Free stolen ID search service launched amid skepticism

01.02.2007
A free online service called StolenID Search, designed to help people find out if their Social Security or credit card numbers have been compromised, is being greeted with skepticism since its launch last week.

Scott Mitic, CEO of the company behind StolenID Search, Wednesday acknowledged some of the concerns, but he maintained that consumer response so far has been substantial. StolenID Search was launched last week by TrustedID, a venture-funded provider of identity-theft protection services based in Redwood City, Calif. The service allows users to check a database containing over 2.3 million compromised records to find out whether their personal information has been stolen or otherwise exposed. Users simply enter their Social Security numbers or credit card details into a search field on the StolenID Web site. If a match is found in the StolenID database, the person is informed of that fact and directed to additional resources for protecting himself from ID theft and fraud. If no match is found, the user is offered the option of subscribing to a fee-based alerting service offered by TrustedID.

So far, more than 100,000 people -- including many from Europe -- have already used the site to see if their personal data has been compromised, said Mitic, CEO of TrustedID. At the same time, a substantial number of online users -- especially bloggers -- have weighed in with reservations about the "potential risks and liabilities" associated with the service, Mitic said.

Posters on several blogs appear to be especially concerned about the wisdom of typing Social Security and credit card numbers into a search field on an unfamiliar Web site. There are also concerns about what TrustedID might be doing with the data that consumers enter on its Web site and what measures the company has in place for protecting the information in its database of compromised numbers.

"My first reaction to the site was: Are you kidding me?" said one reader on the blog downloadsquad.com. "We are told over and over again to be very careful about entering personal info on the web. Now, here is a site that says it will search for stolen ID's, all you have to do is enter your ID," the reader said.

Another reader on the blog consumerist.com called the service a "fundamentally flawed idea used to gather SSNs [Social Security numbers] from users of the site for God-knows-what."