A recent article from PalmBeachPost.com shows how identity theft can catch up to strong, fast, and talented athletes in all sports – even Tiger Woods.
Back in 1998, someone used the golfing great’s personal information to make more than $50,000 worth of bogus charges. Woods, and the sport of golf, is not alone in being a victim of what could be termed "athlete identity theft."
In baseball, Geoff Jenkins, a former outfielder with the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies, once had someone use his name to open several credit cards and rack up debt. It took Jenkins over a year to clear up his credit and deal with banks that had been defrauded in his name due to identity theft.
In football, an identity thief withdrew $10,000 from the bank account of cornerback Ty Law when he was a member of the New England Patriots, and quarterback Danny Wuerffel was victimized by identity theft when someone opened a credit card in his name while he played for the Green Bay Packers. The latest victim of athlete identity theft, Miami Dolphins rookie cornerback Vontae Davis, is also a football player.
In this case of identity theft, a man stopped for traffic infractions on June 9 in Champaign, Illinois showed police Davis' driver license (Davis' wallet was stolen several months ago while he was a student at the University of Illinois) and drove off a free man.
Soon after, national media reports identified Davis as the man cited in the incident, only Vontae was practicing with the Dolphins over 1,000 miles away in Davie, Florida on June 9. He even sent his brother Vernon – a tight end with the San Francisco 49ers – a text message that joked: "Your brother got arrested in Illinois."
However, identity theft is no laughing matter, for once someone has stolen another person’s identity, the identity theft victim must spend time and money clearing up the financial, criminal, and psychological problems left behind.
Athletes, in particular, are vulnerable to identity theft because details about them – dates of birth, names of family members, schools attended, and salaries – are available in press guides, on the Web, and even during national broadcasts. Also, athletes travel extensively throughout the U.S. and the world while using their financially attractive credit cards and bank accounts.
The crime of athlete identity theft has become so prevalent that major pro leagues are teaming up to produce a video that all players see during their pre-season training camps. Recently, the leagues have talked to their players about limiting the amount of information they share on social networking sites such as Facebook in an effort to curb identity theft.
Even those people who are not superstar pro athletes with millions of dollars at their disposal can become victims of identity theft. According to Javelin Research, identity theft affected nearly 10 million Americans in 2008 – most of them ordinary men and women – at a cost of more than $48 billion.
In sports and in life, sometimes the best defense (against identity theft, in this case) is a good offense. Some athletes – and non-athletes – are hiring services to monitor individual and family credit and bank accounts. But criminal records that are usually reserved only for background checks should also be monitored, since someone who committed identity theft could also commit other crimes in someone else's name.
Since most background check firms only focus on employers and large corporations, where can individuals find a "self background check" to help control personal information, protect privacy, and stop identity theft? Introduced in 2000, MyBackgroundCheck.com was one of the first web-based consumer requested background check services available for individuals. Today, the company helps over a million individuals perform personal background checks on themselves each year to use as jobseekers, students, tenants, volunteers, parents, friends, and consumers.
To learn how personal background checks can prevent identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.
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Until recently, Bozeman, Montana required jobseekers looking to work for the city to reveal all of their passwords and logins to social media networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube – and to email accounts such as Google and Yahoo – during background checks. News of the requirement created such a controversy over privacy rights that the city’s practice of reviewing information found on password-protected sites has since been suspended pending “a more comprehensive evaluation.”
According to reports, a news station in Montana was informed about Bozeman's background check policies from an anonymous individual. Jobseekers for Bozeman city posts were required to sign a background check waiver requiring applicants – in addition to undergoing usual criminal records search and past employment reviews – to list their involvement with online websites “to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.” The city form then offered three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and login information, and their passwords.
Not surprisingly, the requirement raised questions concerning the privacy rights of applicants. Bozeman officials were receiving an e-mail a minute about the background check policy while an online poll tallying more than 5,000 votes found 98 percent of the respondents thought the policy was an invasion of privacy. In addition, Article 2, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution reads “the right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”
Initially, the Bozeman City Attorney was quoted as defending the background check policy: “We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city.” The city has since ended the policy which “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community.”
Regarding the city's former background check requirement, officials from online social networking website Facebook.com – which currently has more than 200 million active users worldwide – were quoted as saying the Bozeman policy “is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which received feedback from users and was ultimately approved in a site-wide vote.” This proves once again that while some employers favor using social media sites for employment background checks, the process does come with certain risks and liabilities.
Whatever their opinion on privacy issues, jobseekers in today’s job market should expect a thorough background check that could include a criminal record search, resume validation, and even a credit report. While social networking sites probably should stay off limits, employers will have plenty of information left in the background check to ponder. Jobseekers should do their best to make sure that the information found in background check reports is current, accurate, and secure from identity theft.
One way to accomplish this goal is with a Self Background Check – a background check that is ordered by an individual and for the individual. Self background checks help jobseekers keep the information that will be viewed by potential employers mistake-proof and error-free. While most background check companies only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com specializes in personal background checks for individuals to use as jobseekers, tenants, students, volunteers, and everyday consumers. For more information on self background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.
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*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!