Courts: Using Another's SSN Not A Crime?

by Bob Sullivan

Is using a forged Social Security Number -- but your own name -- to obtain employment or buy a car an identity theft crime? Lately, U.S. courts are saying it's not.

The most recent judicial body to take on the issue, the Colorado Supreme Court, ruled last month that a man who used his real name but someone else's Social Security number to obtain a car loan was not guilty of "criminal impersonation," overturning convictions by lower courts.

That follows a ruling last year by the U.S. Supreme Court that a Mexican man who gave a false SSN to get a job at an Illinois steel plant could not be convicted under federal identity theft laws because he did not knowingly use another person's identifying number. The ruling overturned an opinion by a federal appeals court in St. Louis -- and contradicted earlier findings by circuit courts in the Southeast, upper Midwest and the Gulf states.

It hasn’t been a shutout for identity theft prosecutors, however. In July, an Iowa state appeals court came to the opposite conclusion, affirming a lower court decision that a man who used a California woman's SSN to obtain employment was guilty of breaking that state's identity theft law.

Identity theft can take many forms, but one of the most vexing is so-called "SSN-only" ID theft. In it, an imposter uses a victim's SSN --- sometimes purchased from a broker, sometimes nine digits pulled out of thin air -- to obtain credit or to provide necessary documentation to obtain work. In many cases, SSN "borrowing" is successful and the imposter goes undetected for years.

At the heart of all these cases is a simple question: Does the mere use of an anonymous victim's SSN break identity theft laws?

Mari Frank, a California-based lawyer and identity theft victim advocate, said courts are failing to recognize the real harm caused by imposters, even if imposters are unaware of that harm.

"You can't say there's no victim,” she said. “That Colorado ruling really aggravated me," she said. Courts are mis-applying impersonation laws, and that could really hurt victims. "(The judges) just don't get it."

To read the entire article, click here - http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/11/courts-using-anothers-ssn-not-a-crime.html

Holiday Consumer Alert "Identity Thieves Don't Take a Holiday"

By Identity Theft Resource Center


May 3, 2007 - 12:00:07 PM
 
Every year ITRC gets more calls about lost and stolen wallets than any other time of the year. This is the season to enjoy, not to be stressed as an identity theft victim. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the biggest shopping season of the year. As we enter the holiday season, we would like to remind everyone to take additional precautions against identity theft. Identity theft is not just something you read about in the paper. About 10 million people fall victim to this crime every year. No one is immune – from birth to beyond death. Because of the distractions of the holidays and crowded shopping environments, conditions are ripe for identity thieves and pickpockets to take advantage of the situation. Who’s in your wallet?©

The following are the Identity Theft Resource Center’s Tips and Suggestions to be safe during the holiday season.

*Social Security Numbers: Never carry your Social Security card or its number with you on a daily basis. This is true not only during the holidays but year-round. That number is more valuable than gold to identity thieves. Only carry it on the single days you need it and keep it in a locked box at all other times.

*Mail Awareness: Watch for monthly bills. We all know that the holidays will cause some mailing delays. However, if you have not received your bills within a few days of their regularly scheduled dates, contact both the issuer and the Post Office. Failure to receive a bill could be as innocent as a delay, or it could be an indicator of mail theft. If this is a case of theft, let the Postal Inspector’s Office know. Remember- a locked mailbox is a necessity in today’s world. It is also a great family gift- the gift of protection.

*Mailing bills: Each year we see Post Office boxes filled to overflowing with outgoing mail. We recommend that you mail envelopes containing checks or sensitive information inside the post office before the last pickup of the day. During the holidays, make sure that the post office box is sufficiently empty enough that your mail doesn’t sit within easy reach of someone’s inquiring hands.

To read the entire article, click here - http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/m_press/Holiday_Consumer_Alert_Identity_Thieves_Don_t_Take_a_Holiday.shtml

PCI: Small Merchants Need to Catch Up

New Survey Finds Small Merchants Don't Invest in PCI Compliance

By Tracy Kitten

Why has industry-wide compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard proved so challenging? PCI-DSS is not new -- the standard is six years old. And changes to the standard, though somewhat significant during the early days, have not, as of late, been so dramatic.

