Published April 2002

Experts offer tips to protect against ID theft

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

The statistics are chilling:

n Every minute someone in the United States has his identity stolen.

n It takes the victim about 12-1/2 months from the time the crime was committed to realize his identity has been stolen, usually when creditors start calling, loan applications are turned down or background checks for employment come up bad.

n And once the victim is aware of the theft, it takes another two years — and 175 hours of filling out paperwork and making telephone calls — to clean up the mess the thief left behind while charging up credit cards in the victim's name or committing other crimes under the victim’s identity.

Those are the numbers public accountants Michael Quackenbush and Kent Hansen shared with members of the Snohomish Chamber of Commerce during a recent presentation titled “Identity Theft: 10 Steps You Must Take to Protect Yourself and Your Business.”

While some are victims of “Dumpster divers,” people who go through trash looking for pre-approved credit card applications, bank account information and the like, as many as 21 percent of the victims know the thief, Hansen said.

“It turns out to be a family member, a co-worker, a next-door neighbor, the baby sitter, someone like that,” someone who may be able to access a person’s Social Security, driver’s license or bank account number, he said.

With that in mind, employers have a responsibility to keep employee and client information secure, Quackenbush said.

“Employees are stealing other employees’ identification out of personnel files. They’re stealing customers’ and clients’ information out of receivable files, and they’re selling that information,” he said.

To prevent the workplace from becoming a source of identity theft, there have to be controls in place for how information is secured and who has access, Quackenbush said.

One control should be activated even before an employee comes on board.

“When you hire somebody, are you doing the criminal and civil background check?” Quackenbush asked audience members before adding that background checks should extend to cleaning and temporary services as well as permanent employees.

“There’s been a firm that got burned by the janitorial people who were stealing tax information out of the files and reselling it,” Quackenbush said.

Once personnel checks have been made and there is procedure in place for who can access certain information, there needs to a plan for handling that information — including how it should be discarded, he said.

“Be sure to have shredders available,” Quackenbush said. For information that’s no longer needed, make sure it’s shredded. Other information should be kept under lock and key.

For big jobs, such as when businesses purge documents every few years, employers should use an outside shredding service, somebody that will bring trucks onsite, shred the documents and issue a receipt, he said.

Along with securing information within the workplace, employers need to keep in mind that outside companies, such as vendors or auditors, may have access to their business data. Before handing it over, employers should learn how those outside bodies will keep the information secure.

“The big thing is to protect your business, protect your employees and protect yourself,” Quackenbush said.

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