Identity Theft – Small Towns are new target for Identity Theft

The other weekend I was chatting with my mother when she told me about some of our neighbors from the town where I grew up. I grew up in a small town (small meaning just a bit larger than everyone knows everyone) with a population of about 1800 when I was born. It was town where even if you didn’t know someone you could pretty much trust them. It was a town where a jay-walker was a crime wave. It was, and still is, a blue collar town.

Now that I’ve set up the background I’ll tell you what my mother told me – our neighbors, who are in their late 80’s, were approached by three men in their home claiming to be there to check the water. One kept the wife busy, another kept the husband busy and the third went to “check the water”.

Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, the men were pleasant and they soon left. However, our neighbors discovered a few days later that their bank account had $10,000 removed by the husband. Which is very disturbing due to the fact that he is confined to a wheelchair and has to be driven whereever he needs to go.

A couple of weeks later people in other towns in the area also had been taken for money in a similar manner.

It seems more evident now that small town America is being targeted for Identity Theft. No longer is it confined to larger cities or more affluent towns.

What banks and credit card companies, among others, are not telling you is that once your identity is stolen it is spread quickly around the world. Once the initial hit on your id is taken for what the perpetrators can get quickly, they sell it to someone else who uses it in another way and then it is sold again and again and again.

What makes Identity Theft Shield (a joint offering from Pre-Paid Legal and Kroll Background America) different is that you can live your life without having each and everyone of your movements triggering an alert. A recent offering by another company sets a fraud alert, which will cause a confirmation to be required from you. I am not privy to how Identity Theft Shield works, but my guess would be that your history is analyzed and when something happens that is out of the ordinary based upon your history then your confirmation is required.

How can I determine this? Back in the Spring of 2006 a computer from the Veterans Administration was stolen. I was on that computer I notified Kroll about my concern and they put an alert out. Shortly after that I opened a new bank account and did not receive an alert or denial from the bank.

I was expecting one. I was actually dissapointed. Pleasantly disappointed that is.

I do not think I will ever give this service up because of the confidence and peace of mind it gives me.

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I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

Virginia Tech, September 11, Columbine and Your Civil Liberties

You know how you sometimes catch just catch the tailend of things? Well this morning I caught the tail end of an interview on the news. Apparently an investigation into the shooting at Virginia Tech just released its findings and someone – I didn’t catch who – was talking about how the shooter talked about Columbine. Do you remember the tragedy at Columbine?

So, what does this have to do with our civil liberties?

As soon as I caught that I started thinking that this MAY be leading us to having to watch what we say and to whom, much like we did after September 11. If you remember after the planes flew into the World Trade Center towers there were many people taken into custody for talking about the terrorist attacks and negatively about the Bush 2 administration. Just talking about it.

Those people had their 2nd Amendment rights totally dismissed for just talking about something.

This brings me back to the shooting attack at Virginia Tech. This could possibly another step down the road to limiting speech – what you can and cannot say. I try to be considerate about what I say and how I say it) so I don’t offend anyone, however, I strongly believe in our 2nd Amendment. I believe it is imperative for any society to be able to say what they want or feel.

With Pre-Paid Legals comprehensive plan you are protected on many fronts including Identitiy Theft (protecting your from people using your name illegaly), to unlimited access to some of the best attorneys, to 24 hour emergency access to those same attorneys should you ever be detained by authorities for ANY reason.

I know I am protected. Are you? If not you should check out what we have to offer!

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I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

Disabilities and landlords

Attn: (Attorney)

You are indeed an inspiration to your profession and the law firm.  Thank you for saving my sanity and peace of mind.  I was so scared and there was no one to help me but you.

You went above and beyond the call of duty to defend my rights as a human being seeking the truth when I was being taken advantage of and humiliated.  You uncovered the wrong doing at {the} Apartments.

I was being charged for one month rent in December of 2005 when in fact it was rented on the 15th of December.  I was also charged for a gate card that was not operational. You quoted the law and up rooted all those hidden facts.  Those people had no regard for human rights or people with disabilities.

I am happy to tell you that I was only billed eighty-nine dollars ($89.00) not over eight hundred dollars as previously requested b the apartment manager.  I must also inform you that the employees that were involved in my persecution is no longer at that complex.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are a very brilliant lady.  My regards to the law firm.  Keep up the good work and may God bless you.

Sincerely,
D. Wallace

To learn what Pre-Paid Legal Service’s Membership plans are available in your area visit my Pre-Paid Legal website.

A tale of hot tubs and a family emergency

Dear Pre-Paid Legal,

Before my retirement after 30 years as a police officer, I had only used lawyers for the purchase of my home. Since becoming a member of Pre-Paid Legal Services only three short years ago, my family and I have used our membership calling (the provider law firm) for assistance, help, and advice almost 30 times because we can.