The PCI Security Standards Council has been very vocal about its decision this year to keep standards relatively stagnant. The council says the PCI-DSS is mature and inclusive. And it wants to give the payments community a chance to catch up on compliance.

To read the entire article, click here -
http://blogs.bankinfosecurity.com/posts.php?postID=775&rf=2010-11-19-eb

Planning Well Ahead For 2011 Charity Golf Scramble

Golf Scramble to Raise Money to Fight Cancer; To Feature Local Celebrities, Athletes, Companies

By Steve Huelsman, Executive Vice-President
GLG and Associates, LLP
The POWER Group Organization® Team

As the Fall season slowly slips away, many area golfers are trying to get in many rounds of their sport before putting up the clubs for a couple of months. Meanwhile, a small group of individuals are constantly brainstorming on the details of hosting its first charity golf scramble that would benefit the local Kentuckiana community.

"We are putting together a different kind of golf scramble that will reach more charities than originally anticipated, mainly because of the great support of area businesses that have come on-board to help make everything a reality", says G.L. Giddings, Chairman and CEO of GLG and Associates, LLP, an affiliate and specialty marketing company, located in Louisville, KY. "Almost everyone I know has been affected by cancer in some way shape and form. In the last four years, I lost my grandmother, my mother on August 15th, and my sister over two years ago. My fiancee', Catrina, is currently in remission with cervical cancer. Raising the funds to help combat this disease by putting on a golf scamble has become very personal to me."

The scramble isn't scheduled to tee off until August 15, 2011, the first anniversary of Joan O. Giddings , G.L.'s mother,  passing from uterine cancer. "If she were here, I know she'd be proud that we were out doing our part to help combat this disease. The fight has to keep going till there is a cure for ALL forms of cancer. However long it takes is what we'll deal with", he says This isn't a SPRINT, but a MARATHON, and The PGO® will be here hosting this tournament and giving back for many years to come!"

To find out more about the golf scramble and to participate, please click here for more details - http://events.linkedin.com/POWER-Group-Organization-R-Charity-Golf/pub/484857

Phishing Attacks On The Rise

Global Effort is Only Way to Fight Threat to Banking Customers

Tracy Kitten, Managing Editor

A recent rash of targeted phishing schemes -- which included hits to military accountholders and their families at USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union, as well as a separate attack on officials at the World Bank -- has again brought the crime to the fore.

It's just the latest spree in a long line of phishing and vishing attacks that have grown to be more selective in their approaches, using malicious e-mails or phone calls that send unsuspecting users to spoofed websites, where malware hijacks banking credentials.

The schemes are more targeted than they were 18 months ago, says John Buzzard, client relations manager for FICO, which provides decision management and predictive analytics solutions. Those targeted launches, which hit customers and members at specific financial institutions, often reap more rewards for the fraudsters.

"For the criminal, you get more out of targeting a specific institution, because a lot of these folks are not used to getting scammed," Buzzard says. "Oftentimes, they are targeting people who are not quite so savvy and don't have a lot of experience with the Internet and banking online."

In the USAA and Navy FCU cases, Buzzard says, targeting military families has proven profitable. "It's not that military members and their spouses are less savvy; but when you have one parent overseas fighting and the other at home taking care of all of the finances, they can be stressed and distracted and may not be paying so much attention," he says. "Stressed-out military spouses are juggling many things, and they could be in a hurry to respond to something without thinking about it thoroughly."

To read the entire article, click here - http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=3080&rf=2010-11-13-eb

ID Theft: SSN Is 'Key to the Kingdom'

Incidents Prove Link Between Social Security Numbers, ID Theft

Tracy Kitten, Managing Editor

The Colorado Supreme Court decision to reverse a conviction for criminal impersonation has stirred debate among identity theft protection advocates. In short, advocates say the Oct. 25 ruling sets a precedent that provides a loophole for those who impersonate others by stealing and/or misusing Social Security numbers.

