The article was about a lady named Karen Lodrick and her life was a living hell after becoming a victim of identity theft. Because of our business I hear a lot of people say stupid things like “they can have my identity.” Really? This has to be one of the dumbest statements because they don’t truly understand how devastating being a victim of this crime can be to them and their families.

Karen ordered a latte at Starbucks while waiting nervously for the bank on San Francisco’s Market Street to open. She had been anxious and distracted of late but couldn’t help noticing the scruffy looking pair standing next to her: a tall man wearing a navy baseball jacket and a large woman in jeans and Gucci glasses, carrying a brown suede coat and a Prada wallet. The woman looked vaguely familiar. That coat. A cold tingle of fear ran through Karen as she took it all in. The distinctive faux-fur trim along its edges looked as unkempt as the woman who held it. And then BINGO she knew. Karen’s ID had been stolen five months before. Her bank account had been emptied, and her life sent reeling out of control. The coat she was looking at was the same one she’d seen in the bank surveillance tape, worn by the woman who’d stolen Karen’s ID.

The day before, Karen’s bank had called after closing hours to tell her that she’d left her driver’s license, but Karen had never been to that branch. And her real driver’s license was still in her wallet.

The two suspects were leaving the coffee shop so Karen decided to follow them while calling 911. The two separated, but Karen followed the women. She feared that if she didn’t act, the identity thief would disappear, along with any hope of ending her bad dream. The chase was on.

For the past five months, the thief used Karen’s accounts like they were her own private accounts. She scammed thousands and opened credit cards in Karen’s name. The banks couldn’t do a thing. The police could do nothing. Creditors demanded payment from Karen and when she closed those accounts, the thieves would open new ones and drain those too.

Following the woman Karen’s phone rang. “Unknown Caller.” Karen looked up the street and saw that the woman had her cell phone out. She was checking to see if the real Karen was following her, but Karen thought, where were the police?

Karen again called 911 as the woman kept her distance looking over her shoulder at Karen every few seconds.

This woman had been using Karen’s identity for the last five months making her life a living hell.

Karen remembers an odd voice mail from her bank waiting for her when she returned home to San Francisco from a family reunion in Michigan. Karen called back, and the service rep asked if she’d made any large withdrawals and mentioned one in the amount of $600. She assumed it was an error and asked the verification of the debit card number, but it wasn’t her card.

The bank representative insisted that someone had called from Karen’s phone to order the new debit card. Karen finally convinced the bank rep that it wasn’t hers, and he canceled it. What he failed to mention was that a second new debit card and it was still open.

Karen knew the thief had stolen $600, but not what the bank rep showed her screen after screen of dozens of withdrawals. About $10,000 was gone. Karen’s balance was zero plus overdraft deducted another $1,200 from savings to cover the shortfall after the thief had cleaned out the checking account.

Karen filed a police report, closed her now-empty account and submitted a claim. With no money to cover checks, she couldn’t pay her bills, her rent. She couldn’t even buy groceries. Late fees were compounded by black marks on her credit report. And that was just the beginning.

Let’s go back to one of the dumbest statements that I have ever heard again being “they can have my identity.” REALLY?

Karen continued to chase the woman, keeping the 911 operator on the phone to let her know exactly where they were. I can just picture Karen chasing after this woman like an old black and white movie. Her heart must have been beating a mile a minute, but living in her current hell that this lady has made of her life was much worse.

In her pursuit, she lost sight of the woman many times. Dodging through traffic, in stores, around parking lots and etc… Karen stayed on her tail somehow.

As the identity thief passed a shopping cart, the women tossed something inside. Karen raced to the cart picked up what she dropped and she told the 911 operator. “It’s a wallet. A Prada wallet.” Karen wanted to look inside, but she had no time.

The woman finally stopped and asked Karen, “Why are you chasing me?”

Karen now felt doubt and asked the woman to wait for the police. The women told Karen that she was on probation and would be arrested. Karen now had no doubt she’d found the right person. But she took off again and Karen kept after her.

