Tag: theft
Why You Should Consider Freezing Your Credit Reports Even Before Your Information Is Stolen

Why You Should Consider Freezing Your Credit Reports Even Before Your Information Is Stolen

By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

PITTSBURGH — So far this year, more than 100 data breaches have resulted in an estimated 153 million financial records being stolen — hitting big names such as Experian, T-Mobile, Anthem and U.S. government personnel records — with most of the victims being offered free credit monitoring services as a check against ID theft.

But a new report by the Washington-based consumer group U.S. PIRG says credit monitoring isn’t nearly enough. The group is urging all consumers to consider freezing their credit reports as the only way to stop ID thieves from taking out loans, credit cards and other credit accounts in victims’ names.

“Whether your personal information has been stolen or not, your best protection against someone opening new credit accounts in your name is the security freeze,” said Mike Litt, consumer program advocate at U.S. PIRG. “Credit monitoring services may tell you (about a fraudulent account) but only after you’ve been victimized.”

When a freeze is in place, credit bureaus are prevented from releasing a file to potential creditors without the consumer’s permission. Because most businesses won’t open credit accounts without checking a consumer’s credit history, ID thieves are locked out.

There are drawbacks to consider, including fees, which vary by state; some limitations; and the potential for delays when consumers legitimately want to apply for credit. People must lift freezes if they want to apply for mortgages, car loans, credit cards or other type of credit.

A thaw can be activated online or by phone using a personal identification number and choosing the number of days that the thaw applies. It can be a general thaw or apply only to a specific creditor.

There is no fee to permanently lift a freeze, which automatically expires in seven years.

Victims of ID theft who provide a police report can freeze and thaw their files at no charge, while people 65 and older can initiate a freeze or free but must pay $10 for a thaw.

For the broadest protection, experts recommend that consumers freeze their credit reports with all three main credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — because a freeze request with one doesn’t extend to the others. Experian said it froze 433,558 files through October this year, up from 160,639 in all of 2014.

A consumer applying for credit who wants to temporarily lift a freeze should find out which credit bureau the lender is using to assess creditworthiness and request a thaw from that particular bureau.

In most cases, a report can be thawed within 15 minutes. But since the law allows credit bureaus up to three days to lift a freeze, shoppers could be blocked from getting instant store credit — the kind that promises a discount of 10 percent or more for signing up for a credit card at the register.

Freezes also could interfere with other products and services that may require a credit check, such as getting insurance, renting an apartment, hooking up to a utility or opening a cell phone account.

The U.S. PIRG report noted that neither credit monitoring nor a security freeze can detect or prevent unauthorized use of existing credit accounts or other types of fraud or identity theft such as theft of tax refunds or medical services. Many banks and credit card companies have mechanisms in place to detect existing account fraud and remove unauthorized purchases.

The report contended that paid credit monitoring services, which typically cost from around $10 to $20 a month, are not worth the expense because consumers can essentially monitor their own reports free. Federal law requires each of the main credit bureaus to provide consumers with a free credit report once a year.

Litt acknowledged that a credit monitoring service might detect theft faster than consumers could on their own, depending on when consumers happen to check their reports.

For victims of data breaches, an alternative to a credit freeze is to place fraud alerts on credit reports. The alerts are free but must be renewed every 90 days. Victims of identity theft can sign up for extended fraud alerts that last seven years.

A fraud alert lets creditors know that they should take special precautions before extending credit. An alert with one of the three main credit bureaus is automatically extended to the other two.

Alerts are weaker than a freeze because creditors aren’t legally bound to abide by an alert.

For more information, visit www.identitytheft.gov. To download the U.S. PIRG report, visit uspirg.org. To order copies of your free credit reports, visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com

The details

What it does: Blocks credit bureaus from releasing information from your credit report to lenders and other businesses without your permission. That effectively stops identity thieves from opening a credit card, cell phone account or other accounts in your name.

What it costs: For Pennsylvania residents, it costs $10 to initiate a freeze and $10 to temporarily lift (thaw) one. There’s no charge to permanently remove a freeze. ID theft victims who submit a police report, and people 65 and older do not have to pay to initiate a freeze. ID theft victims also can request a thaw at no charge.

