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Sure, on rare occasions, you'll see a convicted sex offender on the news and think, "Yes, he definitely would have creeped me out. I would have known and kept my children away from him."

Most of the time however, convicted sex offenders simply look just like a neighbor, a scout leader, a coach, a youth group chaperon or a math teacher. There's a reason for that. That's exactly how sex offenders want to appear to you and to your kids too. To commit their horrid crimes, sex offenders depend on blending in and appearing trustworthy to you and your children.

Facts and Figures on Sex Offenders

-Sex Offenders are 70% more likely to be arrested for molesting a child 13 years old or younger.

-Of released sex offenders accused of committing a sex crime, 40% perpetrated a new offense within a year.

Of the hundreds of thousands of convicted sexual offenders under the care, custody or control of corrections agencies, 60% are living in communities.

How would you know if a sex offender was in your neighborhood?

Likely, you wouldn't. ZipOffenders.com has a nationwide database that includes sex offender's information. At ZipOffenders.com you can enter your zip code and find out:

-Names of sex offenders
-Types of offenses
-Photos
-Maps of where they live compared to your home, schools or favorite parks

Is someone new to your area? Don't worry. ZipOffender.com can do a nationwide search for a first and last name. A middle initial and an approximate age will help zone in the search too. Generally, you only know what people want you to know about them but when it comes to your kids, your grandchildren and all of those you love, an instant search is worth your time.

Sex offenders don't walk around with a big S.O. on their sweatshirt. What do you really know about the day care teacher's husband who seems to be there a lot, the new neighbors who invite your kids over for ice-cream or the assistant soft ball coach for your daughter's team?

Now you don't have to go search court records or hire a private investigator. In fact, private investigators and retired law enforcement are frequent users and big fans of ZipOffenders.com.

You can do an instant records check for your zip code for only $14.95 and you can also add a one year unlimited search pass for a one time billing of just $9.95. At ZipOffenders.com you never pay if there is no information available. Put in your search information and ZipOffenders.com will instantly let you know what information is available.

Other Search Options at ZipOffenders.com:

-Basic Background Searches
-People Searches by Name
-People Searches by Phone
-People Searches by Address
-Relative Searches, Business Search by Name and Phone
-Reverse IP Search
-Property Records Search
-Census Searches

You can see a sample report at ZipOffenders.com. Reports at ZipOffenders.com are:

-are instant
-printable
-confidential
-easy to access

If you've got questions, ZipOffenders.com has over 1 billion answers. Who's in you zip code?

Posted by Lisa Carey at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Find out the who, what, when, where and how Red Flag rules work to protect you from identity theft.

What is the Red Flag rule and what does it mean to you?

The Red Flag rule originated with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction of 2003, known as yet another acronym, FACT. FACT rendered that financial institutions and creditors with covered accounts must have identity theft prevention plans to ensure that they could detect, identity and respond to activities or even patterns or practices that could be a "red flag" indicating identity theft crimes. The purpose of the Red Flag rule is to offer consumers protection of Protected Health Information (PHI), social security numbers, credit card numbers and claims information that could put them at risk for identity theft.

Red Flag Rule Details

-Prevention and response plans must be in written in detail.
-Board of Directors or senior employees must supervise prevention and response plans.
-Training must be provided on the implementation of the plans.

The original deadline of November 1, 2008 had those under the Red Flag rule seeing red and the deadline was extended by the Federal Trade Commission for six months to give financial institutions and creditors more time to develop and implement identity theft plans. As of today the Red Flag rule is expected to go into effect on May 1, 2009. There are still challenges to the Red Flag rule, with many entities arguing whether or not they should be included in the Federal Trade Commission oversight.

Who is defined as a financial institution or creditor?

