Keeping an ID Theft Victim's Information Private is Catching On

Tom Fragala, CEO of Truston Identity Theft Services, started his MyTruston identity theft and recovery product based on the principle that he didn't believe an identity theft victim should have to give up their information to a third-party to protect themselves. After all, most of this information gets stored in a database, which is one of main places (besides trash cans) identity thieves go to steal information.

Information stored on databases is legitimately bought and sold by information brokers all the time. Criminals sometimes pose as having a legitimate interest to access the information. Of course, there have also been cases of dishonest employees selling it without a so-called legitimate purpose. This makes it extremely difficult to determine exactly where any stolen information originally came from. At this point in time, so much information has been stolen, we routinely hear about it being sold in chat rooms right over the Internet.

It didn't make sense to Tom to put all this information in another place, where it could potentially be compromised again. Databases have created an ability to store more information than ever before and transfer it with a click of a mouse.

Having been an identity theft victim himself, Tom had some rather personal feelings on the subject. It should also be mentioned that Tom has spent thousands of hours being a personal advocate for victims of this crime.

Since launching the do-it-yourself tool — where you don't have to be an expert to protect yourself or recover from identity theft — it has received numerous awards and become a hot topic within the technology industry itself. Besides not having to be an ID theft expert — you don't have to expose any of your personal information to a third party and the protection aspect is and always has been free. There is a charge for using the recovery tool, which can be cancelled anytime. I'll tell you a secret about that last statement, further down.

I discovered the latest news that the Truston concept is catching on when reading Tom's blog, which is well worth a read if you are interested in identity theft or privacy issues. "Today we announced that our MyTruston product has been included in the portfolio of the Affinion Security Center, the largest provider of identity protection and privacy services. Affinion has nearly 35 years of industry experience and over 65 million members of their many products. Clients of their identity protection and privacy products include Wells Fargo, Bank of America and The Hartford Insurance. Truston's Software-as-a-Service technology is deeply integrated within the Affinion Security Center’s core solution platform, IdentitySecure," according to Tom himself.

Just the day before, Truston also announced a partnership with CreditFYI, which is a one-stop shop for the best credit card rates, best loan rates, as well as, to learn how to protect your good name and credit rating.

Besides Affinion Group and CreditFYI, Truston is a private label partner with Identity Force, which provides identity theft protection services to the U.S. Government. Truston has been given a Four-Star rating by PC Magazine and has received several awards. "Truston's awards include a 2008 Product Innovation Award, a Hot Company 2008 Award, being selected for 10 Companies to Watch in 2008 by the Pacific Coast Business Times, the 2008 Tomorrow's Technology Today award, and it was identified as a leader by Javelin Strategy & Research in their December 2007 identity theft market report," according to the press releases.

If you are interested in just how user-friendly the tool is, the Truston site has a tour you can take.

I've also had the pleasure of speaking with Tom on several occasions and beta tested the tool myself before it rolled out. I've covered this in several blog posts on Tom and the MyTruston identity theft tool.

Now for the secret I promised earlier in the post. I mentioned that using the tool always has been and always will be free, but there is a nominal charge for using he recovery services. The secret is that if you go directly to the Truston site - you can use everything free for 45 days. Last, but not least, this free trial doesn't require you give them a credit card (which will get charged if you forget to cancel) until after the trial expires.

Identity Theft Service wins Network Products Guide 2008 Product Innovation Award

Tom Fragala announced on his blog that "Truston received a 2008 Product Innovation Award from Network Products Guide for our myTruston Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform."

Tom is a well known blogger on the subject of identity theft, was really a victim himself and has spent a lot of time advocating for victims.

He quoted Networks Product Guide as saying:

“Truston's innovative SaaS platform offers an organized approach to getting a stolen identity back and keeping it safe.

myTruston is the only ID theft product that does not require sensitive data, is the only SaaS product in the space, supports virtually all fraud types, has unlimited content extensibility, is built on a patent-pending task management engine and allows for seamless integration with partner's web sites.”

Truston is a platform that allows the individual to protect themselves and recover from identity theft without handing over their personal and financial information. Many of their competitors maintain this information in databases, which seem to be compromised, frequently.

Some of them also require you sign a power of attorney to use their service.

In fact, there is so much compromised information out there, no one is really sure how much there is. Finjan, a noted computer security company, has recently been finding crime servers containing a lot of stolen information that no one knew had been compromised before. Ironically, the owners of these crime servers didn't even bother to password protect them in certain instances.