When Karen was first approached by her bank on the surveillance video they had. Karen signed an affidavit that she didn’t know the woman, got a printout of her image, and that was it.

In the meantime, the women reached deeper into Karen’s life using Karen’s Social Security number and other information to get a counterfeit driver’s license, showing Karen’s license number but the thief’s picture. With the license and the Social Security number, she reopened accounts that Karen had closed years before.

Karen placed fraud alerts with the credit reporting agencies and her bank. But that didn’t stop the thief from opening more accounts in Karen’s name. Putting fraud alerts on accounts now days is sort of like crying wolf. It’s there, but not everyone pays attention to these alerts making you feel that you are protected when you are not.

The thief got into her new bank account, and the whole cycle began again. She was at her wit’s end. Now, with a phony driver’s license, the thief was stalking her third checking account.

Karen continued her chase, but when the suspect slipped in to a indoor parking garage, she lost her. She lost her and her life would continue to be a living hell. The police finally showed up, but it was too late, she was gone.

At this point Karen zipped open the Prada wallet and found two of her bank statements, two debit cards used to clean out her accounts, one of her own paychecks, but FREAKED her out the most were small cards with her name, Social Security number, driver’s license number and address on them.

Karen told the officer what had occurred, feeling little hope that he’d find the woman now, but only moments later, the officer found her crouched between a car and the building, smoking a cigarette.

“Idiot! You should have kept running,” Karen told her.

Epilogue

The arresting officer said the identity thief, Maria Nelson, had at least 60 prior arrests, was indeed on probation and was wanted in another jurisdiction for similar crimes. When Nelson came before a judge 44 days later, however, thanks to a plea deal with the prosecutor, she was sentenced to only time served plus probation.

Meanwhile, Karen keeps getting billed for phone service and items at a department store that she didn’t buy. And she fears her ID may have been sold on the black market, prolonging her nightmare.

Let’s go back to one of the dumbest statements that I have ever heard again being “they can have my identity.” REALLY?

The above are just a few examples of what seventeen dollars ($17) can buy you and they may be great, but they do not provide you peace of mind for you and/or your family.

Okay, I know what you are thinking and that’s fine. You are probably asking yourself what is Dave trying to sell me now, right?

Well, how about peace of mind so that you and your family can live your life worry-free,every day, every night, now and forever.

Today you don’t receive a lot of value for only $17, but let me share with you what we feel is the Best Under-Priced Product on the Market Today!!!

Many of you know that we represent LegalShield, but do you truly understand the value of this wonderful service?

For as low as ONLY $17 per month, LegalShield gives you the ability to talk to an attorney on any matter without worrying about high hourly costs. For one flat monthly fee, you can access legal advice, no matter how traumatic or trivial the issue. That’s why under the protection of LegalShield you and your family can live your life worry-free, every day, every night, now and forever.

The most common response I get when I talk to someone about our service is “I’ve never had to use an attorney in the past and I don’t see that I will need to in the future.” That’s okay and I appreciate where this person is coming from. After all, they have never been taught to think like wealthy people such as Donald Trump and they don’t understand the benefits of having legal counsel at their disposal.

Ask yourself this question. Have you ever thought that talking to an attorney might better your outcome no matter how traumatic or trivial the issue may be?

• Imagine being able to pick up the phone and call on an UNLIMITED matters to an attorney who specializes in the area of your concern and not get a bill for that information. Would that be a great service? You bet it would be!

• Imagine having an attorney write letters and make phone calls on your behalf if they feel it would better your outcome. Would that be a great service? You bet it would be and it is! As a matter of fact, this part alone has saved us over $1,000.

• Imagine having UNLIMITED contacts & documents reviewed up to 10 pages before you ever sign your name on the dotted line. These documents could include cellular contacts, lease agreements, mortgage papers and etc… Don’t tell me that you never signed a contract that you didn’t fully understand, because I’ve done this myself. Would that be a great service alone? You bet it would be!

