Identity theft has become so commonplace that the odds are pretty high that you’ve been a victim or you know someone who has. Those odds continue to increase, according to a survey released today by Javelin Strategy & Research. It found that the number of identity fraud cases rose by 12 percent in the U.S. last year, to 11.1 million. And the amount of money potentially affected by these frauds, Javelin says, grew by 12.5 percent, to $54 billion. On the bright side, however, Javelin’s survey also showed that more consumers are taking action when identity fraud occurs (i.e., filing police reports) and are also doing more to protect their data in the first place.

Javelin’s research also showed that there have been other improvements over previous years, including: The average time it takes to resolve a fraud dropped last year by 30 percent, to 21 hours; the number of reported arrests in fraud cases doubled; the number of prosecutions of fraud tripled and the number of successful convictions also doubled. The Javelin survey is in its seventh year, and is co-sponsored by Fiserv, Intersections, Wells Fargo & Co. and ITAC, the Identity Theft Assistance Center.

Javelin says that the survey is the nation’s longest-running study of identity fraud, with more than 29,000 U.S. respondents over the past seven years. Last year, the company did telephone interviews with 5,000 U.S. adults to identify and track the methods that fraudsters used, the impact of fraud on Americans and how these findings can help consumers most effectively avoid becoming victims of fraud. James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin, said in a statement:

The good news is consumers are getting more aggressive in monitoring, detecting and preventing fraud with the help of technology and partnerships with financial institutions, government agencies and resolution services.

Among the survey’s other key findings:

• Identity fraud that resulted from criminals opening new accounts with stolen information increased in 2009. The number of fraudulent new credit card accounts increased to 39 percent of all identity fraud victims, up from 33 percent in 2008. New online accounts opened fraudulently more than doubled over the previous year, and the number of new email payment accounts increased 12 percent. This year for the first time, the survey asked about new mobile phone account fraud and 29 percent of new accounts fraud victims reported new mobile phone accounts were fraudulently opened.
• Identification most likely to be compromised in a data breach continues to be full name (63 percent) and physical address (37 percent). With a year-over-year increase of 4 percent, health insurance information is increasingly targeted. The percentage of Social Security numbers compromised decreased to 32 percent from 38 percent in 2008.
• 75 percent of existing card fraud incidents came from credit cards, an increase of 12 percent over 2008. In contrast, existing debit card fraud incidents decreased 2 percent and represented 33 percent of total existing card fraud in 2009.
• Millennials (consumers aged 18-24 years old) take nearly twice as many days to detect fraud, compared to other age groups, and thus are fraud victims for longer periods of time. Millennials were found to be the less likely to monitor accounts regularly and the least likely group to take advantage of monitoring programs offered by financial institutions. However, Millennials were the most likely group to take action such as switching primary banks or switching forms of payment.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user clappstar

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A recent study shows that most taxpayers are painfully unaware that when they make a photocopy on a digital photo copier the machine makes an image and stores it on its hard drive.  Information being photocopied can be utilized by hackers for identity theft purposes.  The same threat can also be true for faxes that are sent on a digital fax machine.

Where are other places you might be putting your personal information out there for strangers to see without realizing it?

At Work:

Do you use online banking or other services at work?  Unless you’re constantly checking to see if you’re using a secure (SSL) connection, you might be exposing personal data to whomever might be on your work’s network.

At the Coffee Shop:

Wherever you’re on an unsecured wireless network, it’s possible that someone is peering into your online traffic.  For help to make lessen this threat, read our previous coverage.

At Your Favorite Restaurant:

What does your server do with your credit card slip when he/she is done with it?  At numerous restaurants, they leave them on a counter, unsecured.  With your credit card number and expiration date, an identity theif could rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars in illegitimate transactions before you even know it.

On Your New Favorite Web 2.0 Site:

Many new web services and websites are prompting you to enter in your Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail login information.  They want you to do this so they can scrub your contact list and see if anyone you know is already on the service and allow you to invite your existing friends to the service.

Be careful with your login and password.  Know whom you’re giving your information to because if you have valuable information on your email, you are giving this web site/service the keys to your kingdom.

(photo credit: Flickr User Andrew*)

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Why should a producer care if their production SAG or not? Because SAG actors are not allowed to work in non-SAG productions. Working with SAG gives producers access to the Guild’s pool of talent, which will ideally improve the quality of a web show because SAG actors have experience working on other professional productions.

I spoke with SAG to get more information about their foray into the online world. The union has created a “Special Internet/Online Agreement” for independent producers that’s stripped down (it’s only five pages), flexible, and should make the process of getting talented actors into your web show easier.

Let’s start off with a definition. What makes someone “independent”? According to Ray Rodriguez, SAG’s deputy national director of contracts, “There is one distinction, whether you are a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture Televisions Producers. If you’re not a member, then you are truly indie.” So FOX and Warners Bros. aren’t, but most online producers probably are. The distinction is important because being independent qualifies you for the streamlined contract.

The major difference between the Internet production contract and theatrical contract, Rodriguez explained, is that “actual compensation between actor and producer is negotiable.” So producers are not locked into the Byzantine pay chart the Guild requires on major motion pictures. Plus, working conditions outlined in the contract “are not as detailed or restrictive as in the main agreement,” according to Rodriguez.

Some of the elements of the Internet productions contract include:

• Mandatory rest periods before an actor can be called back to the set
• Some “fences” around how material can be used, e.g. if the property moves to TV, those rates must be paid
• Use of images from the property, e.g. if a still image from the production is used in an ad, you have to get the actor’s consent

Now, producers do need to pay in a percentage of the performers’ fee to SAG, but this goes towards member benefits such as pension and health insurance. And the bad news for aspiring actors is that starring in your friend’s online production won’t automatically get you a SAG card and membership into the Guild. But the same is true for productions using SAG’s low-budget theatrical agreements.

If you’re producing a show for the Web or mobile phone and have questions, SAG suggested you contact:

Bob Jensen
SAG Business Representative
(323)549-6007

Any other general New Media/SAG related questions should go to:

Mark Friedlander
Director of New Media
(323)549-6724

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• ALLTEL: LG 5430, Kyocera SE44, Nokia 3585
• AT&T Wireless: Samsung X436, Nokia 3200, LG G4015, Nokia 35095, LG L1150
• Cingular: Motorola v400, Samsung x427, Nokia 1100/3100, LG 1200/1210.
• Nextel: i730 (we expect the i830 to gain in popularity at retail stores following expected price cuts)
• Sprint: Sanyo 8200, Samsung 680
• T-Mobile: Motorola v600, Motorola v300, Nokia 6800, Sony Ericsson T610, and Siemens CF62T.
• Verizon: Samsung A670 (fueled by a buy-one-get-one-free offer), LG VX6000, LG VX4500, and Audiovox 8600, with the Motorola v710 gaining in popularity.

Data from RBC Capital Markets.

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