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Theft of personal
data soars
to record levels
    BOSTON — The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn’t expected to turn around soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.
    And while companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of data with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, the investment often is too little too late.
    “More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they’re responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company’s security and seeing where the holes might be,” said Linda Foley, who founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center after becoming an identity theft victim herself.
    Foley’s group lists more than 79 million records reported compromised in the United States through Dec. 18. That’s a nearly fourfold increase from the nearly 20 million records reported in all of 2006.

CASH IS STILL KING! And safer!

My old SDSU student body card used my SS # as my student ID number.  

I didn't think they could use our ss# for any kind of ID...

I said my OLD  ID- that would be  junior year San Diego St. Univ 1969

You are just toooo freakin' worldly 'somebody'! Like I asked before..is there not a place you haven't been to? Or a life experience you haven't experienced?

Quoted from bumblethru

You are just toooo freakin' worldly 'somebody'! Like I asked before..is there not a place you haven't been to? Or a life experience you haven't experienced?

I began life at Ellis Hospital- Yates Village/school- I liked catching butterlies, slingshots,frying ants,crystal radios, marbles, kites, airplanes and stuff- then at age 12 went to a beach city in SoCal- where I finished growing up-  I am basicly a working guy- but I travel alot- partly work related

So I have a wierd perspective - because Yates village to Huntington beach was a big jump.- My mom not only never left schenectady- but never learned to drive a car either-

Back to school IDs for a minute-  I also remember 2 big books in the administration office with the name and SS # number of every student going and whoever went to school there-

And remember your bank acct. # used to be printed on your atm receipt  also-

There is a law(maybe it doesn't exist anymore) that no company, credit card/MD/school etc can not demand the use of your SS#---but, then again they dont have to serve you either......that was step #1 out of the old west and into socialism.......or was it organized religion.......

math and #'s are the universal language in all civilized societies......

http://www.dailygazette.com

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CAPITAL REGION
Arrests highlight trend in ID theft
Thousands in bills run up at stores
BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter

When Barbara Miller received a bill in November, she almost threw it out.
But she didn’t. And she soon came to the realization that she was the latest victim of identity theft: Someone had opened an account in her name and charged more than $800 to it.
“It struck me because I know what my bills are and I know I didn’t owe anybody,” Miller, 70, of Rotterdam, said.
    The account was opened at the town of Amsterdam Wal-Mart. A Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy quickly got surveillance video. And, in January, Broadalbin resident Victoria Horton was arrested, charged with identity theft.
    Horton, 34, is now accused of opening several accounts with identities she stole from her job with a local clinic that caters to cancer patients.
    She allegedly targeted local Wal-Marts last fall, opening the accounts, running up bills and selling the purchases online. In four cases filed against her in Glenville, she is accused of charging nearly $4,500, according to papers filed in court. And police have said they are investigating more.
    Horton is not alone in being accused of running such a scheme. She was one of two women who Glenville police arrested in the same week on such charges.
    Dana Skolnick, 27, of Schenectady, faces three counts, accused of running up nearly $3,500 on accounts opened on identities of people she knew.
    The women acted independently, police said. The only connection was the way in which they’re accused of using the identities: opening up fraudulent accounts at the same retailer.
INDUSTRY STANDARDS
    The cases have refocused attention on identity theft, something that years ago gained a foothold on detectives desks nationwide.
    Glenville police urged residents to keep a better eye on their own credit reports and mailboxes, looking for similar scams. They also noted that if photo identification was required for opening and using the accounts, Skolnick and Horton’s alleged crimes would have been severely hindered.
    Experts were mixed when asked if the cases might point to a new problem in particular kinds of credit, or were simply extensions of old problems.
    An official with the American Bankers Association, an industry group, claimed accounts opened in stores, rather than in banks, might not have as high of standards for checks.
    But an official with a consumer counseling group said he saw little difference between store cards and regular credit cards. He noted the only sure way to combat the practice of fraudulent new accounts is a regular check of credit reports.
    For its part, Wal-Mart said it follows industry standards in servicing and opening the accounts. Police said the company is cooperating.
    Police agencies around the country have been besieged with identity theft cases in recent years as criminals became more savvy in using electronic mediums to open and steal accounts.
    An estimated 8.3 million people — 3.7 percent of American adults — reported being victims of identity theft in 2005, according to Federal Trade Commission stats released last fall.
TIPS FOR PREVENTION
    Of those, 3.2 million reported misuse of existing accounts, while 1.8 million reported that new accounts were opened — as is alleged in the Glenville cases — or other frauds were committed using their personal information.
    It has become so prevalent, that some police agencies include tips for preventing it on their Web sites. The Rotterdam Police Department includes one such list on its site. (www.rotterdampd.org/identity. html)
    The list, which cites the U.S. Department of Justice, lists “account takeover” and “application fraud” as the two main types of identity theft.
    Application fraud, officials said, can be particularly insidious because the damage may not be easily uncovered.
    “New accounts are more diffi - cult for victims to discover,” FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell said. “If someone places a fraudulent charge on a card you already have, you get the statement and can call the credit issuer. If you open a whole new account in my name, that’s more difficult.”
    Glenville Police Chief Michael Ranalli said his agency still sees a good deal more of the misuse of current accounts, rather than the opening of new ones.
    “This is not the normal circumstance, no,” he said of the Wal-Mart cases. “It’s not a high percentage of the cases we get.”
    Just two weeks ago, Glenville police arrested an Amsterdam man, accusing him of using a stolen card at the Glenville Wal-Mart Jan. 6. Schenectady Police also charged a man that week on a similar
scheme.
    Police said they still fear other accounts were opened with bogus addresses and victims still don’t know they were taken.
    But, as it turned out, police began investigating after victims started coming forward with credit card bills for accounts they never opened.
    Doug Johnson, vice president of risk management policy at the American Bankers Association, argued there is anecdotal evidence that stores can be behind other institutions in security.
    Stores, he said, can be looking at the transaction, rather than the credit account.
    “Banks,” he said, “are much further along in terms of ensuring the practice of proper customer identification procedures.”
    But Jim Tehan, spokesman for the Houston-based consumer education organization MyVesta, said he hadn’t seen any kind of card be more at risk of fraud than others.
    Store cards, he said, are generally targeted to those who can’t get credit elsewhere. They have higher interest rates and stores want to get them into people’s hands, offering discounts to sign up. The cards can build brand loyalty.
    Tehan sees the problem in a general trend in the credit industry toward ease of use, rather than asking for ID.
    “Typically, the cashier’s concern is to take the credit card and swipe it. If it works, your job is done,” Tehan said. “It’s up to the individual to keep an eye on your own credit history to see what’s going on.”
    He recommended checking with all three credit agencies twice each year.
    Miller has done that now. She said she takes the extra step in writing “see ID” on her own cards to encourage cashiers to check and help ensure someone else can’t use the cards if they’re stolen.
    But, she said, she’s still not sure she’s seen the end of it.
    “It’s disconcerting,” she said. “I still wait every day for the mail to see if anything else comes in.”

Gee, is Walmart the only business that gets hit with this identity theft?

No, but it wouldn't be a headline if they talked about Bob's Maltshop......no one pays attention to the details just the flashy crap.....