Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Name, Your Credit and Your Vital Information, and What to Do When Someone Hijacks Any of These [Paperback]

The Silver Lake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

Identity theft will cost U.S. consumers and their banks or credit card companies more than $1.4 billion in 2004.

A typical victim spends an average of $800 and 175 hours over almost two years cleaning up after an ID theft incident.

In an information-based economy, your personal information means as much to you as money in the bank meant to your grandparents.

This book explains, in plain English, how to make sure your credit history, financial data, account information and other essentials remain safe. It combines interviews with law enforcement and security experts with case studies and examples to give readers the knowledge they need to avoid ID theft. And it includes practical advice about what to do when someone gets your information and starts using it illegally.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This comprehensive look at one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. does exactly what its long title promises. It exhaustively lays out all the specifics related to the different ways that someone can steal personal information and use it to commit crimes, primarily to fraudulently obtain purchases and loans. The most interesting chapter details "The Mechanics of ID Theft," including credit card and mailbox theft—and gives fascinating details about the various ways that criminals have stolen complete mailboxes to get information. Another excellent chapter details the use of Social Security numbers in illegal immigration, terrorism and other crimes. The authors take a dim view of credit bureaus such as Equifax and TransUnion, arguing convincingly that credit bureaus "hope to tap into anxieties of people who worry about ID theft" and that—most alarmingly—"all of the major cases of ID theft in the 1990s and 2000s" have involved "information taken from credit bureau files." Overall, however, the book is long on background and short on advice; it is almost a primer for how a potential identity thief could successfully operate. The authors favor comprehensiveness over concision, leading to bland advice such as "Keep checks in a secure place" and "Clean your wallet."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

This new work examines this increasingly common and destructive crime. Good, current overview, recommended for the public and for libraries. -- Library Journal, February 2004

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Silver Lake; 1 edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563437775
• ISBN-13: 978-1563437779
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,346,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why pay?, April 24, 2005

By 

calmly - See all my reviews

This review is from: Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Name, Your Credit and Your Vital Information, and What to Do When Someone Hijacks Any of These (Paperback)

Three key problems I found with this book:

1. It is wordy and the key useful material doesn't stick out or appear all together.

2. There isn't much useful material.

3. You may be easily able to obtain equivalent or better info free.

I haven't read any other book on identity theft. And I haven't made any study of identity theft. But, after reading this book, I went thru and made a list of material that seemed useful. From the list, I crossed out precautions I was already aware of. I was left with 1 item, all the others may be good reminders but only the 1 item was something I wasn't aware of and am grateful to be. But even that one wasn't that big a deal.

The free brochure my state representative sent me had about as much useful material. And I quickly just found a government web site on identify theft that seems more useful than this book.

Mostly what I learned from this book was how easy identity theft can be for those who are willing to break the law, even if one tries to prevent it. So I appreciate that lesson from this book, but it appears that info of equivalent or greater value is readily obtainable free and seems to have been since this book appeared in 2004.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical Info, Told in Context, October 18, 2005

By 

Phillip Branaugh "[e-mail]" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Name, Your Credit and Your Vital Information, and What to Do When Someone Hijacks Any of These (Paperback)

This is the best book that I've found on this subject.
Lots of people are worried about ID theft. But the truth is not very many understand exactly what the crime is and how it works. This book explains both--in good detail, but also in plain English.
The book is full of case studies and preventive steps you can take for reducing your risk of having your ID stolen. But it also makes the important point that preventing ID theft is mostly a matter of changing your lifestyle. Being willing to be a little difficult or uncooperative when people ask for your credit card or--more importantly--your Social Security number in everyday business transactions.
Learning...and being willing...to say "No" is a key part of mindset you need to stay secure. This book does an excellent job of explaining that.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Useful!, March 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Identity Theft: How to Protect Your Name, Your Credit and Your Vital Information, and What to Do When Someone Hijacks Any of These (Paperback)

The book says it all: what it is, whom it targets, how it is accomplished, how to prevent it, and, if it's too late for prevention, what to do once it happens to you. I especially liked the fact that they use real-life examples garnered from interviews with enforcement agencies and offer tips and checklists that allow readers to review their own habits and vulnerabilities.
Really helpful!