control a whole Senate seat, maybe two.
Anyhow, I... oh shoot.. It looks like someone has stolen my identity too.
I suggest you use a social security number of more than 16 digits and a mother's maiden name of at least 12 characters - and change them monthly, because those are what your bank is probably using as a password for telephone transactions.
I live a different life than most people.
I was screwed on identity theft quite a few years ago before people ever really had heard of it.
Now, I have no bank accounts of any kind what-so-ever. I work for cash. I live by cash. I don't have any sort of credit cards, checking accounts, anything. I carry cash and only as much as I need to do what I am going out to do.
Everything I own is paid for, I owe no one nothing because I don't buy anything if I don't have the cash on hand to pay for it in full on the spot.
I can't get in trouble this way because I can't get in debt because I don't borrow money. Since I leave no paper trails at all I can't get screwed. Even if someone did attempt it, it would get them nothing. I have a bad credit rating due to the past incident and I've left it blemished to prevent people from being attracted to my identity again.
I personally have no desire or interest to be like everyone else and be a credit junky and live beyond my means. That's just stupid.
As it stands now, I do fine and am happy with things this way. I pay ALL of my bills in cash by driving to the payment centers, including my internet bill. And I use false names on all of my utilities and false SSN numbers.
I don't rent movies or games or anything else. I never engage in activities in which I may be required to identify myself, and if by some odd occasion I am asked, I give fake names and fake SSN numbers. And I do remember who I told what.
It works for me.
And most importantly, GET RID OF WINDOWS!
Dump that POS OS and install Linux.
Don't dual boot, just cut the cord and dump it completely. If you don't go cold turkey you'll never really switch.
While what I do is not within reason for MOST people, getting rid of Windows is. But if you've really be screwed over hard and you really want it to end, you'll have to just live differently. Life without the pursuit of materialistic goals is really not as bad as you would think..
I've been the victim of identity theft, myself.
/. you really need to work on your reading comprehension skills). Apply some of that same caution to your identity and personal accounts.
In my case, it was an employee of the credit union which I used to bank at. They ordered a duplicate ATM card in my name, and picked it up from my mailbox while I was at work (about five years ago).
While they had the card, they would place fake deposits (empty envelopes) in affiliated credit union ATMs (all CUs in this area share ATM facilities) -- giving as much credit as the 'deposit' was listed as having available for withdrawal immediately -- and the credit union would be none the wiser for almost a week until the deposit slip made it into their hands.
I actually noticed what had happened before the credit union did. I noticed that my available balance was WAY higher than it should have been, but my daily withdrawal limit had been reached.
It took several months, a police report, several meetings with the bank and an indefinite fraud alert on all my credit reports to clear things up. The police began working with the bank. The bank gave me some clues to the effect that they believed it was an internal job -- but I was never able to find out the results of the investigation.
All that said, I make it policy to:
1. Only have vital mail shipped to a *secure* location. This means a locked mailbox, a P.O. box, or at the very least mailed to your work address, where you routinely are during delivery hours.
2. Bitch and moan until I'm blue in the face if I'm anywhere that prints the full number on credit card receipts. If you complain loud enough, even the corner Starbucks will make a call to their merchant account provider and have their unit reprogrammed.
3. I flat-out refuse to give out my Social to anyone, save employers or the government. No-brainer here. Potentially messy when renting an apartment, however.
4. I refuse to allow my ID card to be swiped for verification purposes (my state has a magstrip on licenses with all sorts of personal data), and I also refuse to give out any personal information to sales clerks.
They'll complain like hell at Radio Shack or the local liquor store ('I'm sorry, those are the rules') -- but after they start losing sales because you refuse to comply, they'll soften their corporate stance considerably.
5. I *read* all my bank and card statements, and I know within $10 or so how much I have available in every account. If things look weird, I investigate.
The short of it: identity theft, however big or small can happen to anyone. My practice is to apply some common sense to minimize my exposure -- but, let's face it -- it's easier for a disgruntled waiter to copy down your credit card number than for someone to outright steal your identity.
Be smart. You patch your systems religiously (if you don't and you're on
Sacrifice a little convenience (paying cash for dinner) for a little piece of mind, but don't go too overboard. Just be AWARE.
Jon Burrows
SSN 409-52-2002
DOB 01/08/1935, TUPELO MS
POB 357 MEMPHIS TN 38101
The receipts I shred. I used to have a shredder that could handle credit cards, but I left it at a previous place of employment. Now I just burn my old cards. It stinks, but it works. You only have to burn enough to annihilate half of the numbers or so. Alternatively, one could toss an old card on top of the bed of charcoal when lighting a barbecue. By the time the coals are ready, there will be nothing left of the card but a bit of carbon.
