{"id":12836,"date":"2017-12-01T17:01:49","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T21:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/?p=12836"},"modified":"2022-02-10T02:11:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T06:11:58","slug":"identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/identity-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Identity Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Identity theft continues to be a serious problem, and it is one with which we should be very concerned.\u00a0 Recently, I invited David B. Watts, an experienced private investigator and author\u00a0https:\/\/www.accidentalpi.com<\/a>, to speak to my firm\u2019s Client Care Program<\/a> members<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Data Collection Via Your Cell Phone<\/p><\/div>\n

Identity Theft is More Than You Think<\/h4>\n

Mr. Watts made it very clear that privacy is dead.\u00a0 It no longer exists.\u00a0 There is an amazing amount of information about individuals on the internet.\u00a0 Just look for yourself.\u00a0 But as Watts made plain, while we all want to avoid having our identity stolen, or having our credit card used by thieves, you are more likely to be the subject of personal information gathering. This is also a dangerous form of identity theft.<\/p>\n

Identity Theft as Data Collection<\/h4>\n

Identity theft is also data about you, gathered and stored every day. Every time you play a game on social media, \u201clike\u201d a website, or willingly surrender personal information in order to obtain a discount on a product or service, your personal information is being stored. The news is filled with stories about data being \u201chacked\u201d or stolen from websites, stores and even the federal government.\u00a0 This data is sold on the Black Web to thieves, and even to foreign governments.<\/p>\n

Every day, a bit of your privacy is surrendered, whether you research a product on line (have you noticed how ads for that product keep following you online, days after?) or when you use your rewards card at the local store, information about your buying habits is collected and sold. Department stores have installed face recognition cameras to watch how you shop, your emotional reactions, what you buy and how.<\/p>\n

Making Yourself Less of a Target<\/h4>\n

We are all targets, says Watts.\u00a0 It is just a matter of how large a target you want to be.\u00a0 There are steps you can take to make you a minimal target.<\/p>\n

First, and obviously, guard your personal information.\u00a0 Don\u2019t give out your social security number and don\u2019t carry that card in your wallet or purse.\u00a0 There is no reason to do so.<\/p>\n

Buy and use a shredder which cross cuts paper, not just cuts strips of paper.\u00a0 Private Investigator Watts shared how easy it is to put together strips of paper to reform a document. Cross cutting makes this impossible.\u00a0 Shred all documents containing sensitive information, like account numbers, social security numbers and the like.\u00a0 Consider shredding anything with your name on it.<\/p>\n

Pay for a good credit monitoring service like “Identity Force”.\u00a0 Watts noted that the most known, and most advertised, company has been sued numerous times for failing to perform as advertised.\u00a0 It\u2019s not worth the $99 annual charge.\u00a0 I have personally used both.\u00a0 Identity Force is well worth the money, and there is a big difference in notifications over the most known company. https:\/\/www.asecurelife.com\/identityforce-vs-lifelock\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Every year get your free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies and review it.\u00a0 See https:\/\/creditreport.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Opt-out of the following:<\/p>\n

-Nexis Lexis: order your free Lexis Nexis personal report and opt out.\u00a0 But, order it by mail:\u00a0 Privacy Information Manager, Lexis Nexis, PO Box 933, Dayton, Ohio 45401.<\/p>\n

-Go to\u00a0 https:\/\/familytreenow.com<\/a>\u00a0 and opt out.<\/p>\n

Get credit cards with low limits.\u00a0 You probably don\u2019t need a ten thousand dollar limit on your card.\u00a0 Thieves love high limits when they get your credit card.<\/p>\n

Never buy anything over your cell phone.\u00a0 Use a computer and be sure the site is secure.<\/p>\n

Identity Theft and Newborn Children<\/h4>\n

There was yet another very significant observation made by David Watts: when a child is born, a Social Security Number is now automatically issued to the baby at birth.\u00a0 Thieves know that the child is not going to use that number until they get their first job, maybe when they are fifteen years old.\u00a0 That gives the thief fifteen years to use it and never get caught.<\/p>\n

Watts recommends that parents contact the three credit reporting companies and put a freeze on the Social Security number. It can be removed when the child gets their first job.<\/p>\n

It seems we need to do a better job thinking through what technology has brought.\u00a0 We now need to be more vigilant about our privacy and personal information than previous generations.\u00a0 I would be interested in hearing about other protection ideas, as new technology develops, new services are born and more vulnerabilities arise.\u00a0 This is certainly an area our legislators need to address.\u00a0 In the meantime, buyer beware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Identity theft continues to be a serious problem, and it is one with which we should be very concerned.\u00a0 Recently, I invited David B. Watts, an experienced private investigator and author\u00a0https:\/\/www.accidentalpi.com, to speak to my firm\u2019s Client Care Program members Identity Theft is More Than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,12,3007],"tags":[1295,1296,219,1294,54,1299,249,66,1298,83,92,1297],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12836"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15464,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12836\/revisions\/15464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}