101 Reasons to have a LegalShield Membership

101 Reasons For A Legalshield Membership

1. You don’t understand the difference between a trust and a will.
2. You don’t have an up-to-date will.
3. Family members challenge your parent’s will.
4. Your landlord raises rent in violation of your verbal agreement.
5. You are selected for an audit.
6. Your parents die and leave you executor of their estate.
7. You are tired of hidden cell phone fees.
8. You do not have a retirement savings plan.
9. You lose your personal identification.
 
10. You receive a speeding ticket.
11. You are buying or selling your home.
12. Your driver’s license is suspended.
13. You don’t understand your health insurance plan or new legislation.
14. Your teenager is accused of shoplifting.
15. You decide to change your name.
16. Your new washing machine doesn’t wash.
17. Creditors threaten to take action against you for your ex-spouse’s debts.
18. A neighbor or school reports you for child abuse.
19. You adopt a child.
20. A friend or neighbor is injured on your property.
21. You need child support enforced.
22. A friend owes you money and files bankruptcy.
23. A caller demands money or damaging information will be released.
24. Your car is damaged by a hit-and-run driver.
25. You accidentally back over your neighbor’s garbage can.
26. A hairdresser damages your hair with harsh chemicals.
27. Your car is repossessed unjustly.
 
28. You are subpoenaed or served with legal papers.
29. You are called to jury duty.
30. Your long drive off the tee injures another player.
31. You need a lease agreement reviewed.
32. Your son is injured in a football game.
33. A neighbor trips over a rake in your yard.
34. A jeweler sells you defective merchandise.
35. A car dealership gains illegal access to your credit history.
36. You are hit by a bottle at a baseball game.
37. A tenant falls down stairs and sues you.
38. You need help with credit card liability resolution.
39. You are injured when you slip on a wet floor in a public building.
40. Your livestock trample a neighbor’s garden.
41. Your neighbor’s dog barks for hours every night.
42. Your teenager gets a speeding ticket.
43. Your landlord enters your apartment without permission.
44. Your child throws a baseball through a neighbor’s car window.
45. You don’t have a Living Will or Medical Power of Attorney.
46. Your boat is damaged while in storage.
47. Your landlord refuses to refund your cleaning deposit.
48. You lose an expensive watch in a hotel and the manager denies liability.
49. A speeding car nicks your bumper when your car was parked on the street.
50. A merchant refuses to honor a guarantee.
51. You have an accident driving your friend’s boat.
52. Your spouse claims a right to your earnings.
53. A record club sends merchandise after you cancel your membership.
54. You are refused service at a restaurant.
55. A property manager refuses to rent to you.
56. You are denied credit for no apparent reason.
57. An online auction goes sour.
58. The repair shop threatens small claims court for money you don’t owe.
59. Your car insurance is cancelled when your teenager has an accident.

60. Your child needs special education in public school.
61. You made a sizable gift to charity.
62. Angry words result in a slander law suit.
63. You need a patent for an invention.
64. You need a copyright for your manuscript.
65. You are wrongly accused of committing a crime.
66. Your right to privacy has been invaded.
67. Your car is vandalized in a parking lot.
68. A postal carrier slips on your unshoveled walk and breaks his or her leg.
69. You have questions about escrow in a home purchase.
70. You’re stopped for speeding and a passenger is in possession of marijuana.
71. Your teenager wrecks the car and a passenger is injured.
72. You care for your elderly parents.
73. You receive disability.
74. You are cheated by a door-to-door salesman.
75. A repairman charges more than a given estimate.
76. A creditor tries illegal collection tactics.
77. An accident results in a personal injury.
78. You are scheduled to appear in small claims court.
79. Your new house has bad plumbing and a leaky roof.
80. You take a vacation and your room has a view of the trash dumpster.
81. A minor is caught breaking into your home.
82. You have a fender bender while driving a friend’s car.
83. You have liability questions in launching a new business.
84. You have a question about an easement on your property.
85. Your neighbor’s dog bites your child.
86. You have a property line dispute over a newly installed fence.
87. You’re asked to testify as a witness to a crime.
88. You need a premarital agreement.
89. You’re buying or selling a car.
90. Your child’s school demands a drug or alcohol test.
91. Your bank sends a foreclosure notice after one house payment is late.
92. A retail store won’t accept the return of defective merchandise.

 
93. A repairman won’t stand behind his work.
94. A trespasser is caught poaching on your land.
95. You are leasing property.
96. You receive a letter from a creditor and it is not your debt.
97. A bank reports bad credit activity unjustly.
98. You need advice concerning a divorce.
99. You own your own small business.
100. You can’t make heads or tails out of the new tax forms.
101. Your spouse uses physical force against you.

Know your rights in any situation.

Even with all these examples, some say, “I would never use a Legalshield membership.”   The main reason people don’t use an attorney in the following situations is the cost.  At an average rate of $200 per hour, it would cost more for the attorney than the problem they are trying to solve.
LegalShield gives you the ability to talk to an attorney on any matter without worrying about high hourly costs. For one flat monthly fee you can access legal advice, no matter how traumatic or trivial the issue. That’s why under the protection of LegalShield you and your family can live your lives worry-free, every day, every night, now and forever.
Isn’t it time to learn more about getting a Legalshield Membership?  Click the websites below to learn more about this great benefit and the LegalShield opportunity.


Richard Figley
Independent Associate

614-395-2313

www.legalbenefitscentralohio.com

www.wealthcreationbiz.com

figleyr@legalshield.com

 IRS Identity Theft Toolkit

IDENTITY THEFT OUTREACH TOOLKIT

Host a Protect Your Identity Event
1. My 5-year-old child just got a call about an overdue credit card account. It sounds like a computer error. I
told the caller that this wasn’t my child’s account. That should take care of the situation.
FALSE. A call about an overdue account may be a sign that someone has opened accounts using your
child’s Social Security number. Parents and guardians don’t expect a minor child to have a credit file and rarely request or review their child’s credit report. A thief may steal and use a child’s information to get a job, government benefits, medical care, utilities, car loans, or even a mortgage. A thief may use a child’s information for many years before the crime is discovered. The victim may learn about the theft years later,when applying for a job, loan, or apartment, or when a business reviews the credit file and finds fraudulent accounts.

