Attention grabbing survey sites could set the stage for ID theft

There are a number of sites that quiz you about yourself and then tell you something about yourself in return. Our site does that as well. We ask you information about your personal daily habits and use proprietary algorithms backed by research to gage your risk for ID theft with an output that is in an easy to understand ID Risk Level. No ads, no personal information requested, not even email.

Someone emailed me recently asking about other sites that have quizzes and pointed out a few in particular and asked me how safe they are even if just for fun.

Some sites, by piquing your interest in certain, even silly subjects, are looking for something. There are a number of sites that purport being able to tell you when you are going to die! Wonderful, that information will certainly come in handy. It makes my retirement investment planning so much easier.

Well, you’re not gullible, but you went there for fun, as a joke, just to see, etc. All in good fun as long as you are not giving them any personal information.

So what could a site like this really be after? Mainly ad revenue. By getting thousands of people to go through the site and take the “date of your death survey”, they land you in a seemingly never ending, page after page of offers for everything from free laptops to a cruise around the world to magazines and so on. The catch is you have to get past saying no to these or fill out a few with your personal information like name, address, phone number, email etc. and what seems to be fairly harmless information. Only, once you go past the myriad of ads asking you to fill in information will you get your “calculated” date with the grim reaper.

So I tried it at a site this person asked me about. I answered the few simple questions and then waited for my results, it had to be calculated, apparently they have a long connection to go through and the grim reaper’s WiFi was down. In the meantime, they graciously had me take review some of their fine offers and click “no” if not interested. I counted 97 (yes, I counted because I assumed it was going to be big) offers that I said “no” to and still was not given my much awaited date with death. I even filled in a few with some random misinformation thinking if they got me on one maybe they would cough up that date! Nothing. I literally gave up as it was appearing to be more and more of a perpetual scam. I guess I’ll need to keep my retirement plans in place for now.

Seriously though, what was really happening was a massive operation to get you to provide just the basics of personal information. Now the company that runs the site may only be a conduit and collecting ad dollars from the marketing agency who is the real culprit in this operation. Fill one out correctly with real information and you have just asked to receive a minimum of 100,000 emails with other exciting offers include. Hey, you asked!

That information may possibly be used by them directly for ID theft, Spamming, phishing, etc. They may sell it to others who will use it unscrupulously. Worse yet, you will be put on a sucker list. This is a list created about people who willingly provide information thinking they are going to win a prize. AKA in their business “a sucker”. ID thieves love suckers. They know they are the easiest of easy targets. The people who think they will really get something for nothing, the same people who ultimately will give the thieves the keys to their identity in much the same way. The thieves already know you are an optimists, and play that hand against you to the fullest.

So the next time you go to a site and think you are providing information that is harmless, looking for that humorous “date of your death” you may find out a new date, when your identity was stolen.

Credit Freeze Not the Only Solution to Identity Theft Prevention

Many people who live in states that allow you to freeze your credit are recognizing the benefits of such actions. But a lot are stopping there and not doing any more feeling they have covered the bases and have done what they can to protect themselves.

Governor Deval Patrick from Massachusetts recently signed into law comprehensive identity theft prevention legislation. This new law will require Massachusetts state residents be notified immediately if their personal information has been lost or stolen via security breaches with businesses and government agencies.

As a part of the legislation, the law also states that consumers have the right to freeze their credit reports to prevent new accounts from being fraudulently opened and also puts into effect strict standards for businesses when disposing of personal information.

The portion of the law that puts into place the standards for disposing of personal information is a step in the right direction to identity theft prevention. But allowing a consumer to freeze their credit report does not prevent the theft.

Personal information can already be in the hands of the wrong people. When personal information, such as social security numbers, drivers' license numbers or bank account information is used for widespread fraud, an emotional and potentially expensive mess is left for the victim to clean up.

Of the millions of victims of identity theft last year, many of them had crimes committed against them that had nothing to do with a credit card or loan. This would not be picked up by on credit report which is the focal point of a credit freeze. The black market is booming for individuals' names and IDs for thieves to sell and the buyers will use them for many different types of identity theft. That could include medical treatments, prescriptions, arrests, and theft of existing or open accounts.

One major solution to the problem is for people to practice self defense when it comes to their personal information. Society has become so accustomed to keeping droves of information available we are leaving it laying around us everywhere. The identity thieves are everywhere picking it up.

When it comes to your identity you need to think in terms of fire prevention and not firefighting.