Simply accepting credit cards as payment doesn't necessarily qualify an institution as a creditor. Examples of those that are affected under the Red Flag rule include finance companies, automobile dealers, mortgage brokers, accountants/financial planners, utility companies and telecommunications companies. Financial institutions include (of course) banks and any institutions that offer accounts customers are able to write checks off of or even make telephone transfers. Non-profit and government agencies that defer payment for goods and services are defined as creditors. Even health care organizations that accept insurance or offer payment plans are considered to be caught in the net of the Red Flag rules application.

The Red Flag rule's application to health care organizations may help to address the growing number of medical identity theft crimes. Insiders say that address discrepancies should be a big red flag. "Patients" come in using all of another person's information, including health care benefits, and simply offer a change of address. This means that all correspondence and bills come to the identity thief while the real "patient" is unaware that their identity has been hijacked, that their medical history is now flawed and that their credit is being ruined.

Starting May 1, 2009 consumers may start noticing that formerly friendly banking, credit and medical registration processes may become more challenging as financial institutions, creditors and health care organizations attempt to comply with the new Red Flag rules. Only time will tell if the Red Flag rule will deter or prevent identity theft and how long it will take identity thieves to crawl through loopholes.

Please be sure to share your comments here at Identity Theft Secrets on any helpful or perhaps even aggravating changes you notice as you go about your business as the Red Flag rule starts flying. What do you think?

Will red flags have you and financial institutions seeing red?

Posted by Lisa Carey at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may be new to IdentityTheftSecrets, or you might have been with us now going on 5 years.

Either way, we really would like your help.

We are at a crossroads with the IdentityTheftSecrets.com, and need to know what direction to take it.

Identity Theft remains a huge problem, growing almost daily in size and complexity.

This crime is a major factor in all kinds of challenges currently facing the United States and other countries, including:

- International drug trade
- Meth addiction
- Ponzi schemes
- Child pornography
- Illegal immigration
- Bank insolvency (via massive fraud)
- And more

We want to continue to develop IdentityTheftSecrets into an incredible resource, and a unique source of information for everyone who visits the site.

In order to do so, we need your help.
http://www.identitytheftsecrets.com/survey.html

Above is a link to a short four question survey. It is anonymous (unless you want to put your name in).

What do you want to know about?
What do you want to learn more about?
How can this site serve you better?

The survey will take a short amount of time (less than 3 minutes) to fill out, and will help me to bring you the information you are really looking for when it comes to Identity Theft, computer security, Data protection, and consumer advocacy.

Thank-you for all your help up to this point.

With your continued thoughts and opinions, we can take IdentityTheftSecrets.com to a whole new level.

Please do take 3 minutes now to voice your opinions on the future direction of IdentityTheftSecrets.com
http://www.identitytheftsecrets.com/survey.html

Posted by Jonathan at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, after 4 years or so of being error free and thinking I was protected (I do, after all run a web site devoted to teaching people how to protect themselves against Identity Theft), my laptop has been hijacked.

I thought other people might be interested in my process for getting rid of stuff from my computer. So I've included helpful links to the free software I use in this post.

Here's how my computer got hijacked:
"Hey Jonathan, you have a great web site. We've already linked to you from www.DorksWhoHijackedMyBrowser.com (not the actual address they used) and we'd like you to link back to us."

Well, I wanted to check out their site first (otherwise I'd be sending you along to junk that could infect your computer...)

So I clicked... landed on the web site, and WHAMMO!

Spybot Resident (free software I use in the background on my computer) starts going CRAZY and blocking tons of stuff that's trying to change my system registry.

I couldn't believe how quickly it happened, but with all the stuff hitting my computer at the same time, something got through. (Actually, a lot of stuff got through.)

So, I've run:
Spybot
CWShredder
Ad Aware
ComboFix

I've run ComboFix in SafeMode and Spybot in SafeMode.
I've downloaded Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool and gotten all the latest updates from Microsoft.

Every program has gotten rid of a variety of stuff running on my laptop, which is a good thing.

However, there's still something running.

I finally resulted to HiJackThis (NOTE: do not use unless you know what you're doing or will post to a web site where someone does know what they're doing), which I ran in normal mode, and then in safe mode.

