Brandthony

Over 8 million Americans have their identities stolen every year.

Why?

Because we’re stupid.

I know it’s not marketing related, as is the point of this blog, but this thought popped into my head today as I begrudgingly put my Social Security Number on a job application. I feared doing so because of someone mishandling the applications, or tossing them in the garbage without shredding them for curious thieves to find. Then, it came to me. The stupidly simple solution to identity theft.

Solution: When your social security number is used for processing by any company except retailers, the government should call the person with that social security number for their authorization. The government would have contact information tied to every SSN, which would be verified and updated every three months. The reason I exclude retailers is because that’s the domain of the individual banks and credit card providers, who seem to be doing a decent job in that department as of late.

Now, I may be naive and this may already be an existing solution that has just never found its way to me, but if it isn’t then I think it’s a viable one. If you’re concerned about the cost and man hours to process these requests, then let me kick some more data your way which shows we’re already sacrificing those dollars and hours already.

Time Involved in Being a Victim

• Victims spend from 3 to 5,840 hours repairing damage done by identity theft. This difference is due to the severity of the crime – for example a lost credit card versus the use of your social security number to become your “evil twin.”
• The average number of hours victims spend repairing the damage caused by identity theft is 330 hours.
• 26-32% of victims spend a period of 4 to 6 months dealing with their case and 11-23% report dealing with their case for 7 months to a year.

Monetary Costs of Identity Theft

• 40% of business costs for individual cases of identity theft exceed $15,000. The Aberdeen Group has estimated that $221 billion a year is lost by businesses worldwide due to identity theft
• Victims lose an average of $1,820 to $14, 340 in wages dealing with their cases
• Victims spend an average of $851 to $1378 in expenses related to their case

This isn’t my area of expertise so my suggestion may be, in fact, “too stupid” for those in the know. But if nothing else, I think it could make for a good discussion on the subject. What do you all think?

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