Franklin Financial Group Blog

Identity Theft has become the number one white-collar crime in America. The statistics are staggering! According to the Federal Trade Commission, one out of every five Americans will be a victim this year. That’s up from one in seven just a year ago. At the rate this crime is growing, it’s virtually not a question of “if” you’ll become a victim; it’s a question of “when.” And yet most people have maintained the attitude that “it will never happen to them.”

Consider the following statistics:

• 1 in 5 people will have their identity stolen this year.
• Every 9 seconds another identity is compromised.
• The FTC estimates that as many as 10 million Americans have their identity compromised every year.
• Since January of 2005, over 220 million records containing sensitive information have been lost or stolen from databases across the country.
• If this crime continues to grow at its current rate, virtually every American will become a victim.

Information about us is gathered and spread around from the day we are born. Computers and the Internet have only increased the amount of personal information about us that reside in far-flung databases. They make it quick and easy to spread our information globally. What happens to our information remains very much unregulated.

In spite of the epidemic proportion of this crime, it remains mostly misunderstood. There are 5 types of identity theft which are Financial, Social Security, Medical, Driver's License and Character/Criminal. Any one of these can be financially devastating. Most people are only familiar with credit ID Theft, when in fact, 70% of all ID Theft is non-credit related. The FTC has concluded that a large portion of the information is stolen from the workplace. In order to slow down these occurrences, old laws have been revised, and new ones created, that require businesses to be responsible for non-public information in their possession.

Whether you are a business or you simply wish to protect yourself, having some form of Identity Theft Protection that includes a Restoration Service is essential. It only takes a few minutes for criminals to steal your good name.

*Information included in this message was obtained from Majestic Security, LLC, a provider of identity theft protection and restoration services. For additional information please visit their website at www.majesticsecurityidsafe.com