Identity Theft In Border States - Why Is Identity Theft Much Worse In Border States?

Identity Theft is a vast and rapidly growing crime in the U.S. It has been ranked the #1 offense against local and federal law. The size of population is a factor when it comes to statistics of which states are more affected by identity theft, but this plays no part when it comes to states that are among the U.S and Mexico's border and also Canada. ID theft has been increasing rapidly among families in the states that fall on the border due to the advancing amount of illegal immigration. This puts a lot of our families at risk, including our children. With out properly knowing how these thieves are getting our personal information, we are defenseless against their attacks.

Facts On Identity Theft

As technology increases, and drug wars on the border continue to escalate, Americans are more susceptible to this type of crime, allowing different doorways for thieves to steal our personal information. According to the FTC, ID Theft affects more than 10 million people each year, jumping from 500,000 in 2001 to a whopping 1900% increase in 2010. These crooks aim for one valuable piece of information that's key to destroying everything else that lies ahead, your social security number.

Why Is The Amount of Victims Increasing Among Border States

I was not able to get a precise statistic in increase of identity theft in border states due to illegal immigration, because government agencies state they have not implemented this type of research for this category as of yet. However, with some research we were able to find that MSNBC reported, according to Betsy Broder an assistant director with the FTC, the agency had seen a rise in prosecution of workers using other people's information to be employed, particularly for using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

With the increase in drug wars amongst the border cities of Mexico, many immigrants have fled for their lives to the United States. Some are here legally and many are here illegally. Let's not forget that Canada also plays their part in illegal immigration. Despite the matter, most illegal immigrants don't acquire our personal information by stealing it, they buy it. As profound as it may seem, the source of identity theft starts in our own backyard. On the other hand, with the increase of illegal immigration, the more the demand for falsified documents, the more the demand for the crime to be committed.

Which Border States Are Experiencing This Crime

The top six states that rank amongst identity theft happening among border states is 1.Arizona, 2.California, 3.Texas, 4.New York, 5.Washington, and 6.New Mexico. Arizona ranks #1 in identity theft all across the nation, in 3rd is California, and in 4th is Texas. It is not only due to the size of the state because as you can see Arizona is a whole lot smaller than both California and Texas, and Nevada ranks 2nd in the nation which is also smaller in population.

In Conclusion...

The Federal Trade Commission stated that the number one thing that everyone should do to protect themselves is to become AWARE. Get yourself up-to-date on ways identity thieves can steal your information, ways on how to prevent this crime from happening to you and your family. Yo need to know what these thieves are doing with your personal information when they do have it. We all need to be aware and to recognize just how serious this crime is destroying lives because once the damage is done, it's never done. There are ways to begin minimizing the threat of Identity Theft, we you just have to be willing to get you and your family informed.

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

These Simple Activities Can Put You at Risk of Fraud and Identity Theft

Thieves are everywhere looking for the perfect opportunity to steal from you. Always, no matter where you are, it's important to be aware of your surroundings, even while out shopping at the grocery store. Here's an example for woman. You put your purse in your basket and then get busy shopping and forget about it, not very concerned because your purse is right next to you in the basket. Just realize that thieves may also be right there along side you as well, appearing to shop, but really they're looking for the perfect opportunity to take advantage. While you're busy shopping, the thief can simply walk by and steal your purse. You probably won't even notice it's missing until they're long gone.

You've now lost your purse and everything in it including your ID, credit cards, your home address, house and car keys, and much more. With all of this taken, there's now many more ways they can take advantage of you. And if they do happen to get your keys, you may find your car is stolen.

The same thing applies to guys. You're in a hurry, you rush out the door, you get to the store wearing shorts without pockets and so you drop your wallet and keys in the cart. I know I've been tempted but don't do it.

Always keep these items secure, and close to you. Carry them and don't set them down no matter how safe you think it is.

Another place to be aware of your surroundings is gas stations. You pull up. As you get out of one side of the car, the thief is waiting to steal from you, on the other side of the car. While you're busy filling up, the thief can crouch down and quietly open your door and steal anything within reach. To avoid this, be sure that your windows are rolled up, take your keys and lock your car.

The same thing applies when you're pulling up to a stop sign or red light. As you stop, if you've left your window down and your purse or briefcase is on the front passenger seat, someone can easily reach in and take it. To protect yourself, don't put anything important there that can be easily reached if your window is down.

