Identity Theft Protection Expert and One You Security: Mortgage Fraud Crackdown Underscores the Susceptibility of Consumers' Financial Identities to Theft
The utility of Social Security numbers as means to obtain credit fuels the pervasiveness of mortgage fraud, said the chief security analyst for One You Security.

/Fraud - Identity Theft News Articles/ - SARASOTA, FL, June 30, 2008 - Law enforcement activities surrounding mortgage fraud across the U.S. have resulted in the arrest of thousands, according to reports. The utility of Social Security numbers as means to obtain credit fuels the pervasiveness of mortgage fraud, said Robert Siciliano, widely televised and quoted identity theft protection expert and chief security analyst for One You Security, LLC (http://www.OneYou.com), a firm that provides identity theft prevention education and strives to render subscribers' Social Security numbers useless to thieves.

"Some of the most devastating instances of mortgage fraud involve identity theft," said Siciliano. "Consumers not only have to be leery of questionable mortgage lenders, but also of others who might buy a home in their name. The usefulness of the Social Security number to identity thieves who aspire to attain the big payoff in mortgage fraud compounds this problem. But citizens are encouraged when they can take proactive action to make Social Security numbers useless to thieves."

Chief security analyst for One You Security and a member of the Bank Fraud & IT Security Report's editorial board, Siciliano leads Fortune 500 companies and their clients through consumer education workshops that explore security solutions for business and individuals. A longtime identity theft prevention speaker, he has discussed data security and consumer protection on CNBC, on NBC's "Today Show," FOX News Network, and elsewhere.

Operation Malicious Mortgage, an effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to curb mortgage fraud in the U.S., has resulted in more than 1,400 arrests since March of this year, according to a report dated June 23 in the U.K. financial website "thisisyourmoney.co.uk." Following are recent U.S. arrests related to mortgage fraud:

== Federal officials announced the mortgage fraud-related arrests of 67 people in the Chicago, Ill. area, a June 19th Associated Press report in Crain's Chicago Business revealed. Prosecutors alleged that some of the defendants were responsible for identity theft that helped in the obtaining more than $3 million in fraudulent home loans.

== Mortgage fraud that allegedly resulted in a loss of more than $50 million in Michigan municipalities led federal authorities to charge 28 people there with related crimes, reported the Detroit Free Press on June 19.

Data from the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has revealed that instances of suspected mortgage fraud have risen by 1,000 percent over the past six to seven years, reported the article in "thisisyourmoney.co.uk," which went on to say the FBI's financial crimes section has seen an 800 percent increase in its case load since 2003.

"The apparent spike in mortgage fraud reveals one more line of attack that thieves exploit to hijack the financial identities of consumers," said Chris Harris, president and CEO of One You Security. "Those lines of attack that expose law abiders' financial identities to the unscrupulous activities of criminals are in fact too many for consumers to track on their own. They need the assistance of an organization dedicated to protecting their financial identities and to feeding their knowledge of identity theft protection and prevention."

Consumers who choose One You Security do so in part because the company does everything it can to help transform their Social Security numbers into something useless to thieves. They also subscribe so that they may receive identity theft education material such as newsletters and special alerts from Siciliano (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLylU5xflx8), designed to inform them of the latest data breaches and to help them avoid financial identity scams of all kinds, including mortgage fraud. The firm backs its offerings with a 100 percent service guarantee.

YouTube video shows Siciliano on FOX News Network, where he explains how thieves were able to crack the computers of Hannaford Bros., a grocery chain that operates 165 stores in the Northeast, to obtain the credit card and debit card numbers of millions of customers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKoI07bj_H8

A collection of videos at VideoJug features Siciliano sharing advice on how consumers can protect themselves from identity theft and fraud:

http://www.videojug.com/search?keywords=siciliano

Press Release Contact Information:

Robert Siciliano
One You Security
Chief Security Analyst
1990 Main Street, Suite 750
Sarasota, FL
United States 34236
Voice: 888-742-4542
Fax: 877-232-9669
Website: Visit Our Website