|
With the recent business announcements and millions of consumer notifications about lost or stolen personal information, consumers must decide about how to protect themselves. Although, some of the negligent businesses offer credit monitoring, they do not provide a variety of options or sufficient protection to their affected customers. For example, credit monitoring will notify consumers when their credit reports are hit with identity theft and fraud alerts provide a very limited protection against identity theft. Credit or security freeze is a much better option that fraud alerts for some, however, businesses which have compromised their customers’ private information are yet to offer any credit freeze services at no charge to their customers as far as I know. My previous health insurance company which recently notified me about losing my information offered me an identity protection service but did not give me the option to choose the protection that I think is best for me. That being said, if you have been notified as a potential victim of identity theft due to your lost or stolen information, you may want to consider a credit freeze instead of the usual fraud alerts. Read this article to learn more about the differences between a credit report fraud alert and freeze. You may also read about State credit freeze laws and fees here.
Please continue to share your stories or questions and we will consolidate and answer your questions in future issues of Identity Management Journal or our identity theft blog as much as possible. Recent identity theft awareness blog articles are listed below for your convenience. If you are interested in identity protection education, training and professional certification, please contact us or visit Identity Diet and Identity Management Institute websites. Until next time, be identity safe, Recent Consumer Articles Wild Wild West - Consumers are being hit with back to back financial scams as in the lawless Wild West and are not able to sustain their lifestyles and pursue their dreams with no one in sight to protect them. Credit Freeze Laws And Fees - The requirements and fees by credit freeze laws to lock your credit report vary from one State to another in the United States. The requirements and fees for all States are listed here. Recent Business Articles Employee Fraud Risk - When risk managers perform risk assessments to identify threats facing their organizations, they should consider an employee fraud risk a real threat to the company and propose mitigating solutions. Identity Theft Certification - The Certified Red Flag Specialist (CRFS) program is an identity theft certification and training program closely aligned with the federal Red Flag identity theft risk management and prevention law. |