2. I check my financial accounts and bill statements when they come. That helps reduce my risk of identity theft.

TRUE. Missing or late statements can be a sign of identity theft. But it’s also important to read your
explanation of medical benefits: it can alert you to medical identity theft. If an identity thief gets medical treatment using your name, the thief’s medical information – for example, blood type, test results, allergies, or illnesses – can get into your medical file. Information about the thief can be added to your medical, health insurance, and payment records. The thief might deplete your health insurance benefits.

3. I got a notice from the Internal Revenue Service out of the blue. I called the number on the notice to get the details.

TRUE. If the IRS sends you a notice indicating a problem – or if you think someone has misused your Social Security number to get a job or tax refund – contact the IRS’s Specialized Identity Theft Protection Unit at 1-800-908-4490 immediately. Specialists will work with you to protect your account.

4. I’m getting bills for accounts I never opened. I should compile all the bills and wait to see if any charges pop up on my existing accounts.

FALSE. As soon as you suspect identity theft, put a fraud alert on your credit reports, order copies of your reports, and review them carefully for charges or accounts that aren’t yours. File a complaint with the FTC and get a police report so you can create an Identity Theft Report.

5. An Identity Theft Report can help me fix some problems caused by identity theft.

TRUE. An Identity Theft Report helps you deal with credit reporting companies, debt collectors, and
businesses that opened accounts in your name. You can use the Report to:
• get fraudulent information removed from your credit report,
• stop a company from collecting debts that result from identity theft, or from selling the debt to another company for collection,
• place an extended fraud alert on your credit report,
• get information from companies about accounts the identity thief opened or misused.

6. I reviewed my credit report when I bought a house about a year ago. Everything checked out so I’m not at risk for identity theft.

FALSE. Check your credit reports regularly. Credit reports can signal identity. That’s why it’s so  important to check your report a few times a year. You have the right to get a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. Ordering one free report every4 months lets you monitor your file and enables you to spot errors early. You can get your free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. Get in the habit of checking your account statements and Explanation of Benefits from your health plan, too.




Richard Figley
Independent Associate

 

figleyr@legalshield.com

www.RichardFigley.com

www.wealthcreationbiz.com

Medical Identity Theft

You may have heard about it in the news; Medical identity theft is on the rise in terms of frequency and impact. Medical identity theft is a variation of identity theft where one’s personal information is fraudulently used to obtain medical services including treatment, healthcare products, or pharmaceuticals.

The consequences of medical identity theft can be staggering and severe. Incorrect medical information in your file could impact your insurance premiums or ability to obtain disability or life insurance. It could even compromise your health care.

Warning signs that you’ve been a victim of medical identity theft include: getting bills for medical treatments you didn’t receive, getting collection notices for medical bills you don’t owe, or having an insurance application or claim denied due to a condition you don’t have.

If you think you may have been a victim of medical identity theft, contact your health plan and insurance provider immediately. Begin by requesting a record of your medical benefits and care history and comparing their notes with the services you know to be true (this is a request you can make at any time). Once you can prove that medical identity theft has taken place, file a police report with as much information as you have. A police report can a valuable tool in disputing medical charges that you aren’t responsible for.

Also, now that you know your information has been compromised, be sure to check your bank and credit card statements and credit report for activity and accounts you don’t recognize. Unfortunately, once your information has been leaked, it’s impossible to be certain that it’s not in use.

Richard Figley

Independent Associate

614-395-2313

figleyr@legalshield.com

www.LegalServicesCentraloh.com

Protect Your Small Business from Identity Theft

 

Ensure Protection From Identity Theft in Your Small Business

By Scott Siders on July 8th, 2012 

By Linda Vincent

Consumer identity theft is in the news every day, and for good reason: consumers are the fastest growing victims of identity theft. They often become victims as a direct result of small businesses not safeguarding their personal information. From exposed credit card information at a restaurant to easily accessible patient records at a physician’s office, small businesses need to keep sensitive data under lock and key to provide identity theft protection.

Are you one of those small businesses ignoring identity theft threats? If so, you are putting your business at serious risk. In addition to the countless revenue you will lose when customers flee to your competitors, you may also face costly lawsuits that can literally put you out of business.

Many small business owners like you are so busy serving your customers’ needs that you forget to protect the data that makes you vulnerable to hackers, data breaches, and even employee identity theft. To avoid small business identity theft, you must take every possible precaution to ensure that you, the company, the employees, and your customers have protection from identity theft.

There are many proven strategies to prevent small business identity theft, and there are a couple of basic rules: 1) identify and implement security strategies to physically protect business information and customers’ private data, and 2) ensure that computer networks are virtually protected against data breaches that can result in identity theft.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the questions you should be asking yourself if you want to ensure your business’ protection from identity theft:

• How safe are your business records? Start by thinking about the simple things like access to filing cabinets, and then look at the much larger issue of virtual filing cabinets—which includes all of the private information you’ve collected on your customers and employees. How easy is it for anyone to login and walk away with information that could put your business at risk?
• Do you have alarms and locks on your physical premises? It may sound obvious, but many small businesses have not invested in basic systems to provide protection from Identity Theft. The first step is hiring a security company to install and begin monitoring all possible entryways of your business.
• Are you shredding everything? Emphasize the importance of shredding all documents that contain customers’ personal data. Employees need to understand that any piece of stolen personal information can be used against the business in the event of a lawsuit due to negligence. Consider placing only one regular trash bin near the workstations and put shredders next to every station to promote the destruction of customer information.
• Are you helping a hacker? One of the many small business identity theft threats is hacking because, in many cases, it’s the easiest way to steal information. Unless your company has protection from identity theft by using a secure firewall, you are inviting an intruder to slyly slip into your network, take everything, and then sell it on the black market.
• Who has access to your computers? Your computer network is the lifeblood of your business, so you need to make sure it is password protected and that the most private, identifiable information is safeguarded. Think about who really requires access to the network. A receptionist needs far less access than a manager.

