Internet Safety Prevents ID TheftBusiness Law IIChapter 33

Fact 1• 11 percent of identity theft

information is obtained online.

Fact 2 32% increase from 2011 to 2012• More than 390,000 phishing

e-mails are reported annually. (Phishing is a scam where Internet fraudsters send an e-mail or pop-up message to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an effort to steal the user’s personal and financial information.)

Fact 3• Some three years back, 3.1

days wass the average life span of a phishing Web site.

• 23 hrs. 10 minutes was average life span as of late 2012.

Take action today:• Create a password that has a combination of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols for unlocking your computer and for accessing Web sites.

• Use a different password for each site.

• Never use an automatic log-in feature that saves your username and password.

• Always log off the Internet or your computer when you’re finished.

• Avoid storing financial information on your computer.

• Find and use anti-virus software and a firewall. What is a firewall? Firewalls are software-/hardware-based security components that divide computer networks into logical segments: an unsecured side that remains exposed to computer users from the outside world, typically to provide access to Web servers or other such "public" parts of a nework; and a second, secure side that's off-limits to intruders, yet remains accessible to users.

• Do not open e-mails sent to you by strangers.

• Forward spam that is phishing for information to http://spamuce.gov and to the company, bank or organization impersonated in the phishing e-mail.

• Order a free credit report every 12 months.

Dayton Daily News 5-25-09

Identity theft fraud climbed more than 50% since 2003. About 15 million Americans were victimized in the 12 months ending August 2006, according to a Gartner survey. Average losses per victim more than doubled in most fraud categories, while amounts refunded dropped 26%, when compared with 2005.

Credit Card fraud (26%): Credit card fraud can occur when someone acquires your credit card number and uses it to make a purchase.

Utilities fraud (18%): Utilities are opened using the name of a child or someone who does not live at the residence. Parents desperate for water, gas, and electricity will use their child’s clean credit report to be approved for utilities.

Bank fraud (17%): There are many forms of bank fraud, including check theft, changing the amount on a check, and ATM pass code theft.

Employment fraud (12%): Employment fraud occurs when someone without a valid Social Security number borrows someone else’s to obtain a job. 

Loan fraud (5%): Loan fraud occurs when someone applies for a loan in your name. This can occur even if the Social Security number does not match the name exactly. 

Government fraud (9%): This type of fraud includes tax, Social Security, and driver license fraud.

Other (13%) 

In just five years, the FTC has identified the following types of identity theft in its 2009 statistics:

According to the Federal Trade Commission, one in six American citizens can expect to be victims of identity theft this year alone.

• 38-48% of victims find out about the identity theft within 3 months of it starting

• 9-18% of victims take 4 years or longer to discover that they are victims of identity theft

Consider the following statistics as presented by www.spamlaws.com . . . . . . .

Time Involved in Being a Victim

• Victims spend from 3 to 5,840 hours repairing damage done by identity theft. This difference is due to the severity of the crime - for example a lost credit card versus the use of your social security number to become your "evil twin." The average number of hours victims spend repairing the damage caused by identity theft is 330 hours.

• 26-32% of victims spend a period of 4 to 6 months dealing with their case and 11-23% report dealing with their case for 7 months to a year.

Monetary Costs of Identity Theft

• 40% of business costs for individual cases of identity theft exceed $15,000. The Aberdeen Group has estimated that $221 billion a year is lost by businesses worldwide due to identity theft

• Victims lose an average of $1,820 to $14, 340 in wages dealing with their cases

• Victims spend an average of $851 to $1378 in expenses related to their case

Practical and Emotional Costs of Identity Theft

• 47% of victims have trouble getting credit or a loan as a result of identity theft

• 19% of victims have higher credit rates and 16% have higher insurance rates because of identity theft

• 11% of victims say identity theft has a negative impact on their abilities to get jobs

• 70% of victims have trouble getting rid of (or never get rid of) negative information in their records

• 40% of victims experience stress in their family lives as a result of displaced anger and frustration over the identity theft

Practical and Emotional Costs of Identity Theft (continued)

• 45% of victims feel denial or disbelief• 85% of victims anger and rage • 45% of victims feel defiled by the identity thief

• 42% of victims feel an inability to trust people because of the identity theft

• 60% of victims feel unprotected by the police

Uses of Victim Information

• More than one third of victims report that identity thieves committed cheque account fraud.

• 66% of victims' personal information is used to open a new credit account in their name

• 28% of victims' personal information is used to purchase cell phone service

• 12% of victims end up having warrants issued in their name for financial crimes committed by the identity thief

Imposter Characteristics and Relationships to the Victim

• 43% of victims believe they know the person who stole their identity

• 14-25% of victims believe the imposter is someone who is in a business that holds their personally identifying information

• The most common reported perpetrator in cases where a child's identity is stolen is the child's parent

Imposter Characteristics and Relationships to the Victim (continued)

• 16% of identity theft victims are also victims of domestic harassment/abuse by the same perpetrator. These victims believe that the identity theft is used as another way for the abuser to continue and demonstrate his harassment and control.

Responsiveness to victims • Overall, police departments seem to be the most responsive to victims of identity theft, with 58% taking down a report on the victim's first request

• 1/3 of victims have to send dispute information repeatedly to credit reporting agencies

• Only 1/5 of victims find it easy to reach someone in a credit reporting agency after receiving their credit report

• 20% of victims will have the misinformation and errors removed from their credit report after their first request for the credit reporting agency to do so