• Now let’s just imagine you are one of the 7 out of 10 people that don’t have your Will, your Living Will or Healthcare Power of Attorney in place. Would it be in your best interest to have this done prior to dying or after? If you have loved ones, you owe it to them to be a responsible adult and have these things in place so they can understand your wishes or before probate takes 30% and decides what best for your loved ones after a 6 month wait.

• Let’s just say you are driving in your car through another state or even your own state and the speed limit drops from 65mph to 45mph. Then you get the welcoming escort of the blue and red lights behind you. 20mph over the speed limit can be a healthy fine by itself and needless to say that you’ll probably have to appear in court and also do driving school. But let’s imagine this happens to you and your attorney represents you in court and gets the points taken off your record which keeps your insurance rates low no matter where you recieved the ticket. Would that be great benefit? Say YES!

I could go on and on about these great services you can get for only $17 per month like Trial Defense starting at 60 hours of an attorney’s time already pre-paid (and the hours increase every year up to 300 hrs.) if you are ever named in a Civil Suit, IRS (Income Removal System) Audit representation by a Tax Attorney when audit notice received plus if your audit goes to court, 25% member discount on all other matters, Online legal documents at your disposal and then you can have them reviewed at no extra charge and 24/7 Emergency Access for covered situations that happen to you or your family.

Now imagine that you were my attorney and I asked you to cover not only me, but my entire family for all these services I listed above. How much would you charge?

$17 per month? Of course not and I wouldn’t expect you too. You would be insane, but that’s why our service is the best and nobody does what we do PERIOD

What type of attorney do you get for only $17 per month? Well, because we have over 1.4 Million members across the USA and Canada, we pool these funds and in return, we make these services affordable to every single family. We have 40 years of experience servicing our members with over 4,500 AV-rated (meaning the best) attorneys nationwide working at our disposal.

If you don’t already have this great service, you need to start thinking like wealthy people while surrounding yourself with people who can help you protect your assets now and in the future!

What have you got to loose? It’s only a month to month plan.

CLICK HERE to Sign Up Now!

Committed To Your Success!

P.S. We also offer the BEST Identity Theft plans in the marketplace, Small Business plans and Group Benefits packages for employees.

CLICK HERE to Sign Up Now!

AnyWho, (Get it? You know the Who’s in the movie from Whoville?) I crack myself up!

Seriously, it is once again that time of year when you are making plans to visit relatives, host festive get-togethers, and, of course, hit the stores (or computer) for some shopping. Unfortunately, the flurry of activity that goes hand-in-hand with the holidays presents a prime opportunity for a data thief to practice their trade. With that in mind, put the protection of sensitive personal information at the top of your holiday to-do list.

Please read the following tips and make sure you put these practices into action this year before it becomes an issue for you or your family.

Remember what Benjamin Franklin said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

We work exclusively with Kroll’s Investigators and they offer some of the following tips that can help you keep their sensitive information safe during this happy holiday season.

Tip #1: Practice safe shopping in stores

- Before you hit the stores, take stock of what you bring along with you in your purse/wallet. Remove unnecessary key identity components. Make a list of what remains so you’ll know what is missing if your purse/wallet is lost or stolen.

- Consider your preferred method of payment—each has pros and cons. Generally, from a theft standpoint, credit cards are safer because, unlike debit cards, you usually have more protection against fraudulent charges. Cash is another option, but while you will not have to worry about personal identifiers, it will be gone for good if stolen. Be very careful with checkbooks, as stolen checks can give the thief access to your checking account.

Tip #2: Practice safe shopping online

- Never use a public computer (like those found at the library) to perform online financial transactions. Likewise, if the coffee shop is offering free—yet unsecured—Wi-Fi, don’t be tempted to use your computer to buy anything there either.

You never know if a public computer contains some type of malware, and thieves can steal data via an unsecured wireless internet hookup.

- When using your own computer, periodically install your security software’s latest update and run a scan of your computer. Beyond that, practice smart shopping by visiting reputable sites and being wary of phishing scams that trick you into giving up personal information.

Tip: Never use a public computer (like those found at the library) to perform online financial transactions.