Learn more about preventing identity theft in your small business by visiting www.ID-TheftProtection.com or calling 614.395.2313

Richard Figley

Independent Associate

figleyr@legalshield.com

www.richardfigley.com

Medical Identity Theft

Guard Against Medical Identity Theft

by Diane Wedner on July 2, 2012 

What’s worse than facing a whopping medical bill? Facing a whopping medical bill that someone else racked up using your identity.
Each year about 2 million Americans are victims of medical identity theft. It costs individual victims about $22,000, according to the Third Annual National Study on Medical Theft.
The survey, conducted by the independent research company Ponemon Institute, revealed that the estimated total cost—to all involved—is about $41 billion yearly.
“A majority of people often don’t find out their medical identity has been stolen until they hear from a collection agency,” says Ken Chaplin, a senior vice president of marketing for Experian. “They find out they owe money to a medical provider and they’ve defaulted on the bill.”
Half of the respondents said they knew the person who stole their identity: caregivers, a child or a sibling who gained access from insurance information left on a desk or in a drawer.
Some respondents said they permitted family members to use their personal identification to get medical services, including treatment, health care products and medications.
“It’s pretty shocking, but something to be aware of,” Chaplin says. “Lock up your information and treat it like any valuable.”
Why so valuable? The survey reports that 20% of respondents said their medical records were accessed or modified. Altered medical records can result in patients getting the wrong treatment.
Also, victims pay out-of-pocket expenses to resolve the identity theft.
“The medical industry is different than the financial industry,” Chaplin says. “They often limit their exposure. So find out what you’re liable for if your medical identity is stolen. Some companies cap your liability, but others don’t.”
Survey respondents claimed that on average it took about one year to resolve the theft.
Here are some useful tips to avoid being a victim of medical identity theft:

• When the explanation of benefits arrive from your insurance company, read them over. Make sure that the services provided were those you actually got. If you see unfamiliar ones, “that’s a big red flag,” Chaplin says. “Call the insurance company immediately. The quicker you take action, the quicker you can cut it off.”
• Don’t share your insurance information with anyone, Chaplin says.
• Put your insurance card in a locked drawer at home, taking it out only on the day of a doctor visit. When a wallet is stolen, victims quickly cancel their credit cards, but forget their health insurance card is there too for the taking. Do leave home without it!
• Identity-theft-protection companies, such as Experian ProtectMyID, provide alerts when your identity is stolen and assist in resolving the claims.

Richard Figley

Independent Associate
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.ProtectMyID.com

Louisville man orders iPods in Bank Customers Names

Louisville man charged with identity theft for allegedly ordering iPods in the name of PNC Bank customers

7:19 PM, Jul 3, 2012   

Andrew M. Halsell / Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections

A Louisville man who worked for a cleaning crew at PNC Bank placed online orders in the names of bank customers, then waited outside their homes to pick up the goods when they were delivered, police said.
Andre Halsell, 27, of the 9700 block of Streamview Trail, was charged with defrauding merchants out of nearly $4,600 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest warrant. Eight people have been victimized since Jan. 1, police said.
One victim reported that someone used his name, date of birth and social security number to open fraudulent accounts and order iPods from online stores Fingerhut.com and Gettington.com, according to an arrest citation.
Halsell admitted to taking documents with personal information from PNC Bank, then setting up lines of credit with online stores, according to police records. The records said he then sold the iPods on Craigslist.
Halsell, who knew the victims’ addresses, would go to their houses and wait for orders to arrive via UPS, said Sgt. Melissa Mottley, the commander of the LMPD fraud unit.
Most of the addresses were in the area of the Cloverleaf neighborhood east of Dixie Highway and south of the Watterson Expressway.
Halsell tried to intercept the packages, posing as one of the victims or a relative, and asking UPS delivery workers to give him the packages, Mottley said. She said if he was unable to intercept the driver, Halsell would go to the UPS centers in an attempt to pick up the packages.
Mottley said Halsell couldn’t provide proper identification to UPS workers and was never able to retrieve any of the packages. She said one of the UPS drivers noticed Halsell’s suspicious behavior and called police.
He was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with 11 counts of identity theft and one count of theft by deception. He was being held Tuesday at Louisville Metro Corrections in lieu of $1,500 bail.
Police said they do not know if Halsell was working alone, and the investigation is still ongoing. Police referred questions about how Halsell allegedly found the personal information about the victims to PNC Bank.
Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman, said “PNC’s policies are to secure customer information in a locked receptacle.” He would not comment further, saying it could jeopardize the police investigation.

Reporter Alex Orlando can be reached at (502) 582-4336.

 Richard Figley

Independent Associate
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com

 

9 Alarming Statistics About Identity Theft

Posted by Rebecca Black on April 26, 2012

Identity theft is a serious problem worldwide. This crime flourishes when thieves are given access to your personal information, allowing them to commit crimes under your name or spend your money unbeknownst to you. You may be under the impression that identity theft could never happen to you. You may be careful with whom you give your Social Security number to, or diligent about changing up your passwords for the sake of safety. However, identity thieves are getting smarter about how they access your information. The statistics revolving around identity theft are disconcerting, but with a better understanding of how these crimes continue to be committed, we can help lower the rate of identity theft and prevent ourselves from becoming another statistic.

