Alabama Consumer Law Blog

Yahoo!Finance has posted an article that discusses traits that victims of identity theft have in common. Experian, a credit bureau, has conducted a study that indicates identity thieves go for "affluent suburban consumers" who often live in higher-income neighborhoods with few renters and own one or more new or luxury vehicles. Of twelve categorizations of people, three were most highly sought after my identity thieves: "affluent suburbia," "upscale American" and the more middle-class "American diversity."

Experian says these consumers live in and around metropolitan areas, favor leisure activities, have college diplomas or advanced degrees and more often tend to be married.

Experian identifies the common activities of those most often victimized by ID theft:

• Tennis
• Politics
• Foreign travel
• Charities/volunteering
• Cultural/arts
• Skiing

Where consumers live is also important to an identity thief. For example, it's easier to steal a discarded document in a suburban area. Also, these affluent households "may have domestic help and service people who may have the opportunity to steal personal info from the home that can be used to acquire credit."

Lenders also target these groups of people. Because of this, thieves have an easier time getting services and credit in the victim's name.

How to protect yourself can be tricky because you can't control where your information goes after it leaves your hands. Banks and other financial institutions have an obligation to guard your information. However, this article says that lenders need to strike a balance between guarding consumers' information and still making it possible to get a loan or credit without major hassles.

If you should be a victim of identity theft, consider a credit freeze even though it might be a bit more work on your end. Credit Monitoring alerts you when changes are made to your credit score.

If you have been a victim of identity theft or have questions or concerns on the subject, feel free to contact us through our website or by calling 205-879-2447.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

BusinessWeek.com has posted an article about a recent identity theft case. Leonardo Darnell Zanders was convicted for helping to lead a ring of identity theft that caused $1.5 million in losses to financial institutions, including Ben S. Bernanke, a Federal Reserve Board Chairman, and his wife among the victims. Zanders must also repay $1.4 million in reimbursements.

Zanders pled guilty for...

conspiring to commit bank fraud. He helped direct the scheme to use the IDs and stolen bank information to impersonate victims and make “split” transactions, depositing a check drawn on the bank account of another victim, and then siphoning the money out of the falsely inflated account, court records show.

Darrell Earl Price, a co defendant in the trial, testified that Zanders gave him checks belonging to the Bernankes. Mr. Bernanke said that his family was just one of about 500 families affected by Zanders' crime ring. Zanders acquired the Bernanke's bank information after Mrs. Bernanke's purse was stolen.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, victimizing about 700,000 people a year. Consumers should certainly be taking extra precautions to protect themselves from becoming identity theft victims themselves.

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact us through our website or by calling 205-879-2447.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Our friend Denise Richards, of givemebackmycredit.com, has posted an article about Sidejacking. Sidejacking is a threat that is not really new, but many people still don't know about the risk that can lead to identity theft.
Sidejacking occurs when a person hacks into a wireless internet connection and steals your personal information. Websites like Facebook, Myspace and various emails through search engines are at risk of being hacked if you login on wireless connections at public locations such as airports, coffeeshops, hotels, etc.

The sidejacker does not gain access to your specific username and password, but he does obtain the unencrypted session ID that is transmitted over the wireless connection from the website back to you. If the hacker gains access to the session ID, then he can enter the session and gain access to most of the information in your account.

However, sidejacking doesn't attack your computer like a virus or spyware, therefore, the hacker doesn't have access to every piece of your information. You can protect yourself from being a victim of sidejacking by avoiding the wireless internet provided in public places while you're out. If you must use the internet on a public connection, try to avoid checking your bank account and other important accounts. You can check the security settings on your router at home to further protect yourself.

If you have had problems with identity theft, feel free to contact us.

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The Associated Press has posted an article about a man from Miami, Albert Gonzalez, who has reportedly tried to steal 130 million credit card numbers. "The one-time government informant" is being charged with the largest case of credit and debit card data theft in the nation's history...on top of another 40 million numbers that he previously stole.

Gonzalez used to work for the US Secret Service as an informant responsible for tracking hackers, which is ironic because

...the agency later found out that he had also been working with criminals and feeding them information on ongoing investigations, even warning off at least one individual, according to authorities.

Two Russian co-conspirators also joined Gonzalez in attempting to hack into corporate computer networks to leave malware that would give them access to steal data. They targeting major companies such as 7-Eleven Inc, the grocery store chain Hannaford Brothers, Co. Inc, as well as a New Jersey based card-payment processor named Heartland Payment Systems.

He is already in jail on other hacking charges and could face up to 20 years for this particular sentence. Other charges against him include hacking into the servers of Barnes and Noble, TJ Maxx, Office Max, Sports Authority and the restaurant chain Dave and Buster's.

