While most public focus remain on personal identity theft, Brian Kemp, the Secretary of State of Georgia, is putting his focus on another type: business identity theft. This type is as easy as it sounds: thieves pretend to represent a business either for personal financial gain or to garner the personal information of individuals.
Kemp recently announced that the National Association of Secretaries of State, or NASS, released a white paper to all of its members in an attempt to educate business owners and neutralize this threat. You can find the paper, entitled Developing State Solutions to Business Identity Theft: Prevention and Detection Efforts by Secretary of State Offices at nass.org.
Kemp hopes that people representing many different types of business will take advantage of this publication, from state offices to financial institutions. After all, we are working towards the same goal: preventing identity theft and fraud. A task force was used to develop the document to ensure that varying opinions were heard.
Some of the efforts Georgia is taking to prevent this type of identity theft include raising general awareness among business owners and working to help law enforcement prosecute the criminals. One huge problem with identity theft is that the culprits can be difficult to catch. It’s heartening that at least one state is trying to be proactive about prevention.
Kemp, in his early days in office, instituted a requirement that businesses that form or renew online provide the state with an email address. This email address is used as a point of contact if changes to the agency’s mailing address on file are made. This deters criminals who may try to receive the business’ demographic and financial information by changing its address to theirs. Another way the state tries to help prevent the crime is by quickly alerting the authorities if fraud does occur, usually within 24 hours – and sometimes within 12. While theft may still happen, it can stop it before the thief has time to carry out her entire plot.
Funny how the Secretary’s plans sound a lot like an identity theft protection plan. With this type of plan, you can be notified very quickly if your personal information is changed on any of your accounts, including not just your address but other pertinent details. You can also get help with getting your life back in order if identity theft does occur in a very timely manner.
And it doesn’t take a task force to set up a plan. You can find the plan for you just by exploring this website. This puts you ahead of an entire state in preparation, all for an affordable price and just a few minutes of your time.
Just visit our homepage by clicking our logo to compare identity theft protection services.