According to Javelin Strategy & Research, small business owners suffered identity fraud at one-and-a-half times the rate of other adults in 2009. Much of this theft occurred as online identity theft via web-based transactions or hacking into customer databases or morphed into online identity theft when the stolen information was used to impersonate another person in online transactions.

In November 2009, Javelin Strategy and Research conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of all types of identity theft, including online identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed. It appears from the study that the susceptibility of small business to identity theft may be attributed to the fact that small business owners often use personal accounts when making business transactions (and vice-versa) and make a larger number of transactions than typical adults. Since small businesses rarely employ a compliance department or on-site legal counsel to monitor its operations on a regular basis, incidents of online identity theft can sometimes go undiscovered for a longer period of time than for individuals or more complex, larger organizations.

Online identity theft criminals are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts, all of which can be opened, used and monitored online from anywhere in the world.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering online identity theft monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

When it comes to online identity theft, the “good news” is that consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information. The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

Without a doubt, consumers play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving online identity theft . While technology is helping consumers to monitor, detect and resolve identity fraud, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.

The Javelin Research and Strategy 2010 survey of identity theft revealed that the efforts made by businesses and individuals in detecting and resolving identity theft cases have helped to reduce the overall costs of identity theft for the consumer. In 2010 the average resolution time of fraud cases fell by 30%, and an increase in the number of victims who file police reports resulted in a larger number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions in 2009.

While efforts helping consumers monitor, detect and resolve identity theft, additional efforts should be made in preventing identity theft in the first place. Without a doubt, consumers must play a key role in preventing identity theft . While technology is helping, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.

The Javelin study outlines three areas where individuals can work toward preventing identity theft in the first place, and outlines five basic areas consumers can focus on.

Protect your documents
•    Eliminate as many paper statements as possible by requesting electronic statements instead
•    Use post office boxes to mail payments rather than placing mail containing checks in an unlocked mailbox
•    Secure documents containing personal information such as social security numbers or account numbers in a locked storage box
•    Purchase and use a paper shredder

Protect your computer
•    Install antivirus software and update it regularly
•    Password protect personal and financial records, using unique or hard-to-guess passwords
•    Never give out personal or account information on-line or over the phone
•    Don’t publish personal information on social networking sites such as FaceBook

Monitor your accounts
•    Check your bank and credit card activity periodically – and sign up for alerts whenever possible. The javelin study found that 43 percent of all reported identity fraud cases were spotted by consumers self-monitoring their accounts and those who use more timely electronic methods to detect fraud experience lower average out-of-pocket costs
•    Utilize an identity theft protection service to help detect the fraudulent establishment of new accounts in your name. Identity thieves are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, on-line and e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts.

Although the overall number of incidents of identity theft increased by 12% over the previous year, the average consumer’s costs related to each incident of identity theft decreased sharply during the same time period. James Van Dyke, president and founder, Javelin Strategy & Research commented, “The good news is consumers are getting more aggressive in monitoring, detecting and preventing fraud with the help of technology and partnerships with financial institutions, government agencies and resolution services.”

In November 2009, Javelin Strategy and Research conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed via a 50-question phone interview to gain insight into this crime, its effects on its victims, and how the survey findings can help consumers in preventing identity theft. The survey has been conducted each year since 2003.

Law enforcement had greater success in 2009 than in previous years using identity theft information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem of identity theft. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering identity theft information monitoring services, which detect account access anomalies, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow financial account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

Even more importantly, an increase in the number of victims who filed police reports resulted in a larger number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions in 2009. The Javelin survey determined that efforts to protect identity theft information and data by individuals and businesses have helped in resolving cases more quickly and have reduced the overall costs to the consumer. The average resolution time for identity theft cases fell by 30% in 2009.