Batou: Hey, Major... You ever hear of "human rights"? Major: I understand the concept, but I've never seen it in action
I finally start listening and suddenly it's Identity Theft
Okay, sometimes I have to log in at the local internet cafe, and I *assume* that there will be keyloggers. That said, my process was to bring up MS Word, type a whole sentence or two, then delete (using mouse swipes) everything except my password, cut that, then return to IE, and paste that in.
Oh, yes: I also cleared the cookies and removed the "Autocomplete" functions that were (of course) set to "remember logins / remember passwords". And cleared history.
But assuming that there was a keylogger, did my efforts give me any protection at all? Or are the key loggers actually key - and - mouse - logger - and - replay?
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
You are assuming that the bank examines the signature. When I had trouble with an improperly handled check, the banker explained that, for most banks, the check processing system is totally automated. Humans only get involved when an error is reported. It is cheaper for the bank to let the system run on autopilot. Security and fraud problems that affect the bank's customers are given a low priority. It is only when the bank's money is being stolen that they get serious about security.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
The number has been changed. It's now 1-888-OPT-OUT.
The number has been changed. It's now 1-888-5-OPT-OUT.
A more specific example of this is infiNET solutions QuikPAY. This product is based around TomCat but they only provide support if the server is configured with Apache + mod_jk + mod_ssl. A request has been pending for infiNET to approve upgrading OpenSSL. After an entire year of running with a known root exploit, we still have not recieved authorization to patch the system without voiding support. At the same time, infiNET continues to get praise by EduCAUSE members. If you are really worried about identity theft such as capturing of credit card information, then feel free to call the 888 number on the press release and ask why they don't provide any indemnification or at least approval to patch known root expoits in connection with their products.
Could you possibly go to some car dealer who sells cars that are way to expensive for you to afford, get denied credit, get free credit report? Or something along these lines? Just a thought.
against identity theft is.. (wait for it).. not having an identity in the first place!
I moved out of the country.
Forgiveness please, but why do you run a keylogger on your home computer "for legal reasons"? :P To save your work in case of a system crash? or just ridiculous levels of paranoia? :)
You can always buy insurance to protect yourself. Call a couple of insurance companies, google on the web for insurance data.
Or you could see a psychiatrist about why you are going off the deep end on this.
Some poor slob used papers I threw away to get free health treatment in a local hospital. It was insurance fraud for him against the hospital; but it won't affect me one bit (We discovered the fraud when I went there for the first time and their records showed it was my second time).
Hmm, don't you see any "sponsored links" when you click this link?
Go see a doctor: free.
go to the emergency room: free.
get your heart transplanted: free (lengthy wait)
lack of worry about money to get treated: priceless
These people are some of the most underpaid, underappreciated lot in our society (with the exceptions of teachers). They work long, hard, mentally-disturbing stints...in a community that probably doesn't even give a rats backside port about them.
They place their lives on the line, every day...even for somthing as stupid as a pull-over for a bad tail light.
You're right. That makes up for the cops that stood over me, making fun of the picture on my driver's license while the paramedics worked on me. They kept trying to get the paramedic to laugh too, but he said "Hey lay off" and got the cops to go away. Yes, sir. Them there cops sure is underappreciated. Nothing like a good gay bashing to get a Reno cop to say, "Go ahead and file a report if you'd like. We're not going to do anything". Or the cop that said, "I could kill you and no one would ever know".
Yup. Those guys are underappreciated. It'd be better if I was gay, but hey, I was a funny looking punk rocker, so therefore I was gay to the guys who jumped me from behind and to the cops who had to show up. It was made up for in the surgery I had to have. Not that the cops cared because I was gay so I had it coming.
I'm actually not that bitter, but if I saw a cop on fire, I wouldn't piss on him to put him out.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
Y, Experian tell us that they keep the data to prevent fraud. Then ask us to check our own records at personal expense - in case of fraud. Furthermore, if you shop around for products or financial services, you can be denied everywhere, because it is mistaken for fraud. This is not in anyone's interest. Surely, these credit reference agencies are -1 redundant.
I think that banks and companies use these agencies because they can avert blame for error when they don't have any better solutions. Credit reference agenies are also exempt for banking regulations. So, if you encounter problems then I would suggest class action lawsuits, or merely threatening such course of action. If it becomes expensive for the companies involved then they will be less willing to share your information with credit agencies.
