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According to a new article in the Wall Street Journal, cybercrime has significantly risen 22.3% in 2009 from 2008. Identity thieves and white collar criminals have taken to the internet and caused over $550 million in reported losses. There were also over 60,000 more complaints of cybercrime in 2009. Many experts say the plummeting economy is responsible for the great rise last year.
The article goes on to discuss the new and more technologically savvy way that criminals are stealing our information.
Criminals’ tactics also are changing, with a growing number of crimes involving malicious applications installed on mobile devices and embedded in news and celebrity gossip Web sites. In this type of crime, Web criminals are using search-engine optimization to allow fake Web sites to rise to the top of searches. When users click on the links or pop-ups, malware or key loggers infect their computers, usually with the intent of hijacking personal and financial information such as bank passwords and account information. Scam artists also are switching from email to social-networking sites to perpetrate “phishing” scams designed to steal sensitive information from victims.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: cybercrime, Identity Fraud, identity theft expert, John Sileo, Wall Street Journal
The Federal Trade Commission and 35 state attorneys general filed a complaint against the company that “charged that the company used false claims to promote its identity theft protection services,” according to a March 9th FTC press release. LifeLock will be responsible for paying the FTC $11 million dollars as well as an additional $1 million to the 35 state attorneys general.
To clarify a couple of points that aren’t currently being covered by the media:
- LifeLock did make misleading claims about how completely their product protected individuals, but to their credit, they toned those claims down considerably starting about a year ago. In essence then, the ruling pertains to LifeLock of old, not the current company, marketing materials or product offering.
- At about the same time as they changed advertising, LifeLock began adding features to its product that bolstered the quality of its monitoring services.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: FTC, identity theft expert, LifeLock, Settlement
The Denver Examiner just published a new article featuring John Sileo entitled; How to avoid the nightmare of identity theft by Ed Hickok.
Local Denver author, John Sileo, embezzler, thief, cyber criminal, felon . . . but in name only, and that’s the point. Identities have power. Accused of crimes he did not commit, Sileo sought to clear his good name by learning everything he could about identity theft, a crime that consumed his life, his business, and threatened to take away his freedom. Now that he has emerged not guilty, he’s become America’s leading professional speaker on identity theft prevention and corporate data privacy. His experiences led him to write the critically acclaimed, award-winning book, Stolen Lives, which was recently chosen as the #1 Business Book at the EVVY Awards….
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: identity theft expert, John Sileo, The Denver Examiner
Why pay for Health Insurance when you can steal it?
As the economy dropped severely in 2009, the instances of Identity Theft continued to rise. With desperate times and individuals struggling, Medical Identity Theft and Health Insurance Fraud reports by emergency rooms have been higher than normal over the past several months. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, in 2009 Medical Record Theft had the longest length of time, 493 days, between the theft and detection by the insured. This also led to the highest fraud amount of $18,480 and the largest mean consumer cost of $2987. That means the average consumer that suffers from Medical Identity Theft pays almost $3000 of his own money to resolve the theft! This shows how the financial repercussions of Medical Identity Fraud are the largest among Identity Fraud types.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Data Breach Speaker, health insurance fraud, identity theft expert, John Sileo, medical identity theft
Statistics can be dry but these figures could prompt you to zealously guard your most valuable asset, your identity. According to Javelin Strategy and Research, Identity Fraud continues to rise, but mean customer costs and resolution time have decreased. In their latest 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report they found that Identity fraud has risen to 11.1 MILLION US victims, which is up 12% from 9.9 MILLION in 2008. That is a significant climb.
4.81 % of the US population is a victim of Identity Fraud.
The total fraud amount in 2009 reached 54 BILLION dollars, which is up from 48 BILLION dollars in 2008.
Consumers who monitor their accounts electronically have shorter detection times and their consumer costs are over 50% less.
Social Security Number thefts remain the top breached data and one of the most difficult frauds to detect.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Identity Fraud, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Statistics, John Sileo, social networking, Social Networking Speaker
The Christian Science monitor published an article last week discussing the involvement of Identity Theft in the Dubai Assassination of a senior Hamas militant. Fake passports were created and used by the suspected hit-squad. The ability for people to easily create these identity documents can create huge personal, professional, and international diplomatic destruction. Occurrences like these show how powerful Identity Theft can be and the extent to which the identity thieves can reach.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Dubai Assasination, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo
I was recently featured in an article by the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin, New Zealand during my stay there. I discuss the importance of protecting you Identity, not only at home, but also when you travel. With over 9 million Identity Theft victims in 2008 alone, you can never be too careful!
One of the first things American public speaker John Sileo did on his return to Dunedin this month was buy a paper shredder.
Not that he is paranoid, he says, but this self-proclaimed expert on identity fraud does not take chances with personal information.
Click Here to read the entire article.
John Sileo became America’s leading Identity Theft Speaker & Expert after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC. To learn more about having him speak at your next meeting or conference, contact him by email or on 800.258.8076
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Fraud, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo, Privacy, travel
Detection: Fraud and Identity Theft.
“Consumers are spending considerably more time on fraud Resolution, up to an average of 30 hours in 2008. This increase may be attributed to the increased sophistication of fraud schemes.”
– 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report, Javelin Strategy & Research
Most cases of identity theft are discovered by the victim, which reinforces the importance of monitoring your various accounts for suspicious behavior. Here are a few of the most common warning signs for the detection of fraud, identity theft or data breach:
The Top 15 Ways Victims Detect Identity Theft
- You receive a data breach notice in the mail from a company you do business with.
- Your bills or statements are not arriving in your mail (or email) on time.
- You notice unauthorized charges on your credit card bill or debit card statement.
Posted in Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: detecting fraud, Detection Fraud, Fraud, fraud detecting, Fraud Detection, identity theft expert, Identity Theft Prevention, John Sileo, Privacy
What began in early 2009 as a free ‘information network’ that offers users the ability to microblog may have already reached the top. A new CNN article discusses how the number of Twitter users has flattened out and even deccreased recently. In July 2009, the site had 21.2 million users which dropped to 19.9 users only 5 months later in December.
Some believe this slump is due to Twitter’s inability to keep up with its users and others are finding the site less and less useful. Perhaps people are less inclined to put so much personal information on the World Wide Web, knowing that everything you post is public, permanent and exploitable. Or maybe we’re just tired of seeing how boring the average person’s day is.
Click Here to read this entire article.
Posted in Online Privacy by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: identity theft expert, John Sileo, Online/Social Media Privacy, social networking, twitter