If convicted, Gonzalez could face a life sentence for those charges as well as 20 years for the recent charges.

If you have had problems with identity theft or stolen credit card numbers, feel free to contact us.

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Our friend Denise Richardson has posted an article about the growing concern of medical identity theft. In 2007 more than 250,000 people reported being victims of medical identity theft, which is even harder to correct than kinds of financial identity theft.

Richardson links to a New York Times Article that discusses how medical identity theft happens.

...someone can use stolen insurance information, like the basic member ID and group policy number found on insurance cards, to impersonate you — and receive everything from a routine physical to major surgery under your coverage. This is surprisingly easy to do, because many doctors and hospitals do not ask for identification beyond insurance information.

Even more common, however, are cases where medical information is stolen by insiders at a medical office. Thieves download vital personal insurance data and related information from the operation’s computerized medical records, then sell it on the black market or use it themselves to make fraudulent billing claims.

Sometimes employees in a medical office stealing information will sell it or use it themselves and file fraudulent claims.

In a widely reported case in 2006, a clerk at a Cleveland Clinic branch office in Weston, Fla., downloaded the records of more than 1,100 Medicare patients and gave the information to her cousin, who in turn, made $2.8 million in bogus claims.

Fraudulent claims can result in an exponential amount of unpaid balances, but can also be physically dangerous. The victim's medical information may have been amended to list different allergies, surgeries and medications that are not the victim's. This can be especially dangerous because it impacts future medical treatments.

Privacy laws work against the victim once the theft is discovered, in that the thief's medical records are also considered to be confidential, even though they are intermingled with the victim's. This makes the problem exceptionally hard to fix, since the victim is not technically supposed to see the other person's records.

If you have had problems with identity theft, feel free to contact us.

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Denise Richardson of GiveMeBackMyCredit.com has posted an article about the problem of children being the victims of identity theft. Often, the theft isn't discovered until years later when...

a young adult is denied a student loan, credit or employment, all because of a destroyed credit rating.

Stolen Social Security Numbers and birth certificates are available to be purchased with relative ease, and thieves are able to manipulate children's identities to their advantage. The Social Security Administration doesn't have a "check and balance" system yet that can put names, ages, and genders with Social Security Numbers.

If you, or your child, have been victims of identity theft, feel free to contact us.

Denise Richardson of Give Me Back My Credit.com has posted an article in which she discusses "caller ID spoofing." Caller ID Spoofing is when the number displayed on your caller ID isn't the number actually calling.

Scammers can use this method of spoofing to pose as hospitals or banks (or any other place), and then trick you into telling them personal information. This can be as simple as a prank, or lead to identity theft .

Still, precautions should be taken. Richardson advises never giving personal information out to anyone who calls your landline phone. She suggests looking up the company that called you and see if it's a legitimate number and then call them back.

If you have been a victim of identity theft, feel free to contact us.

Denise Richardson has reported on the data breach at the University of Alabama:

University of Alabama campus officials sent letters out to 37,000 people whose personal information may have been stolen by computer hackers.

The school revealed Friday that in November, seventeen of their four-hundred databases were tapped by hackers. One of those computers contained lab results for people tested at the campus Medical Center. However, school officials say campus computer technicians quickly caught the hackers before they likely retrieved any confidential information.

Still, the school is suggesting people whose information was compromised check their credit records for any potential identity theft. A letter addressed to all of those with information on the servers were advised to place a fraud alert on their credit files and check bank accounts for unusual activity.

For more information on how to protect yourself if your data has been stolen read Denise's informative website here.

If you are a victim of Identity Theft, here are some additional steps you can take as well as contacting us for a free consultation on your rights.

Our friend Denise Richardson who runs the site Give Me Back My Credit was down for a bit due to attacks but is now back up and running better than before. This site is a wonderful resource for identity theft issues, collection agency abuse, and credit reporting errors. Please make sure you subscribe to her site or visit there often.

Keep up the good work Denise!

One of our favorite blogs (and bloggers) is Denise Richardson who has a wealth of helpful information about identity theft and other consumer issues. Her personal story is impressive and the content of her site reveals her dedication to consumers. She has recently redesigned her website and blog - check them out and if you don't subsribe by RSS to her blog we recommend you do so in order to make sure you get to read all of her posts.

Keep up the great work Denise!

In these turbulent economic times, it is more important than ever to keep your credit reports clean and free of errors. Having an error could lead to your credit card limits being reduced. Your credit card rates being increased. Losing a security clearance which could lead to losing your job. Our friend Denise Richards has an excellent post on this subject. Read the entire article (as it also has links that will be helpful) but here are the ten steps she suggests:

Here are the 10 quick tips that can help you avoid fraud -(or errors) that can be costly;

1. Monitor bank, credit card and loan statements. If you are expecting a bill that doesn't come, contact your account holder immediately. If you see any unexpected spikes in your interest rates, contact your creditor. Unexpected interest rate spikes can be a tip off that erroneous information is contaminating your credit report. Watch for withdrawals or charges you did not make!

