square_ad_9At Interquest Information Services, we are proud to be an agent for SAFE ID TRUST Identity Theft Recovery Services.  We offer an Identity Theft Recovery Plan to help return you and your family members to 100% pre-identity theft status.  You will have full access to Safe ID Trust’s personal coaches to help you with:

  • Full hands off ID recovery plan
  • Lost/Stolen Wallet Assistance
  • Advice on safe banking
  • How to get free credit reports
  • And so much more……

For more information, give us a call at:  1-800-455-1655

Identity Theft Facts

What Is Identity Theft?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“Identity theft is a form of stealing someone’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, usually as a method to gain access to resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name. The victim of identity theft (here meaning the person whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if they are held responsible for the perpetrator’s actions. Identity theft occurs when someone uses another’s personally identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.”

Notice the last sentence? Noticing money missing from your bank account is only the beginning! Imagine being pulled over for speeding, and the next thing you know you’re being handcuffed and arrested for a crime you did not commit, in a state you have never even been to. THAT is what true identity theft is. What would you do? Who would you call? Think it wont happen to you? Why do you have car insurance? Or homeowners insurance? In the case of identity theft, the odds are against you. You are more likely to fall victim to identity theft than your house is to catch fire. Why take the risk? You can have the same piece of mind with your identity protection by relying on Safe ID Trust to take care of you.

Who Would You Call?

If your identity was stolen tomorrow… who would you call?  How would you answer?  

I don’t know…

Not to worry, you are not alone. Most people are not aware of the damage ID theft can cause, until it is too late.  As a member of Safe ID Trust, you and your family will have the peace of mind knowing that you are protected.  In the event of an identity theft, we will recover the stolen identity back to pre-theft status, for an entire year, for only $300.   The bank… If only it were that easy!  Most banks and financial institutions will work with you regarding funds that have been illegally withdrawn from your account; however, they have nothing to do with the recovery or restoration of your stolen identity.   I have a plan with another company… That’s great news. Any plan is better than no plan. However, most plans only provide “assisted” recovery, meaning your plan provider will send you paperwork with instructions on what YOU need to do. At Safe ID Trust, we make it simple.  Once a police report has been filed, and you’ve signed a Limited Power of Attorney, we do the rest for you! Safe ID Trust provides a “FULL HANDS OFF” recovery plan. We do all the work to recover your identity and restore your good name to pre-theft status!  You may think you are covered, only to be extremely disappointed when you call for help.   That won’t happen to me… Did you know that approximately 1 in 30 consumers will have their identity stolen this year? Identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing and most reported crimes in the country. If you do not have a quality ID Theft Recovery Plan for you and your family, you are at risk for spending countless hours and thousands of dollars trying to restore your identity. Isn’t your family’s financial security worth $300?   The Police… Yes, you should contact the police to file a report. The police are willing to make a report. Typically, this is where the investigation starts and stops. More importantly, police and authorities have nothing to do with the actual restoration of your stolen identity. You will be left spending time and money trying to figure out who to call, who to write and what to say

Identity Theft Facts

A new identity fraud victim was hit every two seconds in America in 2013, with the number of victims climbing to 13.1 million over the year, according to Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2014 Identity Fraud Study. This is an uptick of more than 500,000 victims in 2012.1 Identity Theft / Fraud Statistics2

Statistic Verification
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Javelin Strategy & Research
Research Date: 7.8.2014
Identity theft is defined as the unauthorized use or attempted misuse of an existing credit card or other existing account, the misuse of personal information to open a new account or for another fraudulent purpose, or a combination of these types of misuse.