Despite this, we read about known data breaches all the time.

This isn't the first award Truston has received from the Technology industry and I suspect it won't be the last.

The neat thing is that if you are reading this post, Tom is still offering a free 45 day trial. Of course, the protection part always has been free.

If you would like to try the services for free, click here.

Recently MyTruston created a partnership with Identity Force and their platform is now being used by government agencies. These include the Department of Veterans Affairs, FEMA, US Coast Guard, Transportation Safety Administration, and Department of Energy.

While identity theft is a growing problem and no one can protect themselves 100 percent, MyTruston offers a platform to do so that is at least as good (if not better) than anything else in the industry. If you see advertising for an identity service that is 100 percent bulletproof, I recommend exercising the sage principle of caveat emptor (buyer beware) before shelling out your hard-earned money.

The reason I say better is that it was built on principles that protect privacy and by an individual that wanted people to "trust" his product.

If you would like to learn more about MyTruston, their site has a FAQ page that answers a lot of questions.

Press release on this latest award, here.

Is LifeLock an identity theft protection service people can trust?

Ray Stern, of the New Phoenix Times, published a scary story about an identity theft protection service, called “LifeLock.”

The article suggested that LifeLock was founded on stories that are questionable, and run by a Robert Maynard Jr., who seems to have a few skeletons hiding in his closet.

Not all identity theft services are 100 percent effective, or worth the money they charge (my opinion). Many require their customers to surrender all the same personal information a criminal might use, which will be stored in a database.

Databases are targeted by common thieves, hackers, and even dishonest insiders for their personal and financial information. Even if the information is protected, all it takes is one person with access, or who is tricked into giving up their access to compromise it.

Besides being stolen, information from data bases is bought and sold, frequently. It's a billion dollar business, itself.

Another problem is that even the best computer security can be compromised and has to be updated, frequently. Even encryption can be compromised by someone, who has the time and necessary knowledge to do so.

Many of these services require that their customers provide them with a power of attorney. Couple a person’s complete personal and financial information with a power of attorney – and a lot of subsequent damage can occur.

A lot of people are trying to make money off the current identity theft phenomenon. When choosing any service the term, "caveat emptor," or "buyer beware," certainly applies.

Robert Maynard Jr. is a person making a lot of money from the identity theft phenomenon, but should people trust his service? Before coming up with LifeLock, he was banned from ever working in the credit industry. Here is what the New Phoenix Times article said about this:

His credit-repair company was shut down by authorities in the early 1990s for false advertising and deceptive practices. Forced closure means that a federal court order has banned Maynard from working in the credit-repair industry — forever.

The FTC judgement against Maynard and his business partners can be read, here.

Maynard is fond of telling a story, where he was the victim of identity theft. He claims this experience gave him the inspiration to start LifeLock. BUT the story of how someone else used his identity to take out a $16,000.00 marker at a casino isn’t very credible.

The New Times interviewed Bernie Zadrowski of the Clark County District Attorney’s Office about this story.

Here is what they quoted Mr. Zadrowski as saying, which is a lot different from the story Robert Maynard Jr. uses to sell his identity theft service:

Not once did anybody ever suggest, in this particular case, that this was a case of stolen identity," he says.

Maynard never filed a police report for identity theft, or it would be part of the D.A.'s office file, Zadrowski says.

"The only call we received while he was in jail was from his girlfriend. She wanted to know how to get him out of jail," he says.

Zadrowski pulled the Arizona driver's license submitted to the casino by the person who took out the loan and e-mailed a copy to New Times.

Although the resolution quality is poor, the man in the picture looks like Maynard.

Zadrowski says the man pictured is Maynard.

There is also the matter of an American Express Card, taken out in Robert Maynard’s father’s name (Robert Maynard Sr.), but sent to a previous business address of Robert Jr., himself.

Here is what the New Times article has to say about this matter:

Records show that someone with Maynard Sr.'s personal information ordered the card. But that someone didn't have the bills sent to Maynard Sr.'s home. Instead, the bills went to a company called Netshield, at a Phoenix address used by one of Maynard Jr.'s former firms.

Though Maynard Sr. says he never asked for the card, he settled with the company. Coincidentally, Maynard Jr. has $170,000 in debt to American Express listed on his 2005 bankruptcy paperwork — and his father is named as a co-debtor.