There is a process I can't block or stop from running which I can't figure out.

The reason I know something is still running is because Internet Explorer and Firefox both take a LONG time to open, and about every 6th click on a search result from Google lands me on a page that's not actually what Google is showing.

I posted the HJT log to www.BleepingComputer.com, but so far no response to my post.

Here's what I've got:
4/14/2009 1:34:27 PM Allowed (based on user decision) value "{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}" (new data: "") added in Internet Explorer searches!
4/15/2009 12:33:20 AM Allowed (based on user decision) value "BootExecute" (new data: "autocheck autochk *
lsdelete
") changed in Session manager!

4/15/2009 9:53:14 AM Denied (based on user blacklist) value "Qbihasamoqixate" (new data: "rundll32.exe "C:\WINDOWS\ifizuhifucize.dll",e") added in System Startup global entry!

I denied the process for ifizuhifucize.dll, but it's running and I don't know how to block/remove it (or what it's doing).

Anyone have any suggestions?

This is a highly basic and mildly boring, but good overview of how spyware ends up on your computer.

Posted by Jonathan at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A day at the courthouse is nobody's idea of fun. There is an alternative that is a lot less painful and time consuming. Go to GovernmentRegistry.org.

Searching public records is almost as pleasant as having a root canal. Spending a day at the courthouse is nobody's idea of fun. Find a place to park downtown, be searched by security, go up and down floors, stand in lines, explain your private business to a government employee, wait, wait, search, search, search, search and pay.

There is an alternative that is a lot less painful and time consuming.

Go to GovernmentRegistry.org. Click on the records you are looking for. Type in the name. Hit search. Results are instant. Decide on the plan you need. Within a minute you can have printable copies of the records you've been putting off searching for.

Buddy needed to know who owned the property behind and around the lake front property he inherited but he really didn't want anyone in the lake community to know that he was looking. Buddy was able to search for property records privately at GovernmentRegistry.org and get the information he needed to proceed with his plans.

GovernmentRegistry.org has gathered both public and private data all into one extensive database. Using GovernmentRegistry is:

-fast
-easy
-painless
-private
-affordable

What types of records can you find at GovernmentRegistry.org?

You'll find lots of information at GovernmentRegistry.org without going to the court house but you'll also find many options for information you just can't get from court house records. Now you don't have to be a private investigator or hire a private investigator to access these records. GovernmentRegistry.org has gathered millions of records together to make search easier.

At GovernmentRegistry.org you can search for:

-Civil records
-Criminal records
-Property records
-Background checks
-DUI/DWI Records
-Felony/Misdemeanor
-Sex Offender
-Bankruptcies
-Birth Records
-Unclaimed Funds
-Legal Judgments
-Marriage/Divorce records

At GovernmentRegistry.org you can also do:

-Identity verification
-Neighbor checks
-E-mail search by name
-Phone search by Name
-Classmate Search
-Find Friends
-Find Relatives
-Reverse Address
-Reverse Cell phone
-Reverse Email
-Reverse Phone
-Unpublished Phone

GovernmentRegistry.org is the leading online public records database.

Jillian joined an online dating service and her "match" was just too good to be true. After a little research on mister "ready to be married," Jillian learned that this was probably news to his current wife. A small investment at GovernmentRegistry.org can save you money, time and heartache like it did for Jillian.

All you need is a first and last name and the state, or you can even do a nationwide search. If you have a middle initial and approximate age, that's great too.

At GovernmentRegistry.org you never pay until you see what results are available. You can also view free sample reports. Find out now why GovernementRegistry.org has over 500,000 loyal customers.

GovernmentRegistry.org offers you one time billing for your search for $39.95. Want to keep checking for up to a year? You can add a one-time billing one year unlimited search pass for $9.95.

What are you waiting for? Would you rather spend half of your day at the courthouse or searching fruitlessly on-line or would you like to have those answers in minutes and hit the golf course instead?