1. Odds Against You

   The United States Department of Justice states that in 2010, 7% of all United States households had at least one member of the family at or over the age of 12 who has been a victim of some sort of identity theft. That means the odds are greatly against you. Identity theft sets the government, American citizens, and businesses back by billions of dollars each year. From 2005 to 2010, 64.1% of these instances involved credit card fraud, the fastest growing type of identity theft. Over the range of this time period, credit card misuse was doubled as the determining factor in identity theft.

2. Grave Robbing

   According to Time Magazine, 2.5 million dead people get their identities stolen every year. Studies conducted by ID Analytics have shown that identity thieves have been applying for credit cards under the names of the deceased, opening up clean credit lines, new cell phone services, and in a staggering 1.6 million cases, using Social Security numbers previously belonging to dead people. This can be devastating for family members of the deceased who have been left to manage his or her estate. More than 2,000 identities of corpses per day are assumed by these fraudsters.

3. Social Media Fraud

   With a 13% increase in identity fraud between 2010 and 2011, a study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research showed that consumers may be putting themselves at a higher risk for identity theft as a result of their increasingly intimate social media behaviors. Sixty-eight percent of people with public social media profiles on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter shared their birthday information with 45% of them getting into specifics about the exact month, day, and year. Sixty-three percent shared where exactly they attended high school. Eighteen percent shared their phone number and 12% shared their pet’s name. Not only are all of these details typically asked when verifying an identity, but people also frequently use them in passwords. The statistics are clear — people are giving away far too much personal information on social networking sites, allowing for fraudsters to easily steal their identities.

4. Medical Identity Theft

   According to the findings from a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, 19,428 complaints regarding medical identity theft have been reported to the Consumer Sentinel Database since January 1, 1992. Prior to that, medical-related identity theft was not documented, so there may have been many more instances of it that simply went unreported. Likewise, the number of medical identity theft victims rose from 1.6% in 2001 to 1.8% in 2005. Medical identity theft can be distressing to its victims, who often incur charges for medical care they didn’t even receive after their computerized medical records are stolen. A large chunk of these victims experienced raised premiums as a result of medical identity theft, with almost half losing coverage entirely. Medical identity theft is more of an insider crime, as it is typically done by a health care professional. It may be committed by doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and others associated with the hospital. Part of the reason that medical identity theft is made possible could be because almost half of seniors carry their Social Security card or Medicare card in their wallets, which is a risky place to keep such valuable information.

5. College Students at Risk

   The United States Department of Education encourages college-aged students to be particularly aware of identity theft. After they conducted a recent survey, the Department of Education found that 48% of the students that participated in the survey admitted to leaving personal information out in their dorm rooms, some of which was financial in nature. Thirty-one percent of these students were burglarized or knew someone in the building who was burglarized, which means that their personal information could have been compromised. Identity thieves look to college-aged adults because they often have good, clean credit scores, making them an ideal target. On college campuses, Social Security numbers are often used for identification purposes. For example, a student may use their social to register for classes. With such easy access to your Social Security number, an identity thief has all the information they need to commit their crime. Lastly, college students are not as attentive to their banking accounts and private information, which buys the identity thief valuable time with your funds at hand.

6. Misleading Trial Offers

   The Consumer Federation of America works with commercial providers of identity theft services to figure out ways to keep people safe from identity theft. According to a 2012 report it released examining ways these services could be bettered, customers most commonly complained about the service’s lack of addressing misleading trial offers. Free trials are everywhere, offering a week or months’ worth of Weight Watchers, Netflix, or Proactiv face wash. However, customers complained that the identity theft protection sites themselves were unclear as to the trial offer stipulations. The problematic part is that customers often forget to cancel these temporarily “free” subscriptions, or they don’t realize they need to cancel, and then charges begin to accrue in their accounts from a service they may not even use. Customers feel this may as well be on par with the stealing that occurs via identity theft. So, even sites that help protect against identity theft may be draining your funds via an unclear trial offer scheme.

7. Cost to Victims

   According to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2006 Report, while 50% of all identity fraud victims accrue little to no out-of-pocket charges for the legal fees, lost wages, and false payments brought upon them during the fraud, a small bracket of 10% of all identity theft victims incur considerable out-of-pocket expenses. This can be upwards of $1,200. This is most commonly the case when fraudsters use a false identity to open new accounts. The top percentile of these victims lost as many as $3,000, an unsettling amount to personally lose as a result of identity theft. Few things leave a person feeling more vulnerable and taken advantage of. Likewise, resolving identity theft crime isn’t easy. Ten percent of all victims spend 55 or more hours sorting out their problems, while the top 5% spend at least 130 hours.

8. Child Identity Theft

   Since children have perfectly clean backgrounds, no real credit score to speak of, and their parents don’t think to monitor the status of their identity, they make easy targets for identity theft. The main reasons fraudsters use child identities is to administer illegal immigration, steal, and wipe clean the credit scores of a loved one by utilizing that of a child in their place. Sadly, this can have negative effects on the child’s credit down the line, and they could have trouble securing student loans, getting a decent job, or even purchasing a cellphone. In a study conducted by Carnegie Melon’s CyLab, 10.2% of the children reported that someone else had used their Social Security number fraudulently. The worst of these accounts was toward a 16-year-old girl who had reported fraudulent charges of $725,000 under her name.

9. Police Notification

   According to the Consumer Sentinel Network’s 2011 report, 57% of identity theft victims notified a police department, resulting in a police report. Six percent notified a police department, but did not have a police report filed, and 7% notified the police but were unsure as to whether a report was filed. This leaves an alarming 30% of victims who didn’t bother to notify the police at all. In order to get ahold of the problem of identity theft, victims need to be proactive about stopping thieves with police intervention. Otherwise, the crime will perpetuate, as it is easy to get away with and can strongly benefit the thief.
   
   
   
   
   
   Richard Figley
   Independent Associate
   614.395.2313
   figleyr@legalshield.com
   www.richardfigley.com
   
   
   
    

Medical ID Theft nets $200,000

By Will James

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.—A former supervisor at a Long Island brain injury treatment center stole the identities of dozens of patients and used them to file false tax returns that netted him $200,000 in refunds, prosecutors said Monday.