Where to start: For information on credit freezes, visit each of the three main national credit bureaus’ websites, or call them toll free:

www.freeze.equifax.com
www.experian.com
www.transunion.com

1-888-909-8872.

Where to turn

Victims of identity theft can visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website, www.identitytheft.gov

People should stagger their requests with each bureau every four months or so to keep tabs on their credit reports throughout the year, U.S. PIRG said.

©2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: A new report by consumer grou pU.S. PIRG is urging onsumers to consider freezing their credit reports as the only way to stop ID thieves from taking out loans, credit cards and other accounts. (Fotolia/TNS)

For Some Parents, Search For Better Schools Could Lead to Jail

For Some Parents, Search For Better Schools Could Lead to Jail

By Kyle Spencer, The Hechinger Report (TNS)

SAN FRANCISCO — Just over a year ago, Hamlet Garcia climbed up the steps of a stately courthouse in Norristown, Pa., wondering how much longer he would be free.

The Philadelphia resident and his wife, Olesia, an insurance agent, were about to go on trial for theft of services, an offense usually reserved for cable service pilferers and restaurant bill dodgers. Their alleged crime: stealing an education for their 8-year-old daughter, Fiorella.

He was staring at possibly seven years behind bars.

Garcia, who came to the United States from Cuba when he was 18, remembers thinking one thing as he headed into the courthouse: “This isn’t the kind of thing that happens in America.”

Their case is one of a handful in recent years in which families living in districts with failing schools have been accused of “stealing an education.” Some have been heavily fined for lying about where they live on official district documents. Others have been criminally charged and, in some cases, jailed.

Such draconian measures are helping to popularize a new term: “education theft.” There have been no definitive reports on the number of school districts cracking down on enrollment fraud, but civil rights groups and education activists say anecdotal evidence suggests these practices may be on the rise.

“I’m hearing about it more and more every year,” said Gloria Romero, a former California state senator and founder of the California Center for Parent Empowerment.

The examples are many. And while perhaps extreme, they are worrying civil rights activists, parent advocacy groups and some local politicians who say strict enforcement strategies unfairly impact poor families of color, who cannot easily pay their way out of trouble by refunding the value of their children’s allegedly stolen schooling.

Jonah Edelman, the CEO of Stand for Children, a national education advocacy group, says that his group does not condone parents breaking the law.

“But the real crime, which needs to be prosecuted, is the glaring inequity in the quality of schools in rich areas versus poor ones,” he said.

In the case of the Garcias, the father says that during the 2011-2012 school year, his wife and daughter spent nine months during a marital separation living with his wife’s father in Lower Moreland, a quaint, suburban township of rolling hills and stone colonials. His daughter attended the district’s much-sought-after elementary school, where she read picture books, learned the alphabet and made friends.

The local district attorney’s office contends Garcia and his wife were never truly separated and that they always lived in neighboring northwest Philadelphia, where many of the schools are struggling, and lied to gain entry into the Lower Moreland schools.

They “essentially stole from every hard-working taxpayer who resides within the Lower Moreland School District,” Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told reporters.

The couple entered into a plea bargain last year, agreeing to pay nearly $11,000 in back tuition in exchange for no charges against Olesia Garcia and a reduced charge and fine for her husband. Legal fees ran about $70,000. They are hoping to send their daughter to a private school.

Jimmie Mesis, the founder of VerifyResidence.com, a New Jersey-based private investigating firm that launched locally in 2000, says he has expanded across the country and now works with more than 200 districts on enrollment issues and residency fraud.

Parent rights organizations that seek to protect parents from discriminatory actions say they are increasingly finding themselves advocating for parents who have been targeted and — in some cases — harassed by school districts that are cracking down.

In Michigan, parents convicted of providing false documents to satisfy student residency requirements can be jailed for up to 20 days. In Washington, D.C., they can get up to 90 days for providing false documentations, and in Oklahoma, the sentence can be up to a year.

“It’s a ‘gotcha’ thing,” said Gwen Samuel, the founder of the Connecticut Parents Union, which has helped to support a handful of families that have been criminally charged for enrollment fraud and other related offenses. “What’s troubling now is the length that districts are willing to go. You see residency officers more than ever, and this practice of treating families like they’ve robbed a bank. It has become the norm to treat them like criminals.”

