Because of the widespread growth of identity theft today, many people assume that the crime came about due to the Internet. The fact is, identity theft has been around for probably as long as there have been identities to steal.

In times past, when you wanted to steal someone’s identity, the common practice was to kill that person and simply assume their identity. In times where photo IDs were not as prevalent, this practice was much easier to get away with.

Another common form of identity theft that has been around for many years involves the use of a phone to gain personal knowledge. One of these scams is to call a person on the phone and tell them that they won a prize. In order to receive their prize they would have to verify some personal information and then they ask you for that information. Once you give it to them over the phone, the caller hangs up and then they have information from you that they can use to commit crimes.

One of the most popular forms of identity theft is a practice known as dumpster diving. Dumpster diving is when an identity thief will go through your trash or the trash in a dumpster to try to find personal documents that contain delicate information about people such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or any other identifying information. This practice is still incredibly prevalent today and makes the need for shredding personal documents an incredibly important task for anyone who wants to protect their identity from identity thieves.

While the practice of identity theft didn’t necessarily begin with the Internet, it has certainly helped the practice move along at a rapid pace. Today, identity theft has taken the number one spot for the most popular crime throughout the world. It seems that no one is immune to this harmful crime no matter what the age or financial status of the victim. Identity thieves have become more technically savvy and they work to learn new technologies as soon as they are made available to the public. They have become masters at sending phony e-mails to try to gain personal information to the unsuspecting folks who open them up. They also work to install spyware on your computer so that they can track your every move and record such instances when you enter in password and account information to protected sites as well as bank accounts you may check online. While these sites are incredibly hard to break into, the identity thieves have committed tremendous resources to work to obtain your information to steal you and your family’s money.

While the crime of identity theft has been around for many years, now it seems that it is easier than ever for these identity thieves to track down your personal info to commit this horrible crime. It is important to learn from the past mistakes of other victims and work to keep private any information that you have that could lead to your financial role in if it were placed in the hands of these unscrupulous criminals.

ProtectMyID

ProtectMyID is an identity protection service offered by Experian, one of the three major credit reporting agencies. Like many similar services, ProtectMyID scans the internet for your personal information and also assists you if your identity has been stolen or your accounts compromised.

Services Offered
ProtectMyID has a host of services to monitor your personal information on the web. The service continually monitors activity related to your account at all three of the major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You receive a notification either by SMS or email any time there is a change to one of your credit records.

ProtectMyID also scans the internet for your personal information being used, such as Social Security number, credit card numbers and bank accounts. In order to initiate this part of the protection, you provide ProtectMyID with the information when you first sign up. The service scans for three credit or bank accounts only.

One of the first indications that someone has stolen your identity is a change of address filed with the post office. This allows credit card bills and bank statements to be diverted to another address so that you do not see the activity. ProtectMyID monitors the US Postal Service’s database and alerts you to any change of address recently filed in your name.

If your wallet is stolen, ProtectMyID provides a Lost Wallet service that assists in notifying all of your banks and credit card companies and cancelling the accounts immediately. In the event that there are unauthorized charges that the credit institutions will not reverse, ProtectMyID will cover the charges.

You can also add your children to the service for an extra fee. Because children don’t monitor their credit histories on a regular basis, identity theft scams often target children’s Social Security numbers. This can ruin a child’s credit rating before they ever get out into the world and establish their own.

Like many identity theft protection services, ProtectMyID offers a guarantee. If your identity is stolen while you are a subscriber, the company will cover your losses up to one million dollars for items like legal fees, stolen money and lost wages.

Pricing
ProtectMyID offers a 30-day trial for a dollar so that you can check out the service and see if it gives you the level of protection you are looking for. After that, the service is $9.95 per month. Each child added to the account is an additional $6.95 per month. The service includes one Experian credit report for free at sign up. Subscribers also have the option of purchasing credit reports from all three agencies for a discounted price at any time.

Our Comprehensive LifeLock Review will Reveal All
LifeLock Review

To be the most successful company in any industry you need to market well and LifeLock has a marketing campaign second to none. Led by CEO Todd Davis, who has proudly shown off his Social Security number on national T.V., newspapers and radio ads, LifeLock has created a buzz about their company. How can anyone be so stupid to give out their SSN to the general public? Isn’t he just asking for trouble? Well, we certainly wouldn’t recommend that anyone else do it regardless of how well they are protected.