"The Social Security number is the key to the kingdom of almost every type of identity theft," says attorney and certified information privacy expert Mari Frank. "It's the key to medical-benefit theft, government-benefit theft, you name it. This case, I think, sets a very bad precedent," she says, "because there are a number of people with bad credit or a criminal record or even illegal immigrants in this country that would use a stolen Social Security number to get a job, take out a car loan or get other benefits."

The Colorado Supreme Court overturned by a 4-3 decision the 2006 conviction of Felix Montes-Rodriguez for misusing another person's Social Security number to find work and apply for a car loan. Montes-Rodriguez' immigration status is not known; but the court found that because he used his own address, birth date and place of employment when he applied for the car loan, the use of the stolen Social Security number did not constitute false identity.

To read the entire article, click here -
http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=3069&rf=2010-11-06-eb

Incident Response: Drafting the Team

What are the Key Skills for Your Organization?

Upasana Gupta, Contributing Editor

Nearly a year ago, IBM's client organization suffered a major malware attack. When Don Weber, then an incident response professional with IBM, arrived on-site with his team, they demonstrated timeline-based analysis that quickly provided them with system-based artifacts associated with the malware on the compromised systems.

Although the malware solutions were able to tell them which systems were currently infected, they had no way of telling which systems had been compromised, or whether the malware had been removed or instead rolled over to something that was not being detected.

Using the information available, Weber and his team took a step back from data analysis and developed a perl-based tool that detected specific registry keys that would work on live systems. Using this tool, the client's security team was able to distribute and reach all of their resources. This allowed them to systematically (over the course of several days) identify approximately 10 systems out of over 30,000 that needed to be added to the scope of the incident.

To read the entire article, click here - http://www.govinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=3060&rf=2010-11-05-eg&amp

Where Entrepreneurs Need Nerves of Steel

By Steven Gray, Contributor

FORTUNE -- For Glenn Oliver , it took a certain amount of faith in the unseen to launch a business in Detroit, the poorest major city in America. Oliver is a lawyer, not a businessman, whose experience included clerking for a Michigan Supreme Court justice and approving utility contracts. But an entrepreneurial streak that runs in his family emerged when Oliver began to ponder the potential of a resource the Great Lake State has in abundance: water. Rising demand has spurred a global boom in water-supply projects. So why not create a marketplace for all the new business, where contractors and suppliers can bid on projects around the world? The result of Oliver's inspiration is a website he spent nine months building, H2bid.com, which charges $450 a year for a membership and bills itself as the "largest clearinghouse" for water contracts. Oliver's venture isn't profitable yet, but he's confident that his startup will help the battered city. "Entrepreneurship," he notes, "is the largest creator of wealth."

To read the entire article, click here - http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/11/smallbusiness/Detroit_minority_startups.fortune/index.htm

Leveraging Loyalty: How to Keep Customers Hooked

By Teri Evans

FOXBusiness

Attracting new customers is an obvious way to grow your business, and often the primary focus of a small business owner.

But like any important relationship, experts say it's what you do after you win the business that really determines long-term success.
 Here are five cost-effective ways to keep customers coming back without coupons, gimmicks or giveaways. Don't wait for complaints to step up the charm. Use a personal touch to cement the relationship with your most loyal customers. A simple handwritten card letting them know you appreciate them will stand out far more than a mass e-mail.
In a high-tech world where few people put pen to paper anymore, receiving a snail-mail note makes customers feel special, said Lauri Flaquer of Saltar Solutions, a small-business consultancy in St. Paul, Minn.
Making an unexpected phone call to check in with the customers who bring in the greatest revenue, for example, will also leave a lasting impression. And be consistent, Flaquer recommended. Contact them every 30 to 90 days, but remember that it should always be a sincere gesture of appreciation -- not an attempt to sell them more stuff. "You don't want to just call when you need them."

To read the entire article,  click here - http://www.foxsmallbusinesscenter.com/sbc/2010/10/07/leveraging-loyalty-customers-hooked/