What is new account identity theft? New account identity theft occurs when a thief uses your personal information to open new accounts, such as a line of credit, a home loan or a bank account. There are many ways that a thief can get their hands on your information to open new accounts, and sometimes it happens right out of your own mailbox. Mail that contains personally identifiable information and pre-approved credit offers give thieves the opportunity to fraudulently apply for credit and have the new credit card sent to a different address. In the case of a new checking account it is relatively easy to open one with a stolen identity since authorization is not required for opening checking accounts. Thieves can also find your personal information simply by purchasing it from a marketing data aggregator (remember that survey card you filled out for your new vacuum?) or finding it on a public database online – all this information can be used to open new accounts in your name.

TrustedID protects you by helping to reduce your junk mail and by scanning public and private databases as well as black market Internet sites to make sure your information isn’t being compromised.

Key Stats:

• (Javelin 2007) New credit account fraud affects more than 2.2 million consumers every year & results in 17.9 billion dollars in losses.
• According to Debix (May 2008), new account fraud is the biggest id theft problem for consumers
• 29 of the 380 fraud cases were investigated by law enforcement.
• Independent research showed that 54% of credit files have errors.
• According to the FTC (February 2009), 58% of all fraud complaints reported the method of initial contact; 52% email, 11% an internet website, and 7% phone.

How to prevent new account identity theft:

1. Fraud alerts are the only protection from id theft available to all Americans. TrustedID gives you the option to place these fraud alerts and reminds you every 90 days to renew them with the credit bureaus.

2. Monitor your credit reports with the three major credit bureaus to identity reports of unknown debts. TrustedID will request your free annual credit reports on your behalf and if you notice any suspicious activity, TrustedID’s trained restoration specialists will help   you through the steps of recovering your identity and preventing any further damage.

3. Sign up with TrustedID to prevent new lines of unauthorized credit, protect your medical benefits, Social Security number, bank and credit card accounts and more.