- Just as you would keep receipts from the stores, keep a record of all your online transactions. Check your debit/credit accounts to make sure only the transactions you’ve authorized have been registered. If you see any unauthorized transactions, dispute them with your financial institution immediately.

Tip #3: Think before mailing holiday cards

- E-cards are convenient and fun, but beware: disreputable e-card websites may load malware on your computer and may send it along to all of your recipients as well. Send e-cards from a reputable source like Hallmark and check the end-user agreements to ensure that no software will be downloaded as a condition of using the service. If you’re receiving the cards, beware of cards that have generic sender information, such as “a friend” or “a relative.” If the card comes with an attachment, particularly an executable (.exe) attachment, it’s best to delete it.

- Snail mail is still a popular way to send greetings and gifts, particularly gift cards or checks. If you send a check, use a dark, pigmented ink that can’t be easily “washed.” Washing is a process a thief uses to take away the ink on your check so it can be rewritten to them, with a higher dollar amount.

- Never leave mail with sensitive information in an unlocked mailbox—mail it from an official USPS mail drop box. For items that arrive at your home, you might consider purchasing a locking mailbox.

Tip #4: Protect yourself and your guests at home for the holidays

- Secure any documentation in your home that may contain sensitive information, such as bank statements, checkbooks, credit cards, Social Security cards, etc. Keep these items in a locked cabinet, if possible, and in an area that will be inaccessible to guests. For your guests, assign a safe area to keep purses and other personal items. Make sure only one person is allowed to collect or retrieve these items.

Tip #5: Protect personal information while traveling

- Never leave sensitive information in your hotel room or car. If you wish to leave your laptop in the hotel, be sure to put it in your room safe. Or, consult hotel management to arrange for storage in a centralized main safe or secure holding area.

- Further, beware of pretexting, or social engineering calls, while staying at the hotel. This scam has become extremely popular, so much so that many hotels now post warnings to hotel guests not to provide their personal information, particularly credit card information, over the phone. The front desk already has this information on file and has no need to call you for it. If you do get a call, ask for the person’s name and call the front desk yourself to verify.

Tip: Never leave sensitive information in your hotel room or car. If you wish to leave your laptop in the hotel, be sureto put it in your room safe.

Happy Days! We get these reports below on a monthly basis and when it says your CREDIT MONITORING has NO ACTIVITY, it a Happy Day!

We would like to wish You and Your Family a Safe and Wonderful Holiday Season!

Dave and Dawn

Life can be blessing or life can be miserable, but only you can decide what life you want to live!

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard the news was that we are the same age and in the blink of an eye, everything we know as reality can be taken away from us at anytime. I truly believe that most of us really think we are going to live forever and we don’t want to imagine that it could be all over tomorrow.

This post isn’t intended to bum you out, but bear with me as I will get to some good stuff within the next 20 pages

The second thing I thought of was, “I wonder if he had completed his Last Will and Testament.” Weird thought right? Well maybe not. It’s just part of who we are and one of the benefits we offer as part of our service plans in LegalShield. I guess that just comes to my mind as an occupational hazard. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to on a weekly basis that don’t have a Last Will and Testament, a Trust and/or their Living Wills (7 out of 10 American’s don’t have wills) in place, but most are not willing to do anything about it.

I sat down with someone last week that didn’t have any sort of wills or trusts in place and he mentioned that he saw a lot of value in our service plan and that he thought it was really reasonably priced, but he wasn’t willing to make a modest month to month payment.

Are you kidding me! People are totally COO-COO and have really screwed up priorities!

They’ll go to the store and spend $20 on a useless item that they don’t need. They buy things and/or training’s online that they’ll never implement and the list goes on, but they won’t take care of their loved one’s if something were to happen to them?