Don't bother buying a document shredder. This is not because documents can be reconstructed but because it is a distraction promoted by credit reference agencies. For example, the UK branch of Experian is run as a franchise by a retail group. Said retail group sells shredders. Said retail group has taken to advertising shredders. Said retail group cites Experian's figures in its adverts. Said retail group may also have shares in the company makes shredders.
So, I'm supposed to buy a shredder from a sibling company of a credit reference agency. Meanwhile, they distribute misinformation about me and deny liability. Yeah, right.
"1) Social security numbers are being used as "unique identifying numbers" EVERYWHERE. When you've gotten someone's SS#, you're halfway to having their identity. "
Why? It's just a number. Surely they should be using your address to identify you.
In the UK, we have National Insurance numbers, but they are for social security only, I have never been asked for it for any other purpose, including getting loans, mortgages or credit cards. They certainly aren't used as proof of identity.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
BURNINATION.
Serious.. put them on a baking tray or something, then use one of these match things, or a fancy pants cigarette lighter, and burn them outside.
Transfer your money to any bank in Switzerland. They are required to performa proper cutomer authentication by the Swiss banking law. And they do it very well. Even a normal bank account is 'secret': They will not tell anybody that you are a client even if they ask directly. Nobody has access to your money except of you. A bank reprenstative who does not properly authenticate a client, goes to court. And penalties for insufficient carefulness in banking business are high in Switzerland. So as a bank rep. you better be very careful.
I won't use my two main cards over the phone, internet or out of my sight at restaurants, I also ask for the carbons if they ever have to hand-swipe the card.
For any purchase of that sort I have a debit card linked to an unrelated account with nothing in it - the credit union has explicit instructions never to allow it to be overdrawn. Whenever I want to buy anything via a 'suspect' route, I transfer just enough to the account/card to cover the cost then immediately complete the transaction. If anyone intercepts the information, the most I lose is that amount.
It's slightly inconvenient on occasion but I feel far more comfortable about my cards.
Go permanent? In your dreams and my worst nightmares.
You are actually quite wrong about Australian TFNs.
For example, I have six TFNs.
I have two trusts, two trustee companies, my personal one and another holding company!!!
At Internet access places travellers use, I've found that many if not most have Internet Explorer's "Use Autocomplete for usernames and passwords on forms" option selected.
I always deselect it. It's under Tools/Internet Options/Content/Autocomplete.
It may just be accidental, but these computers are logging everyone's usernames and passwords, which is, needless to say, a big security issue.
The only Internet Access chain I've found that has real verifiable security is Easy Everything (run by the same people as EasyJet). When you log off, their system actually wipes the hard drive and then downloads a new boot image off their network, so nothing at all is saved between sessions. This not only proves that they're not logging things (at least not unless they log them over the network), but prevents anyone from installing any software (such as key loggers) on their systems.
It's the way to go, but no one else I know of does it.
And yet the solutions are there. Interestingly enough there is, in the UK for example, the Data Protection Act (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980029.htm , see schedule 1 and s14), which describes the law surrounding the collecting, storage and distribution of "personal" data. Whilst most people think of it as protecting the distribution of data, in fact the legislation is designed to prevent, or at least provide recourse for people affected by, exactly the kind of crap data collection that this story reports.
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
I had my identity stolen in 1995 which resulted in financial catastrophe for me in 1996. Back then, identity theft was a more or less unknown crime and people affected didn't exactly have a willing ear on the other side of the phone.
They finally did catch the person who had found a college transcript in the trash at the Administration building where I was going to college. The school had thrown out a whole bin full of transcripts that didn't print out correctly, but still had social security numbers on them.
The person who stole my identity ran up almost $30,000 in credit card debt, bought two cars, and left me holding the bag. They had changed my address so I wouldn't get the bills, so it was 6 weeks or so before I started calling to find out what was going on. A week of investigating turned up all of these accounts, but it was too late. Even with an open case, the lenders were still unwilling to take the hit and instead put all of the accounts into collections. The credit bureaus were similarly unwilling to listen, and I sat for nearly 7 years (ending this November) with bad credit items that were not mine.
So, here's what I did to protect my identity ex post facto:
1) ALWAYS choose one of the following options:
a) Elect to receive online statements INSTEAD of paper
b) Buy a really good cross shredder that has a split bin, so any given piece of paper ends up split between two different trash bags.
It is always better not to have important identity-related documents mailed to your home. A PO box is much better.
2) NEVER carry your social security card or use your social security number for anything other than the administration of your social security account. It is actually against the law to use the SS# for any purpose other than to maintian your SS account. Get a TIN number instead.
