Privacy is your Friend: Reducing your Risks of Identity Theft

By Joe Milakvoic

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This Speech was given on October 15, 2009 at the Toastmasters Area 44 & 45 Speech Contest as the “Target Speaker”

Speech Title: “Privacy is Your Friend”

Introduction
The stories you are about to hear are true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Da da dah, da da da da daaaaaaaaaaaah
Does anyone remember what TV show that’s from ? (Dragnet)
In the stories you are about to hear, the innocent are victims of Identity Theft. The statistics on Identity Theft are staggering. My speech tonight is to persuade you to take action to reduce your risks of being a victim.
My two points:
1. Brief Education on Identity Theft – “It’s not just financial”
2. Reducing your risk - “Privacy is your friend”
If you don’t remember anything else tonight, I want you to remember and recite with me:
1. Identity Theft, It’s not just financial
2. Privacy is your Friend

I. Identity Theft: It’s not just financial”
Identity theft doesn’t occur just in the area of finance … There are four other areas:
I will be using some stories to illustrate the other areas and support my next point, Privacy is your friend.

A. Drivers License IDT
May I see your driver's license?
For the 9.9 million Americans who were victims of identity theft in 2002, they should have answered that question with a resounding--NO! As it was, nothing seemed out of the norm as they paid their grocery store cashier with a personal check. Asking to see their driver's license, the clerk quickly copied the license number onto the check, and placed it in the register drawer. Each of those 9.9 million people thought their identity was safe, but that simple act of allowing the clerk to record their driver’s license number opened them up to a long and exhausting battle with identity theft.
That is an example of Drivers License Identity Theft

B. SSN IDT
Four years ago, when Alicia Melendez of Carpentersville applied for a job at a Target store as a 16-year-old, she uncovered a situation that still isn't cleared up.
Someone else had been using her Social Security number since she was 11.
Her SSN was used to secure a $149,000 mortgage, maintain employment, obtain cell phone service and register two vehicles.
At the same time, Melendez said she was denied employment, cell phone service and almost missed out on student loans from Elgin Community College.
"It has been hard for me because when I go for a job interview I am hoping and praying that it won't come up,"
Melendez said. "I still can't get a job. I can't get my license and I can't rent an apartment."
This is an Example of Social Security Identity Theft

C. Medical IDT
If your heart was failing, how far would you go to fix it?
Archive for Friday, August 22, 2008
Man stole pal’s identity to pay for bypass surgery,
Authorities say John Parsons, 57, of Oak Park stole the identity of a mentally disabled friend to pay for heart bypass surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2007. Parsons allegedly racked up about $350,000 in medical expenses billed to the friend’s Medicaid account.
Archive for Sunday, March 15, 2009
‘I only wanted the pain to end’
In the U.S. illegally, cancer victim Mariana de la Torre used a fake ID to get
$530,000 worth of medical care.
Those Stories Represent the Fastest Growing Area of Identity Theft: Medical Identity Theft

D. Criminal IDT
Imagine being a Criminal Justice Student at Loyola University and then spending a week in Jail for a crime you didn’t commit.
The Englewood native's ordeal began Aug. 17 when Chicago Police officers approached him and his roommate in a park near Lake Shore Drive and Chicago Avenue. The officers were looking for robbers.
The students were soon cleared in the downtown robbery case. But after the officers checked Whitehorn's ID, they arrested him as a fugitive: His Social
Security number and his date of birth matched a Hammond, Ind., arrest warrant for a robbery suspect named Kirk Davis.
"I would not wish this on my worst enemy," Whitehorn said. "In class, they tell you that you're innocent until you're proven guilty. But I felt I was guilty until proven innocent”
This is a horror of Criminal Identity Theft

II. Reducing your Risk: “Privacy is your Friend”
Take privacy seriously, and teach your family to do the same. My favorite book and website
is howtobeinvisible by JJ Luna. Privacyrights.org is another great resource.
Be very careful about how much personal information is given out. Be firm. Don’t just give information out your information without questioning. Just because their form or computer asks, doesn’t mean that you have to give them all the information they ask for.
One example is hospitals and Doctors, They ask for you SSN; however, they only need the insurance information and birth-date. One time, after my questioning the person asking for my SSN, she finally gave up …
Examples: 2. Doctors office & Drivers license scanner
1. Home address – don’t give it out! Use a P.O. box or other “ghost” address
Do not put out-going mail in your mailbox!!! Or use the “steal me” flag.
2. Obtain and use a passport for ID. Instead of you drivers License.
Do NOT put your Drivers License number on your check
3, Who uses Facebook, twitter or other Social networking Sites?
Be very cautious of the information you put on there
and check the privacy settings; most of the default settings are very public.
4. Be extremely careful to protect your SSN:
Do NOT carry your Social Security card in your wallet or purse.
Do not allow anyone to put your Social Security Number on a check
In the story of the Teenage girl I told, her SSN was bought in Chicago for $200

Conclusion:
I do those steps and much much more.
I have been called paranoid, but just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me!
I hope you enjoyed my speech and are more informed about the problem of Identity Theft.
My call to action for you is to Embrace Privacy and be very careful about how much personal information is given out.
Once again, If you don’t remember anything else tonight, I want you to remember and recite with me:
1. Identity Theft, It’s not just financial
2. Privacy is your Friend
AND
Remember: Just because someone asks for your information, doesn’t mean you have to give it out!