Posted by Lisa Carey at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have been barraged by a number of missed calls with no message? Have you received annoying or even obscene phone calls? When your phone is ringing and you don't know who is calling, it can quickly escalate from irritating to down-right scary. ReverseMobile can help you answer your questions.

Most days we find it challenging to return all the legitimate calls and e-mails that we get. Who has time for wondering and worrying about suspicious calls? Calling the number back can be intimidating and is often fruitless if the prankster or stalker wants to remain anonymous.

ReverseMobile.com can help and it's so easy to use. Yes, it works with landlines and cell phones too. Tracing mobile phone numbers has always been a challenge as they are not subject to the same directories as landline phones. You may have heard of a couple of companies who tried to offer cell phone number look ups in the past but they've stopped offering this service. Don't worry, ReverseMobile.com is still there and going strong.

Just How Easy is it to Use ReverseMobile.com?

All you have to do is enter is the phone number and immediately ReverseMobile.com can tell you the city the phone is registered in, whether or not it is a mobile phone or landline, and the cell phone or phone carrier company. They'll also let you know if a full report is available. It's free to check out and in our tests, a city, cell phone carrier and a full report has been available every time.

In some cases you may know this person or at least think you did but in case you don't recognize the name there's a full report available that may include the owner's name, address history or background report.

A really cool feature of ReverseMobile.com is the map they include. If you don't recognize the name of the town that the phone is listed in, a Google map will be right there so you can see all of the surrounding towns and cities.

The map feature has helped more than ReverseMobile.com user figure out exactly when and where a caller accessed their phone number.

Using ReverseMobile.com:

-takes seconds
-is completely private (no one has to know you're looking)
-is affordable
-lets you print out reports

There's no risk to plugging in that number. At ReverseMobile.com you'll know the results are available before you ever buy.

The best value at ReverseMobile.com is a full report access plus one year of UNLIMITED reverse phone look ups for a one-time billing of $39.95. Just want to check out one mysterious number? You can do it right away for just $14.95

Add unlimited access for only $4.95 to include:

*Basic Background Checks
*Criminal Searches
*Arrest/Warrant Searches
*People Searches
*Business Searches
*Neighborhood Check
*Relative Search
*Reverse IP Search

Anonymous, annoying and scary phone calls will no longer be anonymous. When you need to know who is calling, call on ReverseMobile.com.

Posted by Lisa Carey at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Identity thieves traditionally target a victim's bank accounts or credit cards or else use a victim's information to establish credit for credit cards, loans or even utilities in a victim's name. Savvy citizens know to protect their bank and credit card numbers, social security numbers and passwords but did you know that you need to be just as vigilant with your insurance card numbers?

Identity thieves traditionally target a victim's bank accounts or credit cards or else use a victim's information to establish credit for credit cards, loans or even utilities in a victim's name. Savvy citizens know to protect their bank and credit card numbers, social security numbers and passwords but did you know that you need to be just as vigilant with your insurance card numbers?

What is medical identity theft?

Medical identity theft occurs when someone fraudulently uses someone else's identity, including their insurance benefits to receive medical services, care or goods or else to make false claims for financial gain.

Why would someone want to steal your medical identity?

In some cases, the crimes are committed by undocumented workers, or other uninsured people to receive needed medical care.

In other cases, drug addicts who can't get more prescriptions in their own name will steal someone else's medical identity to gain access to more prescription drugs.

Others simply make fraudulent claims for financial gain.

Medical identity theft is dangerous to your both your wallet and your health. Victims of medical identity theft have received medical bills for up to $40,000 for surgeries they never had. Even minor procedures or diagnosis' threaten a victim. Your medical history and insurance claims follow you everywhere, which is a good thing if the information is correct. If you end up in an emergency room, doctors will make decisions on your treatment based on this past medical history and parts of it are bogus, your treatment could suffer.

