Dale Penn

Postal Customers Receive Timely Alert

John E. Potter, CEO of the United States Post Office has weighed in on the severity and urgency of the raging identity theft battle.

Personally, I was very pleased to receive this piece of seemingly “junk” mail last week and I’m hopeful that most postal customers took the time to read it. The letter acknowledges both the scope and seriousness of this crime.

Readers were reminded of the  lasting effects that ID theft can exact upon one’s credit worthiness,  employment eligibility and even access to medical care.

In April 2007, President George Bush’s Identity Theft Task Force published a 108 page report detailing the government’s strategy to make the fed’s efforts “more effective and efficient in the areas of identity theft awareness, prevention, detection and prosecution.”

Coordinating the efforts of multiple government agencies to analyze crime reports, craft a strategic safeguards plan, utilize available resources, educate the public, investigate complaints and vigorously prosecute perpetrators is essential. Its also a mouth full.

Hats off to the Postmaster General for slipping this timely little letter and it’s accompanying brochure from the Federal Trade Commission, into my mailbox and yours.

 Well done!

The identity theft investigative landscape is littered with jargon that delivers clever and concise ways to describe common criminal activities. We should all be familiar with terms like:  phishing, shoulder surfing, hacking, cyber-squatting etc.

Here is a new one for the record books. It is potentially lethal and is commonly referred to as …”swatting”.

This week the nation mourns the tragic loss  of L.A.P.D. SWAT Officer Randal Simmons and the shooting of his partner and fellow Officer James Veenstra, who is making a gradual recovery from his gunshot wounds.

Attended by nearly 10,000 people, the funeral was the largest in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department. 

Inexplicably and in a separate incident this month, a 19 year old prankster who lives 1200 miles away from Los Angeles, reportedly managed to fool a 911 operator in L.A. into taking a false report that was labeled “an emergency”.

These “swat” calls dupe authorities into believing that an emergency situation is occurring at a specific location and police are obliged to dispatch a SWAT team to an unsuspecting home or business. Imagine the confusion, danger and foolish waste of resources this can cause.

Responders are fooled by the prankster’s ability to either tap into the local police database to  generate a call, or to hide their true identity and location with “masking” software.

These prank 911 calls are have piqued the attention of lawmakers who are busy preparing new legislation to fight the crime.

Prosecutors have charged the 19 year old Washington state resident with 5 felony counts including computer fraud.

The bust in the housing market and the subsequent decline in our economy have left most Americans running for protective cover. We now hedge our bets, retract many of our “spec” investments and hunker down for the financial equivalent of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

As parents, spouses, investors and hard working contributors to our economy, we not only have the right to protect our “good names”, we have an obligation to do so. Financial self-defense has become a moral imperative in our uncertain economic times.

My own sensitivity to the subject of financial self-defense is a result of my personal identity theft ordeal a few years ago. At that point in my life I lived a relatively carefree existence with negligible awareness of the dangers that lurked on the horizon of my financial future.

Pretending to be me, an imposter abruptly ended my slumber. The dream morphed into a nightmare.

The imperative to defend myself became mandatory. It was now a matter of survival and I was determined to stay afloat financially.

Here are a few characteristics of those who are willing to take on the challenge of suiting up for the game of identity self-protection. I call these brave souls, Identity Warriors.

• They recognize their own vulnerability
• They create defensive momentum, avoiding analysis paralysis
• The seek informed sources of insight like www.ftc.gov
• They construct a personal plan to Detect Deter and Defend
• They are consistent and vigilant
• They routinely inspect what they expect on their credit reports

As Nelson Mandela reminds us: ” With freedom comes responsibility”.

Demystifying the Steps to ID Security

On Super Tuesday while waiting to cast my ballot at the polling place, it occurred to me. We are are an easily confused people.

As my fellow voters and I stood in line to cast our vote, the buzz in the room revolved around how complicated the entire Presidential primary process seemed to be.

It seems that every time I speak to groups on the subject of protecting themselves, I get the same predictable “dog in the headlights” stare.

You know the look. It’s the look that indicates either total disbelief or utter confusion. Inevitably, someone will approach me after a seminar and tell me another tale about how confusing the entire identity fraud landscape is. Partially true.

The good news is that while not foolproof, the process is manageable and doable with a modicum of distress. There are many companies which have surfaced in this emerging market for identity protection solutions. A few are quite good, the rest just want your hard earned cash.

Don’t reach for your wallet yet. There are many smart strategies that you can easily accomplish on your own. Here are 5 quick tips you can implement today for free:

• Never,  use the red flag on your mailbox. It simply alerts thieves that your outgoing mail is unprotected and ready for pickup.
• Use a locked mailbox unless you want to  leave your personal information unprotected from thieves and vandals. This is an easy way to deter opportunists.
• Attempt to redirect your own mail to a “new” address at the post office without showing ID. You would be amazed if you knew how often fraudsters attempt this!
• Consider using initials only on your return address labels. This helps keep your gender and marital status private from prying eyes.
• Opt Out of credit card and insurance solicitations for 5 years or permanently…your choice. This is accomplished by dialing 1 888 5Opt Out or 1 888 567-8688. This is a secure and automated phone system that will ask for personal information including your Social Security number. It will virtually eliminate these unwanted offers in short order.

Stay tuned for more ways to protect your privacy and save a few trees in the process.