Burden of Proof with Identity Theft

Victims of identity theft often feel victimized twice when identity theft happens to them.

We are all familiar with our legal system where the burden of proof is up to the prosecution for the people and you are innocent until proven guilty.

But with identity theft you are guilty or liable until you prove your innocence.

It doesn’t really seem to make sense but if you look at the logic, it does make sense. Although it puts the victim in a difficult, tedious, and time consuming position of defending themselves while all the while feeling violated because they are a victim.

Our financial system is set up and regulated by the federal government to provide easy and convenient transactions to keep the economy moving along without interruption. You can thank federal laws that limit your exposure to credit card fraud. They enacted those laws long ago to make people feel comfortable with using credit cards when they were first introduced. If people felt liable they would have been reluctant to use the system. Now our economy is completely tied to credit.

Those laws are visible in other areas as well. Take check cashing scams for example. The thieves take advantage of federal laws that require funds for checks to be made available quickly again, to keep the flow of commerce moving. People get taken due the expediency that banks provide funds for check presented, but then find out weeks later that the check was returned as a fraudulent device. You become ultimately liable for any fraudulent check that you present for funds.

In both cases of checks or credit cards you were given the benefit of the transaction in real time while it may be quite some time before the bank or you determine fraud has occurred. In the case of credit card fraud you need to prove that you did not actually make the fraudulent charges and with a check the bank relies on you to know who you are conducting business with.

The banking system really is set to benefit you, so when something goes awry you need to prove you were not involved. Most people never consider that when they conduct transactions. Who is to say that you where not involved in a fraudulent transaction and were not colluding with the perpetrator from the start.

If you become a victim of identity theft, you are really a victim in the eyes of others only after you prove it, and that will never feel good.

Can Past Lessons Offer Clues to Combating Identity Theft?

In 1994 about 58 percent of the US population was buckling up. By mid 2006 approximately 81% of the US population buckled up. Why the dramatic change? Did everyone suddenly recognize that the seatbelts they had been ignoring for years were suddenly cool? No, the reality came partially with education campaigns and laws enacted by many states in the 80’s that forced or convinced people to buckle up.

Today, the generation who never or barely used seat belts is giving way to a generation who has always used them. Part education, part learned behavior, but regardless the effort has paid off immensely. There are thousands alive today that would not be, if this effort had not been undertaken by numerous agencies, both public and private. Local television news channels tout that drivers of horrific looking accidents survived because they were buckled in. All of this adds to awareness and the effort has made seatbelt use the norm not the exception.

So how well is education and enforcement working? The latest numbers available from the US Department of Transportation shows an increase in drivers, miles driven, and number of registered cars on the road. But the fatalities per number of licensed drivers, per miles driven, and per registered vehicles, have been steadily dropping since 1994. The statistics from the NHTSA from 1986-1999 have clearly demonstrated an absolute link to the reduction in fatalities from seatbelt use.

This proves that the plan of educating and enforcement has worked and continues to work up to this day, but shockingly 19%, or 1 out of 5 still don’t think they need this life saving device. They live in the world of “it will never happen to me”, or “it only happens to other people”. Yet, every 13 minutes there is a vehicle fatality and of those some deaths could be avoided with a seatbelt if the person had only believed or understood.

How this is similar to identity theft is when it comes to our identities many are living in the same world of “it will never happen to me”, or “it only happens to other people”. There are many simple but effective changes people can initiate to stop identity theft from happening but choose not to. There are preventative measures they can put in place to mitigate it, but the majority will sit and wait for something to happen before they react.

As with seat belts, only until people become educated will they take the steps to prevent an event from occurring. Many still refuse to embrace technology to reduce risk, and instead they avoid or ignore it.

Over time, thousands lost lives while sitting on the simplistic technology of an unused seat belt. Will consumers finally step up to the plate and take simple but effective pro-active steps to prevent identity theft, or will they continue to ride around unbuckled and hope an accident never occurs? Every 21 seconds there are 3 new identity theft victims, of which 2 were potentially preventable by the victim.

Abatement of identity theft will start to change significantly once individuals start to take control of their personal behavior and not rely on others or hoping nothing will happen to them. Recognizing the vulnerabilities in personal everyday habits and making changes will reduce your risk significantly.

Many are already recognizing that they need to do something, and the actions of those will undoubtedly start a trend. But for those who are unsure of what to do, and still do nothing, are likely to become tomorrow’s victims.

Hopefully it doesn’t take 15 years for 80% of the population to finally become educated on how to adequately protect their identity.