The survey reinforced the idea that consumers can play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving identity fraud committed against them. The report found that more consumers are pursuing legal action, with nearly 50 percent of all victims filing police reports. Increased consumer awareness of available identity theft information and resources has empowered consumers to fight back, leading to more arrests, prosecutions and convictions. More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

Among other things, the study found that:

• In 2009, more victims of identity theft were likely to have filed a police report, resulting in an increase in arrests and convictions of identity theft and identity theft related crime. Victims became more vigilant in reporting identity theft crimes, which resulted in an arrest rate double that of 2008, and a prosecution rate that tripled in comparison with the previous year.

• There is an indication that law enforcement has had greater success using identity theft information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.

• Banks have offered customers more tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking, investing in identity fraud monitoring, software designed to detect account access and payment anomalies, and complaint resolution and education services, in many cases offering these services free to customers.

• Consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.

• The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed.

Although the overall number of incidents of ID theft increased by 12% over the previous year according to the most recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research (The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report – www.javelinstrategy.com), during the same time period, the average consumer’s costs related to each incident of ID theft decreased sharply.

ID theft reached its highest level of incidence, affecting over 11 million Americans for the year 2009. During 2009 however, there was a sharp drop in the costs to consumers associated with the crime. Due to a decrease in the average time taken to resolve ID theft cases, an increased awareness by the public of the crime of ID theft and greater support offered by financial institutions, consumer support organizations, law enforcement organizations and personnel, resulted in consumer out of pocket costs reaching an all-time low of $373 in 2009, a reduction of 25% over the previous year.

Some of the reasons for the drop in costs:

•    In 2009, more victims of ID theft were likely to have filed a police report, resulting in an increase in arrests and convictions of ID theft and ID theft related crime. Victims became more vigilant in reporting ID theft crimes, which resulted in an arrest rate double that of 2008, and a prosecution rate that tripled in comparison with the previous year.
•    There is an indication that law enforcement has had greater success using information provided by consumers, banks and credit card providers to detect, catch and convict criminals.
•    With the exception of consumers aged 18 – 24 (the so-called “Millenials”), many consumers are more likely to  monitor financial accounts regularly and take advantage of monitoring programs offered by financial institutions or to install protective computer software on their home computers. Although “millenials” lag behind other groups in detecting fraud before or soon after it occurs, they lead other age groups in using technology to resolve identity fraud quickly.
•    Consumers are reaping the benefits from increased protections offered by financial institutions, businesses and government agencies.
•    Banks have offered customers more tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking, investing in identity fraud monitoring, intelligent fraud engines to detect account access and payment anomalies, and complaint resolution and education services, in many cases offering these services free to customers.
•    Consumers are increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.
•    The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report ID theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of ID theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of ID theft, were surveyed.

Without a doubt, consumers play a key role in preventing, detecting and resolving ID theft . While technology is helping consumers to monitor, detect and resolve identity fraud, consumers should remain vigilant about safeguarding their personal information both on-line and off.

According to www.recovery.gov, the White House Web site for all things economic recovery, a new scam has emerged.

Earlier this year, a phony company called Mouch & Thompson PLLC sent a letter to low income residents offering rental assistance grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The letter stated that its first 50 recipients who showed up at the company’s offices would be guaranteed the money. The letter was supposedly penned by the company’s president, Wesley Mouch.

But the letter was, in fact, an identity theft scam. The company does not exist, and neither does its president.

According to officials in the Charleston, West Virginia are where the office was supposedly located, lots of people showed up. Investigators were tipped off about the scam, and placed surveillance cameras at the location, but the crooks never made an appearance.

And so ends another cautionary tale in the identity theft saga.

There are many scams currently being used to take advantage of those hit hardest by difficult economic conditions. Scammers often claim they can help eligible Americans obtain recovery money or other government funds. One such scam claimed that for a small credit card fee, a person could order a compact disc or gain access to another Web site explaining how to receive a $12,000 government grant. Those who took the bait were charged a monthly fee of up to $69.95.

Many of these scams use official government insignia or photos of President Barack Obama to lend their claims an air of credibility. The scammers also employ the use of e-mail, traditional mail, phone calls and radio announcements.

