AARP And Identity Theft

When I was in my mid 40's, I joined AARP. At that time, I needed to learn a lot about elder care since my mother had died and my dad was seriously ill. (He died in 2002.) I figured that reading the print version of the AARP Magazine was the best way to learn the language of retirement (e.g., Medicare, Medicaid, etc.), and to learn about the issues related to elder care.

the magazine has some really interesting and inspirational articles, like the recent interview of the actor Morgan Freeman. During the years, I've subscribed to AARP's various e-mail newsletters and RSS feeds. The AARP web site recently published a good article about identity theft, titled Block Your Credit Reports to Prevent ID Theft.

If you are unfamiliar with the subject of identity theft, or if you want simple clear descriptions (like the difference between a Fraud Alert and a Security Freeze), then this is a good starter article. The article includes sample letters for users to request a Fraud Alert from one of the three national credit bureaus. The article should have included toll-free phone numbers for the three credit bureaus, but didn't.

As I mentioned, this is a good starter article. While the article doesn't tell you everything, it provides the basics in an easily readable format, so a consumer can place a Security Freeze on their credit report.

Comments

[Elisa Lucia]

There is alot of debate about what steps need to be taken to make ID theft more difficult.

I can't help but feel that the ease of concealing ones identity on the net doesn't help. And as hackers become more efficient in the processes, more and more people will be effected in the same manner you were, or through other identity-concealing practices like phishing.

I agree with Tony Rutkowski's argument ( http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=501&doc_id=136708 ) that we need to employ trusted identity management on the net or "the users who depend on them would be massively susceptible to vulnerabilities that include large-scale network attacks, abuse, fraud, and a litany of crime."

[George]

Elisa:

Thanks for the comment. As long as there are this continual flood every year of data breaches, where companies "lose" the sensitive personal data of customers, employees, and former employees we will have this problem. As long as there are retail establishments that don't employ sound data security and rely on the banks to re-issue credit cards and cover this expense, we will have this problem. Advanced ID mechanisms are great at locking the front door, but the data breach examples mentioned above are like leaving the back door and garage wide open.

[Credit Repair Services]

the users who depend on them would be massively susceptible to vulnerabilities that include large-scale network attacks, abuse, fraud, and a litany of crime..i agree..

[George]

Credit Repair Services said:

"the users who depend on them would be massively susceptible to vulnerabilities that include large-scale network attacks, abuse, fraud, and a litany of crime"

Please explain your statement and how it relates to security freezes and fraud alerts. Your statement may mislead readers and I don't want that.

George
Editor
http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com