Despite Identity Theft Risk, Consumers Still Click on Some Unsolicited Emails
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In a recent informal weekly poll conducted by www.CreditLock.com, visitors were asked how often they click on emails from unknown sources. 29% of respondents said they would click only a few times, when topic is interesting. 70% said they would never click on such emails. None of the respondents said they would click “often”, “almost always”, or “always”.
Undoubtedly, some of those ”Clickers” do realize that such emails could contain fraudulent content. This is supported by a previous poll where only 4% of respondents said they believe that less than 15% of emails they receive contain fraudulent content, while 93% of respondents said that more than 15% of emails they receive contain fraudulent content.
Although it has been well publicized that Identity Theft remains a serious threat, it seems some individuals believe that even if they click on unsolicited emails that may contain fraudulent content, they are well equipped to prevent such threat from materializing. Such “Clickers” could be taking confidence from their own ability to recognize fraudulent content, such as Phishing. In such case, they would exit immediately following the first click, and delete such email.
They may also be taking confidence from several tools available to help deter and detect Identity Theft. Such tools include Credit Monitoring and Credit Freeze (also known as Security Freeze / Credit Lock). Unfortunately, although Credit Monitoring is a valuable service, it helps detect Identity Theft once it might have already occurred, but may not necessarily deter it.
As for Credit Freeze, although it is highly effective in deterring Identity Theft, consumers may find it inconvenient to deny credit access to legitimate third parties such as employers, landlords, lenders, etc… However, such inconvenience is partially offset by the ability to temporarily remove a Credit Freeze in order to authorize access to a legitimate third party (although such temporary removal can take a few days).
Furthermore, Credit Freeze is not an easy process. Credit Freeze availability, rules, fees, and requirements vary from state to state. Some companies, such as Trusted Id, and Life Lock offer a comprehensive Identity Theft protection package (which may include Credit Monitoring and Credit Freeze) for a fee that may vary between $7.95 and $10 per month. They may mitigate some of the hassles associated with a Credit Freeze by dealing with the process on your behalf.
Consumers can also resort to free or inexpensive do-it-yourself online tools to initiate and learn about Credit Freeze. One such tool is Credit Lock Down Pro, offered on a complimentary basis to members of www.creditlock.com. Although membership is required, it is rather inexpensive, costing the equivalent of anywhere between $0.29 and $0.39 per month. Consumers can also choose a service offered by Identifreeze, which costs a one time fee of $21.95, and offers a toll free customer service number.
Despite the introduction of several Identity Theft detection and deterrence tools, consumers still need to be very careful about dealing with unsolicited emails from unknown sources. As stated in a previously published article, there could be over 170 billion emails sent each day. Criminals are only counting on a very small percentage of consumers to fall victim to their scam; a very small percentage of such a large number of emails will still yield a very large number of Identity Theft victims.
Technorati Tags: identity theft, identity fraud, identity theft protection, business, email fraud, credit lock, security freeze, credit freeze, credit monitoring, phishing, internet, polls, surveys, security
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