Identity theft happens every day to people from all walks of life. It is estimated that up to 9 million Americans have had someone use their personally identifying information like name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without their permission.
What can you do to combat this crime? Detecting that you have been a victim is just the first step toward ultimately restoring your identity. Not only should every consumer prepare for the unthinkable reality that identity theft is going to happen to them, but business should also be concerned that they are in compliance with a written Identity Theft Prevention as required by The Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC is mandating the compliancy program with the intent of ensuring that businesses have a means of detecting the IDT early warning signs or “Red Flags” in their daily operations. The FTC’s Red Flag Rules are meant to reduce the damage of an already stolen identity.
For consumers, the Federal Trade Commission provides a slue of tools on its website for helping you the consumer recover from being victimized by Identity Theft (IDT). Understand, however, that it’s not going to be a painless process. Expect to spend some time and resources in resolving IDT related issues with your creditors.
While customers cannot sue a company for being lax with their identity, consumers could issue a complaint with the FTC. The FTC could then bring its law enforcement action to bear on the business. This basically means that the FTC will petition the Department of Justice (DOJ) to seek monetary civil penalties for violations of the Red Flags Rule.
A business’ Red Flag Rule program must include:
- Policies and procedures for identifying “Red Flags” of identity theft.
- Programs must be designed to detect identified red flags. For fake ID’s, for example, a business must have procedures to detect fake, forged, or altered identification.
- Programs must spell out actions to take when the red flags are detected
- Programs must address how periodic re-evaluation of the business’ policies and procedures.