I thought to myself

that this guy must not truly love his wife and children if he isn’t willing to have these things in place. I know that is a strong statement, but it pisses me off knowing that someone’s children could go in a foster home or their money gets caught up in probate for at least 6 months while their family tries to figure out how to pay their mortgage or even feed their children. Crossing your fingers in hopes that it won’t happen to you isn’t an option. I wish that it would never happens to anyone, but that wouldn’t be realistic. Life happens and so does death. They go hand in hand in the circle of life as they say in The Lion King, but not being responsible for taking care of the ones you love is irresponsible PERIOD

I can’t imagine being in a car accident to where I didn’t die and I also leave the burden of making all my medical decisions to Dawn and my two beautiful girls when they are going through enough already. I lived it and been through it myself. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Back on March 24, 1993, Dawn was in a terrible car accident and I actually thought that I was going to lose her. It was bad enough seeing her in that condition, but then having to make medical decisions for her while she was in a coma for seven (7) days, was pure hell. Just little decisions like do I want to have the neurosurgeon drill a hole in her skull for an Intracranial Pressure (ICP) to measure whether her brain is swelling or not and etc and etc…  As you know, everything turned out okay, but what if it was worse. Do you remember the Terri Schiavo case down here in Florida? 

All I know is that I love my beautiful wife and girls very much and to not to be responsible myself by making their lives easier however I can, what kind of a husband and father would I be?

Are You Truly Living Life?

One of the major questions I want to ask you is, Are You Truly Living Life? A lot of you know me and I recently just asked myself that very same question.  What kind of life am I living and is this really the life that is deserving of my genius within?

We have a franchise that we have developed over the past 7 years that has to some degree taken away from us quality time with our girls. We have created a strong presence on the internet with multiple websites, blogs, facebook, youtube, twitter, founded Tribe Syndication Association (TSA) and additional social media sites. Created a lucrative network marketing business and wonderful team within LegalShield, but I had to ask myself are we truly living life?

Over the past 6 months we have re-examined our efforts and decided to sell off our franchise business to focus on our LegalShield business full time. As some of you may have noticed, we also re-examined our efforts online and have been stepping back “a bit” to focus on our real passion of building our network marketing company.

Even though we have seen some great success online, we realized that we have always been more successful meeting people, business owners and prospects in person, but have never had the additional time while owning our franchise. Sometimes certain things happen for a reason and when life offers you opportunities, take the reigns and make it happen!

How do you want your obituary to read? Write it now and then Live Your Life by it!

Here is how I hope my obituary will read only with a lot more accomplishments…

David S. Cook was a loving husband to Dawn M. Cook, a wonderful and loving father to Kerstin Cook-Porsche and Nicole Cook-Bentley and a very special grandfather to 4 loving grandchildren and 7 exceptional great-grandchildren. Throughout his life, he was a caring person that helped thousands of people live a more fulfilling life. Through mentorship and a giving heart, he gave endless amounts of time and charity to so many. His thrust for knowledge and wisdom was an endless pursuit which he was willing to share to make the world a little better one person at a time.

In 2008, he and his wife (Dawn) began developing their LegalShield business and developed it into one of the biggest businesses within the company’s history. Through their efforts of building this business, it granted them the time freedom to travel the world with their family and friends while constantly giving back to world.

David S. Cook will be dearly missed by all the people he has touched throughout his life, but because of his legacy, his surviving wife (Dawn), his daughters, his son-in-laws, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and many charities and organizations have been blessed and will continue to be blessed because of the time he spent here on this earth.

If you follow our blog, you know that we specialize in helping you personally protect your life and assets now and in the future. With so many people out of work, foreclosures still devastating  families (200,000 – 300,000 properties/mo.),  banks are still not lending money, the governments spending is totally out of control and etc…, people are looking at other options in order to survive. These methods that people are turning to for possible solutions may have a major impact on you or your family. I’m not only going to touch on those topics, but also inform you of a few other things that could devastate you more than just financially. Whether you think that you are susceptible to these issues or not, don’t bury your head in the sand. Think about what you would do if it happened to you!

Music video by Weird Al Yankovic performing I’ll Sue Ya.

Did You Know That…

• Over 15 million lawsuits will be filed this year in US state courts.  That works out to one new lawsuit every two seconds. Or one lawsuit for every 12 adults in America.

