My friend Bryant read this quote to me today and it brought back some memories of my identity theft and becoming one of those statistics. I understand what Dr. Nelson is conveying here, those statistics just don’t hold the feelings and frustration one goes through as a victim… just think about all the identity theft violations millions of people are experiencing at this very minute. It feels the same as a violent crime. You feel very violated. You feel yucky. You feel exposed. The stress and panic is incredibly overwhelming and it goes on for months or years.

Over two years after my theft, I still get emotional when telling my story. I feel I have fully recovered from the ordeal until I try talking about it. It brings up tears. I will forever have a scare. I’m okay with that, because it just keeps me strong to continue the fight against this crime. I really would like to see it get under control. But at this time since so little is being done about it, it is only getting worse! It is growing so fast I have seen the stats double and triple.

So when you read another statistics about the 230 million people who have had their personal information stolen in the US, or that 20 million people who will be victims of this crime this year, think about the feelings of violation, paranoia, frustration, anger, or defeat they will be experiencing. We need to start holding these crooks responsible for their crimes instead of letting them walk free with probation on probation. So if there isn’t any room in the jails, like I hear all the time for these criminals… why are they not required to pay back what they stole? Why are the banks just filing a loss and getting the government to reimburse from our tax dollars? It doesn’t make any sense! Make the criminals pay it back!

“It’s all about the data,” security expert George Heron observed at the Security Summit on Emerging Cyber Security Threats at the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GSTISC) on Oct 15. “Data will continue to be the primary motive behind future cyber crime—whether targeting traditional fixed computing or mobile applications.”

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information and advocacy organization, the number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches in the U.S. since January 2005 is over 245 million.

As data theft evolves from being the preserve of isolated hackers to a highly organized multi-billion criminal industry the economic and social dangers of widespread identity theft have escalated accordingly. With this in mind the Task Force on Identity Theft, submitted a Strategic Plan last year to address the issue.

The Plan examined the nature and scope of identity theft and offered a far-reaching series of recommendations to reduce its incidence and impact.

RECOMMENDATION 1: Decrease the Unnecessary Use of SSNs in the Public Sector

RECOMMENDATION 2: Develop Comprehensive on Private Sector Use of SSNs

RECOMMENDATION 3: Educate Federal Agencies How To Protect Their Data and Monitor Compliance with Existing Guidance

RECOMMENDATION 4: Ensure Effective, Risk-Based Responses to Data Breaches Suffered by Federal Agencies

RECOMMENDATION 5: Establish National Standards Extending Data Protection Safeguards Requirements and Breach Notification Requirements

RECOMMENDATION 6: Better Educate the Private Sector on Safeguarding Data

RECOMMENDATION 7: Initiate Investigations of Data Security Violations

RECOMMENDATION 8: Initiate a Multi-Year Public Awareness Campaign

RECOMMENDATION 9: Develop an Online Clearinghouse for Current Educational Resources

RECOMMENDATION 10: Hold Workshop on Authentication

RECOMMENDATION 11: Develop Comprehensive Record on Private Sector Use of SSNs

RECOMMENDATION 12: Provide Specialized Training About Victim Recovery to First Responders and Others Providing Direct Assistance to Identity Theft Victims

RECOMMENDATION 13: Develop Avenues for Individualized Assistance To Identity Theft Victims

RECOMMENDATION 14: Amend Criminal Restitution Statutes To Ensure That Victims Recover for the Value of Time Spent in Attempting Remediate the Harms They Suffered

RECOMMENDATION 15: Explore the Development of a National Program Allowing Identity Theft Victims Obtain an Identification Document for Authentication Purposes

RECOMMENDATION 16: Assess Efficacy of Tools Available to Victims

RECOMMENDATION 17: Establish a National Identity Theft Law Enforcement Center

RECOMMENDATION 18: Develop and Promote the Acceptance of Universal Identity Theft Report Form

RECOMMENDATION 19: Enhance Information Sharing Between Law Enforcement and the Private Sector

RECOMMENDATION 20: Encourage Other Countries To Enact Suitable Domestic Legislation Criminalizing Identity Theft

RECOMMENDATION 21: Facilitate Investigation and Prosecution of International Identity Theft by Encouraging Other Nations To Accede to the Convention on Cyber crime, or Ensure That Their Laws and Procedures Are at Least as Comprehensive