Benjamin Achampong, 30 years old, was until 2006 a supervisor at the Long Island Head Injury Association, a nonprofit in Commack, N.Y., providing housing, treatment and other services for those who have suffered head injuries from auto and bicycle accidents, guns, child abuse or alcohol use.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said Achampong used his position to steal identification information from 56 patients’ files. In 2006 and 2007, he then used their identities to electronically file false tax returns in New York, New Jersey and with the federal government, Spota said.

Spota called Achampong a “shameless, incorrigible thief who has absolutely no moral standards whatsoever.”

Achampong pleaded not guilty on Friday to a 48-count indictment accusing him of grand larceny, identity theft, filing false tax returns and other charges. He faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, prosecutors said.

After a 14-month probe, Achampong was discovered in Georgia, where he was in custody on identity theft charges in a separate investigation. He is also facing identity theft charges in Delaware. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to stealing the identity of a dead former patient of another Long Island residential treatment facility, where he worked, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Michael Alber said he wants more information from prosecutors.

The Head Injury Association said in a statement that it fully cooperated with the probe and is “appalled by the possible victimization of our clients by this former employee.”

Andy Kraus, a spokesman for the association, declined to say whether Achampong’s departure had anything to do with the allegedly stolen identities.

Achampong was being held until he could post a $50,000 cash bail or a $100,000 bond

Richard Figley

Independent Associate

figleyr@legalshield.com

www.ID-TheftProtection.com

Legal Requirments Relating to ID Theft

 

Businesses Must Provide Victims and Law Enforcement with Transaction Records Relating to Identity Theft

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) spells out rights for victims of identity theft, as well as responsibilities for businesses. Identity theft victims are entitled to ask businesses for a copy of transaction records — such as applications for credit — relating to the theft of their identity.
Indeed, victims can authorize law enforcement officers to get the records or ask that the business send a copy of the records directly to a law enforcement officer. The businesses covered by the law must provide copies of these records, free of charge, within 30 days of receiving the request for them in writing. This means that the law enforcement officials who ask for these records in writing may get them from your business without a subpoena, as long as they have the victim’s authorization.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the FCRA including this requirement, which is known as Section 609(e). Here is some additional information to help your business comply with this provision of the law:
Q. Who must comply with Section 609(e) of the FCRA?
A. The law applies to a business that has provided credit, goods, or services to, accepted payment from, or otherwise entered into a transaction with someone who is believed to have fraudulently used another person’s identification. For example, if your business opened a cell phone account in the victim’s name or extended credit to someone misusing the victim’s identity, you may be required to provide the records relating to the transaction to the identity theft victim or the law enforcement officer acting on that victim’s behalf.
Q. What documents must my business provide?
A. Your business must provide applications and business transactions records, maintained either by your business or by another entity on your behalf, that support any transaction alleged to be a result of identity theft. Records like invoices, credit applications, or account statements may help victims document the fraudulent transaction and provide useful evidence about the identity thief.
Q. What are the procedures for requesting these materials?
A. Requests for documents must be submitted in writing. Your business may specify an address to receive these requests. You may ask the victim to provide relevant information, like the transaction date or account number, if they know it. You also can require that victims provide:
1. proof of identity, like a government-issued ID card, the same type of information the identity thief used to open the account, or the type of information you are currently requesting from applicants; and
2. a police report and completed affidavit. Victims can use the FTC’s ID Theft Affidavit, available at ftc.gov/idtheft, or another affidavit you accept.
Q. Is it ever appropriate not to provide documents?
A. You can refuse to provide the records if you determine in good faith that:

• you cannot verify the true identity of the person asking for the information;
• the request for the information is based on a misrepresentation; or
• the information requested is Internet navigational data or similar information about a person’s visit to a website or online service.

Your business may not deny disclosure of these records based on the financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (see Subtitle A of Title V of Public Law 106-102). Nevertheless, you may refuse to disclose them if state or another federal law prohibits you from doing so.
Q. Are there recordkeeping requirements of Section 609(e)?
A. Section 609(e) does not require any new recordkeeping procedures for your business.



Richard Figley
Independent Associate
614.395.2313

 www.ID-TheftProtection.com
 www.richardfigley.com

27,000 NEW Identity Theft Victims Every Day

After reading an article in the Early Bird on ID theft and as a person traveling around the mid-west giving identity theft workshops I wanted to pass along some educational material to the readers on identity theft.
The Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft has been the NUMBER ONE consumer complaint for TWELVE consecutive years. The WI DATCP has now added it their list as the source of the fastest rising group of consumer complaints.  Here are just a few facts:
•       There are currently over 27,000 NEW identity theft victims EVERY DAY!
•       Over 512 million Americans’ Identities have been reported lost or stolen since January 20010.
•       Over400,000 dead people opened bank accounts last year.
•       The revenue from trafficking financial data has surpassed that of drug trafficking. –  US Secret Service
•       Over3.5 million children have already fallen victim to identity theft in the US.

“Identity Theft is poised to increase by a factor of 20 over the next two years. The criminals are still trying to figure out what to do with all the data.”  •       You are THREE times more likely to have your identity stolen than you are to have your house or  car broken into.
•       The average dollar amount charged in Identity Theft:  $92,893
•       The average time taken by a victim to restore their identity is 607 hours.
•       Most identity theft issues are non-credit related.

What most people don’t understand and I get statements like “with my credit they can have mine identity” or “my bank and credit card company watches over mine” is that there are 6 common types of ID theft not to mention data breeches from companies large or small.   The common types are: Character & Criminal, Employment, SSA & IRS related, Medical, Financial, Drivers License, and Minor Children & Elderly. 

