LifeLock Blog

Americans have benefited from widespread identity theft prevention education campaigns. We know better than to give out our personal and financial information over the phone. We’re getting a lot better at spotting phishing e-mails. We’re more careful about giving out our Social Security numbers.

But it’s not always strangers who commit ID theft; in 26% percent of identity theft cases, someone known to the victims — family members, neighbors or employees — commits the crime.

But how do we protect ourselves from bank employees? There have been several cases recently where bank officers used their customers’ personal and financial information to commit identity theft crimes.

Such is the case of George Clayton, a former bank vice president of commercial lending from Manheim, Pa. Clayton took out four loans totaling $712,000 using the identities of three bank customers. His crimes took place between January 2006 and June 2008. One of the customers Clayton victimized finally discovered the loan and contacted the bank. (more…)

Threats to your personal information are coming from organized-crime rings all over the globe, according to Shawn Henry, FBI Assistant Director. “Over the past year, the malicious activity has become much more prevalent, “ Henry said, adding that the threat is worsening.

Henry didn’t name any nations specifically, but Russia and China have been mentioned by intelligence agencies in the past. And there may be a couple dozen other countries with an “aggressive interest” in private and governmental computer networks.

These new threats make it impossible for individuals to fully protect themselves from identity theft, and increase the need for comprehensive identity theft programs like those offered by Life Lock.

Only LifeLock offers eRecon, a service that continually monitors the Internet for any mention of their clients’ names, Social Security numbers, account numbers, or any other personal or financial information being bought, sold or traded by identity theft criminals.

In their reportage of Henry’s announcements, Reuters detailed some of the new and increasingly sophisticated attack strategies: (more…)