In this particular type of scam, criminals rely on the public’s lack of knowledge regarding Recovery Act programs, and will claim they can assist in acquiring grant or loan money, or even tax rebates, all available under the Recovery Act.

But the law has provided funds directly to individuals in only a few instances, such as in 2009 when the Recovery Act provided economic recovery payments through the Social Security Administration to individuals receiving Social Security or supplemental security income benefits.

The Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regularly warn the public about stimulus scams, and investigators from these agencies say citizens should avoid providing any personal information to companies offering access to recovery money, and should immediately contact their state’s Attorney General if approached with such offers.

“Given a choice between dancing pigs and security, users will pick dancing pigs every time.” –Edward Felten

Dancing pigs and identity theft…it would seem the two have nothing in common. But they are related when it comes to Internet use. Surfers will choose fun over keeping their computer and personal information safe time and time again. Users are often tricked into choosing unsafe sites by animation and fancy Flash pop-ups.

In a recent study by computer security specialists, 22 participants viewed 20 websites and were asked to choose the spoof sites. Forty percent of the time, the users chose the spoof or dangerous sites. Some of those sites contained animation like dancing bears, along with a warning, but users chose them anyway. The study proved that visual distraction can fool even the most sophisticated Internet user.

The study shows that even though a person may consider himself computer savvy, he may not be. It also teaches us that we need to pay attention to browser-based clues to determine if a site is legitimate – not the dancing pigs in the pop-up window.

Avoiding identity theft doesn’t have to be that difficult. To determine if a site is legitimate, check your address bar. The link and the site address should match. For example, if you receive an e-mail from PayPal that includes a hyperlink, when you run your cursor over the link, the correct PayPal address should show up in your status bar at the top of the page. If not, the e-mail and site are very likely not legitimate.

Identity thieves often use scams like these to “phish” for your personal information. When you click on the link, you will be taken to an “official” looking site where you are required to enter personal information or update your information. Once you’ve entered the information, the thief makes off with your most sensitive data.

Don’t fall victim to a scam because of clever design or animation

Small business owners suffered identity fraud at one-and-a-half times the rate of other adults in 2009, according to a study released in February by Javelin Strategy & Research. It seems that, due to the nature of small business – most of the work is done by a small number of people – often just one, the owner. It appears from the research that the susceptibility of small business to identity fraud may be attributed to the fact that small business owners often use personal accounts when making business transactions (and vice-versa) and make a larger number of transactions than typical adults. Since small businesses rarely employ a compliance department or on-site legal counsel to monitor its operations on a regular basis, incidents of identity fraud can sometimes go undiscovered for a longer period of time than for individuals or more complex, larger organizations.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report identified the information most likely to be accessed by identity thieves as:

• Full Name
• Physical Address
• Credit and Debit Card Information
• Health Insurance Information
• Social Security numbers

identity fraud are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, on-line and e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts.

Now for the good news.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity fraud education programs, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin Strategy & Research commented that, “… consumers are getting more aggressive in monitoring, detecting and preventing fraud with the help of technology and partnerships with financial institutions, government agencies and resolution services.”

In November 2009, Javelin Strategy and Research conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity fraud on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity fraud, were surveyed via a 50-question phone interview to gain insight into this crime, its effects on its victims, and how the survey findings can help consumers most effectively avoid becoming victims of identity fraud. The survey has been conducted each year since 2003.

A survey of consumers and businesses conducted in November, 2009 showed that while many consumers are monitoring their accounts more frequently using technologies such as on-line banking and mobile alerts, consumer education on protection and prevention measures such as keeping anti-virus software up to date will continue to be important.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem of ID theft protection. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs. The survey determined that efforts to safeguard information by individuals and businesses have helped in resolving cases more quickly and have reduced the overall costs of identity theft for the consumer.

More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

With the exception of consumers aged 18 – 24, many consumers are found to be more likely to monitor their accounts regularly, to take advantage of ID theft protection programs offered by financial institutions and to install protective computer software on their home computers.

