Every two seconds someone in America has their identity stolen. The U.S Department of Justice reports that identity thieves stole more than $18 billion from 17.6 million U.S. victims last year.
To combat this growing criminal industry, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller launched the “Freeze Identity Thieves” statewide public awareness effort yesterday, aimed at arming Hoosiers with a simple, effective ID theft prevention tool: the credit freeze.
Zoeller is urging Hoosiers to sign up for a credit freeze to guard against fraud this holiday shopping season, when cybercrime is common.
The free credit freeze prevents any new lines of credit from being opened in someone’s name unless that person lifts the freeze himself or herself. This effectively stops identity thieves from using any stolen information, for example a Social Security Number, to access and rack up peoples’ credit.
The credit freeze can be initiated within minutes online with each of the three credit reporting agencies at the Attorney General’s website www.IndianaConsumer.com/idtheft. Once a freeze is initiated, the consumer can temporarily lift it at any time if they would like to apply for new credit or a loan.
More than 400 data breaches exposing the personal and financial information of Indiana residents were reported to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office this year, and more than 1,000 identity theft complaints were filed.
Identity theft victims experience an average $1,343 loss according to a U.S. Department of Justice report, but that amount can be much higher and it can take years to clear up.
Zoeller said the credit freeze is the best protection against fraud and identity theft, and is superior to credit monitoring services that detect rather than prevent fraud.
The $1.6 million “Freeze Identity Thieves” campaign is being paid for exclusively with settlement funds received by the Attorney General’s Office for violations of Indiana’s consumer protection laws and required by the court to be used in consumer education, including a recent multi-state settlement reached with the three national credit reporting agencies that will strengthen consumer protections in the credit reporting process
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