 

Identity Theft / Fraud Statistics Data
Average number of U.S. identity fraud victims annually 11,571,900
Percent of U.S. households that reported some type of identity fraud 7 %
Average financial loss per identity theft incident $4,930
Total financial loss attributed to identity theft in 2013 $24,700,000,000
Total financial loss attributed to identity theft in 2012 $21,000,000,000
Total financial loss attributed to identity theft in 2010 $13,200,000,000
Percent of Reported Identity Thefts by Type of Fraud Percent Reported
Misuse of Existing Credit Card 64.1 %
Misuse of Other Existing Bank Account 35 %
Misuse of Personal Information 14.2 %
Head of Household Characteristic that Experienced Identity Theft Percent in Category
The following represents the demographic of the head of household for which the fraud was reported. The corresponding percent is the total percent that reported a fraud inside the specific category.
Age  
18 – 24 8.5 %
25 – 34 7.6 %
35 – 49 7.9 %
50 – 64 7.3 %
65 + 4.3 %
Race  
White 7.3 %
Black / African American 5.2 %
Hispanic 5.8 %
American Indian / Alaska Native 6.1 %
Asian / Hawaiian / Pacific Islander 8.5 %
Two or More Races 11.6 %
Marital Status  
Married 8 %
Not Married 6 %
Household Income  
– $7,500 5.3 %
$7,500 – $14,999 4.8 %
$15,000 – $24,999 4.6 %
$25,000 – $34,999 6.0 %
$35,000 – $49,999 6.6 %
$50,000 – $74,999 7.9 %
$75,000 + 12.3 %
Identity Fraud Rate Incidence Rate
2011 4.9 %
2010 4.35 %
2009 6 %
2008 5.44 %
2007 4.51 %
2006 4.71 %
2005 5.04 %
States with the highest identity theft complaint rate Victims Per 100,000
Arizona 149
California 139.1
Florida 133.3
Texas 130.3
Nevada 126.0
States with the lowest identity theft complaint rate Victims Per 100,000
South Dakota 33.8
North Dakota 35.7
Iowa 44.9
Montana 46.5
Wyoming 46.9

  Crooks are misusing the information for a shorter period of time, making them harder to catch. Consumer information was misused for an average of 48 days in 2012, down from 55 days in 2011 and 95 days in 2010, according to a Javelin Strategy & Research 2013 Identity Fraud Report.3 1 in 4 who have received a data breach letter became a victim of identity theft and fraud, according to Javelin.

Who is most at risk for identity theft?

College Students According to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, the highest percentage of identity theft victims were age 20-29. Is this age group more susceptible because they are less likely to regularly track bank account and credit card activity, pay for identity theft monitoring services, and use discretion when sharing information on social media? Children According to the same FTC source, children, 19 and under, made up 6% of all identity theft victims in 2012. Parents worried about their little ones should check the credit bureaus to see if there’s a consumer credit file under their child’s name. Such a file is triggered by an application for credit, a credit account, or a public record. That means a child who has an existing credit report may be a target or victim of identity theft. The elderly According to the FTC’s Senior Identity Theft Workshop, growing problems for this age group are government benefit fraud and medical identity fraud. The deceased The identities of nearly 2.5 million deceased Americans are used improperly to apply for credit products and services each year, according to a 2012 study from ID Analytics.

Tax-related identity theft increased at least 33% in 2013 compared to 2012 according to a recent Treasury Inspector General Report. This FTC subcategory of ID theft increased by 13% in 2013, however overall it only made up 2.3% of all identity theft complaints received by the FTC.4 For 2013, financial identity theft made up 28.5% of all the identity theft complaints received by the FTC; the breakdown is: credit card (16.9%), bank (7.7%) and loan (3.9%). There was no significant change in the total financial identity theft complaints between CY 2012 and 2013, however, there were some remarkable differences with the three types of fraud that compose financial identity theft. Loan fraud increased almost 28% in 2013 with the following increases in the three loan subcategories: auto (44.1%), real estate (25.7%) and business/personal/student (20.9%). These were increases over CY 2012. New account fraud (credit card, bank and loans) made up 17.3% of all identity theft complaints received by the FTC in 2013, whereas the remainder of financial fraud (11.2%) was on existing accounts. New utility and wireless accounts made up 12.3% of the total identity theft complaints in 2013, and together these two subcategories increased 21.5% compared to CY 2012. Contributions from fraud on new and existing telephone accounts were not significant. Identity Theft can affect consumers in many ways, but there are also many ways to keep your identity from being “hijacked,” and to assist you if you have been a victim of it:5

  • Protect your Social Security number (SSN), credit card and debit card numbers, PINs (personal identification numbers), passwords and other personal information.
  • Protect your incoming and outgoing mail.
  • Keep your financial trash “clean.”
  • Keep a close watch on your bank account statements and credit card bills.
  • Avoid identity theft on the Internet.
  • Exercise your new rights under FACTA to review your credit record and report fraudulent activity.

