Two Easy Defenses Against Business Identity Theft
October 05, 2009 | By
Avoiding identity theft has become a passion for consumers, with hundreds of websites and books written on how people can do their best to “Deter, Detect, and Defend” against it as the Federal Trade Commission’s motto suggests. But what many handmade crafters fail to realize is that identity theft isn’t just limited to individuals. Small businesses are just as vulnerable because so many of their owners use personal information, such as social security numbers, for business transactions. 
Small business owners need to remember that thieves are creative. In addition to personal social security numbers, identity thieves may try to steal company credit cards, bank statements, checkbooks, and personnel records. Once they have this information, identity thieves may try to open credit card and bank accounts using your business name, they may try to get official government documents issued to them such as driver’s licenses or ID cards. A friend of mine, and an unfortunate victim of identity theft, even had someone try to give his personal information during an arrest, skip town before going to a court date, at which time a warrant was issued for an arrest in their name. You can imagine the havoc that caused.

Once you’ve been the victim of identity theft as a business owner, it could take as long as a year to re-establish your credit score and clean up the problems resulting from a theft of private identity information. During that time, you may lack access to some vital credit that will help them conduct their day to day operations and expand their sales potential. Don’t let this happen to you or your handmade crafting business. Two simple defenses exist to help you protect your identity as a handmade crafting business owner.
Switch to an Employer Identification Number. The Social Security Number (SSN) remains the single most targeted piece of information during identity theft and even knowing this startling statistic, people constantly leave the information unprotected. Many people insist on carrying their Social Security Card in their purse or wallet or leaving the card in an unprotected location rather than keeping it under lock and key where it belongs. Fortunately, there’s an alternative to the SSN that provides business owners with an excellent way of identifying their business without putting their personal identity at risk.
Rather than using your personal social security number for your business dealings, consider obtaining an Employer Identification Number or EIN (also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number). Of the documents you sign in the course of your regular business dealings, many have the potential to become public, despite security measures of the organizations with which you will deal. Fortunately, the Internal Revenue Service provides four different ways for handmade crafters to obtain an EIN: via the internet, via telephone, via FAX and via mail.
Monitor what people are saying about you and your business. Most people think of monitoring what people are saying about a business as an activity for larger corporations trying to protect their brand’s identity. While brand identity can certainly be a focus of handmade crafting business owners, think beyond this activity. Monitoring what people are saying goes far beyond improving your reputation; it includes looking to see if your work is being used without permission and how people are using your personal of business name.
As a small business owner and handmade crafter you’re operating in the same arena as freelance workers. You want to determine if things like your product descriptions or your writings are being plagiarized (this is especially true if you using blogging as a method of advertising). You also want to see how people are using your personal name and your business name. Is your information being used in the way you expect? Is it it being used reputably? Even five minutes of quick Google searching can be invaluable here to find out of other people are using your name online and can uncover disputable information brokers. But don’t stop there. Take advantage of services like Google Alerts where you can automatically receive email about articles containing search terms you specify.
You can also monitor what people are saying about your and your business by monitoring your standing with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). While they're specifically not in the business of stopping scam artists, it’s not uncommon for the BBB to be one of the first organizations to identify when scams are starting to develop. By monitoring your standing with the BBB you can check to ensure that frauds aren’t starting to be reported incorrectly using your name or that of your handmade crafting business. You may not end up being as sought after as John Robbie[1], but by working closely with the BBB when something does come up, you may actually have a hand in catching a thief who has stolen your identity.
References
[1] Bonus points to anyone who remembered that John Robbie was the lead character in Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic thriller, To Catch a Thief, starring Cary Grant.
Photo Credits
Photo 1 courtesy of D70Focus
Photo 2 courtesy of the US Federal Government
Photo 3 courtesy of Danny Sullivan
Gaylin Walli is a happily married, ne'er-do-well freelance writer obsessed with books. She lives in south-east Michigan.
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