Red Flags Rule - Is Your Business Compliant To The Ftc's Amendment Of Fact Act?

By Author: Ifida Known
Total Articles: 7
Comment this article

Identity Theft hurts everyone except the identity thief. They get a new life, whether temporarily or long term and then move on to suck the life out of their next victim. Individuals who lose their identities spend millions of dollars and countless hours to re-create their credit, their livelihood and sometimes their health putting back the pieces of what the identity thief shattered. Financial institutions, creditors and taxpayers spend billions of dollars annually paying for the crime.

Over the past few years the number of incidents of identity theft has continually escalated and database breaches are nearly a daily occurrence. The numbers are staggering. Not only do individual perpetrators and small time crime rings take advantage of unsuspecting neighbors and strangers but large organized crime groups are also stealing our identities in record numbers. Identity theft is way easier than bank robbery and the chances of getting caught are minuscule. If the thief does get caught the consequences are usually minor.

This is the backdrop for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) amending Sections 114 and 315 of ...
... the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003. It is estimated that there are 3,500 financial institutions and more than 11 million creditors over which the FTC has jurisdiction in the nation.
The FTC puts responsibility on each business that grants credit or defers payment for goods or services, to put together a written identity theft prevention program. This Red Flags Identity Theft Program will identify and warn of possible identity theft situations before a perpetrator creates another victim. This program will reduce identity theft, loss and victim recovery. This means that if your company has a billing department, layaway department or if you have a covered account that involves multiple payments and transactions then you will need a Red Flags Identity Theft Prevention Program to be compliant with the Red Flags Rule before May 1, 2009.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires your business or practice to:

Designate a Red Flags Officer from either the Board of Directors or Senior Management
Develop written policies and procedures for your Red Flags Identity Theft Prevention Program
Identify the Red Flags' applicable to your company
Detect any breaches or attempts at breaches
Develop a detection-tracking methodology for your practice or business.
Respond appropriately to ensure the safety and protection of your consumers', patients', clients, customers' and staff
Train all of your employees concerning the FTC's Red Flags Rule and your established Red Flags Policies and Procedures
Train all of your employees to detect any Red Flag breaches or attempted breaches
Train all of your employees to respond appropriately when they detect any Red Flag breaches or attempted breaches to prevent and mitigate the crime according to designated policy.
Ensure that your program is updated constantly to reflect the changes in the newest risks and from identity theft, and more....

Identity theft must be prevented wherever possible and this can only be done if we all become more aware of how identity thieves think and what to do to avoid giving away the identities of our consumers, clients, patients, customers and even staff.

Ifida Known has interviewed hundreds of identity thieves, victims, security professionals and credit card companies. Become aware of how you can help protect those who do business with you and in turn make sure that the companies you do business with are also Red Flags Compliant that your identity will be safe in their records as well. Visit http://www.ifidaknown.com and click on the Red Flag to learn more and to get help developing your corporate Red Flags Identity Theft Prevention Program. To get your free copy of Your Ultimate Guide to Privacy go to http://www.powerofprivacy.com and request it.