Each one of these has their own devastating results in lost time, money and peace of mind, but the real kickers are the medical and children areas.  With medical, a person’s id is used to get medical treatment. While that is bad enough, it isn’t as bad as your medical records getting changed.  I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard on this. Just imagine, if you were killed in an accident and the insurance company wouldn’t pay out to your spouse because you had an illness like AIDS that you didn’t report, because you didn’t know this was on your record. And with children, it could take up to 18 years for them to find out that they are victims.  Only 17% of this crime is credit card and financial in nature.  Your information is a gold mine to these thieves.  Not only will identity hurt an individual and their families but their job performance as well because it takes time to clean up after becoming a victim.  The worst part is not finding out you are a victim but what you have to do afterwards. I urge people and maybe companies to get some sort of protection or learn the various ways they can protect themselves.  In looking at protection there are some great plans on the market. My advice would be to prepare yourself by purchasing a plan that offers the following;
•       Monitoring
•       Reimbursement
•       Fraud Alert Services
•       Restoration Service and a Legal Plan

I have found that identity theft can also lead to many legal issues so you need to consider these possible side effects: Criminal Charges, Arrests (imagine getting your door busted open at 2AM by the SWAT team because you committed a crime), Lawsuits, Garnishments, Civil Litigation's and even IRS Audits.  Remember one thing, with Identity Theft, YOU ARE GUILTY until proven innocent.



Richard Figley
Independent Associate
www.ID-TheftProtection.com 
www.richardfigley.com

10 percent of children’s Social Security numbers are being used by someone else

 

 Protecting the Innocent: The Basics of Child Identity Theft

Written by Peter Schoenrock on March 26, 2012 in Credit  |   No comments

In our cyber-connected world, we’re increasingly at risk of data breaches, hackers, phishing scams, and all manner of identity theft. While many adults have learned to keep their Social Security number protected and to not give out personal information over the internet or phone, a new victim of identity theft and fraud is on the rise—our children.
Children are at risk because they have a clean slate. They have no credit history or debts, and that makes them an attractive target to identity thieves and scam artists. People are looking to rebuild their life with a fresh start, and a child’s clean credit report may provide them with that new (albeit fraudulent) beginning.
According to a report on Child Identity Theft from the Carnegie Mellon CyLab, over 10 percent of children’s Social Security numbers are being used by someone else, and children are 51 times more likely to be victims of identity theft than adults.
Some perpetrators of child identity theft are friends and family members looking to get around their own bad credit ratings. According to the CyLab report, other primary causes of identity theft can be traced to illegal immigration (to obtain false ID for employment) and organized crime and financial fraud.
Criminals will search for Social Security numbers and run checks to see if the numbers have been used to obtain credit. When they find an unused number, they’ve hit the jackpot. Such numbers—and other personal information—can then be sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Even if you think your child’s Social Security card is protected in your safety deposit box, you might be surprised at the activities that can place his or her personal identification at risk.
According to Marietta Jelks, consumer action handbook manager for the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, children are online more, and they don’t understand the consequences of certain actions. “They’re giving out private information like their phone number or address, and [they] don’t think about the negative implications. They’re not reading privacy statements,” says Jelks.
You trust your children’s doctor’s office and school with their health and safety, but you don’t know what such agencies are doing with your family’s personal information. If you submit a form when you see the doctor or sign your child up for an extracurricular activity, you don’t know who is seeing the information and how it’s kept or destroyed. Jelks also says that parents are placing their children at greater risk when they carry around children’s Social Security cards without keeping track of the materials.
What kind of personal information could put your child at risk for identity theft?

• Social Security number
• Address and phone number (present and prior)
• Student ID number (often easily traced back to a Social Security number)
• Email address
• Medical ID number
• Health insurance ID number
• Bank account numbers

As your children become teenagers and may have jobs, bank accounts, and email addresses, educate them on the importance of protecting their personal information. While your children are growing up and finding their identity, help them out and make sure to protect their credit and financial identity.

Richard Figley
Independent Associate
614.395.2313
www.800-DO-A-WILL.com
www.ID-TheftProtection.com

Learn the Signs of Scams

By ELISABETH LEAMY (@elisabethleamy), ABC NEWS Consumer Correspondent
I have some con artists to thank for today’s column. Yes, you heard that right. This week’s topic arrived by mail—in the form of a classic come-on. My husband received a $3,850 check in the mail. It looked awfully official, complete with “security features” and bank account numbers. I’m going to dissect if for you, to show all the tip-offs to a rip-off. Here’s a picture of the “check.”:

(Image Credit: Elisabeth Leamy)

Your heart DOES do a little pitter pat at first, eyeballing a substantial sum like that. However, the accompanying letter gives the ploy away. The crooks have managed to roll two oldies but baddies into one: the foreign lottery scam and the check overpayment scam.
Click here for the letter.
The letter announces “Cash Prize Notification” and goes on to say, “…you are one of the winners in the “CONSUMER PROMOTIONS SWEEPSTAKES DRAWING.” Pretty thrilling, right? But here’s the clue: “…this draw was held in the United Kingdom.” It’s actually illegal for Americans to participate long-distance in foreign lotteries. Therefore, if you’re ever told you have won one (especially one you never entered!), it’s a scam. Period.
There’s another clue, too. The letter informs the recipient that the prize winnings will be delivered by a courier company. The bad guys try to avoid sending their correspondence by U.S. Mail, because they don’t want to be subject to U.S. mail fraud laws. I suspect that if my husband had fallen for this plot, future correspondence from the crooks would have, indeed, arrived via a private courier.
In a sick sort of way, you have to admire the crooks’ handiwork. They even managed to use postage that looks like it’s from a foreign country. Wow! It came via the “Royal Mail!” Actually, it’s quite possible the letter WAS sent from another country, because often con artists prey upon Americans from beyond our borders, knowing it’s very hard for US authorities to prosecute them. I took a picture of the postmark too:

(Image Credit: Elisabeth Leamy)

So how were the thieves going to profit? Let’s go back to the letter. The “company” has sent my hubby a check for $3,850 and says that’s to cover the “Tax Clearance Fee.” But here’s the trick. The tax clearance amount is NOT “$3,850. It’s $1,950! The company has overpaid my husband! Why? The crooks want their victims to deposit the $3,850 check in their accounts and forward them $1,950 of their own money. By the time the victims find out that the $3,850 check is bogus, their OWN money is long gone.
That, my friends, is the latest example of the “Check Overpayment Scam.” It comes in many forms. The classic is that if you are selling something, like a used car, a stranger may send you a check for more than the asking price and ask you to forward them the difference, while they arrange to have the car transported to them. The crooks have a million excuses for why they’ve sent too much money and why you need to forward them the difference. Never, ever do it. If a stranger overpays you by check, it’s a scam. Period.