3) NEVER allow the state to use your social security number for your drivers' license. Since it also has your address and birthday, it's like carrying Carte Blanc for an identity thief
4) Have checking accounts at more than one bank and split your paycheck direct deposit between the two. This isn't so much to protect your identity, but more to have a backup in case one of your accounts is compromised. (I actually have three)
5) Never ever ever ever ever give your account information to ANYONE, EVER. If you're filling out an application on paper for a loan, just write "SEE CREDIT REPORT." There is absolutely no reason for anyone to ask you to write down your account information when you're applying for a loan. Remember, anything that you put on a piece of paper that is not under your complete control is ammunition against you. In general, you should never be filling out paper applications for credit anymore.
6) Get a Sharpie and write "CHECK ID" in the signature panel AND ACROSS THE FRONT of all of your credit cards. This is obvious. Cards with your photo are a neat option, but are usually ignored. Here's the important part: if someone does NOT ask for ID, get their manager and make a HUGE stink about it. Hold up the checkout line while you ream him/her out for 10 minutes about identity and credit card theft. Teach them a lesson about paying attention.
7) Demand that your creditors ask for a password or PIN from anyone who calls customer service. If they will not, close the account and find a lender who will. They do exist.
8) Get Steganos Security Suite (Windows) or use an encrypted filesystem (Linux) if you use your PC to maintain your financial records. Of course, linux is the better solution, but hey, not everyone runs it.
9) This is a new one, but in some places, the credit bureaus allow you to put a "HOLD" on your credit report. This causes the bureau to require your direct intervention to allow your report to be released to a lender. This is expensive ($40 for the hold, and $30 for each release, I think), but worth it if you are at risk of identity theft.
Now, I know the Security Weenie section of the Slashd
I read through this thread and there are tons upon tons of very good suggestions to help combat this epidemic.
Would anyone like to join with me in creating an Identity Theft guide? This would be more or less a collection of these suggestions and ideas presented in a more organized fashion. I know documents like this exist, but it'd be cool to do anyway.
Email me if you're interested
Thanks
My house was burgled last year, and along with my DVD player and my wife's laptop, the bastards nicked my passport.
To make matters worse, on my way to register for my marriage, I managed to leave a birth certificate and the first page of a bank statement in the taxi. The documents never turned up at lost property or with the police. Bloody stupid carelessness, and it gives me nightmares to think who could now have those documents.
Thing is, now the information's out there, what can I do? I cancelled the passport and changed the bank account number, but there's a pretty much complete set of identity documents in my name floating around out there. How can I tell when someone tries to use them?
"The Milliard Gargantubrain? A mere abacus - mention it not."
a nigger? If not, what race.
you mush them up with boiling water and then give them a minute or two in the blender. Mush!
... a tinfoil hat!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
They may not use national insurance numbers for loans or mortgages. (My husband and I are buying a house with a mortgage and a drawdown loan.) We haven't been asked for our national insurance number, but surely, someone with my details can go out and get a job using my details, then screw up how much tax I end up paying. Granted, that would only be attractive to a) a failed asylum seeker or b) someone who didn't even bother applying for asylum, since they knew they weren't eligble. I'm only part time right now, and don't have to pay any tax on my wages. If this were to happen, they'd drive my taxes right up, and screw up my monthly accounting, as well as rip me off. Its easy enough to prove, tho. If it wasn't me they were working with, it must have been the n.i. thief.
waittasecond. you mean this *plastic* Faraday cage won't work?! aw man.. I *knew* I should have gotten the penis enlargement pills instead. -AC
Well said, aleph+. I wrote the original post, and while I intended it to be a bit trollish, what you say is true.
I reckon that before Americans are allowed abroad, they should be sent on an intensive learning course to understand the rest of the world.
I have had checks clear that I have forgaotten to sign.
To answer your question.... Yes, they had a completely BLANK sig line and cleared anyway.
After that I did an experiement: instead of a sig, I drew a little picture on the sig line (smiley faces). Result? Check cleared.
Makes you wonder why they even bother with the sig line any more.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Just do like I do. Don't pay your bills on time, run up any credit cards you have, and let them go to collections. After a while, your credit rating will be sooo bad nobody will want to steal your identity.
This rank about ID theft is overblown. There are easy solutions to this problem and most geeks should know this. The government should give us an ID like the RF tags Wal-mart is using in their inventory. You could even scan these at a distance when you apply for credit, open an account, board a plane etc. No more ID theft, terrorism or petty crime. . . . What are all these locusts doing on my computer screen?
