Protect Yourself Against ID Theft

Especially this time of year.

Hey folks,

No this is not paid advertising. But it IS good advice. We have all done it. If you have kids, you most likely have done it more than once. See something on TV, or your Kids do, and order it from the number on the screen. Go Online and shop for that unique or last minute gift. Especially this time of year. You are giving your Private Information away to total Strangers. This just hit the Newswire Friday.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Office of Justice Programs:

Survey Highlights Impact of Identity Theft—A recently released survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics finds that an estimated 11.7 million persons, or about five percent of all persons age 16 or older in the United States, were victims of identity theft during the two years prior to being surveyed in 2008.

Financial losses related to identity theft are estimated at more than $17 billion. According to the survey, men and women were equally likely to experience identity theft; however, a greater percentage, or 6 percent, of persons ages 16 to 24 were victims of at least one type of identity theft compared to 3.7 percent of persons age 65 or older.

Also, the survey found that persons living in households with an income of $75,000 or higher were more likely to experience identity theft than persons in households with lower incomes.

The survey found that the majority of victims, or 68 percent, reported the identity theft to a bank or credit card company and about 17 percent of identity theft victims reported the incident to a law enforcement agency. These and other survey findings are discussed in Victims of Identity Theft, 2008 (NCJ 231680). The data in the report is from the 2008 Identity Theft Supplement (ITS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) which surveyed more than 56,000 persons age 16 or older in the United States about identity theft. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/

Nomination Period for Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Opens—The Bureau of Justice Assistance is accepting nominations until Feb. 15, 2011, for the Federal Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery and the State and Local Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery.

BJA administers this program created by the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-298) to recognize acts of bravery performed between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2010, by federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers nominated by their agency's leadership. Additional information about the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery and nomination materials are available at www.ojp.gov/BJA/CBOB.

Paper Offers Management Strategies for Police Departments—In Making Policing More Affordable: Managing Costs and Measuring Value in Policing, San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon and Harvard Kennedy School Senior Research Associate Todd Foglesong suggest strategies to help agencies reduce their costs while managing demand and revaluing and re-engineering policing.

This paper is the third in a series prepared by the Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety, a roundtable of leaders in law enforcement and academia funded by the National Institute of Justice and managed by the Harvard Kennedy School's Program in Criminal Justice and Policy and Management. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/231096.pdf
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/criminaljustice/research-publications/executive-sessions OJP11047

SOURCE Office of Justice Programs

However, there IS something you can do about it. It's called Lifelock. This is from their Site.

The fact is, your personal information is vulnerable to falling into the wrong hands. If you shop online, have a credit card account, a bank account, a job-your personal information is out there. If your personal information is used fraudulently, you may not find out about it for months or even longer, depending on how closely you monitor your credit report. At LifeLock, we help protect you against more than just credit fraud, we alert you whenever we detect your personal information being used to apply for wireless services, retail credit, utilities, mortgage loans within our extensive network.

No one can prevent Identity Theft from happening completely, but with Lifelock, you have a $1 Million Service Guarantee

What are the details of LifeLock's $1 Million Total Service Guarantee? LifeLock works to help stop identity theft before it happens by taking proactive steps to reduce your risk. But if you become a victim of identity theft while you are a LifeLock member because of some failure or defect in our service, contact us and we will act on your behalf to repair any damage. We will spend up to $1 million to hire lawyers, investigators, consultants and whatever else it takes to restore your name and help you recover the direct losses from the identity theft.

For only $10 Bucks a month, you can feel confident that you are NOT one of those 11.7 million people that have had their Identity stolen. $10 Bucks folks. For about the price of ONE Pack of Cigarettes, you can feel safe, knowing that someone is watching your back. Lifelock. Just go to their Website, and check it out for yourself. Believe me, Laura {My Wife} can tell you all about ID Theft.
Peter