US Privacy Associates  

1. Protect your computer from online threats including money-stealing Trojans. Fraudsters are eagerly waiting to take advantage of the millions of credit card transactions that will be made online this holiday season. They are lurking to find any weak links in your network to gain access to your personal and credit information. More recently, they are using sophisticated Trojans to grab your bank account and credit card login information, disable your security software, and sneak into your bank account by pretending to be you. Trojans are even smart enough to quietly drain your bank account over the holiday period based on the assumption that you'll be too busy to check exactly how much you're spending until the New Year. The best way to avoid Trojans is to (a) not open attachments or click on email links; (b) be careful where you surf and stick to online "neighborhoods" where you really feel safe; and (c) regularly patch your computer and update your anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software.
2. Take a tip from online merchants and "trust but verify." Whether it's online shopping searches, incredible gift offers, or holiday wishes from your Twitter "Tweeps" or Facebook friends, the best way to avoid gift-wrapping yourself for scammers this year is to turn your cynicism on to the highest level. If you think before you click, you might just play Grinch to an identity thief.
3. Be careful buying gift cards. Make sure that you purchase gift cards that are legitimate and secure, and avoid buying gift cards secondhand from an unverified source. UK-based security firm Corsaire recently found that the vulnerable magnetic-stripe technology used for gift cards and customer loyalty cards make these attractive targets for hackers. Additionally, the research revealed that gift cards can easily be "sniffed" off the shelf in the checkout line with a scanner and cloned, card numbers can be stolen, and retailers' gift card Web sites can be hacked.
4. Avoid Tweet Traps! Scammers fully understand the power and reach of social networks, and gathering places like Facebook and Twitter are a feeding ground for all kinds of thieves this holiday season. According to the eHoliday Study by Shop.org (a division of the National Retail Federation), 47.1 percent of retailers said they will be increasing their use of social media during the holidays. The biggest threat to be wary of this year is the "Tweet Trap" - a message that appears to be from a trusted friend or follower passing on some great news, a real bargain, or a worthy cause, but instead hides spam, phishing fraud, or a malicious download. Consumers should be cautious about Tweets or Facebook messages about great holiday deals, must-have gifts, or hard luck stories, even if they are coming from "friends." If they sound interesting, do your own research to see if they're genuine. But don't click or download.
5. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This scam has focused on promising shoppers the hard-to-find gift at an irresistible price and in most cases, the gift doesn't exist, doesn't arrive, the seller demands far more for it, or simply steals the shopper's credit card information. But this year, hackers are upping the stakes by hacking into the search ranking systems of the major search engines like Yahoo! and Google so that their fraudulent or malware-infected web sites appear at the top of shopper searches. And most shoppers still believe that if a Web site is at the top of a search engine's list, it has to be legitimate.
6. Do NOT give out your financial information over the phone or email. If your bank or credit card company sends you an email or even calls you warning you of insufficient funds or other problems with your account, contact them directly using the customer service numbers posted on their web sites. Don't respond to their emails or to any number they provide in an email or phone message.
7. Keep travel plans private. Don't give a gift to digital burglars by Tweeting or posting updates to Facebook about your holiday plans like when you're going to be away from home or all the cool stuff you bought. Otherwise your new purchases may end up under someone else's tree.
8. Do a post-holiday credit health check-up. After the holidays are over, be sure to check your credit reports, credit card statements and bank statements to verify all transactions. Each transaction you made, either in retail stores or online, could have been compromised, adversely affecting your credit and your credit score. Notify your bank or credit card company immediately if you see anything suspicious.

 

Don't forget you can give the gift of Identity Prevention and Recovery.  Just go to http://www.USPrivacyAssociates.com.

Happy Holidays

11-23-2009 at 6PM MST, Opt Out Detectives and Entrust America will share with our online friends the merger of the two companies to become "US Privacy Associates." The two companies coming together as "US Privacy Associates" raises the bar on Identity Theft prevention and recovery. Please join us. (Phone lines fixed.)