- Charged $6000 worth of phone calls to someone else in the next county.
- Lease 4 different sport cars under someone else's credit.
- Rented at least 2 apartments under someone else's credit.
- Recieved bank loans under someone elses cerdit.
- About 20 credit cards under someone elses name.
Theses were the items that were specific to identity theft. He also had various fraud changes such as copying American Express Travelers checks with a color copier and stolen money orders. How did this guy learn to do all this. He had books in his apartment documenting how to do all of the above. So not only is it easy to steal, it is well documented how to steal also.After all the evidence and the expert witness from American Express, we found him guilty. But since that case, I have been very careful on what information I have released. So no, I don't think the original post is paranoid. Anything that can be done to prevent this problem is easier then cleaning up the mess afterward.
So, companies accept as IDs the weirdest things (drivers licenses, etc).
This makes it very easy to steal your identity, because you can identify yourself in so many different ways, instead of having just one, very secure, way of identification.
But people tend to resists this unique ids in the US (although they are commonplace in most countries), because of the "Big brother is watching you" phenomena...
More privacy usually makes it easier to lose your identity, because you cannot prove who you are...
All my credit cards are registered to 'CmdrTaco' :)
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
If you tell anyone your name, kill them. However, if you slip up, that's where the cyanide pill comes in.
Remember the pill.
This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it. - Dorothy Parker
but first I'll need your social security number.
I'd just love to see someone try to reconstruct all my account shredding. It all goes into a very large box at the local pet store (with everyone else's for security) and then they use it to put in all the kennels/hutches for the kittens, puppies, gerbils, etc.
You would really have to be desperate to go through that lot once it gets to the waste bin - phew!
Go permanent? In your dreams and my worst nightmares.
This applies as well to colleges that insist on using your SSN as your student ID.
We need to inform businesses that the SSN's are for a specific tax purpose and should not be used as a convenient government identification number.
FYI, SSN's that begin with '999' are not used by the government and could therefore be used as alternate ID numbers. However, some business computers will reject these numbers saying that they are invalid SSN's (duh).
As far as I'm concerned, there are only two kinds of mail. The first kind is things that I keep. I file those in a locked filing cabinet inside my locked house. If you get those, you've committed a crime that the police understand and do something about.
The second kind is everything else. It gets shreaded. The quality of the shreader isn't terribly important because of what I do with the shreadings. I add a fair amount of random paper to the stuff I shread, like other people's discarded printouts and the like. I burn all of the shreadings. They make getting the fireplace lit a snap. And all of the ashes get disposed of with used cat litter.
If the NSA wants to, they may be able to reconstruct what was originally on the paper from whats in my trash, but I doubt it. And they don't really need to bother. For the average identity thief, my trash is not the place to look.
Very well put my friend!
Anonymous Cowards suck.
Well, traffic accidents killed about 41,000 people and injured about 3.2 million more
And, of course, we all believe that the police don't enforce traffic laws just because they usually bring in money do we?</SARCASM>
Just steal someone else's identity first. Then an identity thief who targets you will get the wrong one.
Identity theft wouldn't be such a big problem if corporations and branches of government would authenticate properly. People's dogs are getting pre-approved credit card spam! If you know someone's momma's maiden name, banks will roll over and give you the key to the vault. Sure, they've got tons of money spent on all the other security features (except auditing of course. and integrity/accesibility, disaster data recovery people gotta make a buck to) but it doesn't help if you think someone's mom's maiden name is a secret!
I can't agree with this more! You should be able to sue companies if they give credit in your name without having taken adequate steps to verify that it is really you who is requesting the credit. This means that all mail, phone, and internet applications for credit should be outlawed. You should have to be physically present and provide multiple forms of identification, be photographed, and perhaps have your fingerprints taken in order to apply for credit. This wouldn't be perfect either, but it would cut down on fraud by 90% or more because identity thieves wouldn't want to have their photograph or prints taken, even if they were able to produce authentic looking fake id.
My poor credit is all of the protection I need.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." --Unknown
Hey I love tangents as much as most people (*cough cough*) so could we please get back to the main topic:
What can we do to prevent/hinder ID theft?
Does anyone know of a good free way to check your credit rating? I think some banks give you a free anual report. All of those 'free' credit report companies just try to dupe your report and sell it.
Here are a few suggestions:
Don't use your full name on your voicemail/annc. machine.
I use a fake 'mother's maiden name'.
