ID Theft Expert Learned Privacy the Hard Way

After leaving the L.A. FBI with a $1 million bounty on her head, R.M. Tracy founded The Privacy Trust Group to help businesses and individuals prevent--or recover from--one of the fastest-growing crime risks in America: identity theft.

Denver , Colo. (PRWEB) November 19, 2006 -- When R.M. Tracy left the Los Angeles FBI, she had a $1 million bounty on her head.

Tracy drew some unwanted attention from what the Bureau calls "loosely organized criminal entities" as a financial-crimes investigator, and the heat got intense. Now in the Denver area, she took what she'd learned from law enforcement, as well as corporate and IT security consulting, and created The Privacy Trust Group, a company dedicated to helping businesses and individuals prevent--or recover from--one of the fastest-growing crime risks in America: identity theft.

Tracy's educational programs help business owners understand the laws, their liabilities and how to recover if information is stolen. "Our programs can't help but change the way business owners think about identity theft," Tracy says. "We teach them how to protect their businesses, minimize the liability and how to use identity-theft prevention as a marketing tool to attract and retain customers."

Tracy also has written several books about identity theft directed at individuals. Even with all the attention ID theft has garnered in the media, most people are unaware of how vulnerable their personal information is. "One in five people is already a victim," she says. "And 30 percent of businesses have experienced losses because of identity theft."

The results can be devastating to individuals as well as businesses. "Victims often lose $10,000 or more, from the ID theft itself and then from their efforts to recover," Tracy says. "And victims lose not just money, but time as well."

Tracy stresses that small businesses have much to lose. "While large corporations can typically handle the liability and class-action lawsuits," she says, "small businesses just don't have the resources to survive information theft. For small businesses, if information is stolen and employees or customers are impacted, the liability and potential class-action lawsuits will destroy that business."

To that end, the Privacy Trust Group's educational programs include HR training, records management, risk management, company information practices and company information security.

Tracy hosts a weekly radio show, the first of its kind, devoted solely to the topic of identity theft. Called Identity Theft CSI, the show airs Sundays at 9 a.m. on Denver's KNUS 710AM (www.710knus.com, streaming live). Her goal is to get the show syndicated nationwide. "The more people I can reach," she says, "the more people I can help."

For more information, call R.M. Tracy at (303) 648-0119.

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