11-23-2009 at 6 PM MST, Opt Out Detectives and Entrust America will share with our online friends the merger of the two companies to become "US Privacy Associates."  The two companies coming together as "US Privacy Associates" raises the bar on Identity Theft prevention and recovery.  Please join us. 

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/optoutdetectives/2009/11/24/us-privacy-associates

 

 

A portion of every Identity Protection package sold helps support Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 charity whose mission is “rebuilding shattered lives” of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Thanks for supporting us!

 Mike

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Investigators cracked a youthful burglary ring that preyed on Hollywood's rich and famous, often brazenly walking into their unlocked homes to make off with cash, jewels and family heirlooms, authorities said.

A suspect turned informant told police that a 19-year-old woman was the "driving force" in the thefts, motivated by a desire own the designer clothes and jewelry of such celebrities as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

According to a Las Vegas police search warrant obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, Nicholas Prugo told Los Angeles police detectives that Rachel Jungeon Lee spearheaded the break-ins.

Prugo told police Lee, 19, would suggest a target, then Prugo would trawl the Internet for information about where they lived and when they would be away from home. Las Vegas police were involved because Lee lives there.

Officials said Lee was booked on a charge of possession of stolen property charge and released after posting $3,000 bail. Prosecutors in Los Angeles asked police to investigate her further. She could not immediately be reached Friday for comment.

Police say the Lee and Prugo were part of a group of at least six that stole from October 2008 until September.

After watching a house, they would break into the poorly protected properties, often by simply walking through unlocked doors.

Prugo said they removed cash, narcotics and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, including family heirlooms.

Acting on a tip, police arrested 18-year-old Prugo on Sept. 17. He initially refused to talk to police but on Oct. 6, he and his attorney met with detectives and Prugo "provided a full confession, and implicated several other suspects," court documents state.

"Prugo admitted to committing all of the burglaries and that Rachel Lee was with him during the residential burglaries of the homes of Audrina Patridge, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and the Hilton family," the search warrant states. "Prugo stated that it was Lee who would suggest a target and that he would surf the Internet to learn where the celebrity lived as well as the target's travel itinerary."

Prugo said Lee wanted to "own the designer wardrobes of the Hollywood celebrities she admired."

Lee, Prugo and at least four others have been arrested in the case. The four others, most between the ages of 18 and 20, have been charged with felony burglary.

The search warrant states Prugo told police he and Lee broke into Hilton's house several times. At the Lohan house, the burglary crew gained entrance by prying open a window with a screwdriver then swiped luggage, clothing and jewelry including a Rolex wristwatch with a blue face, Prugo told police.

He said expensive watches were also a target at Bloom's house, and several were stolen along with artwork and clothing.

A search of the Las Vegas home Lee shared with her father turned up a piece of paper with the names of her accomplices which Las Vegas Detective Ethan Grimes confirmed were the other subjects identified in the crime ring.

Police also found three photos of Paris Hilton, designer jeans, three computers, a Korean passport, 204 $100 bills and less than one ounce of marijuana when they arrested Lee at the home in northwest Las Vegas on Oct. 22, according to the warrants.

 

We often receive e-mails asking our opinion of other services like the one I've attached below which ask's if we thought if there is a company that offers recovery if you become a victim of ID Theft.  Here's the email posted with the permission of the sender.  Here's the link to the photo:  http://i369.photobucket.com/albums/oo140/oodmostwanted/email.jpg



We know that victims spend a bunch of time fixing what the bad guys do in days damaging your credit and stealing your Identity.  In the next few weeks Opt Out Detectives will introduce an added service that will offer Guarenteed Identity recovery if you become a victim of Identity theft.  The new package will offer the Opt Out Detectives e-book with the data vendor opt out letters and a years worth Identity recovery at an affordable low price. 