Most recently I successfully used my membership again, and I am very pleased to forward this success story to you.

In November of 2001, my wife and I were at a fall home show. While there, we made an impulse purchase and put a $300 deposit on a hot tub.

As relatively new members to Pre-Paid Legal Services, we knew we could have the contract reviewed but did not want to bother the lawyers with something so trivial. The very nice sales representative said that he would be calling to follow up in the spring to arrange for delivery and final payment.

In February of 2002, my mother suffered a massive stroke and passed away, the last thing on my mind was the hot tub and unfortunately the invoice for the hot tub was misplaced with my mother’s effects.

The company sales representative did not follow up with us as promised and we could not remember the name of the company or any information regarding the deposit. We were resigned to the fact that we had lost $300.

In September of 2003, we were surprised when we located the contract. I called the company three times, explained the circumstances hoping they would take everything into consideration and refund my deposit. I was wrong.

The company pointed out that their contract clearly stated that deposits were non-refundable and since over one year had passed from the signing date, my deposit money would not be applied to any other purchase.

I was not able to gain any satisfaction through my own efforts, but instead of getting upset, I had PPL.

I called (the provider law firm) and spoke with [a Provider Attorney] who gave me advice and offered to write a letter on my behalf. I have heard of many success stories from other members [he] has written letters for, but this was the first for me. He was very understanding and up front when he said that he could not promise results but did promise to try his very best for us.

Once again, [he] came through and a few days ago, I received a certified cheque representing a full refund from the same company who insisted that my deposit was non-refundable.

A special thank you to [my Provider Attorney] and the staff of (the provider law firm). You help to make Mr. Stonecipher’s vision of affordable legal access to quality law firms possible.

I will make donations to two of my favorite youth charities on behalf of Pre-Paid Legal Services and (the provider law firm). The first one is the Royal Canadian Air Cadets whose motto is “To learn, to service, to advance.”

The second charity is to the Special Olympics fund for the challenged. It is the dogged determination of these young people with special needs who do not let challenges get in the way of their goals to succeed.

Sincerely,
David Hutzel
Ontario

Identity Theft service on TV – how to protect your identity

I just saw an ad for an ID Theft service on TV. There is this guy who is advertising his Social Security Number on the side of a truck and handing out pamphlets because he is so sure of this service.

I went to the website advertised to check it out. As I read over their program it really reads more like an insurance rather than an assurance – vis-a-vis to protect money they are claiming to put on the line (up to $1,000,000) they will “hire the best” to go to work for you. Who are “the best”? Do the attorneys know the investigators and how well do they work together?

From what I read all they do is immediately put up a fraud alert and keep it up. With respect to children they will check the use of the childs Social Security Number to see if it is being used. This negelcts many other aspects of ID Theft such as your drivers license, your insurance policies and many others where it is occurring and growing rapidly.

They don’t tell you all that is needed is your name and address to commit fraud in your name.

With PrePaid Legal Services, Inc. several years were spent determining how to best integrate the legal services with the investigative services of Kroll Background America to give our members the absolute best Identity Theft Protection.

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I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.

Help During A Family Crisis

I was just talking with my girlfriend the other day about her brother. He had called and was quite distressed because it was the 2nd anniversary of my girlfriends mother’s passing away. He is one to be very sensitive when it comes to family issues.

This got me to thinking.

When my girlfriends mother died in 2005 we traveled about 500 miles into another state for the funeral and to execute her duties as executrix for her mothers estate. It really was a pain in the butt because we had to feel our way through the process and performed a lot of trial and error to get everything finalized.

My mother lives on the east coast of the U.S. and I currently live on the west coast. What will my sister and I do when she passes away? Neither of us live in the same state as her and neither of us know the laws regarding these kind of things. What will we do about her bank accounts, investments, bank box, how about execution of the will, what about durable power of attorney and living will execution? What if there are problems? Who will we turn to? Pick an attorney out of the phone book and hope for the best?

I don’t think so. With our PrePaid Legal Services, Inc. membership I now have access to some of the best lawyers in every state of the U.S. and most provinces of Canada. I don’t have to worry about trying to figure out where to start and each of the steps to resolve her estate. I will be able to call them and they will will help me get started and be there to answer any questions along the way.

Thinking about this has taken a lot of the stress about this eventuality out of my life. Dealing with death and funerals of a family member or loved one is stressful enough without having to worry about dealing with the legalities and fine print.

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I am not an attorney, therefore, do not take anything in any of my posts as legal advice. In any legal situation, as in a medical situation, always consult a professional.

The posts on this blog are only intended to provide the reader with information on how and in what circumstances they may use their Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. membership.

I am not an employee of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. I am an Independent Associate.