I live with roomates, so I know how easy it is to packet-sniff and reconstitute everyone's websurfing. They have free utilities that a two-year-old could use. I don't really know how to stop sniffing though. Any suggestions?
People (even people I trust) do use my computer without permission. Put a screensaver password on, don't use the admin account, use something like TweakUI to automatically clear your IE caches. I personally can remember my passwords and account numbers, but if you can't do that I'd suggest encrypting all of it (be sure to never write down or leave traces of your key).
Wear an aluminum-foil hat. The CIA reads your thoughts with satellites.
Ok that's my 2 cents, just IMO.
-Anonymous aluminum-foil hat Coward
If you get your name legally changed because you have been a victim of identity theft, remember two things. First, you don't have to use the same name socially that you use for official transactions. You can continue to have your friends use your original name. Secondly, choose a unique name. Francois Sasha McRamirez has the right flavor, I think.
- If you have credit cards, read your terms and conditions, to see what you will be liable for if ID Theft happens to you.
- Opt-out of as many things you can. Although, mostly for annoyances, you probably won't have very private info shared -- just Phone number, name, etc. By law, there are restrictions on what can be shared without your permission. If someone does get your information without your permission, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.
- Contact the credit reporting agencies and put an inquery freeze on your account or make it so they have to contact you first before getting credit information about you. The first moment you notice possible ID theft, issue a Fraud Alert on your file (as well with your bank and CC accounts too).
- Know the laws in your state about credit reporting -- in my state, GA, we are allowed 2 free credit reports per year per agency. I get mine every 6 months. TransUnion will do the free ones online where as Equifax will not. I'm not sure about Experian.
- Clerical mistakes are common, although I'm in my 20's Equifax says I was born in 1956. Also, I had a few items on my file because of a married identity -- someone with the same name as me with only a minor difference (middle initial was off by one letter). I tracked down the problems, called the offeneded companies (collection agencies), and disputed the charges on my file. Within 2 months, all charges on my file were dropped.
- Realize you can do all this yourself, until things become really serious and involve the FBI or police (an actual ID theft occurs).
- Of course, monitor your bank and CC statements for any unusual activity. I try to go with banks or CC companies that allow immediate, continuous access to my accounts online -- that way, I spot fraud as soon as it happens (which I have used a few times).
A problem with ID theft is that employees with the authority to pull your credit (police, court clerks, bank employees) may not be ethical and use their authority access to get your personal info.In short, you cannot entirely prevent it, but you can take a few steps to reduce your risk and educate yourself for when/if it happens to you. I'm averaging 1 case per year, but with these tools, I have managed to keep my liability to 0. Of course, your experiences may be different.
SPAM solution made easy: 1 spammer, 5 cords of rope, 5 hourses, and fireworks. Be creative.
All of the latest comprehensive spyware packages log keystrokes, monitor the clipboard, take screenshots, capture window titles, monitor running processes, etc. There are several of these available all over the Internet for under $50 with pretty GUIs and sneaky ways of hiding themselves (e.g. by installing themselves as a device driver or service rather than a running process in startup groups).
Some encrypt the data and store it locally, others store it to a web-accessible server on the Internet, and some e-mail information in real-time. So, defending against simple keystroke loggers or searching through text files on the local PC for logs are both outdated methods.
For those of you who would prefer to keep your good credit rating vs. destroying it to prevent identity theft, check with your homeowners insurance company. I have a rider on my policy for identity theft - $25000 if my idenetity is stolen to repair the damange done. It only costs $25 per year. It is well worth picking up.
No, security based on "what you are" (biometric data like fingerprints, retinal patterns, DNA,) is not perfect but its better than relying on security based on "what you know" (and can forget, and can be learned by anybody else.)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
You have too much money dood, I'd invest it in those less fortunate ... billions of people are starving and you're worried about protecting your excess? Sheesh ... get some responsability instead of all that fear and greed. Typical stupid first worlders.
I love mankind, it's rich people I can't stand.
Don't just cough up your SSN just cuz some inbred bureaucrat decided to ask for it on a form. Only the bank and your employer need it or have a right to request it. Everybody else, the university, the cable company, the video store, your insurer should be slapped down when they request it.
Protect your credit, I use MBNA Shop Safe, where I can generate one time use credit card numbers online. Too many major databases of credit cards have been owned by script kiddies to do anything less.
Buy a decent shredder and anything with even your address on it goes through it. Secure your mailbox.
-Iron
When you are asked for personal information that doesn't involve extending credit, lie. Any time you are asked to participate in a survey, make up answers to anything that sounds personal. And you are the judge of what is personal. There are surveys listing my income all over the map. Only give your name if there is no other personal information connected with it. And even then, change your middle name, or the spelling frequently. Use at least one piece of information that will be connected to you, like your address.