RECOMMENDATION 22: Identify Countries That Have Become Safe Havens for Perpetrators of Identity Theft and Target Them for Diplomatic Enforcement Initiatives Formulated To Change Their Practices

RECOMMENDATION 23: Enhance the U.S. Government’s Ability Respond to Appropriate Foreign Requests for Evidence in Criminal Cases Involving Identity Theft

RECOMMENDATION 24: Assist, Train, and Support Foreign Law Enforcement

RECOMMENDATION 25: Increase Prosecutions of Identity Theft

RECOMMENDATION 26: Conduct Targeted Enforcement Initiatives

ECOMMENDATION 27: Review Civil Monetary Penalty Programs

RECOMMENDATION 28: Close the Gaps in Federal Criminal Statutes Used To Prosecute Identity-Theft-Related Offenses Ensure Increased Federal Prosecution of These Crimes

RECOMMENDATION 29: Ensure That an Identity Thief’s Sentence Can Be Enhanced When the Criminal Conduct Affects More Than One Victim

RECOMMENDATION 30: Enhance Training for Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutor

RECOMMENDATION 31: Enhance the Gathering of Statistical Data Measuring the Criminal Justice System’s Response to Identity Theft

“The fight against identity theft will not end when we have implemented the 31 recommendations in the Plan,” the report concludes. “Identity theft must be treated aggressively, yet with the recognition that it is an ongoing and evolving problem, that there is no “silver bullet” that will end it, and that its perpetrators will be ever more creative. Government and the private sector, working together with consumers, must remain vigilant, adaptable, and nimble as new generations of identity thieves and techniques develop over the coming years.”

Looking ahead, the report notes that “newer areas of identity theft are growing fast, as thieves steal data in order to commit medical, immigration, employment, and mortgage fraud. What identity theft will look like ten years from now is impossible to predict.”

A new child identity theft study, conducted by Javelin research and sponsored by Debix, analyzed cases of child identity theft and the effect it is having on children.

Report findings indicate a child’s social security number and identity is possibly more vulnerable and valuable than an adult’s. Why? Because children have social security numbers they are not using and parents are not monitoring, but they are valid and usable to a thief.

And today, one child in every classroom is already a victim of identity theft - which is going to rise.

Several recent child identity theft cases were especially serious. For example one child had seven identities listed under their social security number, with several thousand dollars in medical bills, apartment rentals, and credit accounts in collections. While a 14- year-old from Kentucky had a mortgage of over $600,000 which was foreclosed this past August.

And it seems a social security number can also be compromised before a child is born and the number assigned. In one instance, a credit file history began three years prior to a girl from Iowa being born, resulting in $325,000 of debt.

The impact identity theft will have on these children can be extreme, affecting their ability to qualify for college loans, employment, car loans, credit cards, and mobile phones among other things.

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance has provided substantial grants to victim assistance organizations. These organizations provide direct services to victims, and also serve as models for other groups.

The Department of Justice and FTC have coordinated with the American Bar Association on programs to provide free legal assistance for victims.

Hi my name is: Bill Wardell I am the Senior Editor, Creator, Developer of Online Security Authority, the Author of “Don’t Take Candy From Strangers” and a Authority Site Center Certified Coach. Speaker and Radio Show Host, Publisher, Researcher and National Radio Guest!

Bill is a father of 3 children and his wife’s name is Anissa. Bill’s love for his family has been the driving force behind his success over the last few years, and he has been actively been pursuing his passion of becoming a online entrepreneur. His main focus has been working and dealing with the security issues of the day, such as ID theft, online predators, MySpace, teen and children security issues when it comes to Internet safety.

Hello everyone, my name is Dave Ballard. I am the Broker/Owner and Developer of First American Realty Group, L.C., also the Senior Editor, Creator, and Developer of New Internet Security, as well as a Radio Show Host and Speaker.

More importantly is my family, my wife Christi, and our five children. From early on I engaged the kids in computers telling them, “This is your future.” What I failed to foresee was the nefarious, pervasive, and pandemic scourge unleashed by the underworld. The Internet is too valuable a resource, for “good”, to allow it to be perverted by organized crime and sick-minded individuals. That’s why Bill and I have partnered together, to arm you with knowledge and to keep you and your family out of harms-way. The Internet is here to stay, join us in preserving this valuable resource and by doing so we’ll create a safer Internet for all our families and their children.

