Identity Theft Gets Jail Time

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer – Fri Oct 17

PHILADELPHIA – A college student who with her boyfriend stole the identities of friends and neighbors was sentenced Friday to five years in prison and ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution.

Jocelyn Kirsch, a former Drexel University student, and then-boyfriend Edward Anderton used the money for expensive salon visits, exotic vacations and fancy dinners.

Federal guidelines called for a prison sentence of 70 months, but U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno credited Kirsch for her apparent remorse and for her July 14 guilty plea to aggravated identity theft and other counts.

Kirsch, 23, and Anderton acknowledged stealing the identities of friends and neighbors in the Philadelphia area in 2006 and 2007 to net more than $116,000 in goods and services.

The scheme unraveled when an employee at an upscale salon told police that a check for Kirsch’s $2,250 hair extension job had bounced. About the same time, a neighbor of the couple told police a package she did not order had been sent to her.

Police released photos showing the two posing in matching red swimsuits by a luxury hotel pool and kissing near the Eiffel Tower.

Anderton, a 25-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate originally from Everett, Wash., is to be sentenced Tuesday.

U of U – Medical Identity Theft

Last Wednesday on the front page of the Daily Herald and the Salt Lake Tribune was an article on how University of Utah Hospital patients had been victims of identity theft.  Recently ID theft surpassed drug trafficking as the most widespread crime in the word. 

In the latest trend of identity theft, people assume your identity and get expensive medical procedures done under your name and you get the bill.  One lady received a statement from her insurance company for tens of thousands of dollars for a foot amputation she never had.  She marched over to dispute it, both feet intact, and because it was her name, address and SSN, it was her bill.

Kroll and Pre-Paid Legal offer the premiere Identity Theft Shield which protects you from not only financial identity theft, but medical identity theft also.  For more on how to protect yourself today, visit http://www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/wardfunk. 

ID-protection ads come back to bite pitchman

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Thu May 22, 7:09 AM ET

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Todd Davis has dared criminals for two years to try stealing his identity: Ads for his fraud-prevention company, LifeLock, even offer his Social Security number next to his smiling mug.

Now, Lifelock customers in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia are suing Davis, claiming his service didn’t work as promised and he knew it wouldn’t, because the service had failed even him.

Attorney David Paris said he found records of other people applying for or receiving driver’s licenses at least 20 times using Davis’ Social Security number, though some of the applications may have been rejected because data in them didn’t match what the Social Security Administration had on file.

Davis acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that his stunt has led to at least 87 instances in which people have tried to steal his identity, and one succeeded: a guy in Texas who duped an online payday loan operation last year into giving him $500 using Davis’ Social Security number.

Paris said the fact Davis’ records were compromised at all supports the claim that Tempe, Ariz.-based LifeLock doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection its advertisements say it does.

“It’s further evidence of the ineffectiveness of the services that LifeLock advertises,” said Paris, who is lead attorney on the three new lawsuits, the latest of which was filed this month.

Davis learned about the fraud in Texas when the payday-loan outfit called to collect on the loan, he said. He didn’t get an alert beforehand because the company didn’t go through one of the three major credit bureaus before approving the transaction.

Davis said it’s possible driver’s licenses have been issued to other people in his name because of the widespread availability of his personal information — and because of what he described as the flimsy mechanisms in place to report that kind of fraud.

Paris noted that LifeLock charges $10 a month to set fraud alerts with credit bureaus, even though consumers can do it themselves for free.

But Davis stands by his company and his advertising gimmick, which has appeared in newspapers and on billboards, radio and MTV. He even broadcasts it by bullhorn on walking tours through crowded downtowns.

“There’s nothing on my actual credit report about uncollected funds, no outstanding tickets or warrants or anything,” he said. “There’s nothing to indicate my identity has been successfully compromised other than the one instance. I know I’m taking a slightly higher risk. But I’ll take my risk for the tremendous benefit we’re bringing to society and to consumers.”

The lawsuits, for which Paris is seeking class-action status, highlight the fundamental limits on how much security identity-theft companies can provide.

Companies like LifeLock can help guard against only certain types of financial fraud by helping consumers set up alerts with credit bureaus, which inform them when someone tries to open a new line of credit or boost their credit limit to finance a buying binge, for example.

The services don’t guard against many types of identity theft such as use of a stolen Social Security number on a job application or for medical services, or even the instance of an arrestee giving police a stolen Social Security number to shield his own identity.

LifeLock is also being sued in Arizona over its $1 million service guarantee, which the plaintiffs claim is misleading because it only covers a defect in LifeLock’s service, and in California by the Experian credit bureau. Experian accuses LifeLock of deceiving consumers about the breadth of its protection and abusing the system for attaching fraud alerts to credit reports.

Security experts say complaints about the company reinforce the time-honored wisdom of keeping your Social Security number secret.

“There’s been a lot of marketing, a lot of hype about LifeLock,” said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. “The question is, ‘How much protection does it really buy you?’”

“There is no company that can guarantee they can protect you (completely) against identity theft,” Stephens said. “Absolutely nobody can do that.”

Identity Theft Shield & Peace of Mind

I remember being concerned about identity theft when we lived in a large apartment building and once or twice it seemed like we didn’t receive our credit card bills in the mail. As nice as it would be if our bills just disappeared, I have learned that this is one way identity thieves steal your credit card information – by taking one of your credit card bills, changing your address unbeknownest to you, then changing it back before you even notice.

In the meantime, they have opened up a new credit card in your name with bills coming to their address so you don’t even know about it. In fact, most victims of identity theft don’t find out for an average of 14 months that their identity has been compromised. Unfortunately the rule of thumb with credit card companies is unless you report any errors on your statement within 60 days, you are held financially responsible. But what if you’re not even getting your statement in the mail?

This is why I was so relieved to learn about the Identity Theft Shield. Offered through Kroll Background America and Pre-Paid Legal, two 36-year-old, publicly traded companies, they have teamed up to give North Americans peace of mind on the highest growing crime in the world, identity theft. With the Identity Theft Shield, you are protected in three ways: first, you are given a credit report; second, you’ll receive daily monitoring of your identity and will be alerted immediately by email if a credit card is opened in your name, or your address is changed to ensure this was done by you; thirdly, if you are compromised, Kroll will assign you a licensed investigator to go to work for you to restore your good name.

Many other companies provide a credit report and monitoring. But what good is monitoring unless they are able to do something about it? It’s like getting a phone call from the fire station while you’re on holiday reporting that your house is on fire but that they won’t be putting it out – they just wanted you to know.

On average, an identity theft victim will spend 600 hours, or the equivalent of 15 40-hour work weeks to put their name back together again. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had a professional world renown company on your side to do this for you so you can return to normal life?

To learn more about the Identity Theft Shield, please visit our website.