Regular Meeting of the ACFE Heartland Chapter
Tuesday, September 7th, 2004
Park Inn Regency Lodge
Mr. Jon McDowall spoke at the
regular meeting of the Heartland Chapter about the growing problem of identity
theft. Mr. McDowall is a senior
consultant with the Fraud Resource Group in Bettendorf, Iowa. He was named the 2003 Associate of the Year"
by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Mr. McDowall stated that identity theft has become the
number one consumer complaint in America, with the increase ranging from
estimates of 250%-1400%. The most
common methods of obtaining personal information include mailboxes, garbage,
receipts, and personnel files. Identity
thieves most want a victims name, social security number, and mothers maiden
name. Armed with this information, an
identity thief can wreak havoc on a victims credit history. The average time elapsed before a person
even discovers that they have been the victim of an identity theft is 12
months. It takes even longer, and an
average of 153 work hours, to undo the damage done to a victims credit
record. Mr. McDowall recommends that
individuals purchase annual credit reports from all three major credit
bureaus.
"Phishing" is another method
utilized to obtain a victims personal information. Spam email is used to lure people to bogus websites of reputable
companies. Mr. McDowall recommended a
website which offers some protection against being victimized in this
manner:
www.crypto.stanford.edu/SpoofGuard/
Mr. McDowall also recommended
that individuals register to remove their names and phone numbers from unwanted
telephone and mail solicitations:
National Do Not Call Registry
1-888-382-1222
www.donotcall.gov/
Credit Cards
1-888-5-OPT OUT
(1-888-567-8688)
Direct Marketing Association
Complete and mail DMA Form
