We’ve all heard the saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Yet, no one is practicing it in the pandemic of identity theft. Credit monitoring is nice but only 11% of consumers ever catch identity theft through this means. Identity Theft Insurance (according to many experts) is even more of a hoax. A product marketed by playing on the fears of American consumers which does nothing more than assist them in cleaning up the mess only AFTER their identity has been stolen.

The following is a completely different approach to preventing and protecting yourself from identity theft. It is based on the reality that we live in a world now where there is zero privacy of personal data. Meaning that your name, address, phone number, social security number, date of birth (even your mothers maiden name) can be obtained by ANYONE for a fee.

If you’re one who feels this is paranoid thinking let me tell you about Amy Boyer. In 1999 Miss Boyer had an old high school classmate (Liam Youens) come back into her life many years later. Mr. Youens obtained Amy’s SSN and other personal information after paying Docusearch Inc. $150. After Youens shot Miss Boyer to death he then turned the gun on himself. Today the company tells visitors to its website that “not all searches are available to the public” and some are reserved for the investigative and legal industry.

How’s that for homeland security?

With this “different” approach we break down identity theft into two distinct categories. 1.) Basic Identity Theft, and 2.) Credit Hijacking. By definition “Basic Identity Theft” is when the perpetrator steals your identity and then uses it to obtain NEW credit accounts for their personal gain. “Credit Hijacking” falls under a criminal stealing your identity in order to access and use your EXISTING credit accounts. Each type of fraud is different and therefore so is your plan of defense.

BASIC ID THEFT DEFENSE: The best proactive defense against basic identity theft is through the placing of an “Initial Fraud Alert” on all three of your credit reports.

This “Initial Fraud Alert” accomplishes three important factors:

1.) Your name and personal information can no longer be sold by the credit bureaus to ANY third parties for any marketing purpose (i.e. credit card offers, loan solicitations or credit pre screenings).

2.) No one can be approved for credit with your personal information until the creditor personally calls you at the telephone number you list on your consumer credit report. And,

3.) Requesting this initial fraud alert entitles you to a free copy of all three of your credit reports (one copy from each of the three major credit reporting agencies).

Please be advised that this is an “Initial Fraud Alert” which lasts only 90 days. To extend the fraud alert and obtain the above mentioned benefits for 7 years you will need to write to each credit bureau at the address provided within your initial fraud alert confirmation letter.

Note: It is likely credit bureaus will make the extended alert harder to obtain as a great deal of their revenue comes from the third party rental and sale your information).

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