Todd Davis on the other hand has a lot to gain and there is no doubt he believes in the protection that LifeLock offers. Is there a better way to instill confidence in consumers. If there is we can’t think of it. Davis put his name and money where his mouth is and the campaign has been a great success with LifeLock helping to protect over 3,000,000 customers.

LifeLock has been one of the fastest growing companies in the US and has been nominated for multiple American Business Awards, including Best New Company, Best New Product/Service, and recently Best Overall Company. They also won Red Herring 200 which is an award reserved for the 200 most innovative and promising private firms in the U.S. and Canada and were named to the Top Global Company 250 list by AlwaysOn.

LifeLock is well backed financially with premier investment firms Goldman Sachs Inc., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Bessemer Venture Partners providing the initial cash flow ($31.5 million) and stability that every company needs. In 2009 LifeLock raised another $40 million from a group that included their newest partner Symantec, makers of the popular Norton Internet Security Suite.
How does LifeLock work and is it worth it?

LifeLock’s Identity Alert™ system provides you broader identity coverage, greater control, and early notification of potential identity threats. The system monitors 100?s of databases and millions of data records including retailers, banks, mortgage lenders, utilities and auto lenders. LifeLock alerts you by email, regular mail, and/or phone whenever their system detects your personal information being used to apply for many forms of credit cards, wireless services, retail credit, utilities, check orders/reorders, mortgage loans, auto loans, and non-credit related payday loans. If the application is fraudulent, their remediation team will take action to help restore your good name.

The Identity Alert system is an effective identity protection service as it is proactive rather than reactive in that it provides deep forensic analysis of the entire credit network to both help predict future risk and identify vulnerable members before their identity is stolen.. This differs greatly from credit monitoring which only informs you that someone has used your credit and then leaves you the emotionally draining and costly task of restoring your credit and clearing your name. Are you confident that you could handle the fallout, stress and anxiety that would result from an identity theft situation? Personally, we would never want to find out.
LifeLock Benefits and $1,000,000 Total Service Guarantee

Every year Lifelock removes you from pre-approved credit card offers, which are a known source of identity fraud, and from junkmail lists. They immediately order your free annual credit report and do so every year so you can check for potential problems or discrepancies at all three bureaus. They also have a value added feature called WalletLock that, in the event that you lose your wallet or purse, will allow you to place one phone call to LifeLock and have a representative help you cancel your accounts and replace all your identification. This saves your valuable time and reduces your stress, especially when this happens while your in another country. WalletLock covers credit and debit cards, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, insurance cards, checkbooks, and even traveler’s checks.

In 2008 LifeLock added two new services, eRecon and TrueAddress.

Erecon scans the black market internet, some 10,000 illegal websites, for your private information such as your Social Security number, credit card number, driver’s license and email address, if provided, and lets you know if anyone is selling, using or attempting to steal them. An important service since millions of Social Security numbers and credit cards are traded or sold online every year and even things like bank account numbers and passwords are readily available on these illegal websites.

TrueAddress scans various address databases nationwide and alerts you if a criminal has changed your address, a common practice employed by identity thieves to steal your mail and obtain your financial information.

The meat and bones behind the package is LifeLock’s one million dollar total service guarantee which they pioneered. As a LifeLock member, if you become a victim of identity theft because of a failure in their service, they’ll help fix it at their expense, up to $1,000,000. (Restrictions apply. See lifelock.com for details). LifeLock promises to do whatever it takes to recover your good name and will spend up to $1,000,000 on attorneys, accountants, case managers, investigators, or whatever professionals you need to accomplish this. Unlike other services where you hire these professionals yourself, do the leg work and the company “assists” you in cleaning up the mess, LifeLock is, once again, proactive and takes the steps necessary to help you recover.

It is important to note that the LifeLock $1,000,000 total service guarantee, as with any identity insurance as well, only applies to new cases of identity theft. Existing identity theft victims will not be covered and in fact won’t be able to get identity insurance coverage for that case from anyone else either. This is why it is important to have a total service guarantee or identity insurance coverage in place before some low life criminal ruins your good name or steals your hard earned money and your most precious possession… Your Identity.