Basically, this will now be the BEST Identity Theft Prevention Service offered!  No other company currently offers the ability to remove personal information from data vendor websites and recover your Identity if compromised.

Stay tuned for more details!

This is from Jeremy Duffy and can be found on his website at: http://www.thegeekprofessor.com/rps/opt-out-detectives/ Check out his website for more great info on ID Theft prevention! 

(Here's the show link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/OptOutDetectives/2009/09/20/Jeremy-Duffy-Awareness-Advocate)


So a little while back, I did a Blogtalk radio interview with Mike of the Opt-Out Detectives. Before the interview, I checked out the optoutdetectives.com website and saw that like so many others, they are a service you can purchase to help prevent ID theft. Though I didn't have time to evaluate the service at the time, far be it for me to pass up the opportunity to reach more people and tell them how to stop ID theft.

I talked with Mike for a while during and after the Interview and discovered more about who they are and what they do. His site was born out of the need to protect the information of detectives and police who sometimes have bad guys threaten them and their families. The service is not a monthly fee. It is instead a one-time cost for a one time service (instead of a monthly cost for a one-time service like some people think is ok to charge).

I asked Mike for the chance to try out his service and this is the results of my evaluation:

How can they help?

I've always said that there are two parts to protecting your identity: keeping the data from the bad guys and keeping them from using it. Keeping them from using it (for credit anyway) is pretty easy with a Credit Freeze. Keeping them from getting the data in the first place is really hard!

There are too many companies out there abusing your data leaving you little option of when and how it's used. But can you do something about it? Some of these companies give you the option of opting out of being bought and sold like a slave. The challenge is finding who to opt out with and then actually getting it done (an extremely arduous task to say the least).

Enter Opt Out Detectives.

The point of this service is protecting yourself not only against ID theft, but other kinds of crime that come from people having too easy access to where you live and other important data about you. Granted there are other tricks to protecting your information than just getting your name off lists and out of databases, but data brokers are one of the biggest sources of the problem so dealing with them is a good start.

 

What they provide

Depending on what level of service you want, the price will vary, but for the most part the money you pay is for a large PDF file about 64 pages long with helpful advice, instructions, and pre-filled letters (they ask for some of your basic data so they can do some of the work for you).

If you go through the packet, it will provide a list of e-mail addresses to send opt-out requests to, links to online removal forms, websites to sign up for that will help you control and remove your data, and, of course, information on why to get a credit freeze and how to do it (score big points for the Opt Out Detectives for that!).

It's easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to follow. This makes the process of combating the data-brokers a snap. You'll still have to take the time to go through it and you'll also need to print out the letters and send them, but they're already addressed and have the necessary details on them so most will just need to be signed and sent.

 

Results

In my case, they provided what they call the "Business Select, Sports and Celebrity package".

Before I'd even gone through the packet, I'd already received my first letter from a data-broker stating that they intended to comply with the request to remove my information. I got two more where one complied and the other requested that I fill out their specific form for removal, but the process was working.

From what I could tell, the Opt Out Detectives service that I received already took care of the first part of the packet leaving me with the letters and credit freezes to do myself.

I already have my accounts frozen so that's under control, but I haven't sent the letters yet because I also want to know what information the companies had in the first place. I'm talking with Mike about a revision to the letters that would make that possible and that would also let me opt my wife and kids out at the same time.

Once I complete that process, I'll post some updates here, but the package as-is should be more than enough for people who aren't interested in data-aggregation research.

 

In Conclusion

The Opt Out Detectives is the first ID-theft service of any kind that I've ever found that has any merit. Not only do they NOT charge monthly, what they do charge for is a useful service that will help you to prevent ID theft and worse.

Remember there's plenty of other things people can do to you if they can find enough personal data about you which Mike and his crew well knows. This is a service created to protect law enforcement and their families from the revenge of criminal elements. The same service will help protect you too.

Go and check them out!