We have written about identity theft in previous blogs, focusing primarily on red flag regulations. Identity Theft lends itself to background screening due to the many identifiers used for the process. End users of consumer reports need to be conscious of what they do with background check information when they are done using it. Developing a document destruction program for your company is the best place to start. In the following article found on yahoo.com, the author describes how valuable your identity is on the open black market.
The value of your stolen identity: About $120
Consumers who’ve had to invest months of time and gallons of antacid on resolving an identity theft problem may find cold comfort in the revelation that identities like theirs are painfully cheap when they’re traded online. The going rate for a “complete” identity (including name, address, passport, credit card info, driver’s license number, and even banking passwords): About 120 bucks.
In stark contrast to that pittance: The average identity theft-based fraud actually reaps over $21,000 for the perpetrator.
Why so cheap? Primarily it’s because there are so many stolen identities available, so crooks who are willing to take the risk on using someone else’s identity to drain bank accounts and run up bills have a vast number of IDs to choose from. In a perverse way that’s good news: Even if your account and identity information is compromised, there’s a good chance that you won’t actually be the victim of a financial crime because the ID may never be used.
[...] Value of your stolen identity [...]