Richard Figley
Independent Associate
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.800-DO-A-WILL.com
www.ID-TheftProtection.com.

---

ID Theft Tax Fraud Hits 404,000 Americans

 

For Identity Theft Victims, Paying Taxes is a Nightmare

By Allison Linn

After Meghan Bach learned last year that her husband’s identity had been stolen to collect a fake tax refund, she spent perhaps 200 hours working to resolve the issue with the IRS and other agencies.
She thought she had been successful until the family returned home from a vacation this month to find that her husband’s identity had been stolen again.
 “It’s just appalling,” she said.
The IRS has acknowledged that identity theft tax fraud –- stealing someone’s Social Security number to file a fake tax return and collect a bogus refund –- is one of the most complex issues it deals with. Victims describe hours of phone calls, piles of correspondence and long periods of silence in which they aren’t sure whether their problems are being resolved or not.
The tedious process has left some victims worried about what will happen when they file this year’s tax returns.
“Of course I’m nervous,” said Dr. Vera Rosado, 33, who found out last year she was a victim and still has not been able to get it resolved with the IRS.
Rosado, a physician studying infectious diseases in Indianapolis, was recently told to file her fraud affidavit for a second time and her 2010 return for a third time after previous filings was lost. She said the IRS has told her it could take another few months to get the new paperwork processed.She is waiting to get an approximately $3,000 refund check from last year’s return, which she plans to use toward medical board exams.
The IRS estimates 404,000 people were victims of identity theft tax fraud from mid-2009 to the end of 2011, and officials say the problem is growing.
The agency recently set up a specialized unit to just to deal with identity theft tax fraud, and it is expanding its screening process aimed at flagging this type of fraud. The issue also has attracted the attention of the some U.S. Senators. On Tuesday, a finance subcommittee held a hearing on the matter.
The IRS said it could not comment on specific cases such as Rosado’s and Bach’s because of privacy laws.
Experts say the IRS is working hard to root out identity theft tax fraud in the approximately 140 million tax returns that come in each year. But some believe the problem will get worse before it gets better because it will take time to train staff members to root out and deal with such issues.
“For the next four to five years it’s going to be a learning curve for everybody across the country,” said Jay Foley, a partner with ID Theft Info Source.
Foley said one issue is that IRS employees who aren’t part of the identity theft unit may not know how to handle such complaints. That’s why they might audit tax forms instead of use them in an investigation, for example, or not file paperwork correctly.
He recommends that anyone who is a victim of such fraud work directly with the identity theft unit and also contact the Taxpayer Advocate, an independent agency charged with assistant taxpayers who are having problems.
Foley said the bad news is that there is little people can do to shield themselves from such fraud attempts.
“There’s absolutely nothing that can be done at this point in time that’s going to give you a guarantee of safety,” he said.
Bach, a real estate agent who lives in San Diego, found out her husband had been a victim of identity theft tax fraud in March 2011, when she tried to file their taxes and learned that someone had already filed a return using her husband’s name and Social Security number.
Over the next year, she said she spent several hours each week working with the IRS and other government agencies to get the fraud resolved on behalf of her husband, a military doctor.
At one point, she sent the IRS summaries of her past 10 years of tax returns in order to prove that she and her husband were the true taxpayers. Instead, she said, the IRS audited one of those returns and presented her with a bill for nearly $900.
She paid that bill, then successfully contested a later IRS attempt to audit another past return she had provided to prove her family’s identity.
Eleven months later, the family finally got its refund for the 2010 return and she figured the issue had been resolved. But a few weeks ago, they returned from a Disneyland vacation to find letters from the IRS that had been addressed to her husband had instead been sent to an address down the street that had recently been used as a rental. The mail had been returned to the post office and redelivered to Bach.
One letter, sent to the other address, was informing the family that they had once again been victims of tax fraud for the 2011 tax year. The second letter said that a refund of more than $10,000 was being applied to an existing balance of more than $12,000 that the letter said the family owed the IRS.
Bach said the family had not yet filed their 2011 taxes and was not scheduled to receive a $10,000 refund for the year. They also did not owe the IRS any money – in fact, after their fraud had been resolved, she said the IRS had sent them a refund for 2010 with interest.
Bach surmises that the fraud might have occurred at the address where the IRS correspondence was sent. She doesn’t know if the IRS sent any other correspondence to that address.
Bach and her husband immediately went to the local IRS office to get the address issue corrected. In addition, she said she has left multiple messages with the IRS identity theft case manager she has been working with but has not heard back. She plans to file her real 2011 tax return this week.
Bailey Yahraus, 30, found out four years ago that her husband and young children’s Social Security numbers had been used to file a fraudulent return. The couple got it resolved, and for the next couple years they used a tax filing service to file their returns with no problems.
This year, Yahraus decided to file her return herself using an online tax service. That’s when she found out that her children’s Social Security numbers had already been used by someone else claiming them as dependents.
Yahraus, who lives in Montpelier, Ohio, has been trying to figure out how she can keep the Social Security numbers from being used fraudulently again. She’s worried about what effect the ID theft might have on her kids when they become adults.
But after a rough few years in which both she and her husband lost their jobs and got new ones, she hopes to shield them for now.
“They’re 8- and 9-year-old boys,” she said. “They’re worried about baseball, basketball (and) football.”