Lt. Robert Sebby with Metro Financial crimes explains:

"If you get sick (with the same diagnosis) as a crook and go to the doctor under your name and come back with what they would deem as a preexisting condition, we've had actual insurance companies try to cancel the victim's insurance for debilitating diseases," said Lt. Sebby.

Medical identity theft can occur in private doctor's offices, clinics and hospitals. Sebby adds, "I've had doctors call me and tell me they don't know who they operated on."

Medical identity theft isn't a new problem but it is on the rise. With the massive job cuts and high unemployment rates, more and more people are uninsured, which makes the crime of medical identity theft more tempting.

What can you do to protect yourself from medical identity theft?

Get a copy of your medical records to save for comparison in the future.

*Request a list of payments made for your medical services from your insurance company every year.

*Check your credit report at least once a year for any unusual unpaid charges for medical services.

*Never assume an unwarranted medical bill is just another error. Research and report any and all discrepancies.

*Protect your insurance card and benefits papers as if they are your social security numbers or bank account numbers.

Healthcare fraud costs millions a year and the cost is passed on to all of us. Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum warns, "Medical identity theft causes terrible harm, both financial and physical."

Posted by Lisa Carey at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There is more to April than Showers, Fool's Day, Easter and Tax Day. Find out what you should avoid this April to protect yourself from identity theft.

Just when many of us considered ourselves safe from the April Fool's Day Virus, Conficker, Easter and Tax Day come around the corner. It seems that April may be the month for email scams, phishing and viruses.
Conficker, hits hard on April 1, whether in actuality or in the fear and preparation for this so-called virus by tech support in corporations around the world. We learned that Conficker automatically turns off some security settings built into Microsoft Windows and blocks computer users from going to known web sites that offer anti-virus protection. However, it was not really a "virus" but a computer program that sneaks onto your computer.

We wish you a Hoppy Easter: Easter Egg Greeting Card Scam
Now with Easter just around the corner, the Easter Egg Hunt as well as several other online scams and phishing schemes are set loose. You may not be surprised to find a version of the Nigerian Lottery scam, now disguised as an Easter Lottery winner. Another Easter scam recently released involves the use of emails informing you of an Easter Egg card sent from a friend. You may receive a message such as, "Hi, your friend has sent you an EasTer greeting and offer you a link to access your greeting card. In many cases the EasTer greeting card message directs you to a site called "myfuncards." This is actually this month's phishing scheme of the Easter holiday preying on people's interest and joy in sending electronic greeting cards. There are several variations on this scam including hidden programming in images sent as a greeting for Easter.

A few tips for avoiding this scam:
-Make sure the greeting includes your name. Most legitimate greeting card sites will include a name for greeting and who the card is from, for example Hello Jake, you have a greeting card from Susan. To access it visit (insert web address here).
-Some of the most popular sites to recognize include bluemountain.com, American greetings.com, and 124 Greetings.com. For a list of legitimate greeting card sites and what they have to offer for Easter visit www.associatedcontent.com/article/1541927/electronic_good_friday_greeting_card.html ">Electronic Greeting Cards for Easter and Go Green and Save Green with these 10 Greeting Card Sites

Celebrity Scam: Oprah's Millionaire Contest
Celebrities are not immune from this month's rash of online scams. Oprah recently released a press statement regarding a scam using her name. In this month's scam individuals receive and email message notifying them of their nomination to Oprah's Millionaire Contest show. This is simply the latest in a series of scams involving this celebrity name which range from promising money to tickets or travel to her show. Harpo Products have issued the following statement, "Please note that 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' and Harpo Productions are not sponsors nor do we have any involvement whatsoever with this e-mail solicitation." There are versions of this being circulated in "snail" mail form also.

Tips for avoiding this type of scam:
-Check the homepage of any television show that makes such promises. On Oprah's website it clearly indicates how you may get tickets to the show, as well as lists current hoaxes using this popular celebrity's name.
-Avoid accessing web pages provided in these types of messages they will usually end up being a phishing scam, fraud or other method for obtaining your personal information.