2. Beware of people lurking nearby while using ATM, credit cards, checks and your laptop or community computer. Thieves will often hover near you to steal account and PIN numbers; they are trained to memorize credit card and account numbers.

3. Delete any personal information and passwords you may have entered into a shared computer. You never know who is going to be using it next and you never know if the computer is already infected with key-logging spy ware that collects bits of information on you with every stroke you make on the keyboard.

4. Examine all correspondence mailed to you to ensure it has your correct name and address. If there are name variations, contact the sender and ask why you are receiving it. When throwing out documents that contain personal information...SHRED them into small pieces.

5. Safeguard your laptop and Smart Phones. Many of the recent data breaches have involved the theft of laptops. Always make sure that your laptop is password protected, and armed with a firewall and up-to-date virus protection software -at all times. If you password protect your Smart Phone it will buy you some time to close accounts and change passwords if stolen. Also be sure to check that you have activated your firewall.

6. Monitor your credit reports. Look for any name, address or open accounts that are not yours. Dispute all inaccuracies via certified mail. Place fraud alerts on your credit reports. Remember, they fall off every 90 days or so. (Credit freezes are now available but you need to determine if you will be seeking credit in the near future as you will have to pay to freeze it and then pay again to unfreeze it). Determine which safety measure is best for your particular situation. The official toll free automated number to call in order to order your free annual credit reports is 877-322-8228.

7. Recognize that unfortunately profiles and posts are never private. Current and prospective employers often Google your name in order to see what your interests are, what is on your personal page and what others have to say about you.

8. Keep you Social Security number, passwords and PIN's safeguarded -and never carry them in your wallet. If your wallet was lost or stolen today...would you know who to call and what steps to immediately take?

9. Beware of scams. Never provide any personal information such as your Social Security number, bank account numbers or credit card data to anyone who contacts you via telephone solicitation, email or through social networking sites. Oftentimes, scam emails and phone calls will appear authentic and urgent -but they are not! If you receive a notice from someone instructing you to dial an 800 number (or any number), first check your statement or legitimate documentation for the valid phone number. Fake websites and bogus phone numbers are often included in "phishing" email scams, which are designed to appear urgent -don't fall for them. They only want information from you that they can sell or trade, to multiple thieves in the thriving underground chat rooms. Remember...legitimate companies will not ask for personal information through email.(see video here)

10. Prevent thieves from cracking passwords. Pick Passwords and profiles carefully. Pet names, birth dates, hometown and interests such as favorite sport team or band, favorite hangouts, hobbies, as well as spouses and children's names are often compiled in passwords and thieves know this. They use these bits of information to crack your password and then get into your email, bank accounts or other online sites you frequent such as Amazon, Itunes -or anywhere you utilize your private password.

Please contact us if you have any questions about your credit reports, identity theft, or any other consumer issues.

Denise Richardson has an excellent summary of the recent Trans Union settlement and what that means for consumers (particularly for preventing Identity Theft) in her post here. We recommend studying her post and then making your own decision as to what is best for you.

If you live in Alabama and have questions about Identity Theft, feel free to contact us for a free consultation on your options.

Much of the ID theft occurs by family members. The response by major creditors has been to adopt a so-called "Domestic Policy" which is where if a family member stole your identity to open an account, this is your problem. This policy is wrong and illegal.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the reporting to be accurate. If you did not authorize or allow the account with the creditor to be open, we fail to see how the relationship of the ID thief makes a difference. Now, we do always recommend that you be willing to prosecute - regardless of who committed the theft. If you don't, the creditor can (fairly or unfairly) make attacks on your credibility.

If you are a victim of ID theft, even if by a family member, feel free to contact us for help particularly against the major credit card companies that refuse to correct your credit.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Carey at the Consumerist has a very good post on what he did when he discovered $1600 in fraudulent charges on a store credit card. Its good to read about what to do when something like this happens but it is also very helpful to read what someone actually did in this type of situation.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

We wanted to warn Alabama Consumers on the latest target for identity thieves. Apparently, they are now even so bold as to use the IRS to unwittingly commit identity theft on consumers. We recently came across a great article alerting us to this practice in the Wall Street Journal.