Here are our main links:

http://www.OnlineSecurityAuthority.com/

http://www.TheCyberHoodWatch.com/

http://www.CHWradio.com/

http://ResponsibleCyberCitizen.com/

The top 20 Complaint Categories were:

1. Identity Theft 258,427

2. Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales 62,811

3. Internet Services 42,266

4. Foreign Money Offers 32,868

5. Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries 32,162

6. Computer Equipment and Software 27,036

7. Internet Auctions 24,376

8. Health Care Claims 16,097

9. Travel, Vacations, and Timeshares 14,903

10. Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection/Repair 14,342

11. Investments 13,705

12. Magazines and Buyers Clubs 12,970

13. Business Opportunities and Work-at-Home Plans 11,362

14. Real Estate (Not Timeshares) 9,475

15. Office Supplies and Services 9,211

16. Telephone Services 8,155

17. Employ. Agencies/Job Counsel/Overseas Work 5,932

18. Debt Management/Credit Counseling 3,442

19. Multi-Level Mktg./Pyramids/Chain Letters 3,092

20. Charitable Solicitations 1,843

Barack Obama has outlined specific identity theft proposals (Obama addressed privacy protections in a position paper last November). The Republicans, meanwhile, haven’t addressed identity theft in their respective campaigns, at least not according to a review of the candidates’ Web sites and an electronic search of major American newspapers.

Here’s an overview of the ways in which politics and identity theft have converged for each of the major presidential candidates:

Democratic Candidate BARACK OBAMA

During a May 2006 Senate hearing regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs data woes, Sen. Barack Obama spoke up about the circumstances that led to the agency’s loss of 26.5 million veterans’ personal identifying information. “The system is so poorly designed that one employee can compromise the whole thing,” Obama was quoted in the Washington Post.

The following year, in the heat of a hotly contested campaign for the Democratic presidential nod, Sen. Obama laid out his own “Technology and Innovation Plan,” a nine-page roadmap for what he says he hopes to accomplish if elected this fall. Published on his campaign Web site in Nov. 2007, the position paper identified database management as a key area of concern: “Dramatic increases in computing power, decreases in storage costs and huge flows of information that characterize the digital age bring enormous benefits, but also create risk of abuse,” his plan states. “We need sensible safeguards that protect privacy in this dynamic new world.”

Obama’s identity theft-related goals, as delineated in the proposal, are as follows:

• Provide “robust protection against misuses of particularly sensitive kinds of information, such as e-health records and location data that do not fit comfortably within sector-specific privacy laws.”
• Implement restrictions on how information in “powerful databases containing information on Americans that are necessary tools in the fight against terrorism” can be used. He also would enact measures to verify how the information actually has been used.
• Increase the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement budget and step up international cooperation to track down cyber-criminals, thus enabling U.S. law enforcement to better prevent and punish “spam, spyware, telemarketing and phishing intrusions into the privacy of American homes and computers.”

In 2007, Obama voted against an amendment that would have denied legal status to illegal immigrants who had flouted deportation orders or had been convicted of identity theft or fraudulent use of identification documents.

Republican Candidate JOHN McCAIN

While McCain joked about identity theft in a speech during his 2004 presidential run (the pun being that Democrats had co-opted his “identity” for photo ops and other demonstrations of bipartisan spirit), the issue has not played prominently at any juncture of his current presidential campaign.

Along with Clinton, McCain co-sponsored the Identity Theft Protection Act in 2005, which would have enabled consumers to “freeze” credit reports but preempted strong state data security laws with a weaker federal standard. The following year, however, McCain voted against a legislative amendment that would have denied Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants who work under a Social Security number obtained through identity fraud—a move that bolstered the opposition that he continues to face from hard-line conservatives. In 2007, he voted (along with Clinton and Obama) against an amendment that would have denied legal status to illegal immigrants who had flouted deportation orders or had been convicted of identity theft or fraudulent use of identification documents.

While chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, McCain was quoted in the Feb. 28, 2001, Washington Times about the growing pressure on the federal government to enact online privacy protections: “There’s a groundswell of pressure to pass legislation to protect Internet users’ privacy. This is all well-intentioned, and some legislation is needed, but we must be extremely cautious that any legislation passed correctly balances privacy rights against overzealous regulations that cripple the burgeoning Internet economy.” It remains to be seen whether he still embraces this ethos seven years later, insofar as anything he publicizes on the campaign trail.

