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Blog / March 2007
PC Magazine Awards MyTruston 4 Out of 5 Stars
Mar 2, 2007 by Tom Fragala
I am very pleased to report that PC Magazine reviewed Truston's MyTruston service and awarded it 4 out of 5 stars (Very Good). See the summary here and full review here....
Another Twist on ATM Tampering
Mar 2, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Be leery if an ATM machine seems to swallow your card—you may be just about to become an identity theft victim. According to the Hillsboro Argus in Oregon, ATMs can be rigged by thieves to hold onto your ATM card...
Senator Wayne Allard's Fight Against SSN Theft
Mar 4, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) gets it! He knows that a number of illegal aliens can use the same social security number to get a job and then never pay the income taxes which leaves the victim and eventually the country...
Medical Identity Theft Can Be Harmful To Your Health
Mar 7, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Identity thieves are usually after their victim’s good credit, but that's not all they want. Medical insurance coverage has become as good as gold to identity thieves because with it, they can get free medical care for themselves. All it...
Gartner Drops Bomb: Says ID Theft is Skyrocketing
Mar 7, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Gartner issued a press release today about their forthcoming report that is going to take the noise up a notch in our space. It will delight a lot of people that want raw, scary statistics and stun others who hoped that consumer...
Reduce Your ID Theft Risk by Opting Out
Mar 8, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
If you haven't yet, opt-out of receiving credit card offers by calling 1-888-5-optout (1-888-567-8688). Every piece of mail with your name and address gives an ID thief a chance to target you and when that piece of mail has a...
FBI 2006 Financial Crimes Report: Data Source Disputed
Mar 8, 2007 by Tom Fragala
On March 7th, the FBI released their annual financial crimes report. This report blew me away for a number of reasons. It includes a number of fascinating data points with regards to FBI’s impact on identity theft. And, from what...
WSJ: Skimming Fraud Gets More Sophisticated
Mar 8, 2007 by Tom Fragala
The Wall Street Journal has a story on skimming devices on point-of-sale systems like the fraud scheme which happened at the Stop & Shop stores recently. The article highlights the weaknesses at the POS at retail locations. Another reminder to...
Tax-Preparers Can Leave You Wide Open to ID Theft
Mar 9, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
When you hand over your paperwork to your tax-preparer, you may get more than you bargained for. Let's face it, you've just given all the information an identity thief needs to hijack your identity. How do you know that your documents...
FBI Shuts Down Fraud Ring That Falsified 14,000 Identities
Mar 9, 2007 by Tom Fragala
An example of just how widespread SSN fraud is, how it is used and the connection to illegal immigrants. From an FBI press release March 6, 2007: United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced that JESUS JAIME MARTINEZ, age 22,...
Daylight Saving Time Provokes Scams
Mar 11, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Beware of email scams related to the daylight saving jump. Because daylight savings is taking place three weeks sooner than usual, it may cause some problems for computers and electronic devices. Daylight savings has received some media hype and that...
New Version of MyTruston Released
Mar 13, 2007 by Tom Fragala
On Sunday we released a new version of MyTruston. We’re constantly working to improve the service. Here is it only two weeks after our “official” product release and we’ve already pushed out new updates. Most of the changes are under...
Who is Really Motivated to Pursue ID Thieves?
Mar 14, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
This article from the NY Times explains some of the reasons that ID Theft is as prevalent as it is. There are plenty of victims—credit card companies, banks, the consumer and the merchant—but there’s not much of an incentive to...
A Very Unlucky Lottery Winner!
Mar 14, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Poor Guy. According to this reader's comment, a lottery winner's picture was recently posted in the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Maine along with his social security number and other personal information. How could that have happened? Two big thumbs down...
The First Identity Theft Conviction in the Swift Raid
Mar 15, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
A federal jury found a Swift plant employee guilty of identity theft for using a fraudulent social security number to get her job. The employee was the first to be tried for identity theft since the illegal immigrant raids on...
Compensation for ID Theft Victims in West Virginia
Mar 16, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
ID theft victims would get access to financial help from the state Crime Victims Compensation Fund under a bill that passed the Legislature. In a nutshell, The fund, which is filled with levied fines and federal grants, helps crime victims...
