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Identity Theft Shield Identity Theft Protection Review |
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| Does not prevent identity theft but assists in recovery | |
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Identity Theft Shield from PrePaid Legal and Kroll, Inc provides solid identity theft recovery support for victims but takes no steps to protect subscribers from having their identities stolen in the first place. The service offers single bureau credit report monitoring of your Experian credit file for $9.95 per month which also includes a free Experian credit report and score at sign up. Experian is the largest of the three credit bureaus and will likely reflect most major changes to your credit report, but we believe that three bureau credit monitoring is a better option since it eliminates the risk that a potentially fraudulent account or entry may not show up on your Experian credit report but end up on one of the other two bureau files in your name. Identity Theft Shield also offers a Gold package which includes credit report monitoring of all three bureaus, including Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, for $12.95. The Gold package also includes a credit report from each of the three credit bureaus at sign up.
Credit report monitoring is a good tool to help identify inconsistencies in your credit report that could be caused by identity thieves, but it doesn't prevent identity theft in any way. Other services we have reviewed, such as LifeLock, Identity Guard, Identity Truth and Trusted ID, take proactive measures to prevent identity theft crimes from being perpetrated against their subscribers. Identity Theft Shield, on the other hand, offers no tools that actually prevent identity theft. Identity Theft Shield does offer extensive recovery services to its subscribers if they are the unfortunate victims of identity theft. Identity Theft Shield sets fraud alerts and sends notifications to all applicable government agencies and financial institutions on behalf of the victimized subscriber. It also monitors an extensive list of public and private databases in an effort to identify any misuse of a subscriber's personal information. Identity Theft Shield's recovery services also help reduce some out-of-pocket expenses and fraud resolution specialists are able to handle much of the heavy lifting when it comes to recovering a stolen identity. Setting fraud alerts and proactively searching national databases for suspicious activity are both great services for victims, but they are also extremely effective in preventing and identifying potential identity theft crimes. In fact, many of the other services we have reviewed offer these tools to all subscribers as preventative measures rather than after a crime has already been committed as Identity Theft Shield does. We do believe that it is a good service for victims, but many of the solutions it offers to help recover a stolen identity are used by other identity theft protection services to actually prevent identity theft in the first place. The lack of proactive identity theft prevention measures is the biggest downside to the Identity Theft Shield service. |
Search our blog archives and frequently asked questions for more information about Identity Theft Protection Services
| Price: | $9.95/mo with single bureau credit monioring; $12.95/mo with 3 bureau credit monitoring |
| Type: | Detection - 3 bureau credit monitoring |
| Credit Reports Delivered: | Free Experian credit report and score at sign up |
| Fraud Monitoring: | No |
| Mail List Removal: | No |
| ID Theft Insurance/ Guarantee: | No |
NextAdvisor Identity Theft Protection Blog Headlines
A bad week for Facebook, MySpace
I thought I was using hyperbole on Tuesday when I used the headline "Another day, another Facebook attack." Or maybe I should have just saved it for today. While Tuesday's news concerned a phishing attack, today's attack is far more insidious. According to the Facebook application developer that discovered the Facebook security vulnerability, it could [...]
Don't open that email from the FDIC?
Because it isn't really from the FDIC. There has been a recent rash of phishing emails that appear to be sent by the FDIC. The emails say, "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with [...]
ZoneAlarm offers 50% off: Virus and identity theft protection in one
ZoneAlarm is offering a deal that almost seems to good to be true. ZoneAlarm is taking 50% off of the regular price of its Internet Security Suite which comes with one-year of Identity Guard's Good Start identity theft protection. At $24.95 a year for a three-PC license, it's by far the cheapest Internet security software [...]
TrustedID introduces Identity Threat Score
TrustedID, our favorite identity theft protection service, has just added a new feature to help determine your personal risk of identity theft. TrustedID will assess millions of records on hundreds of public and private databases and analyze that information for patterns that could indicate if you have been or are about to be a victim [...]
It's easier to steal a passport than a television
A British insurance firm recently conducted a survey of burglary victims, and found that many burglars are looking for personal documents. In 2008, 15% of British burglary victims were targeted specifically for sensitive information, and 74% of burglaries resulted in the theft of some personal or financial documents. LV, the firm that conducted the survey, [...]
PYIW: Protect Your Identity Week
I guess it's fitting that in a month of costumes and masks we spend some time thinking about identity theft. The week of October 17th is National Protect Your Identity Week. A program of the Better Business Bureau, PYIW seeks to raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft. The site, protectyouridnow.org, site has [...]
Second PayChoice breach in one month
Earlier this month, PayChoice, a payroll processing firm, was breached by hackers. Last week, PayChoice was hacked yet again. The last hack was unusually complex, involving a data breach, phishing emails, malicious websites, and a Trojan horse. The latest attack hinged on a security vulnerability in PayChoice's online portal, OnlineEmployer.com. It appears as though hackers [...]
Identity theft victim spends weeks in jail
Some identity theft victims are never able to completely repair the damage to their credit. Some victims are declined mortgages or student loans. Some victims suffer monetary losses. Nearly all victims have to devote a great deal of time and effort to the restoration of their identities. But only a few victims suffer the worst [...]
FBI chief falls for phishing email
Last week, FBI chief Robert Mueller spoke about the dangers of cybercrime, and admitted that he had once been fooled by a phishing email. At first, Mueller believed the email to be a "perfectly legitimate" message from his bank, requesting that he verify some personal information. He followed a link to a spoofed website, where [...]
More phishing news?
Today, the FBI charged 53 defendants with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, the largest number ever charged in a cybercrime case. 33 have already been arrested and the remainder are being sought by law enforcement. Egyptian authorities charged 47 defendants linked to the same phishing operation. The arrests follow a multinational investigation [...]
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