Protecting Your Company & Your Employees

Regardless of your company’s size, here’s what you should know about your liability for identity theft!

Facts that may impact your business:

• Do you have customers’ personal information?
• Do you have employee records?
• Do you have vendor data?

If any data regarding your customers, employees or vendors is stolen, lost, mishandled or misplaced, you may find yourself facing legal issues.

John Gardner, a leading authority on the identity theft crisis says, “The Federal Government can’t catch the identity theft criminals, so they’ve decided to place the responsibility of the crime on you, the business owner, with the creation of FACTA (the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act).”

On July 21, 2005, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Security Breaches of Customers’ Data Trigger Lawsuits.” The article reported that for the first time, the FTC has “invoked its authority to pursue unfair business practices involving lax computer security.”

“The responsibility and liability to protect personal information is squarely on the shoulders of the business owner – regardless of how big or small an operation may be,” says the vice chairman of a large regional bank. “We’re also making the Identity Theft Shield product, which we consider to be the best on the market, available to our employees and our customers.”

Many people relate identity theft to just credit card theft. But in fact, identity theft actually involves these five different areas.

1. Department Of Motor Vehicles – an identity thief could obtain a drivers license in your name and accumulate traffic tickets in your name.
2. Social Security – an identity thief could use your Social Security number for employment purposes and you could get the tax bill.
3. Medical Information Bureau – an identity thief could use your personal information to obtain prescriptions or medical help which might reduce your available benefits.
4. Criminal Identity – an identity thief could use your information to escape fines or jail time.
5. Financial Identity – an identity thief could use your information to obtain money, goods, or services leaving you with the bill.

Please contact Benefit Specialists of New York at (315) 470-1930 for more information on Identity Theft Shield Protection and Pre-Paid Legal Services.

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