When you are providing information that involves financial transactions, leave fields blank whenever you can. Use your work address some of the time and home address some of the time. Misspell your street name, make it an avenue instead of a street, add an apartment number from time to time if you live in a single family home. Don't make it easy.
Two comments:
1) Why would any bank give any of your info to your sister? Unless it's a joint account, no one else aside from the sole account holder should have any access whatsoever without express written authorization by that account holder (yes, just like they say for every baseball game).
2) Speaking from experience for the eBay situation, next time tell them that you are the hacker and now control the poor loser's account and that you will be fraudulently bidding with it starting in two hours. If your jurisdiction allows phone recordings with only one party's (yours) consent, then record the conversation. Then check back in two hours to see if the account is frozen. It might be hell to get it unfrozen, but that's better than the alternative.
--
dman123 forever!
Filtering out the -1s and 0s since 1999.
I get instant access to my credit report, monitoring for identity theft, and unsubscribing for junk mail (no, not junk email). They also send me weekly emails notifying me of any changes in my credit, no specifics in the email.
I've been using it for over a year, originally I signed up to see my credit, and it was about $20/year. Now it's $50/year, but I'm a satisfied customer.
My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
I know how you can get free credit reports:
;-)
Just go to a bank or other financial institution and try to take out a loan about 10 times the amount of your net worth. In my case, that would be about 10 grand.
It's likely that you'll get denied. Bada-bing! Get your free credit report.
Don't become a regular here, you will become retarded. -- Yoda the Retard
So if you REALLY want to avoid identity theft then:
a) don't die
or
b) put all your assets in trust before you do
My $0.02 (and no, I don't sell trusts or estate planning).
Jeff
Tip: Don't carry your Social Security number in your wallet. If your wallet is lost or stolen, the thief would have everything needed for any credit application, since your name, address, and birthday are on your driver's license.
Note that most health insurance companies put your SSN on your health insurance cards. If you're paranoid that you'll end up in the emergency room and they won't treat you because they can't find your insurance card, then make up a card with the carrier's name, the policy number, and a list of phone numbers of emergency contacts.
I won't bore you with the saga of my friend who had her identity stolen. It would sound like an urban legend. The theft not only resulted in horrible damage to her credit report (that lasted for seven years), but trouble with the law (because the theives bought a car that was used for drug running under her name) and hassles from the IRS (because her SSN was sold to others who were employed with her name and SSN, making it look like my friend had not reported income). All of this happened because of a purse-snatching.
I did an internship at a US embassy in Africa in the early 1990s. On the weekends some of us would run in the Hash House Harriers cross-country races. The embassy staff donated their shredded documents to mark the trails. You would be running through the woods, and when you came to a fork, there would be a little pile of shredded US government secrets marking the way!
Of course, the embassies don't use your run-of-the-mill $40 Stables shredders. These shredders produced tiny little slivers that would completely disintegrate at the next rain.
I always wondered if the embassy spooks knew the foreign service officers were using the shredded bits that way.
If you find the perpetrator yourself and the police can't help you, there is but one solution: vigilantism. Make the person suffer in one way or another for their crime.
At my age I find coming up with a witty signature too exhausting.
Compleatly destroy your credit your self. No one will be able to get credit under your name, and you can have alot of fun doing such...
"...When in doubt, make like the Reb's did in the civil war... leave a burned swath all the way to the freakin' sea..."
Perhaps you mean more like the Russians habitually do in front of invading French and Germans...the Wrebs didn't burn Georgia, the Ianqies did...(although considered an atrocity at the time, General T'sherman was much more polite than, for example, the Qaiser's army in Belchyum).
It's called .357 :)
If someone stole my identity.. and you were able to find out where he was.. (IE via credit card billing address or etc)
he would be needing to take out a loan for his burial
This is the biggest crock of shit. Look, I'm gonna post this AC since this is, after all, a thread about identity theft.
I've had approximately 15 credit cards since 1997 (when I turned 17). Anyone who can subtract can figure out that I am 23 years old now. In six years of using credit cards, I have paid this much in interest to CC companies: $0.00. That's right, I've never paid a fucking dime of interest to any CC company anywhere.
I accumulated about $15K of student debt. I steadily paid it off as I finished my last two years of school, and when I graduated and (quite fortunately, in this economy!) landed a high-pay position, I paid off the remaining $12K in 9 months. Total interest paid over the five year loan term, when you count up every cent I ever borrowed for college: $500.