A New Identity Fraud Victim Every Two Seconds in 2013 According to Latest Javelin Strategy & Research Study6

Number of Identity Fraud Victims Rose to 13.1 Million, but Fraud Decreased to $18 Billion

Dramatic Increase in Account Takeover

Data Breaches Become Even More Damaging

Fraudsters use Stolen Information with eBay, PayPal, Amazon and other Internet Accounts

  1. Fox Business: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/02/05/someone-became-identity-theft-victim-every-2-seconds-last-year/ #sthash.6hIvYyzL.dpuf
  2. Statistic Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/identity-theft-fraud-statistics/ Identity Theft / Fraud Statistics – See more at: http://safeidtrust.biz/fru/pg/39845/mitem/19815/default.aspx#sthash.6hIvYyzL.dpuf
  3. Javelin Strategy & Research 2013 Identity Fraud Report
  4. Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/article/identity-theft-recent-trends
  5. FDIC: https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/alerts/theft.html
  6. Javelin Research: https://www.javelinstrategy.com/news/1467/92/A-New-Identity-Fraud-Victim-Every-Two-Seconds-in-2013-According-to-Latest-Javelin-Strategy-Research-Study/d,pressRoomDetail

Identity Theft FAQ's

Can identity theft be prevented? The Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement authorities tell us that identity theft cannot be 100% prevented. A very well known Identity Theft company with constant national media advertising was recently fined $12 million for false advertising for claiming that their customers’ identities could not be stolen. According to Lisa Madigan, Illinois’s Attorney General: “There are some very basic steps that you can take to protect yourself from identity theft, and most of them are free.” She adds: “There is unfortunately no foolproof way to avoid ID theft.”   However, there are some concrete steps you can take to seriously reduce your risk of having your identity stolen. As Ms. Madigan said, these are all free, and they go way beyond shredding your old bills. Who does Safe ID Trust use to recover clients’ identities and how are they trained?   Safe ID Trust uses well trained recovery agents, often including experienced professionals who have fully restored identities. In addition to their regular training and experience, Recovery Specialists have all undergone a  proprietary training program designed  by Safe ID Trust’s consultants.   This specialized training results in effective, quick and accurate resolution of identity theft issues that would be difficult or impossible for the victim, or  any layperson to duplicate. We are now seeking a process patent for our recovery platform and methodologies.   Once the Recovery Specialist is assigned to the case, they will work on your behalf until your identity has been recovered, and returned to pre-theft status. Your Recovery Specialist will stay in contact with you as progress is made. Why can’t a consumer rely on their local police to resolve identity theft cases once they make a police report? Unfortunately, victims of ID theft who go to local police receive little help beyond the ability to file a police report. Most police departments do not have the knowledge or the manpower to track down and arrest identity thieves. Police departments are underfunded and understaffed, and they tend to use their limited resources to concentrate on violent crime and robberies in their communities, rather than financial crimes they know little about. Safe ID Trust specialists have the training and the extra incentive to put the time in to recover our members ’ identities. How long does the identity recovery process take?   There is a huge difference between the recovery period when a consumer tries to do it alone, and when we do it for them. According to the FTC, cases of identity theft can take anywhere from 3 to 5,000 hours to resolve. A study of identity theft victims showed that more than half were still working to fix the problem more than a year after the theft happened, while 17% took three or more years.   In contrast, Safe ID Trust members spend no more than two hours of their own time dealing with the identity theft. Historically, about 20% of our cases have been resolved in 48 hours or less, about 46% within 30 days, 20% within 45 days, and the remainder within 90 days. We have never taken longer than 90 days to solve an identity theft case and fully restore the member’s identity to pre-theft status.   * Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2003, by the Identity Theft Resource Center, cited on US Department of Justice website. What does 100% identity recovery mean?   We will take the member to pre-theft status. We impose no dollar limit or time limit on the recovery process.   Should a member become a victim of any form of Identity Theft, we will restore them to pre-theft status.

  • 100% recovery
  • No restrictions
  • No loopholes
  • No monetary limitations
  • Never any additional costs