A website that offers best practices for identity theft prevention and services for consumers and businesses has been launched by the Consumer Federation of America.
The site includes updated information on identity theft issues and developments as well as quizzes that visitors can take to measure their ID theft savvy and learn how to better choose a provider and how to better protect themselves before and after they become victims of identity theft.
The CFA, a consortium of nearly 300 consumer groups, produced the site, IDTheftInfo.org, with a working group that includes identity theft attorney Mari Frank, the California Office of Privacy Protection, Experian, ID Analytics, ID Experts, Identity Theft 911, the Identity Theft Assistance Center, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and other organizations and companies.
Susan Grant, CFA director of consumer protection, said, “The aim of CFA’s Identity Theft Service Best Practices Working Group is to promote responsible industry practices and help consumers sort through the clutter of information and misinformation about identity theft and how to protect themselves,”
The working group was formed following a 2009 report by the CFA about misleading claims and other problems it said existed in the identity theft services industry. In addition to the website, the working group helped CFA develop its “Best Practices for Identity Theft Services, the Nine Things to Check When Shopping for Identity Theft Services.”
Among those practices is this statement: “Identity theft service providers should avoid making claims that would lead consumers to believe that they can provide complete protection against all forms of identity theft, detect all instances of identity theft, or stop all attempts to commit identity theft–claims that no service can legitimately make.”