Richard Figley
Independent Associate
figleyr@legalshield.com

 614-395-2313
www.800-DO-A-WILL.com
www.ID-TheftProtection.com

Judges Officially Combine Breach Class-Action Suits

Ruling puts together 11 lawsuits over incident

Friday, March 02, 2012

A total of 11 different class-action lawsuits filed against a healthcare company over a data breach in California last fall have now been combined into one case.

The suits, filed against Sutter Health, stem from a data breach in which a computer containing the personal data for 4.24 million people was stolen from an office late last year, according to a report from the Sacramento Business Journal. In all, eight of the combined cases were originally filed in Sacramento County, with the others coming from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and even White Plains, New York.

Estimates for the liability, damages and attorneys' fees associated with the case range considerably, but are sizable, the report said. Some say it could add up to anywhere between $944 million to $4.25 billion, not counting court costs. Information exposed in the breach included at least the names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, emails, medical record numbers and health insurance providers for all involved.

Richard Figley
Independent Associate
figleyr@legalshield.com

614-395-2313
www.800-DO-A-WILL.com

Health Care & Data Breaches

Healthcare industry CIOs, CSOs must improve security

By Thor Olavsrud, CIO |  Security, health IT Add a new comment

March 06, 2012, 9:39 AM — Protected health information (PHI) data breaches are growing in frequency and magnitude as the healthcare industry moves to adopt electronic health records (EHR), say a group of standards and security organizations. The healthcare industry must take action to better defend PHI if it wants to keep the public's trust, they say.
The Identity Theft Prevention and Identity Management Standards Panel (IDSP) of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), in partnership with The Santa Fe Group/Shared Assessments Program Healthcare Working Group and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA), on Monday unveiled a report, The Financial Impact of Breached Protected Health Information: A Business Case for Enhanced PHI Security, at a press conference kicked off by White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt. The report is intended to help CIOs, CSOs and IT security, privacy and compliance staff create a compelling business case for enhanced security to present to business executives.
"When it comes to cybersecurity, we all have a role whether we're a consumer, the executive of a company or a political leader," Schmidt says. "By working together, we can make sure we make the improvements that ensure the balance between privacy rights and security. While we can't solve all the problems in the world when it comes to cybersecurity and privacy, we can affect those parts we're responsible for."
Privacy Protections Critical to Trust
Joe Bhatia, president and CEO of ANSI, added, "Privacy protections are absolutely critical to maintaining consumer trust in this information age. In the U.S., the healthcare delivery system is founded upon trust. This trust, as we all know, is now being severely tested."
According to the 67-page report, which involved a cross-section of more than 100 healthcare industry leaders from more than 70 organizations, nearly 39.5 million EHRs were breached between 2005 and 2008. In addition, within the past two years, the health information privacy of nearly 18 million Americans-a number roughly comparable to the population of the state of Florida-was breached electronically.
The data points don't end there. Between September 2011 and November 2011, a government benefits program suffered the theft of EHRs of 4.9 million military personnel, the health information of 4 million patients of a reputable West Coast healthcare system were stolen electronically and a major academic medical center inadvertently disclosed the EHRs of 20,000 of its patients. In November of last year, Ponemon Institute completed a survey of 72 provider organizations and found that 96% of respondents reported at least one data breach in the past 24 months. On average, Ponemon Institute found that health organizations have experienced four data breach incidents over the past two years.
"Healthcare is one of the most-breached industries," says Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. "Healthcare providers and supporting organizations don't currently have sufficient security and privacy budgets, including adequate processes and resources, to protect sensitive patient data."
"The entire healthcare delivery system depends upon a single transaction: your willingness to share the most intimate details of your personal information with your physician," adds James C. Pyles, panel member and principal with Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC. "You have to trust that the information won't be used to harm you or your children. If you're dealing in this business of handling health information electronically or any information electronically, you're touching on a very tender nerve that people have."
Pyles added, "It's more than breaches, it's also understanding, as a business, the expectations of your customers. If you frustrate those expectations, I promise you, you will be sued."
Part of the problem, says Catherine Allen, chairman and CEO of The Santa Fe Group, is that the financial incentives are on the side of those who seek to steal medical records. Allen said medical records go for $50 a record on the underground market, making them much more lucrative than even financial information. "It's very valuable data," she says.
Evaluating the Cost of Data Breaches
The new report is intended to be a tool to help organizations quantify overall potential data breach costs and to provide a methodology for determining an appropriate level of investment needed to strengthen privacy and security programs and reduce the probability of a breach.


"No organization can afford to ignore the potential consequences of a data breach," says Rick Kam, president and co-founder of ID Experts and chair of the PHI Project. "We assembled this working group to drive a meaningful dialogue on appropriate levels of investment to better protect healthcare organizations and PHI."
He added, "One of the things that we realized as we started to work through this process is that the chief information officer, the chief security officer, they're essentially getting outgunned by the criminals. It's not that we don't have the technology or processes or people to deal with this problem. It's that we don't have enough focus and investment from the executives."
The report provides a five-step method, the PHI Value Estimator (PHIve), for estimating breach costs and what needs to be done to protect organizations. The PHIve provides detailed information about each of the steps, which include: conducting a risk assessment, determining your security readiness score, assessing the relevance of a cost, determining the impact and calculating the total cost of a breach.
"Cybersecurity is not an IT issue," says Larry Clinton, president and CEO of the Internet Security Alliance. "It is an enterprise-wide risk management issue that needs to be addressed in a much broader sense."
Thor Olavsrud is a senior writer for CIO.com. Follow him @ThorOlavsrud.

Identity Theft Shield

Richard Figley

 614-395-2313
www.800-DO-A-WILL.com