Many banks have offered customers more ID theft protection tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking.

Financial institutions are investing in identity fraud monitoring, software to detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as complaint resolution and education services.

Consumers have become increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.

The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report cases of identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed.

Computer users are mostly careful about safeguarding their information and using strong passwords, even more so when preventing identity theft is a consideration.

But few people realize that there is another threat to identity theft – copy machines.

Copiers that were made in the past few years contain hard drives that record the information that has been copied. These files are stored unencrypted until the hard drive becomes full, and the old files are then overwritten. Some experts say many files are never overwritten and, in an office setting, those files would be easily accessible. All an identity thief would have to do is hack into the copier’s hard drive and harvest the information stored there.

If you use the copier at a library, public copy center or in shared office space, your risk factor goes up.

While this risk may never be done away with, there are things you can do to minimize your risk. Make sure the data modem and fax modem are different. Doing this prevents someone from being able to take the information stored on the copier and easily transmitting it to another location through the open phone line.

Look into purchasing an overwriting or encryption component for your copier. If your office uses a copier that is more than a year old, you should check online and see if a component kit has been created by the maker of your copier to prevent information from being stored either at all or in unencrypted form. Xerox and Sharp have add-on components that can be purchased.

Don’t use public copy machines for sensitive information. Use only machines you are familiar with and where you have some element of control when it comes to monitoring the security risk.

Consider buying your own printer or fax machine with photocopying capabilities if you routinely copy sensitive information for either personal or business purposes. Be sure to purchase one with sufficient security features that either eliminate or encrypt stored information.

Use passwords to protect the information you copy. Create a password for the office copier the same way you would create an ATM pin code. Don’t share it with anyone.

Copy machines are relatively easy to operate and can prove to be an easy payday for identity thieves. So safeguard your information and think twice before you hit that green button.

Your employment records may not be as safe as you think.

Job applications, personnel records and other employment data that should be filed safely away is being taken by identity thieves and used to open credit accounts, apply for jobs and, in some cases, commit crimes.

As the incidents of this particular type of identity theft increase, federal agencies are trying to increase awareness among consumers and employers. Many companies provide little protection of this information, and victims rights groups are lobbying state legislatures to pass laws protecting employee records.

“You can’t really protect yourself,” said Martha Steimel, president of Victim’s Assistance of America. “Anybody who has access to employee files can turn you into a victim. You can be totally mutilated financially by an identity theft perpetrator. It’s scary.”

In a recently released report, the Federal Trade Commission said the top cause of identity fraud is now theft of records from employers or other businesses that have records on many people. About 90 percent of business record thefts involve payroll or employment records, while about 10 percent are customer lists.

There’s not much employees can do to keep their records safe. Social Security numbers, addresses and other data are often kept in paper files or on computers. Anyone who has access to those files, online or otherwise, can steal them. Thieves sometimes take temporary jobs to get into a company so that they can steal information. Others work for third-party vendors who handle corporate credit accounts or provide janitorial staff.

Companies who have become more aware of this type of crime are taking steps to protect themselves and their employee information. They are locking up files and keeping audit trails to document who has reviewed sensitive data, and are removing Social Security numbers from identity badges, as well as bringing in third parties to carry out privacy investigations to make sure their records are not vulnerable.

The lack of attention to identity theft risk in the workplace is changing. Some states, like Georgia and Wisconsin, have passed laws requiring employers to destroy documents containing personal employee data. California has passed legislation barring private firms from using Social Security numbers as identification numbers.

In recent months, the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop for businesses on safe record keeping, and the agency is working with the industry to develop best practices.

Companies are also starting to revamp policies as workers who’ve been victimized sue employers for negligence. A case in San Diego, Calif., in which employees brought a suit against a pharmaceuticals company after they became victims of identity theft, has become a warning for companies all over the country.

In this case, workers sued for negligence, claiming the company had not taken enough precautions to protect their information. The case was settled outside court.