Project Structure
TWO MONTHS OF FREE Identity Theft Protection and Restoration for Veterans, First Responders, and their Families. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America today. Children, military veterans, spouses of deceased veterans, and the elderly are the primary targets. Statistically, active duty military, veterans, and their families are the most likely to suffer identity theft. According to a Federal Trade Commission Report, Active Duty, Veterans and their families report identity theft at a rate twice that of the general public and it is their number one complaint. According to the nonprofit Identity Theft Center reports 44.7% of reported military related identity theft complaints involved government documents – 6% higher than the general consumer population.
Of the 332,646 Identity theft complaints processed by the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2013, some 88,552 or over 26% were military with 66% of those veterans. Using this stolen information resulted in Government Documents or Benefit Fraud ranked as the number one category in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2015. The recent breach and compromise at the Office of Personnel Management of detailed personal information effecting over 25 million current and government employees, active duty and veterans significantly increases this risk. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Javelin Strategy & Research, the average financial loss per identity theft incident amounts to $4,930. The Identity Theft Center reports an average of over 600 hours is required for a victim to personally affect the resolution of a breach (up over 340% from 175 hours in 2012) with nearly $16,000 in lost potential or realized income. Helping the Heroes is directly addressing this critical situation, partnering with Industry leaders IDShield and Kroll.
Were you the subject of the Department of Veterans Affairs or Office of Personnel Management breaches? If so, you should know that the “credit monitoring” provided does not restore your credit and the credit monitoring services provided to subjects of the OPM breach comes from the 89th ranked company for such services and will not restore your credit to the level it was before the breach. For more information see the article under Important Resources (below).
Currently have LifeLock? See the article below on Lifelock agreeing to pay $12 to settle charges by the FCC and 35 states that their Identity Theft Prevention and Data Security Claims were false.
Project Partners
Helping the Heroes will rebate 2 months of IDShield to Veterans, First Responders, current and former government employees, and their Families. IDShield covers the primary, their spouse/significant other, and up to eight dependents with identity monitoring and restoration services. Should the identity of any family member be stolen, Kroll’s Licensed Investigators perform the bulk of the restoration work required to restore a member’s identity to pre-theft status. Kroll will guarantee 100% RESTORATION (vs. Resolution) of a victim’s identity and credit ratings to pre-compromise status at no additional charge When participants continue after this initial period, commissions will be used to further programs helping the heroes.
Identity Theft – Restoration vs Resolution
Most all “free” coverage offered by companies and government agencies that compromised personal data is Identity resolution and not restoration. This is true for our veterans compromised by the Veterans Administration breach as well as those 25 million + individuals affected by the recent Office of Personnel Management Security Clearance files breach.
The vast number of ID theft protection companies only assist as you affect the process yourself. They notify you if your identity has been breached and, at the most, provide “expert advice” on how the individual can restore his/her credit. They may provide additional services – for a fee.
Why would someone have or keep auto insurance from a company that gives them a “Rebuild-it-yourself Kit” and “Help Hotline” number following a major accident? Just as a good insurance company will fix your car and return it to you, Kroll Identity Restoration puts the damaged credit and identity back to the state it was before the breach.
As part of the Helping the Heroes program, IDShield, in conjunction with partner Kroll will spend up to $5 million to RESTORE the identity back to as it was before the breach.
Important news to review
For those who are currently using services from LifeLock, the following are some important updates and the reason why Helping The Heroes is partnering with the industry leaders IDShield and Kroll for this important program:
LifeLock agrees to pay millions in fines to FTC and 35 State Attorney Generals to settle lawsuit for serious violations.
Federal Trade Commission and 35 State Attorney Generals take legal action against LifeLock for serious violations.
More About the Coverage
Get Your FREE Identity Theft Protection and Restoration
The program is open to all active duty, veterans, first responders, and their families. Just follow this simple three step process:
STEP 1 – Select your plan and complete application at THIS LINK using personal credit card or bank draft for payment (Debit cards not recommended)
STEP 2 – Enrollment automatically qualify for a rebate of first two months premium (Family Plan: $19.95 / Individual Plan: $9.95). There are NO coupons to clip or requests to submit!
STEP 3 – You will receive your rebate within three weeks of your second month payment. If you don’t want to continue just cancel.
NOTE: Rebates come by CHECK so there is no Debit Card to deal with. Funds can be immediately deposited into you bank or you can just cash the check.
If you wish to continue in the program do nothing and your card will automatically be charged. If you wish to end enrollment just cancel your subscription before the end of the second month. NO contracts attend this program.
Important Resources
- Feel Safe with the Government OPM provided protection? Read the article: OPM (MIS)Spends $133M on Credit Monitoring
- Non-Profit Identity Theft Resource Center Data Breach Report
- Identity Theft Resources for the military and veterans
- Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Fact Sheet for Military and their families
- Federal Trade Commission legal action against LifeLock
- LifeLock Will Pay $12 Million to Settle Charges by the FTC and 35 States That Identity Theft Prevention and Data Security Claims Were False