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center 2006 Annual Report
Mar 16, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Press release from the FBI today. They released the 2006 annual report from their Internet Crime Complaint Center (www.IC3.gov). I haven’t read the report yet but a a couple of things I noticed in the news release. There were 207,000 complaints...
Job Applicants Beware of Identity Theft Risk
Mar 17, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
In Colorado a couple of years ago, a man and woman posted a want ad in local newspapers for an assistant position. Applicants were interviewed and then asked to fill out an application, complete with social security number. It turns...
Protecting Your Online Identity
Mar 18, 2007 by Tom Fragala
The WSJ has a story titled “Protect your own identity”. It is really about protecting your home network. The tips include: Pick a better password for your home router. Turn off the Service Set Identifier (SSID) so people can’t find...
Credit Card Skimming at Gas Station
Mar 18, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Here’s an interesting story that gives insight into identity theft by way of card skimming. According to the 680 news in Seattle, Three men from the G-T-A are facing 80 fraud charges related to a debit card skimming scam in...
The End Of Universal Default For Citi
Mar 21, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
The credit card companies have been using the practice of univeral default as a way to hike interest rates on a credit card even though the consumer has paid on time. The universal default clause which can be found in the...
Identity Theft by a Photocopier?
Mar 21, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Here one that you should at least be aware of. It’s possible that sensitive documents you copy on a photocopy machine, at a public place or work, could be an ID theft risk. Many of these devices now have small...
CA State Website Publishing Social Security Numbers
Mar 23, 2007 by Tom Fragala
California, which prides itself on being the most privacy-friendly state, gave its residents an unpleasant surprise today. It was discovered that a California state web site had been exposing people’s Social Security numbers for years. The SSNs were including on...
Symantec Reports on Internet Threats--Your Identity at Risk
Mar 24, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Symantec released its Internet Security Threat Report and it includes information about how hackers are selling personal data including complete “identities” for under $20. Infoworld has the story. The data is sold on so-called "underground economy servers," used by criminal organizations...
Credit Card Industry Says Restaurants are Data Sieve
Mar 24, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Electronic payment processors, including Visa and Mastercard, say that restaurants are the biggest source of credit card data breaches and security leaks. In a way, no surprise since there are millions of restaurants, many of which are small operations, that...
Texas Bill Would Extend The Statute Of Limitations In ID Theft Cases
Mar 24, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
According to the article, Workers' Comp, Identity Theft Bills Pass Texas House, an identity theft bill in Texas will give law enforcement more time to investigate and prosecute identity theft. HB 887 would extend the statute of limitations from three...
Utility Worker Charged With ID Theft
Mar 25, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Here's a chilling reminder that you can never be too careful - but sometimes you don't have a choice. This utility worker had access to all kinds of information for each customer and she chose to help herself to at...
Financial Aid and Scholarship Scams
Mar 26, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
I've worked with a number of clients that have paid companies to search for college scholarships and fill out financial aid forms on their behalf, but I’ve never heard anything positive about the companies they’ve paid to help them. There’s...
Be Careful When You Write A Check
Mar 27, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
I counseled a fraud victim recently that wrote a check to a stranger that came to the door selling Mary Kay. My client bought a small item from the woman and wrote a $5 check. It turned out that the...
Disputing Your Credit Report...
Mar 28, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
As a financial counselor, I'm often asked the question, "When I find a mistake on my credit report, should I call the creditor directly or dispute it throught the credit bureau?". The answer is - it depends. If an account...
Identity Thieves Target The Dead
Mar 29, 2007 by Michelle Pastor
Identity thieves will swoop in on the dead because for them, the best identity theft victim is one that no longer needs his credit and won't ever realize it's been stolen! Here's how one thief in Louisiana managed to grab...
TJX Data Breach Looks Worse Then Ever
Mar 30, 2007 by Tom Fragala
TJX disclosed the other day that although 2/3 of the customer financial accounts supposedly were expired or had magnetic strip data blocked, the hackers were able to decrypt protected data. (This leaves out the checking accout data that was nabbed.)...
Truston Looking for Director of Research & Policy
Mar 30, 2007 by Tom Fragala
Job description: Director, Research & Policy Truston is looking for a Director of Research & Policy. This candidate will lead our efforts in building content, procedures and policies related to prevention and recovery of identity theft and consumer fraud. The...