The Charleston Gazette has reported that employees of the state of West Virginia are being contacted to be alerted that their personal information, including social security number, is stored on a laptop that has been stolen in early October. Over 400 employees with the state insurance commission and over 100 employees with the Bureau of Medical Services and Child Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Health and Human Resources are affected by this computer theft.
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A Pennsylvania news station has reported that a former vice president of Union National Bank in Pennsylvania, has been charged with obtaining loans by using the personal information of three of the bank’s customers. 27-year-old George Clayton, was able to secure loans that add up to $712,000 during the years 2006 to 2008, during his employment as vice president of commercial lending.
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Meleleuca, a leading manufacturer and distributor of wellness producsts, has recently partnered with LifeLock to offer identity theft protection to its members. Now, members of Melaleuca can receive LifeLock identity theft protection, at a discounted rate.
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Last week, a woman was stopped for a routine traffic check when it was found that she might be a part of an identity theft ring. Charges against her includes several counts of identity theft, forging a driver license with intent to commit a crime and more. Each of the charges against her are felonies that could result in five years each. One felony could be four years.
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There are many reasons why a person should consider signing up with LifeLock identity theft protection service to protect their identity from the ever steadily growing crime of identity theft. These days, it is not a question of “if” but more so “when.” Many measures can and should be taken to protect your personal identity from being stolen, but will they alert you if someone has gained access to your personal data. The following story, taken from the Star Tribune, involves over 80,000 people who might have done all they possibly could to protect their own credit card information and social security number from being stolen, and yet…
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Around 1,700 brokers for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Louisiana had their personal data exposed in late September. Around September 25th, an email that was being sent to brokers to make them aware of a software upgrade, ended up including their personal data as an attachment, in error. The data exposed included addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers. No customer data was included with this email and this email was not sent to customers. Only brokers are involved.
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Do you receive pay stubs from your employer? How do you handle the stub once you have deposited your check or if your paycheck is electronically deposited? The information printed on your pay stub could be just enough to cause you to be the victim of identity theft, if it falls into the wrong hands. Now employees and customers of a leading payroll processing company in Phoenix, AmCheck, have the opportunity to select LifeLock as a benefit.
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The type and frequency of data breaches that take place is helpful in finding trends and information that can help to assist in protecting data. The Identity Theft Resource Center has been tracking this information for the past three years. A recent report by the Identity Theft Resource Center has revealed that between January 1, 2008 and September 30, 2008, 516 breaches have been reported. The number of individuals records exposed as a result of these breaches is reported to be 30,382,786.
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So many people don’t realize that identity theft is something that can affect them until they become a victim. Unfortunately, becoming a victim of identity theft means that it is too late to do something about it.
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The Chicago Tribune has recently reported that the University of Indianapolis has been attacked by a computer hacker. Someone was able to break into their computer system and gained access to the sensitive data of 11,000 people on file, including social security numbers. This includes faculty, students and staff.
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