Around the country, parent groups are fighting back: by publicizing the cases, lobbying against jail time and arguing that school residency laws are unconstitutional because they discriminate against parents in struggling school districts.

School and county officials contend that they are protecting taxpayers from thieves.

But Ryan Smith, the executive director of The Education Trust-West, a foundation that focuses on improving schools in poor communities, said, “The real issue is how do we provide quality schools for all children so parents don’t have to make decisions that ultimately break the law.”

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news website focused on inequality and innovation in education. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Photo: Some parents are being thrown in jail for “education theft,” enrolling their children into schools in districts they do not live in. Photo by Adam Jones via Wikimedia Commons.

Credit Card Travel Tips

Credit Card Travel Tips

Regardless of which season lures you with its wealth of travel options, credit cards are a necessity for just about everything. So letting your guard down when you make reservations, pony up payment, or leave your hotel room is a recipe for trouble. Bankrate.com has some good tips for credit card safety that will serve you well both on the road and at home.

If you’re going to be away, it’s always a good idea to let your credit card issuer know so they don’t flag you as having unusual purchases away from your home territory. And the same phone call can also make them alert to credit card theft. These are especially important if you’re using a debit card.

Travelling outside the U.S.? Be sure to check out those foreign transaction fees before you go – they can really add up.  While you’re at it, foreign ATMs require an all-digit PIN so be sure to memorize yours in that format.

Finally, remember that when you use your card you’re spending real money, so it’s a good idea to set a budget in advance so there are no surprises when you get the bill.  You can always keep a tally by checking your purchases on your Smartphone’s bank app.

Photo: Wikimedia.com

Snowden Says He Left Clues About Data He Stole But NSA Missed Them

Snowden Says He Left Clues About Data He Stole But NSA Missed Them

By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

Fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden said in a magazine interview published Wednesday that he is sure his former employers at the National Security Agency are tracking his communications while in exile in Russia.

In a lengthy interview with Wired magazine, the 31-year-old former NSA contractor wanted on U.S. charges of theft and espionage also said he would gladly return home and face prison for his disclosures on massive private data collection if that would serve to end what he sees as the U.S. intelligence agencies’ surveillance abuses.

“I told the government I’d volunteer for prison, as long as it served the right purpose,” Snowden told the Wired article’s writer, James Bamford, during a series of interviews at an undisclosed hotel in Moscow. “I care more about the country than what happens to me. But we can’t allow the law to become a political weapon or agree to scare people away from standing up for their rights, no matter how good the deal. I’m not going to be part of that.”

During the interviews conducted in late spring, Snowden said he deliberately left a trail of “digital bread crumbs” so the NSA would know which secret documents and data files he had taken with him when he fled his contractor job in Hawaii 14 months ago.

He told Wired that the agency’s report that he took 1.7 million files with him suggested they had missed the clues he left so NSA officials could take whatever steps were necessary to protect sources and revise operational practices.

“I figured they would have a hard time,” Snowden said of his evidence trail. “I didn’t figure they would be completely incapable.”

Snowden told Bamford that the final straw for him was the NSA’s MonsterMind operation, a malware-detecting program that can retaliate against the source of infection without any human involvement in the decision. The source of cyber attacks can be disguised, he noted, opening the possibility of striking back at an innocent target and provoking confrontation.

Fellow intelligence agency employees had become inured to the wide-scale intrusions on private communication by the agency, Snowden said, a jaded indifference he didn’t want to acquire.

“It’s like the boiling frog,” Snowden told the magazine. “You get exposed to a little bit of evil, a little bit of rule-breaking, a little bit of dishonesty, a little bit of deceptiveness, a little bit of disservice to the public interest, and you can brush it off, you can come to justify it. But if you do that, it creates a slippery slope that just increases over time, and by the time you’ve been in 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, you’ve seen it all and it doesn’t shock you.”

Snowden said he left when he did and disclosed the surveillance excesses “before he too was boiled alive,” Bamford wrote.

AFP Photo

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