How criminals use the Internet to take everything you have

Most of these financial entities want you to beleive so, but under the Social Security Privacy law, a bank can not deny you privileges and rights because you refuse to disclose a number, which only identifies a government trust fund established for an individual. Social security numbers are only for that purpose, for the businesses of the the Social Security Administration.

In small claims court, you can, under this Privacy Act, sue and receive a guaranteed $1000 for each offense. The majority of low level bank employees and managers do not know this, but most executive level employees do.

What you do is send a professionally written letter to the bank vice president, including the statement that this letter is being sent under the Privacy Act laws regarding Social Security numbers, and that you are seeking the right to open up a bank account at his/her institution, and would like him/her to set up an appointment with one of the bankers to open up a bank account at his bank. The executive will naturally brief the banker about alternative methods like using dummy numbers (which many banks have at their disposal), call you to set up a time, and you get your bank account. If they refuse, going to small claims court is cheap and requires no lawyer and you are guaranteed by this Privacy Act of monetary damages. In nearly all cases, the bank will back off.

With credit card applications, in the entry for your SS#, write SEE ENCLOSED LEGAL NOTICE, and submit the application along with a copy of the Privacy Act. Send by Certified mail along with Return Receipt. Some credit card companies will call you back and tell you what documentation and proof of income you will need to send to them, including references, employer statements, copies of W-2 (with SS# scratched off), etc. You might get lower than average credit limit but it works. The rest of the companies will deny your application, at which you either can send a legal warning letter (nicely yet tactfully) explaining that you will sue for the Privacy Acts guaranteed award amounts in small claims court if they do not allow alternative means of proving ability to pay. Some of the card companies will back off. The rest of them you will make $1000 each offense.

Also, if any institution backs down after you file suit, follow through with the suit to get their penalties and then get your credit card.

A better way to avoid these procedures is to file for an ITIN from the IRS. You will have to build some credit history on the new number before getting a credit card, but you can get a bank account right away.

Keep searching on Google to find more information. The misinformation is out there as well as the information. It is a matter of distinguishing the two.

There are several companies that offer a Pre-Paid Debit Card. Since the Patriot Act, no banks will issue a bank account, or a credit card without having a Personal Identification Number. All banks accept a passport number as a Personal Identification number. You should be able to get a Pre-Paid Visa Debit card with NO ID at all. If you want a Credit Card, you will need to open a US Bank acccount using your Passport ID.

Jeff Ridout, a spokesman for Consumer Action, calls credit monitoring “an unambiguous waste of money. It won’t prevent a (fraudulent) account from being opened. It’s like buying life insurance after the body is cold.”

Think about it. How do you find out if someone has acquired a Passport in your name? How do you find out if an illegal alien has a driver’s license in your name? How do you find out if someone got a job posing as you, using your social security number? Nothing like that ever shows up on a credit report. So you need whole identity protection, not the partial protection pushed in those TV and radio commercials.

Our personal information is stored on databases and computers everywhere. Credit card companies, hospitals and doctors offices, insurance companies, retail stores, accountants and tax preparers, banks, mortgage companies, county offices, schools, your home computer…and on and on. Thieves are stealing this information every day.

The Identity Theft Resource Center has been tracking documented data breaches for several years. In 2005, there were 158 data breach incidents, exposing 65 million records containing personal information such as social security numbers, drivers licenses, dates of birth, bank account numbers, maintained by companies, institutions, universities, public school districts and government agencies nationwide.

In 2006, the number of incidents doubled to 315, adding another 20 million stolen records. Last year, the number of data breaches soared to 446, with 127 million more records exposed. And by early June this year, the Identity Theft Resource Center had recorded some 300 data breaches, exposing nearly 17 million personal records.

So, in 3 1/2 years, criminals have scored over 900 data breaches, capturing well over 200 million records. Think about that. Sensitive personal information of more than two thirds of the population of the United States could now be in criminal hands from data breaches alone.

This is why experts believe that identity theft is spring-loaded to soar by a factor of twenty over the next two years, and this is why WHOLE identity protection is the only way to defend yourself.