• If you are criminally charged in a auto accident, your auto insurance doesn’t cover you other than for liability. If you run a red light, are blinded by the sun, slide on the ice, swerve for an animal, fall asleep behind the wheel or something similar and someone dies in that ACCIDENT, actually called Vehicular Homicide or Vehicular Manslaughter, you are on your own to pay for your legal defense. The average cost of this defense is $20,000.00 – $50,000.00 minimum!

• People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years – and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record.

• The US is the most litigious society in the world. Among the Top 7 “lawyerly countries” in the world, the US has about 50% of those lawyers, with only 37 percent of the population of this group of countries. That is approximately one lawyer for every 265 people compared to one doctor to every 500 people in the US. The other sad statistic is that you are over 2 times more likely to be involved in a court filing than hospitalized.

• In a study of physicians, 66 percent of all those interviewed said they are very concerned they may be involved in a groundless lawsuit. Even more troubling, 43 percent of those physicians said they have avoided prescribing a drug that was appropriate for a patient because they were aware it might be involved in product liability litigation.

• 7% of identity theft victims had their information stolen to commit medical identity theft. This is becoming more and more prevalent due to the high cost of medical procedures and insurance. Rather than paying these outrageous costs themselves, these thieves are finding it very easy to steal your medical identity and have medical procedures done in your name and then leave you to foot the bill. Even worse than the financial issues that arise, imagine what could happen when your medical records are changed to indicate a different blood type or that you are diabetic. That’s BAD NEWS and now with HIPAA laws, it’s makes it even more difficult to make corrections!

• If someone has stolen your credit card – your credit card company can help you with that, right? Well, according to the FTC, almost 70% of identity theft issues don’t pertain to your existing credit card accounts. Identity theft can occur as a result of new lines of credit being opened in your name either through credit cards or bank loans, as well as phone/utility fraud and even employment related fraud. Because we are susceptible through so many avenues in our daily life, we are all at risk.

• Mississippi is top in audits by the IRS. This data shows that our tax agency is focusing on the poor. IRS records show that taxpayers are more likely to see their income tax returns audited if they live in Mississippi, where incomes are the lowest in the country. Unincorporated businesses and people that make less than $25,000, are 2.5 times more likely to be audited than those with revenues or incomes more than $100,000. Why you ask? Those who are poor will not have a tax attorney to represent them and they will likely agree to garnishments from their wages to cover the new tax liability.

• 38-48% of identity theft victims discover someone has stolen their identity within three months, while 9-18%of victims don’t learn that their identity has been stolen for four or more years. With each passing month, it becomes more and more difficult to restore your identity to its original good name.

• Even worse, there is a growing trend of thieves stealing the identities of children and even infants.  Social Security numbers of children are considered very valuable by identity thieves as parents are unlikely to check the credit reports of their children.  Parents almost never monitor their children’s credit reports to see if their identity has been stolen. In most case, once a child or parent finds out, it is even more difficult to get this resolved.

We live in one of the greatest countries in the world, but the USA should be called SuedSA. Being the most litigious society in the world people aren’t looking to win the lotto anymore, they are looking to win a lawsuit. If you watch TV or listen to the radio, I’ll bet you can name at least 2-3 law firms (ambulance chasers) that you know in your area. The commercials go something like this: Car Accident, Dog Bite or Slip and Fall, who you gonna call? You know who and so do the people calling these firms. The United States spends five times more on its personal injury litigation than any other industrialized country. Think about this for one second. Who are they targeting? You guessed it, people looking to win the lotto and you could be the prize money.

With the world being in an economic turmoil, many people are trying to makes ends meet in order to survive. Unfortunately when things get though, crime rates rise and a lot of what we would normally consider to be good people, do things that they wouldn’t normally do in life. For the most part, many people have fallen in to an entitlement attitude and crimes like identity theft to them are considered a faceless crime making it easier to justify. With technology ever changing and our legal system getting even more complicated and even easier to sue someone, you can bet that things are going to get worse before they become better!

Schedule a Meeting with Us Today to find out how we can help!