You've probably heard the alarming statistic that more than 12 million Americans have their identity stolen every year. In 2015, according to Javelin Strategy & Research, it was actually 13.1 million with $15 billion stolen. The average victim lost $1,100.
Still, it's surprisingly easy to hear those big numbers and think that it will happen to someone else and not to you. Even if you worry about it momentarily, with everything else going on your busy life you probably put it off for later. Before you feel too confident, however, take this quick quiz.
Answer these questions honestly. Let’s see how much you really know about what criminals are targeting. Just answer with a simple yes or no.
- Do you use free Wi-Fi at restaurants, businesses, the library, at work or on the road?
- Do you carry all your credit cards around with you in your wallet or purse?
- Do you throw away your important mail or junk mail without thoroughly shredding it?
- Do you only get your credit report when you are applying for a car, home or other type of loan?
- Do you have your passwords saved in your browser or phone for sites like Facebook, Amazon and more?
- Do you think it’s not necessary to secure your home wireless network?
- Do you use the same password for most of your sites?
To really drive this point home, we're going to tell you three stories about real identity thieves and their victims. Hopefully, hearing these stories convinces you to take the necessary steps to defend against identity theft.
It actually isn't hard; you just need to make a decision take the first step. We'll tell you what that step is in a moment, but first, let's look at these stories. We're going to start with a story that hits close to home for those of us here at Komando, and Kim's listeners.
Mike James
If you're a regular listener to Kim's radio show, you're familiar with "Mighty" Mike James. He's been Kim's technical director for 12 years! A while back, he was also a victim of identity theft.The thieves opened five credit cards in his name and charged $10,000 in fraudulent purchases. Unfortunately, he didn't discover the theft until he was in the middle of buying a house and got denied for a loan. But wait, it gets worse.
Mike filled out police reports, and then was on the phone for ages with credit card companies and the major credit reporting bureaus trying to correct his credit. Overall, he estimates it took 100 hours over six months to get his credit restored.
Even after that, it took five years to stop getting "late payment" entries on his credit report. He had to get an attorney involved to make it stop.
To this day, Mike says he doesn't know how the identity thieves originally got his information. Although, it does sound like it could have been from non-shredded pre-approved credit. Learn more about the danger of pre-approved credit cards and four other things you do that put your financial life at risk (sponsor).
Lara Love and David Jackson
You tend to think of identity thieves as being hackers in other countries or slick con men, but studies show that's not the case. In 30% of identity theft cases, the culprit is likely to be a family member or relative. You also have an 18% chance it's a friend, neighbor or someone else with access to your house.That leads us to Lara Love and David Jackson. In an 8 month period back in 2009, they stole the identities of 30 neighbors. How did they do it?
To pull it off, they swiped their neighbors' mail, gift cards that were lying around the house and eventually credit cards. To make matters worse, they used their neighbors' unsecured Wi-Fi to go online and set up fake accounts to make their fraudulent online purchases.
Even after the neighbors noticed and the pair were caught, the judge released them on their own recognizance - and they went right back to stealing stuff. Eventually, they were given a year in jail, treatment for drug addiction and five years of supervised probation.
In general, it's a good idea not to leave paper with sensitive information or cards of any kind out when people are over at your house, even if they're friends or relatives. You should also secure your Wi-Fi against intruders.
William Donaldson
In the last few years, hundreds of millions of Americans have had information exposed in retail and medical data breaches. This information can range from email addresses to Social Security numbers have been leaked.William Donaldson is a long-time listener of the Kim Komando Show and he sent Kim a message talking about his harrowing experience after a data breach. His identity was stolen, but he didn't realize it until he was denied for a department store credit card. After investigating the matter, he learned that criminals were applying for a home equity loan for almost $100,000!
William is a big believer in privacy, he locked down his Wi-Fi, always shredded his documents and even checked his credit report annually. Unfortunately, it didn't really help him because identity thieves got his information in an entirely different way.
It's a chilling reminder that there are too many ways to thieves to get your identity, and you can't cover them all yourself. You need complete protection for your financial life that you work hard to obtain and maintain. We’re talking about your investment accounts, 401(k), credit cards, the equity in your home and more.
That's why you need identity theft protection, and the best place to get it is our trusted sponsor LifeLock. LifeLock does more than just monitor your credit, bank accounts, financial accounts, public records, black market sites and more for misuse of your information.
When LifeLock discovers a problem, it alerts you so you can take action. However, LifeLock also provides you with a U.S.-based Identity Restoration Specialist who knows what companies to contact and what forms to fill out. You don't have to figure it out alone.
In serious situations, LifeLock will spend up to $1 million on lawyers, accountants and other specialists to help you get your identity back. With everything else going on in your busy life, you don't need the aggravation, so let LifeLock do the heavy lifting.
