Yes, times are hard and everyone is feeling the pinch of our economic problems, even small children. Apparently, a 3-year old girl in North Carolina was being reported to the credit bureaus for not paying her utility bill. In October of this year, the child’s grandmother discovered that the un-paid bill was on her credit report. The authorities were able to track the account to a 44-year old man as the culprit. The man was arrested for identity theft and other charges. Who would have thought that a middle aged man could use a young girl’s identity to get utility services?
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Starbucks has recently reported an incident that has exposed 97,000 employees to the risk of having their identity stolen. A laptop that contained the employees’ personal information (including names, addresses and social security numbers) was stolen on Wednesday, October 29th. A memo to those affected can be found online at: Starbucksgossip.com. The memo shows that the Seattle police department have been notified and that there is no sign that this information has been misused.
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We need to make our readers aware that this time of year is the most dangerous when it comes to becoming a victim of identity theft. It only takes seconds to be victimized by these criminals, who are now out in large numbers, looking for several victims to take advantage of.
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Score another victory for law enforcement. New York’s “North Country Gazette” recently reported a Russian man in his twenty’s has been sentenced for anywhere from 3 ½ to 10 ½ years in prison for stealing over $1 million under other people’s identities. He also pleaded guilty to “attempting to steal” an additional $10.7 million from wealthy victims.
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Many are becoming aware of the crime identity theft and the affect is has on one’s credit and their sense of security. But what about when it happens to a child? Children are often overlooked as targets of identity thieves because of their age. The fact is that credit bureaus do not track the age of the credit applicant, so once a social security number is issued, it can be stolen no matter what the age of the owner. Since parents and guardians do not normally check the credit history of their children, it is not until the child becomes of age to begin needing their credit that a problem is discovered.
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Thank you for becoming a reader of IDTheftNews.com. Our goal is to help stop the crime of identity theft from taking thousands of people as its victim. We are a big supporter of LifeLock identity theft protection services because of the valuable part it plays in protecting those who have not protected themselves from becoming a victim. We applaud the efforts of law enforcement officials to bring identity thieves to justice, however, it is not an easy job and they need our help.
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Identity theft is an ever increasing crime that takes in more and more victims each day. However, it may not sink in how prevalent a crime it is until you or someone you know are personally affected. This is a crime that has risen to #1, taking the spot of drug trafficking. The amount of time and effort it takes to clear up the damage that comes with such a crime can take up to two years. Forums and conferences are being held nationwide to help make citizens more aware of this crime and give tips on how to protect themselves.

We would like to remind our readers of taking the following precautions:
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Identity theft can happen in various different ways and everyone needs to be made aware of how it can happen so that they can protect themselves.

Various forms of identity theft include:
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Many students are outraged with the recently reported intrusion into a computer server at the University of Florida College of Dentistry. Over 344,000 records are at risk due to the unauthorized access to their birth date, social security number, name and address. Although the breach was discovered back on October 3rd, the incident is just recently being reported.
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LifeLock offers many services that help to protect members from becoming victims of identity theft. Our website has reported several data breaches that have taken place during the course of 2008 that have affected thousands upon thousands of people. Unsuspecting people who might have done what they needed to personally protect their own identities from being stolen. Not carrying their social security cards with them, not carrying any more credit cards than what they will actually use, being sure to protect their pin numbers from being copied and more. Yet, when they are required to give out their social security number to get credit approval, the agency with whom their information is registered might unexpectedly become a victim of a data breach due to poor computer security measures or due to employees who are not careful when it comes to keeping this kind of information private.
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