Identity Theft , a real issue

Did you know that identity theft was estimated at 9-10 million cases per year for the last 2 years? Millions of Americans each year are victims costing an estimated 50 billion dollars.

Is it tied to Social Security numbers? Probably, but lets take a look at this. Social security numbers wer initially issued in the thirties for the purpose of administering social security programs. However, today, this is not the case. These numbers are being used for everything from medical records to bank accounts to employee record keeping.

Thieves steal social security numbers. How?

They do this by physical theft of purses, searches through trash, and when consumers provide personal information to an unsecured internet site.

So, according to Andrew Ellis' article, "Here's how to avoid ID theft.." published in the http://www.concordmonitor.com ....there are some simple steps to minimize the risks..

1. shredding paper documents that many contain sensitive info
2. dont' carry social security card in wallet, store in a safe place
3. shred credit card solicitations
4. shred unneeded old personal tax info.
5. If any company or business requests your social security number, think twice and ask ..why? and how will it be used? and how do you protect it from being stolen?

An emerging sector of theft is medical id theft. People stealing a person's medical id info and using their benefits from their insurance to make money. Sites like our http://www.PassportMD.com help individuals keep better control of this information and watch if it has been used for other purposes. One advantage of http://www.PassportMD.com is that this personal health record site, does not require or ask for any social security numbers and is is secure. Both are compelling reasons to use our site to monitor and control your health information without having to enter your social security number.

There are a number of informative sites and blogs on this topic...
1. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html
2. http://www.identityblog.com/
3.http://blog.trustedid.com/
4. http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2006/05/identity_theft.html
5. http://flyinghamster.com/post/29146