ID Theft Alerts for February, 2009

February 18, 2009

More Identity Theft, Less Stolen

Javelin Strategy and Research, a leading researcher on identity theft has released their annual report on the crime.

For the first time in several years the number of victims increased 22 percent to 9.9 million. This is a return to the 2004 levels. However, the average value stolen has decreased to $4,849. This equates to $48 billion stolen in 2008 or $12 billion less than the highest levels of $60 billion in 2004.

Researches attribute the rise in the crime to be a function of the poor economy and an overall rise in crime rates. Increased awareness by consumers and detection by financial institutions are credited with reducing the value of each loss.

Another interesting finding was that women were 26% more likely than men to be the victims of identity theft. I will let you make your own conclusion to this statistic.

Buy the full report here.

Largest Data Theft in History

Heartland Payment Systems, A New Jersey credit-card processor disclosed what many have called the largest data breach in history. What makes it bad is that credit card information was hacked intentionally, not just lost.

Heartland processes credit card transactions for more than 250,000 businesses nationwide which equal 100 million card transactions every month. The company was still trying to figure out how many cards were stolen.

A lawsuit against the company has already been filed in New Jersey District Court and more are expected.

Beware when you Job Hunt

As the ranks of the unemployed grow there is a sinister reaction of scams that prey on them. They use fake job postings to get the private information from job seekers. Some common sense practices include:

Only use your first initial and last name when posting online.Never give out your social security number over the phone or email.
Be careful of the personal information that you give out.

The IRS Isn't Emailing

Unless you are going for a cabinet position you are in the middle of getting your taxes together. A few things to remember:

Guard your mailbox. Very personal information is coming in.If documents you expect don't arrive it is a warning sign of mail theft.The IRS doesn't use email. If you get one then just delete it.
Shred everything you don't need to save and your tax returns that can no longer be audited. Here is a personal record retention schedule.