Consumer Law

Victim Of Identity Theft Is Branded As A Sex Offender

By M. Stan Herring

Our friend Denise Richardson of givemebackmycredit.com has posted an article about one man's struggle with identity theft. Dan Wheeler's wallet was stolen from his truck about fifteen years ago and has been dealing with identity theft issues ever since. If that wasn't bad enough, because of the identity theft, he has also been wrongfully branded as a sex offender...possibly forever. Trying to correct identity theft can be very expensive, and being labeled a sex offender makes it nearly impossible for him to get any job that requires a background check.

Identity theft continues to be a growing problem, whether it's medical, criminal, employment, reputation or financial. Once your information is compromised and/or stolen, you can't predict or control what the consequences will be. A recent study by Ponemon Institute has shown that organizations are being bombarded by at least one successful data attack per week, which carries a cost of anywhere between $1million to $53 million annually.

This study found that among the 2,807 publicly disclosed data breaches worldwide during the past five years, the cost to the victim firms as well as those whose information was exposed came to whopping $139 billion. Another stunning figure.

The study found that social security numbers were the most commonly compromised, followed by credit card numbers. "Remember, once that SSN lands in the wrong hands -it's irretrievable."

No one is immune to data breach or an identity theft -no one should minimize the risk or the many effects either. Identity theft is serious business, and I'm worried that if those who continue to write about identity theft in a manner that minimizes the effects it carries and in a way that doesn't take identity theft seriously, then the public won't take it seriously, either. And that's not good for business or consumers.

If you have had issues with identity theft and have further questions or concerns, feel free to contact us through our website or by calling 205-879-2447.

You can join our Facebook Fan Page - Alabama Consumer Protection Attorneys where we share useful information about the same types of issues that we cover in this blog.

You can also sign up for our free email newsletter sent out every Thursday morning - we cover topics such as the one in this post. We would love to include you! Just fill out the form below:

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on August 02, 2010 (boomark / email).