My current FICO score: 751.
In June I got a $12000 car loan. Easily. For 4.99% APR. I'm thinking of selling the loan to my credit union, who is offering 4.1%.
And like I said, I've paid zero dollars in interest to credit card companies. Guess what: the CC company doesn't care whether you pay them interest. They are making their 1.5% or 2% commission off the merchant for every purchase. They make their money whether you pay interest or not. The primary concern of any lender is not "Will I make a ton of interest off this guy," it's "Will I get screwed by a deadbeat who won't repay the principle?"
My credit rating rocks (ok, it's not in the 90th percentile, but it's good) because I pay the bill on time, I pay the bill on time, I pay the bill on time. Don't be a deadbeat loser, and you'll have good credit. Simple, really.
I use this for all my passwords now
/dev/urandom | uuencode -m - | head -2 | tail -1
:)
head -c 15
I will be _SOOOO_ screwed if i lose the encrypted file where i store them all
I recently found out that my homeowners' insurance (Traveller's) for $25 / year will insure me up to $25k.
It's not meant for covering illegal purchases - that's taken care of (usually) by the credit card companies. This is meant for lost wages and lawyer fees - costs you incur while fighting for your identity back.
That sounded like a great idea and I bet you'll start to see more insurance companies offering it.
The police don't prosecute crimes, that's the job of the prosecutor. The police investigate crimes.
Oh yeah, because keylogger authors are too dumb to encrypt the log files, even XOR them... You're having a real brain-storm kinda day today, hmm?
if it wasn't for america, we wouldn't have suffocating humidity and smog clouds in the summer. so lay off.
How hard is it to click on the link and read the story and explore the site (Snopes) for a little bit before you post such lame questions, you fucking dick?!?
Good information. :)
While I'm sure alot of Identity Theft occurs on-line, as compared to stolen cards being used in stores. I work in retail, and there is really no enforcement of using signature for verification. People all over the place use cards with signatures scratched off, unsigned cards, and any other type of defacement you can imagine. We're supposed to ask for ID (license, passport, military ID) when the signature is damaged. Often times people don't have a license on them, so we aren't supposed to sell them their purchase. Instead of letting our store lose out in sales, we just let the customer go and hope its actually their card. There are other places where reform should happen in the retail industry, but this is one of the areas that deserve attention when dealing with CC fraud.
Yes, I know it's not just individuals who get TFNs.
The article I was referring to was based on tax office figures, and referred to individuals TFNs. There's just far too many of them than there should be. Last I heard, some tax office employees were looking at jail time for their part in one of the scams.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Identity Theft Countermeasures are simple - If you still someones Identity then you will be tried for murder of the person you have killed by stealing their Identity punishable by Death within 24 hours of the guilty verdict. That is it.
..so never use your business card for roaches.
/. users have posted excellent advice on preventing ID theft or dealing with it and I've seen that with other topics. Is there an easy way to save all the messages or contents of all the messages so they can be edited and condensed down to a great list of advice, or must it be done one--at--a--time....? I'd like to keep it, just in case, and send to friends, with proper credit to /. of course ;)
Laptop + Lamination machine = Fake ID. Takes 30 seconds. Sounds pretty easy to me.
I work for a notary organiztion that does a lot dealing with ID fraud. A very cool thing about this place is that, aside from the normal benefits (health, dental, etc.) all employees (and members too) get a $5000 ID theft insurance policy. So now I don't have to worry about getting my ID stolen too much, I'm insured for more than my net worth :) . I may be mistaken but I believe the policy is underwritten by AIG Specialty Insurance, so if you're really super worried you can get such an insurance policy.
Be careful! Bears shouldn't consume large furry dogs.
[Off-topic]
I was gonna sign up for individual health through BCBS when I got unemployed and thought I could save a $100/mo till I got a job. Guess what? Their agreement requires you to disavow all claims of privacy under federal law and allows them to give your info to any third party! Needless to say, I decided not to sign up after all. I don't mind them getting info from my doctor or whatever, but I steadfastly refuse to allow them to give it to anyone else without my express consent.
-l
Help cure AIDS, cancer, and more. Donate your unused computer time to worldcommunitygrid.org. Join Team Slashdot!
The burden of proof needs a bit of shifting. Organisations entering into major contracts with individuals need to go to a little bit of effort to contact the individual that they think they have made a contract with before they are even allowed to pester you to pay the associated bills.
Don't you have an Owner's Title Insurance policy? That should take care of that.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent