FAQs
Who uses Entrust America’s service?
Over 20,000 police officers use Entrust America to protect themselves and their families. Entrust is also used nationwide by judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors.
We provide service to the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers players and a certain number of celebrities, including some of the most well-known actors and actresses in Hollywood.
They use our service because it is the strongest identity and privacy protection on the market. Now, this law
enforcement grade protection is available to the general public.
Can identity theft be prevented?
The Federal Trade Commission and law enforcement authorities tell us that identity theft cannot be 100%
prevented. Another identity theft protection company, LifeLock, was recently fined $12 million for false
advertising for claiming that their customers' identities could not be stolen. According to the Lisa
Madigan, Illinois's Attorney General: "There are some very basic steps that you can take to protect yourself
from identity theft, and most of them are free." She adds: "There is unfortunately no foolproof way to avoid
ID theft."
However, there are some concrete steps you can take to seriously reduce your risk of having your identity
stolen. As Ms. Madigan said, these are all free, and they go way beyond shredding your old bills.
All Entrust America members receive a Police Privacy Redaction Manual telling them step by step, exactly
how to protect their identities and privacy. This proprietary, patent pending process is used by undercover
police officers, judges, prosecutors, professional athletes and even Hollywood celebrities to protect their
privacy, their lives and that of their families. Now, the same level of protection is available to the general
public.
Who does Entrust use to recover clients' identities and how are they trained?
Entrust America uses police officers to investigate members' identity theft cases and fully restore their
identities. In addition to their regular police training and experience, Recovery Specialists have all undergone
a rigorous proprietary training program put together by Entrust America's law enforcement identity theft recovery
experts, and have passed a certification test.
This specialized training, along with their police credentials, translates into effective, quick and accurate
resolution of identity theft issues that would be difficult or impossible for the victim, or indeed, any
layperson to duplicate. We are now seeking a process patent for our recovery software platform and recovery
methodologies.
We are the only company that uses law enforcement officers to recover members’ identities. Other
companies use clerks, paralegals or inexperienced private investigators to do identity recovery. In order
to beef up their credentials, they join industry associations, which are largely cosmetic. Entrust America's
Recovery Specialists need no additional license, since they are already trained police officers working long
hours to protect the public and our customers.
Recovery Specialists work to recovers stolen identities of Entrust members in their off-duty time. Working in
this field is one of only two jobs that a police officer is legally allowed to take to supplement his family's income.
Once the Recovery Specialist is assigned to the case, he works it to the end and remains in contact with the victim
throughout the process.
Why can’t a consumer rely on their local police to resolve identity
theft cases once they make a police report?
Unfortunately, victims of ID theft who go to local police receive little help beyond the ability to file a
police report. Most police departments do not have the knowledge or the manpower to track down and arrest
identity thieves. Police departments are underfunded and understaffed, and they tend to use their limited
resources to concentrate on violent crime and robberies in their communities, rather than financial crimes
they know little about. Entrust gives them the training and the extra incentive to put the time in to solve
the crimes and recover our customers’ identities.
Who else at Entrust does the member interact with and what is their training?
Entrust America answers the phone with trained and certified Triage Specialists. They are highly trained in
identifying the over 40 different types of identity theft, taking a detailed report for the assigned police
officer to use in his investigation, and responding in the fastest and most effective way. Approximately
20% of our customers’ ID theft incidents are resolved at this stage, within hours.
No other ID theft protection company answers 24/7 recovery calls, although they may market through call
centers 24/7. This is a huge advantage to the member because if someone suspects he just had his bank
account drained on Friday night, he wants to speak to someone NOW and not wait till Monday.
From answering the phone to a warm handoff to a cop, the Triage Specialists are on a first name basis with
the victims and it stays that way throughout the process. The relationship is whats most important. By and large, victims
are panicked and emotionally devastated. We are sensitive to their needs and have created and maintain a
culture of TLC. We don't treat the victim as a number, but as a real person with a problem. We pride
ourselves on allaying all fears and calming the victim down.
When a member thinks his identity has been stolen, exactly what happens,
both from the member’s point of view and behind the scenes until the identity is 100% recovered?
The victim calls a dedicated toll free number and is immediately calmed. The attendant takes an ID incident
report to determine what type of the 40+ identity thefts categories the victim falls into. The incident may
entail more than one kind of identity theft. This is defined the triage stage. We have built a knowledge base
for our 24/7 call center that triggers a number of keywords in a search when the victim describes his
circumstance. We have invested hundreds of hours and a lot of money in our proprietary system because each
state requires specific forms as do the bureau of motor vehicles, Experian, Equifax, Transunion, IRS, Social
Security, government, law enforcement and many other organizations. We solve a significant portion of incidents
at the triage stage because our 1st level trained attendants can submit forms on consumers' behalf and resolve
the problems immediately.
The next step, if not solved in triage, is a warm handoff to a police officer registered closest to the vicinity
the victim resides. We are constantly working to improve our reach and coverage with police departments in all
50 states. We immediately overnight the member a limited power of attorney (LPOA) along with whatever other
documentation is necessary via Fed Ex. We ask the victim to sign the LPOA, giving our police Recovery
Specialists authorization to work on his behalf. We provide a pre-paid Fed Ex bag for the victim to send the
paperwork and police report back to us. Our Recovery Specialists handle the rest, until the victim's identity
is 100% recovered.
Is there software involved and if so, how is it used?
Entrust America uses proprietary software that speeds the recovery process by providing any and all forms needed to report and resolve cases of identity theft. There are over 40 different types of identity theft, each involving a different form to be filled out by the victim. In addition, each state has its own specific forms, and the credit bureaus, banks and credit card companies all have their own paperwork. There is also federal government reporting that is needed, such as the FBI, Secret Service and US Passport Services, to name a few. Through interviewing the member, our Recovery Specialists determine whether there has been an identity theft, if so, they identify which kind, and then they provide the member with all appropriate forms, pre-filled out.
This automation provides a complete and immediate response to the ID theft. If our Recovery Specialists cannot resolve the situation after receiving all the signed paperwork back from the member, the case is handed to a Recovery Specialist, who launches a full investigation and recovery on the member’s behalf.
How long does the identity recovery process take?
There is a huge difference between the recovery period when a consumer tries to do it alone, and when we do it for him. According to the FTC, cases of identity theft can take from 3 to 5,000 hours to resolve. A study* of identity theft victims showed that more than half were still working to fix the problem more than a year after the theft happened, and 17% took three or more years.
In contrast, Entrust America members spend no more than two hours of their own time dealing with the identity theft. Historically, about 20% of our cases have been resolved in 24 hours or less, about 46% within 30 days, 20% within 45 days, and the remainder within 90 days. We have never taken longer than 90 days to solve an identity theft case and fully restore the member’s identity to pre-theft status.
* Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2003, by the Identity Theft Resource Center, cited on US Department of Justice website.
What does 100% identity recovery mean?
We will take the member to pre-theft status. We impose no dollar limit or time limit on the recovery process. Bottom line; your identity is stolen on Nov. 1, we will ensure that we restore you to Oct. 31. We guarantee this!
Entrust America was created by law enforcement for the use of law enforcement. We guarantee that, should a member become a victim of any form of Identity Theft, we will restore them to pre-theft status.
- 100% guaranteed recovery
- No restrictions
- No loopholes
- No monetary limitations
- Never any additional costs
|
Protect you and your family today with the nations only law enforcement backed identity recovery service.
I understand that Entrust America can protect my customers or employees from identity theft, but how does providing service also protect my company?
Because of concerns about the growing incidence of data breaches and identity theft, the federal government has passed a number of laws holding companies responsible for the security of data in their possession. These laws include the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Graham, Leach, Bliley Safeguard Rule (GLB) and the New Red Flag Rules. In the event that your database is hacked or misused, the penalties are severe:
- Fines up to $1,000,000 per occurrence
- Up to 10 years jail time for executives
- Removal of management
- Executives within an organization can be held personally accountable both civilly and criminally
|
When you provide Entrust America’s identity protection and recovery service to your employees and/or customers, you are showing the government that you are taking proactive steps to protect your customers’ and employees’ personal information and are therefore subject to a lowered liability.
Also see: Real Cost Of A Breach
Breach Cost Calculator
Breach Notification Laws By State
Security Breach Legislation By State
Identity Theft Laws By State
How can we offer Entrust America to individuals in our group, association or company?
There are a number of ways we can work together, depending on whether you want to bill monthly for the service.
- Individuals opt-in and the organization or company bills the customer, member or employee on a monthly basis monthly by auto-debiting the payment from their account, deducting it from their paycheck or charging their credit card on file. The group may simply pass along the group rate or use it as a fundraiser for the organization. The group then uploads a spreadsheet of new customers and cancellations, if any, to Entrust on a weekly basis along with a monthly payment.
- Organizations may want to offer the service to their members at a group rate, but want customers to pay Entrust directly. In this case, we would set up a custom, co-branded landing page where customers can sign up with a credit card, which would be billed monthly.
- Whether the sale is going through the group or direct to Entrust, another option is for customers to receive a year’s worth of pre-paid protection for themselves and their families by purchasing a gift card.