Webmail Inbox Phishing Scam
Sample text:
Dear Webmail User,

This message was sent automatically by a program on Webmail which periodically checks the size of inboxes, where new messages are received. The program is run weekly to ensure no one's inbox grows too large. If your inbox becomes too large, you will be unable to receive new email. Just before this message was sent, you had 18 Megabytes (MB) or more of messages stored in your inbox on your Webmail. To help us re-set your SPACE on our database prior to maintain your INBOX, you must reply to this e-mail and enter your:

Current User name: { }
and Password: { }
Date of Birth:{ }

You will continue to receive this warning message periodically if your inbox size continues to be between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size grows to 20 MB, then a program on Bates Webmail will move your oldest email to a folder in your home directory to ensure that you will continue to be able to receive incoming email. You will be notified by email that this has taken place. If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will be unable to receive new email as it will be returned to the sender. After you read a message, it is best to REPLY and SAVE a copy.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Webmail Helpdesk

Tip for avoiding this scam: Never give out your name, password and date of birth. That information gives your scammer the blueprint they need to create a house of identity theft as well as access your email and attempt to solicit information and money from your friends and family.

Oh No! My VISA is expired how will I buy Easter candy? The expired VISA scam
Sample text:
Dear Client,

Your VISA account has expired. You must renew it immediately or your account will be closed. If you intend to use this service in the future, you must take action at once!

To continue click here, login to your VISA account and follow the steps.
Link to fake website removed

Thank you for using VISA!
VISA Services DEP.

Tip for avoiding this type of scam: Your VISA or any other credit card will never contact you via email with this type of message. Far too often I get my "new" credit card in the mail - which is almost as scary as this scam- with instructions on how to renew my card.

Other popular hoaxes this time of the year include charities and pets. Personally I think this has something to do with Lent, when charitable contributions increase and the thought of all those little bunnies and chicks for Easter. Be sure to check out any charitable contribution request with the organization itself and visit CharityNavigator.org to find out their standing in the world of charity.

Tax Day Thefts
Last year we reported on scams and hoaxes after your economic stimulus package. With tax day approaching more and more hoaxes are out there hoping to cash in on your fear of the IRS. In these scams you may receive in the mail (regular US postal or via email) a message that asks you to provide certain information such as SSN, Date of Birth, Full name and Address. This message may appear to come from the IRS, and offer you a "reward" for complying with the request or threaten you with losing your refund or even jail for failing to complete the request. The IRS does not contact individuals via email. If you receive a message in your email be sure to report it to the Internal Revenue Service.

You work hard for your money, no need to give it away to identity thieves. Be sure you know who and what you are dealing with before you respond to these types of messages and follow these safety tips. Stay informed about scams and hoaxes and keep your information your own.

Posted by Lisa Carey at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CourtRegistry.org is a comprehensive collection of both private and public data all organized for an easy to use and friendly search process.

When we care about our loved ones, we are concerned about those around them. Whether it is our young son or teen daughter, grandchild, spouse or aging parents, we are justified in making sure that those who enter their lives are just who they say they are. Whether it is a neighbor, coach, youth leader, new friend or love interest, it is understandable that you may want to know about arrest records, past marriages or financial problems.

So where can you turn for answers? CourtRegistry.org has billion of answers. CourtRegistry.org is a comprehensive collection of both private and public data all organized for an easy to use and friendly search process.

CourtRegistry.org is endorsed by the National Association of Investigative Specialist and Private Investigators Union and is recommended by board members of the Private Investigators Association as well as retired police officers. They know because they use CourtRegistry.org themselves.

What can you learn from CourtRegistry.org?

