August 15, 2016: The latest book in the “What’s the Deal with..?” series has just been published, and it examines the threat of identity theft, which affects millions of people every year.
In 2015, identity theft was the number one consumer complaint at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Breaches at healthcare companies Anthem and Premera alone exposed 91 million consumer records to the bad guys. Today, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the world. Everything from your credit card information to your medical history is at risk.
The author of the book, Robert Ryerson, talks about what led him to write his new book, “I began to study the identity theft phenomenon a few years ago, when it seemed there was a major breach and some big names in the news every week or so. At that time, I thought it was just confined to problems with bank accounts and credit cards or department store cards. As I did more research, I came to realize that that was not the case at all, and that pretty much everyone else around me was mistakenly thinking the same way I was.”
His book examines the black market value of stolen data like medical records and the reality that our innocent children can be victims of this crime. The book makes it clear that identity theft is a crime that impacts the victim in many ways. Once hit by identity theft, victims often have little recourse, as identifying the perpetrator is sometimes impossible. They also must work, many times on their own, to correct fallout from the theft, and to try to restore their reputation, personal records and credit. For those impacted by identity theft, or concerned that they will be, this book offers solid, cost-efficient advice on how to potentially avoid identity theft as much as possible, and how to recover from it as quickly as possible when it happens.
Robert Ryerson is a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist who works with individuals and families every day on this issue. He counsels people by warning them about the dangers of identity theft and by showing them how best to correct the situation, quickly. It’s the responsibility of all Americans to educate themselves about this nearly epidemic crime. Currently, one in four Americans are impacted by identity theft. As technology improves and the bad guys continue to get smarter, that number will grow.
Jack Tatar, Owner of People Tested Media and himself an identity theft victim says, “This book will help you to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft. And if you do become a victim, it will teach you how to address and correct the situation, and how to restore your identity as quickly as possible. This is a book to read and pass on to friends and family members.”
