LifeLock eRecon protects your identity online
Law enforcement officials have known for years that stolen identities are bought, sold and traded in highly secretive online chat rooms and forums. In fact, last year, the FBI revealed that Dark Market, a forum that catered to international identity theft entrepreneurs, was launched by them as part of a two-year sting operation.
Now, however, identity thieves are becoming shockingly brazen in e-marketing their stolen wares. A YouTube video that has recently been pulled is an example of this trend. In it, the poster is shown rifling through his wares: manila folders he claims contain his victims’ names, addresses, genders, Social Security numbers, mothers’ names, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, employment information, credit reports, net worth and details of real estate holdings and financial accounts.
Armed with that much information, there is virtually no limit to the damage that could be inflicted on the identity theft victims.
The seller offers this information for as little as $25 for a single data set, or $100 for five. The seller gave no indication in the video of how he obtained the information, or the extent of his inventory. However, in an email exchange with an investigate reporter, he offered to sell 100 of the identity sets, and directed the reporter to deposit payment into a PayPal account.
LifeLock provides their nearly 1.5 million members with eRecon™, a service that scours thousands of websites for the enrollees’ personal or financial information. If LifeLock members’ data are detected, they are immediately notified and LifeLock’s Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialists assist them in resolution or recovery as needed.
Only LifeLock offers eRecon™. To learn more about this exclusive service visit LifeLock.com. Enroll using the LifeLock promotion code DEFENSE for the lowest available price.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I saw the video before it was pulled. Looked real to me! he could have stolen info from employer or gotten it out of trash. eRecon is brilliant, but its sad we need it.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:23 am
He must have thousands of them to be able to sell them so cheap. I thought they would be a lot more expensive. Supply and demand I guess.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
That’s scary! I never heard of anything like eRecon but it definitely makes sense!
May 18th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I’ve heard of data breaches discovered when people googled their own names, SSNs. It takes more than that to protect yourself though. Thank you, LifeLock. I’m your newest customer.