Abagnale: Identity Theft is Way too easy

In a recent government technology conference, Frank Abagnale, whose life was the subject of the movie "Catch Me if You Can," said that there is minimal risk for criminals involved in identity theft.  He said only about 1 in 700 thieves are caught and charged.  Get ready for steps to make this crime harder to commit and to increase the consequences for criminals.

Abaganale was the keynote speaker for the Government Technology Conference East in Albany, New York.  A summary of Abagnale's talk was reported to Government Technology Magazine's website by Casey Mayville. Here are a few highlights:

" ... According to Abagnale, identity theft "is a crime limited only by the criminal's imagination." A new type of identity theft has presented itself as recently as 2008. It's called "Synthetic Identity Theft." By using this type of theft, criminals can remain virtually undetected until it is far too late to catch them. The method used is as follows: A criminal obtains an individual's personal data -- name, date of birth, Social Security number, etc. -- and proceeds to open a credit card. But the criminal will purposefully change just one letter of the name or one digit of the Social Security number, knowing the credit bureaus have a "tolerance" feature built into their system which allows for human error when filling out applications. The credit card will be issued in the original individual's name, but under a secondary file. The criminal then has time to open more credit cards, build up credit, apply for a loan, default on the loan, and the individual is left to repair the damages."

As we know, the best defense is education and using a credit monitoring service. Recently, I received a letter from Countrywide Financial that my information may have been compromised. The good news was that they offered two years of free credit monitoring for those who signed up. Of course, I took advantage of this offer.

In my experience, many governments across the USA that have had potential breaches (for whatever reason) now offer this credit protection to customers, even if it isn't required by law. There is no doubt that it brings good will to those affected, but it can also be expensive.

Any thoughts on identity theft or how your company responds to customers who may be victims of a breach?