Drivers License Identity Theft

GAP-Consulting-LogoThis one seems a bit straightforward, but let’s examine it a bit closer.  Of course, if you dropped your license somewhere or lost your wallet or purse, that might provide an avenue for someone else to get your driver’s license number.

But what about a bank check?  Aren’t your name, address and driver’s license on any check you write to pay for goods or services?  Sure they are.

Don’t write checks anymore?  Ever have to show your ID when paying with a credit card?  Uh huh…thought so.

Why would someone want that information?

The person or business that collects the check from you for payment wants it to find you if something goes wrong (like your check bounces higher than silly putty!), but thieves want it for different reasons.

They might want it because they don’t have their license anymore (insert whatever reason you like here, like can’t stop drinking and driving, can’t see, can’t get insurance, had it suspended, etc, etc) and still need to get around.

Having a good number to put together with a picture of them (Think making fake ID’s is hard?  Hang around any college campus in America and tell that to all the bar owners) is better than no license by a long shot.

Can you imagine not having a license?  It’s our National ID!  You need it to pay for things, to fly, rent a car (or anything else of value).  You need it for just about everything you do!

Also, a few years ago, as the problem of illegal immigration (and 9/11) began to swell and become epidemic in scope, authorities in most States passed laws to try and make it mandatory for employers to demand 2 forms of identification in order to hire an employee.

Since by definition we have many illegals that need work in the USA (pick your number, but the politicians say 14 million and most agencies of the government have the number as much as 4 times higher than that), almost overnight the demand for legitimate DL numbers went through the roof!

Since our numbers were so easily viewed on many documents (like the bank checks I mentioned earlier), and the demand was sky high, that makes for a very bad combination.

Did you know that a good drivers license number might be worth as much as $100 at a flea market or other underground supply hub?

Since most of the employees that often come in contact with these numbers are lower paid employees, you can see how that might become a big problem.

Just a quick question for you here too….would your credit bureau or bank be monitoring the loss of your drivers license number?  How would they know?  They wouldn’t!

You might not even know.  That is, until you had a problem and were using your ID at someplace like, say, the airport?  “Uh mister, we are going to have to ask you to step over here….”

You don’t want to hear that now, do you?

Unfortunately, our numbers are in demand and until very recently most always visible.  In way too many cases, they still are.

That’s why the Federal Trade Commission has put forth some new and tougher identity theft protection laws, one of the most prevalent being called the “Red Flag Rules”.

What are those you ask?  Well, if you own a business you should know, because the penalties for non-compliance can be crippling.  I’ll get into those a bit more in detail on another page.

Bottom line:  You want to protect your drivers license number like it was gold.  And you want to make sure you are alerted to an issue as soon as possible should it ever be compromised.

Want to protect your own identity?  Want to offer your employees the ability to protect theirs?  (Before you go thinking that it doesn’t matter to you whether your employees are protected or not, there are some pretty heady statistics about lost employee hours dealing with a problem.  When do you think they will find the time to fix an ID theft problem?  During work hours!!  Either they are going to try and deal with it ON THE JOB, or they will call in sick and try at home during time they should be working!  Either way, as an employer you lose.  It’s in interest to your bottom line that they are protected!)  Call me @ (916) 768-0265 or email gponath@gapconsults.com for more information.

© 2012 GAP Consulting.

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