Blog - Deter Identity Theft

TrustedID has launched its new enhanced version of Identity Theft protection solution that covers the entire family. Its flagship product ‘IDFreeze’ has also been enhanced with extra features to help improve its identity theft protection capability.

IDFreeze now includes the following new features:

1. Child Identity Protection
2. Medical Records Protection
3. Anti-Spyware Software
4. Enhanced Junk Mail Reduction
5. Name and Address Scanning
6. Bank Account Scanning
7. Lost Wallet Protection

IDFreeze continues to offer:

1. Credit Card Number Scanning
2. Junk Mail Reduction
3. Fraud Flag Placement
4. Annual Credit Reports
5. Name and Address Scanning
6. $1,000,000 Limited Service Warranty

This suite of protection is available at $99.00/year for an individual and $189.00/year for families.

 Effective immediately, LifeLock one of the leading Identity Theft Protection companies is offering two new services to all its members. The two new features are ‘eReconTM’ and ‘TrueAddressTM’ which will provide added identity theft protection to its members.

‘eReconTM’ performs the task of monitoring over 10,000 websites, bulletin boards and other social networking channels looking for sensitive information belonging to its clients being traded or exchanged illegally.

‘TrueAddressTM’ performs the task of monitoring change of address forms that are used by USPS to document change of address. Identity thieves often try to get their hands on this information and misuse the personal information to carryout illegal financial transactions. The new system will monitor databases nationwide and alert its users if their information shows up in any of those places.

This service is available to all its existing users and new users who sign up now and no extra cost.
 

According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approximately 800,000 consumer complaints were registered in 2007 of which a 32% involved identity theft. According to a recent survey conducted by Bankrate, Inc. 8 out of 10 Americans i.e. 80% of the American’s surveyed are concerned about identity theft. That’s not all; over 34% Americans knew some one who was a victim of identity theft.

A data breach resulting in the theft of patient names, social security numbers and other sensitive data affected more than 50,000 patients at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The disclosure, made on April 11, is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Secret Service. According to an Associated Press article, the hospital has some evidence that this theft was linked to a “larger criminal enterprise.” According to statements, New York Presbyterian Hospital has set up a hotline for people with questions and is offering credit monitoring services to those customers that may have been impacted by the data breach.

 In response to this breach IdentityTruth is offering a one-month special service rate of $1 for the more than 50,000 patients reportedly impacted by the breach. IdentityTruth is a unique service that provides more complete protection than other services that only set credit fraud alerts.  IdentityTruth goes beyond credit monitoring or other standard identity theft protection services to provide the most comprehensive protection available in the market–all backed by a $2 million service guarantee.

Imagine having a team of former federal agents guarding your identity, hard to believe? That is exactly want the team at iSekurity a new company formed to defend your identity from identity theft is offering. A team of former federal agents with a combined experience of over 2,000 hours are going to work round the clock to protect your identity from being stolen.

With a combination of early detection services and identity restoration services, iSeckurity is offering a full service identity theft protection program that is designed to protect you from identity theft.

Features include a 24/7 command and consultancy center for its customers to call and seek immediate assistance, a 11k reverse bounty offer that promises to pay you if they are unable to resolve your case within 12 months. They also offer an identity restoration and recovery assistance package to help you incase your identity gets stolen.

An interesting part of their package is the Wallet ID card that contains contact information of the command center and also a message for identity thieves informing them that this person is protected by iSekurity and every effort will be taken to track them down.

Will this deter identity thieves? I guess we will find out soon. This is a unique service in this industry when compared to others like LifeLock and TrustedID.

Shop Shield a new entrant in the market has launched a beta version of its security product that promises to protect users against online identity theft while shopping online.

The company claims that its solution works with any online shopping site that accepts major credit cards. The way shop shield protects its users identity is by replacing all personal user information including login details, credit card information and even email address with anonymous data. This is the data that is will actually be stored on the shopping websites database, which makes it difficult even for insiders to tamper with your data. The solution has been launched as a beta test inviting users to try it out for free. You can register for this beta at Shop Shield.
 

The federal trade commission received 20,782 complaints involving identity theft in filing income tax returns. That’s a jump of 258% from 2003, while this number could be far higher as there is way to really quantify the number of cases says an IRS Taxpayer Advocate Officer.

Identity thieves use other people’s identities to claim tax refunds. Others claimed it by showing they had multiple dependents. The IRS has been ordered by the State Finance Committee chairman to come up with a comprehensive action plan within three months to address the problem.

 ^{LifeLock today announced that it has enhanced its identity theft protection solution by adding extra layers of proactive security. The added security layer comes at no extra cost to customers.}

^{The new security layer called eRecon will monitor the internet for social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit card information or just about any financial information that belongs to its customers. The idea behind doing this is to stop its user’s financial information from being illegally sold.}

^{Another service provider IdentityTruth has been providing a similar service for sometime now. This service is called The Earliest Possible Notification which basically monitors various data points including the internet to check if its customer’s information has been compromised.}

The menace of identity theft is on the rise every year. Identity theft has claimed over 10 million victims in the US alone. The total loss due to identity theft is estimated to be around $50 billion. With the help of this site and blog, we hope to share as much information as possible to help you combat the menace of identity theft.