*Comprehensive Background Check
*Age/Date of Birth
*Maiden Name
*Aliases
*Property Ownership
*Marriages or Divorce records
*Felonies, Misdemeanors & Sex Offenses
*Police Records
*20 years address history and phone numbers
*National arrests
*Court Warrants
*Bankruptcy
*Tax Liens
*Civil Judgments
*Distinguishing Bodily Marks
*Relatives with Addresses
*Roommates, Neighbors and/or Associates
*Death Index

You simply provide a first and last name and approximate age. If you have a middle initial and city or state, that's great, but if not you can do a nationwide search. Often we have no idea where a suspicious person has lived which makes it so hard to find the court records we're seeking. CourtRegistry.org will give you a list of possible matches from a few to up to 200 depending on how common the name is. You decide which matches are right based on the information CourtRegistry.org pulls up instantly.

There's no guessing or gambling at CourtRegistry.org. You never pay until you see the list of possible matches and know that you have a winner. You can access records fro your search for ONE TIME billing of $29.95 or add a one year unlimited search on the same name for an additional $9.95. There are no hidden charges and you will never be billed again. You have many secure payment choices including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, JCB, American Express or even Paypal.

It's easy.
It's private.
It's instant.

You can even print out the records from your search.

There is nothing worse than the fear of the unknown. You can use CourtRegistry.org to find the answers to the questions that trouble you. Henry H. Tweedy once said the "Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety." If there is something about someone else that is worrying you, CourtRegistry.org makes it so convenient and confidential to take that courageous step to confirm or quiet those fears and know that you are in fact keeping your loved ones as safe as you can.

Posted by Lisa Carey at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While trained security check points may be able to locate a passport imposter, don't ever forget that passport books can still be used to steal your identity. Identity thieves aren't interested in traveling the world with your passport, yet they may very well do so after they have accessed your bank accounts, credit cards or established new credit in your name.

Along with money of course, a passport can take you around the world, for work or pleasure or both. Movies have made using stolen passports to travel look both easy and glamorous. While it certainly happens, it is harder and harder in a post 911 world to use a stolen passport for travel. However, stolen passports still hold great value for identity thieves. While trained security check points may be able to locate a passport imposter, don't ever forget that passport books can still be used to steal your identity. Identity thieves aren't interested in traveling the world with your passport, yet they may very well do so after they have accessed your bank accounts, credit cards or established new credit in your name.

Another Black Market

Yes there are black markets for stolen passports that resell them to illegal immigrants or other criminals intent on financial fraud. Despite the fact that many countries are introducing data chips inside biometric passports, today losing a passport or having it stolen can be even more of a hassle than a stolen driver's license. In the U.S. alone almost 600,000 passports are issued every three months. In some cases black market passports can bring up to $3,400.00.

Around 3,000 blank British passports were stolen from a hijacked security van.. The Foreign officers insisted that a blank isn't usable for crossing a border but others warned that they might have never been the intent. Tom Craig, a former Scotland Yard officer who now specializes in identity theft says that that really depends on the border.

"If an expert knows what the new passports should look like and they have the technology, then they will find the mistakes," said Craig. "But how do you know if it's good or bad if you don't know those details?"

Craig warned that while travel on the stolen passports may have been difficult, "People will open up bank accounts, get work and pose as British citizens in outside countries. This is a serious, critical situation."

What should you do if your passport is stolen or lost?

If your passport is lost or stolen you must you must contact the issuing authority immediately. If your passport is stolen in another country you should also contact the U.S. embassy. Generally a passport can be replaced within a reasonable amount of time, usually 24 hours, if you can prove your citizenship and identity. It is recommended that if you are traveling abroad you should have copies of your birth certificate and driver's license and other identifying information that you keep stored separately from your passport. You should also file a police report and have a copy with you as you file for reapplication.

Whether you're at home or traveling, U.S. citizens should keep this number and address handy but once again, stored separately from your passport.

U.S. Department of State Passport Services

(202) 955-0430.

Consular Lost/Stolen Passport Section
1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036

Even though you may only use your passport occasionally or even rarely it should be protected as if it is a passport to your identity and your credit. Like driver's social security cards or numbers, passports are often the final dot for the "I" in ticket to stealing your identity.

Posted by Lisa Carey at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)