- Interested in doing it in a different way? Let us know and we will work with you to design a program.
|
Do I need identity theft insurance, indemnity coverage or financial compensation?
Identity insurance will pay some expenses related to fixing a customer's identity. It is important to note that these are expenses the customer incurs because the customer is doing the work in restoring his own identity. According to the FTC, the recovery process can take almost 5,000 hours for the customer to recover their own identity, and more than half of ID theft victims are still dealing with the problem a year later. Because it takes so long for the victim to restore his own identity, he often has to take time off from work to do so. Identity insurance reimburses the victim primarily for lost wages due to identity theft. It may also cover expenses incurred, such as babysitting or elder care needed in order to work on the identity theft case.
To be reimbursed, the customer/victim must keep detailed documentation, time logs and expense receipts to be submitted to the insurance company after the customer completes his own identity restoration. A 2007 Consumers Reports study found that many insurance-based reimbursement type policies carry loopholes that can compromise and severely limit the coverage. One of these loopholes is that only the time that has resulted in the customer’s losing wages are reimbursed. Personal time spent by customer in the recovery process is not covered or reimbursable. Expense reimbursement is done after the customer/victim has done all the work in restoring his identity, which usually takes months or even years.
Financial compensation or reimbursement is not needed with Entrust America because the customer is not doing all the recovery work. Entrust America provides only fully managed identity theft recovery. With the use of our proprietary ID recovery tracking software, power of attorney and our law enforcement Recovery Specialists, we able to gather the necessary information pertaining to the identity theft and complete all of the required documents at the click of a button. Our ID recovery documentation packets are then sent to the customer via secure overnight service for signatures and notarization. The member returns the ID recovery documentation packets to Entrust America via the provided return secure overnight envelope, and the Recovery Specialists do the rest. Entrust America’s members, on average, spend no more than two hours on their own recovery.
Some services provide indemnity coverage included. To address this we will quote from literature provide by one identity insurance carrier about their indemnity coverage. "In most cases, any indemnity issues are resolved without loss of money. When money is taken, usually it is restored."
Most monetary losses are covered by banks, Visa, MasterCard and other financial institutions. Should you discover fraudulent charges, the Fair Credit Billing Act limits your liability for unauthorized charges to $50, and most credit card companies have protections in place that keep you from paying even that. The most important thing in addressing these losses is a quick and professional follow up with the proper documentation, all of which is provided by Entrust America's ID recovery tracking software, power of attorney and Recovery Specialists.
Some identity theft protection companies provide identity insurance or indemnity insurance in lieu of a guarantee that their service will protect the member from identity theft or recover the member’s identity once stolen, but it is a poor substitute. The victim still has to deal not only with the consequences of the identity theft itself, but is also burdened with additional paperwork requirements to get compensation months or years down the road.
Can Entrust handle an influx of 100,000 clients in a month?
YES! We need approximately 10 days notice to cover the logistics of adding that many at once, but we can absolutely do it.
Does any other company perform such services?
Yes and no. There are other companies providing "recovery", but no one combines the police privacy package (redaction package) and recovery the way that Entrust America does. Also, no other company uses law enforcement officers to do the recovery. Most use clerks, some outsource to lawyers and some use private investigators.
It’s the police involvement in the recovery process that makes all the difference. Our law enforcement Recovery Specialists go through a rigorous identity theft training program and are working to recover members’ identities on their own time to supplement their income. Those factors, combined with their inborn zeal to see justice served, provide motivation to recover members’ identities 100%, every time. Result? Entrust America has a perfect record of 100% recovery for 100% of our members.
What is Entrust America’s geographic distribution?
We offer identity theft protection and recovery nationwide. When a member calls us with a problem and it needs to be handed off to a Recovery Specialist, we use our law enforcement resources closest to where the member lives.
We have a lot of support from police organizations out west, where statistically we have seen the most identity theft problems. The gang activity as it relates to illegal immigration has exploded out west, so federal, state and local law enforcement are very aware of the problem. Customers and law enforcement alike in that area understand the value of the "redaction package" far better than those east of the Mississippi.
However, we also have the NYPD as one of our endorsing departments and we currently are working with police departments in 38 states, and growing.
Can I see some testimonials?
We cannot release the names of our members because that would compromise the privacy we have helped them protect. We do have some written testimonials on our website: http://www.entrustamerica.com/endorsements.aspx
We also have a video of a member talking about her experience as a victim of identity theft and how Entrust helped her. http://www.entrustamerica.com/victimmovie.aspx
If necessary, we can set up a conference call so your executives can talk to police officers who work with Entrust. We just need 72 hours notice, as they are sometimes undercover and not immediately available.
|
|