If Maynard Jr. ordered the card using his dad's data, without his dad's knowledge, that would make him — you got it — an identity thief.

Apparently, Maynard has been able to sell his victim story numerous times to the mainstream media and pays bloggers to write about him.

During one attempt by the New Times to interview him, Maynard backed out at the last minute, claiming he had to meet with shock jock Howard Stern to discuss advertising. Maynard does take out advertising on Stern's show, among others, but Ray Stern (New Times) noted that his office appeared to have been vacated minutes earlier.

To date, there have been no complaints of wrongdoing at LifeLock, but if you read the New Times article, it would make someone like me think "long and hard" before handing over my money and information to them.

There are a lot of identity theft services out there. Most of them including LifeLock offer services that most of us could do by ourselves, if we had the knowledge.

Simply stated, the reason identity theft gets worse all the time -- is because of too much information is being bought and sold -- then maintained in too many (some not very secure) different places. The more places your information is stored, the more likely you are to become a victim.

New Times article, here.

Does eBay now see fraud protection as an important part of their continued profitability?

There has been a lot written about fraud on auction sites, particularly eBay. Perhaps, with all the competition going after their "extremely profitable business model," they are reconsidering the importance of preventing fraud on their site?

Mark Raby of the TG Daily writes:

During a webcasted conference with some of the online auction site's top sellers, eBay's North America president Bill Cobb expressed concern over the rise of people who don't ship out items or list counterfeit merchandise as real, along with people who have found more clever ways of manipulating the system.

Cobb said that one key target that could more easily be monitored is the selling of fraudulent and pirated merchandise, which is not always easily caught or reported by the buyers, or the wording in the auction is deceptive so that the victim has no means of restitution.

Top-end products, like cars and jewelry, will also be on Ebay's watch list as it puts new measures into place to ensure that both the buyers and sellers are legitimate. With around two billion new items put up for sale every year, it has historically been difficult and financially unmanageable to have a comprehensive anti-fraud program for the site.

TG Daily story, here.

Although - as always - "money talks," it's great to see some forward motion on this issue, which has left too many people "holding the bag."

Here is a previous post, I wrote about competition forcing more "fraud protection" in the auction world:

Will competition make it harder to write off fraud costs on auction sites?

Will competition make it harder to write off fraud costs on auction sites?

Perhaps market forces will be what it takes to better protect buyers and sellers from fraud on auction sites? Competition dictates that the auction providers will have to offer a "better deal" to attract and maintain their customer base.

Internet auctions have become a "very" popular way to buy and sell goods, but they've also attracted a lot of fraud. And fraud seems to be motivating some changes at the most popular auction site, eBay.

eBay is limiting what types of transactions they protect and is banning Google's Checkout on it's site. In addition to this, they are increasing the dollar amount protected with PayPal.

Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes wrote:

eBay will double PayPal Buyer Protection on its site, offering up to $2,000 of coverage for qualified transactions on eBay.com, but is eliminating buyer-protection for non-PayPal transactions. The move is a dramatic effort by eBay to push buyers to use its PayPal online-payment service at a time when it faces increasing competition from Google Checkout, a method it prohibits sellers from accepting on its site.

AuctionBytes story, here.

The story also mentions that eBay no longer protects transactions with financial instruments, such as wire transfers, money orders and checks. Scams using these now "unprotected" financial instruments have been well documented in the auction world.

The message is that if you don't use PayPal, or a credit-card - you aren't protected on eBay.

Not sure if eBay is trying to limit it's own fraud exposure, or if they are marketing fraud protection?

Even though buyers might be getting "slightly" more protection - sellers seem to be more at risk of losing money from fraud than they were before. They are either going to have to limit their "accepted payment methods," or take the chance of losing more money.

And so far as credit cards - "sellers" still are and "always have been" at risk of receiving chargebacks from the financial institution involved.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses and how auction users react.

The auction business is getting more "competitive," and writing off the cost of fraud is going to become "increasingly more difficult."

Here are some previous posts, I've written on auction fraud:

Romanian Second-Chance eBay Scammers Busted

California Issues Alert on Emerging eBay Fraud Trend

How to Spot a Counterfeit on eBay

Bid Reaper, "TELLING IT LIKE IT IS" on eBay

Auction Fraud and the Romanian Connection

How to Protect Yourself on eBay

BBB Worker Takes Job Processing Fraudulent eBay Transactions