The article found that the IRS and FTC are reporting growing numbers of victims complaining about identity theft related to their tax returns. Apparently, they are seeing two types of fraud. The first is where someone uses your private information to file a return in your name and then either tries to get the refund or take out a loan against the refund. The second is where someone uses your information to obtain a job, then files a return with your personal information on it. When you go to file your actual tax return, the IRS believes that you have already filed causing all sorts of headaches.

In regards to actual numbers, the article noted that "the Federal Trade Commission received 20,782 complaints on tax-related identity-theft issues in 2007, up from 15,442 in 2006 and 8,041 in 2003." However, an IRS representative stated that she "believes those numbers 'significantly understate' the size of the problem and the number of taxpayers hurt by it because, she says, the agency doesn't have a comprehensive method of tracking the various types of identity-theft cases."

Continue reading "Identity Thieves Target Tax Returns" »

Alabama consumers should be aware of this jury duty scam we recently read about on the Houston Consumer Blog. This is a blog that the local ABC News Station has on their website. The blog is maintained by Mike Mcguff, who has done an excellent job of informing Houston consumers of issues they need to be aware of.

Apparently, an identity theft was attempting to obtain individual's personal information by calling them and telling them that they had missed jury duty and were being fined. One person he called reported it this way:

“I received a phone call yesterday from someone claiming to be with the Harris County Jury Assembly Room Staff. They said that I had failed to report to Jury Duty and I would be fined $300 dollars if I did not. Then they told me that I could pay with a credit card and get it taken care of right away. I do not have a credit card, so I told them I had never received a letter/summons and if I was going to be fined, I would rather send in a money order or check. Then I started asking more questions about what I could do to avoid the fine, since I had never received the letter, and they just hung up on me.

First, of all, never give your personal information out over the phone to someone who calls and asks for it. Second, if you receive such a call. Hang up and call the court to report this immediately. If you ever receive a suspicious call from anyone, hand up and call the company back on a number from the phone book or their official website.

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According to myentrust's article, a staggering five percent of all identity theft victims are children. You should definitely read the entire article but here is a critical part of the article:

Here are some common sense Tips to Protect Children from identity theft and online fraud:

1) Keep info private - Educate children about the importance of keeping personal information private.

2) Protect their SSN - Your kids need to ask your permission from a parent before they give out their Social Security number and address or other personal contact information to anyone.

3) Protect personal info - Warn children about the perils of submitting their email address, name, home address, and birth date to online sites.

4) Check for red flags -If you start to receive promotional mail and especially credit card solicitations in your child’s name, this is a red flag for potential identity theft.

5) Stay off mailing lists - Keep the names of children off mailing lists. Use an adult family member's name instead.

6) SSN's only when necessary - Social Security number theft is on the rise. Don’t give your children’s SSN to anyone, if it's not absolutely necessary. When it is, ask why it's needed and how it will be used.

7) Parental monitoring - Pay attention to sites your children visit and ensure they are not unnecessarily exposing themselves to identity theft.

8) Protect SSN cards - Don't allow your children to carry their Social Security cards. Keep them locked in a secure place.

We need to practice these steps to help protect our children. We just today posted an article about a seven year old boy that had his identity stolen when he was about one year old.

Myentrust is an interesting website with lots of identity theft related articles. Thanks to Julie Tilsner of Walletpop for alerting us to this article.

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Lita Epstein of Walletpop has an excellent post on Protecting Your Identity - Understand The Types of Identity Theft. We highly recommend this particular article and this site in general. Identity theft is a terrible problem that we all face and every bit of information we can gain (and that we use - knowledge by itself is worthless) can be the difference between almost being a victim and being an identity theft victim.

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This would be funny if it wasn't so serious - a 7 year old boy has been told by the IRS he owes back taxes on $60,000. It turns out a despicable person has been using the boy's identity since 2001. Let's see - using advanced math skills - the boy was, what, one year old when his identity was stolen? Or was he not even one yet? Amazing!

The story is pretty short but it gives the details - we recommend you read it in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Protect yourself and your children from identity theft. If you have been the victim of identity theft contact a consumer attorney. This will help make sure you get it cleared up - or if it doesn't get cleared up you can sue the companies that refuse to honor their obligations under federal and state law.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

We ran across this video that discusses the dangers of eating out. Though this happened in April of 2007, you could still potentially be a victim of this scam. The scam involves credit card skimming, which is where someone who uses your credit card runs it through a device, which records your personal information from the card. They can then make a duplicate card, which appears to be and works just like your card. When used, the charges show up on your account.

The only real way to prevent this is to regularly check your credit and bank card statements and balances. If anything looks out of line, contact your bank immediately to report it.

If you have been the victim of identity theft and have difficulty correcting it revew these articles, Identity Theft Credit Issues and Steps for Reporting Credit Errors on some steps you can take to begin repairing your credit.

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