The last thing that I want to leave you with is that "Friendly fraud" is on the rise. Friendly fraud is fraud that takes place from someone you know; such as a family member, a roommate, a co-worker, your housekeeper, anyone you know personally. It's unfortunate but you have to keep your personal information at home and at work safe and secure from everyone; even those you trust...because you never know.

Copyright © 2011 / Protect Yourself, LLC

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Copiers And Identity Theft

Well, here we go again. This has been going on for years now however, it does not get the press or recognition that it deserves. But before I get into the meat of this story here's a real quick history lesson. Before 2002 the majority of copiers that were manufactured had been "Analog" technology. Meaning that when you made a copy of a document the image was positively charged and put on a rotating piece of film where a piece of paper that was negatively charged was mechanically placed on the film and the toner stuck to the paper. If you wanted, say 15 copies of your document, the original had to be scanned 15 times to make 15 copies.

After 2002 the "digital" age of copiers came into being and things were about to change. Now, if you wanted to make 15 copies of a document the original only had to be scanned one time and the digital information was processed by the copiers' mother board and the document information was stored in a "Hard Drive." A normal black and white copier hard drive can hold upwards of 20,000 plus pages of information. Millions of these copiers have been sold and a percentage of them would end up in "self-serve" copy centers. Just imagine going into one of these copy centers and make copies of your bank statement or some other pieces of information for a bank loan. The images of what you printed would still be on the copiers' hard drive. Eventually the hard drive fills up and the images start being replaced by others so your document images would eventually be deleted.

Identity thieves buy used copiers at wholesale clearing houses for cheap. They then remove the copiers' hard drive and hook it up to a program that can read the information and it shows up on a computer screen. This turned out to be an absolute "Treasure Trove" of information for the Identity Thief. When the machines were purchased they don't need to know where it came from, only the personal identifiable information is all they cared about.

One batch of machines, that was being reported by a news agency doing a story on this subject, were purchased by identity thieves at a clearing house were used in the past at a police station. Think about that for a second. What kind of information can be had from a copier inside of a police station? It just so happens that the copier was located in the investigations unit of the police facility! That's not good at all.

So what do you do to protect yourself from this type of identity theft? Obviously, don't make copies of your sensitive information at a copy center. Do it at home on your PC and printer. If and when you do replace your old copier with a new one take the hard drive out of the old one and drill holes in it or smash it up and destroy it. Even home copiers can be tapped for useful information.

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Are You High Risk for Identity Theft? Get Protection

Identity thieves originally went after high value targets that had the most money. Nowadays, they have gone out of that comfort zone and target lower income groups who make for easier pickings. Identity theft cases have skyrocketed in the 21st century fueled by technological advancements. It is becoming easier for identity thieves to get information about people which they eventually use to carry out fraudulent activities. Although identity thieves prefer richer people, their information is not as easy to come by compared to low income earners. The following people are more vulnerable to identity theft.

Frequent users of social networks. Research suggests that people who frequently use social networks are vulnerable to identity theft due to the possibility of sharing personally identifiable information. People who have used such networks online for over five years are twice as likely to fall victim to identity theft.

People who reside in apartments in major cities. Identity theft in this case is made possible by the ease by which mail can be intercepted by identity thieves. This group of people also move house frequently. This means that mail can easily land in the wrong hands at a previous residence.

It has become fairly obvious that online shoppers have the highest risk factor when it comes to becoming a victim of this kind of theft. This is because they usually give out loads of sensitive personal information and even credit card numbers.

A proactive approach can serve as a good means of preventing theft. The following are some steps that can be taken to deal with the risk of identity theft.

Always ensure that on changing addresses, you inform the people that send you regular mail such as banks. This will prevent your mail from landing in the wrong hands.

Always shred documents that have personally identifiable information before throwing them in the trash. Even better, burn items with highly sensitive data.

Always cancel all credit cards that you no longer use. People usually get shocked to see purchases made with unused credit cards.

Always have passwords that are hard to guess. Password-protected accounts usually have personal information within them.

Memorize all important numbers such as social security numbers so as not to leave them lying around on a written piece of paper. If not, save them in a secure password-protected location.

Check your bank statement every month to make sure that all transactions were performed by you.

Always make sure that any website you use to make online purchases is genuine. Such websites are usually validated and make use of secure connections.

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Identity Theft Threatens Every Small Business

Identity theft has become one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States. Estimates from the FTC are as high as nearly 12 million identities stolen in the U.S. in 2009.

Now identity thieves are taking on a new target. The target has more money, is easier to steal larger sums of money and the theft may not be noticed for quite some time. Who is the new target? Small and mid-sized businesses!

A study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that the number of cybercrime incidents reported increased by 56 percent and the average cost to a mid-sized business now totals $6 million. Included in that estimate is the "direct, indirect, and opportunity costs that resulted from the loss of theft of information, disruption to business operations, revenue loss, and destruction of property, plant and equipment."

The study goes on to say the time needed to respond to a cyberattack on mid-sized businesses increased from 14 days to 18 days, and the daily cost of responding to cyberattacks has increased from $17,600 to $23,000. Resolving the consequences of a data breach is costly, on average $416,000.

A recent Javelin Strategy & Research Study found that although identity fraud among small businesses had decreased since 2008, they still it at a rate of 4.1 percent in 2010, compared with 3.5 percent of consumers.

Only one in 700 identity thieves ever get caught. Relative to other crimes, identity theft is a low risk and high reward crime. Many identity thieves have turned their attention to small businesses since small business identity theft offers even higher rewards. Philip J. Bland, Javelin's marketing director states that, "Overall there's about $8 billion lost in this particular small business market.

The problem is so big the National Association of Secretaries of State formed a Business Identity Theft Task Force to deal with this issue. They recently met in Atlanta, Georgia to discuss small business identity theft prevention strategies and explore safeguards for state business filing systems.

Identity thieves and cybercriminals have moved from larger businesses to small businesses because they don't have the sophisticated computer network protections, or ability to monitor for criminal activity like larger businesses and corporations. They know small businesses aren't as aware of the problem or willing to proactively protect their information like larger businesses because the of the added expense.

At risk are their bank accounts, credit card information, and customer and employee information. Small businesses must take proactive steps to protect against identity theft or risk going out of business from just one incident. They can't wait or count on government agencies to guard against small business identity theft.

To prevent identity theft, businesses of every size must monitor their bank accounts and credit cards on a daily basis, monitor their Duns File and credit reports looking for unusual activity, and check their state business registration for unauthorized changes.

It is an unfortunate fact; you can't stop or prevent identity theft. All you can do is catch the breach as quickly as possible and limit the impact on your business. Proactive monitoring efforts now could save your business in the future.

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention   

Do You Need Identity Theft Repair?

I could tell you in about 2 short sentences why you need it and be done with it, but to truly understand what is involved in the process we have to delve into how or why anyone would need identity theft repair to begin with.

Let me attempt to paint a picture for you... Lets say that you have lost or someone has stolen your wallet or purse. The "Disaster" clock has already started ticking way before you realize that your wallet or purse went missing. If this has ever happened to you, how can you forget the empty and nauseous feeling that accompanied your stomach ache the exact moment immediately after you become conscious of what just happened? Take it from me, that is not a feeling that you want to experience...EVER! After a few anxious minutes you fumble around or look up the numbers of the credit card companies that were in your wallet so you can call them and report your credit cards stolen. Then you call the bank and let them know that your checks were stolen. This is the fun part.... well, not really but, you sit with your head in your hands trying to think or recall any other form of.... Oh shoot... my drivers license! You need to call the DMV. You continue, "...what else was in my purse or wallet that I should take care of?" I think you get the idea.

Now most of those things you can take care of yourself by calling the bank, DMV and other agencies in a timely matter and not have to worry too bad about any repercussions.

This next scenario is exactly why you need identity theft repair because believe it or not, this situation happens more frequently than you can imagine. You lose your purse or wallet and within a half hour or so someone, the so-called Good Samaritan, comes up and gives it back to you. Nothing is missing, all your cash is intact, driver's license, all credit cards are accounted for and you are so ecstatic that you even give the person $20 for their "Honesty". That makes for a good story. But here's what really happens....The thief just bought some time by COPYING the information of the contents of the purse or wallet. The thief now has time on his side to slowly and methodically manipulate the information in his favor to where you have absolutely no clue that your slowly becoming a victim of Identity theft. The thieves change your address, get a new drivers license, later on open up a new bank account, all without you having the least bit of knowledge that its happening.

Now you have to deal with government agencies, banks, financial institutions and try to prove that you are not YOU!! It's your information, now you have to prove that you didn't open those accounts. It is a massive undertaking and most people do not possess the skill or knowledge or the expertise to unravel the complexities of true identity theft.

If you want to have a look at the best identity theft repair in the country go to my link down below and download a free comprehensive report on Identity theft.

Five Myths Concerning Identity Fraud   A Review of Krolls Identity Theft Shield Program   The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention