oldrebel: blog 
oldrebel's blog
more insanity from raleigh
Published Jul. 1, 2008
According to a WRAL news article,
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3131792/
in an effort to " help fight identity theft and address fraud,” your NC Drivers license will be mailed to you. This is to enable DMV to run a more complete check on records to ensure the applicant is indeed who they claim to be and then the license will be mailed to the applicants home within 20 days. All of this has a certain kind of logic, except the mailing of the license. To an unlocked, unsecure mailbox.
"In fact, your mailbox is the riskiest non-technological point for identity theft, according to a study released in October 2007. The study, an assessment of closed U.S. Secret Service cases between 2000 and 2006 which had components of identity theft and identity fraud, showed the top two methods of non-technological identity theft were re-routing of mail and mail theft. In other words, your mailbox is a serious threat to your identity." *
So does it really make a lot of sense to put this valuable piece of identification into an unsecure place (a rural mailbox) where anyone can, and often do, pilfer through and steal mail that may appear to be profitable to a thief?
What could be a more supid idea than to take these newly issued licenses and put them in a clearly idenfied DMV envelope, so thieves will better know which envelope has the license within, to make it totally simple and easy to steal from the mailbox???
Has no one at DMV ever taken time to read governmental statistics on how many thousands of peieces of mail are stolen each day from mailboxes across the nation? Does DMV actually think that identity thieves will not jump at the opportunity to have such easy access to freshly issued licenses? This way the thief merely opens a rural mailbox, looks through what's inside for the taking, and when a DMV envelope is spied inside, they walk away with a piece of identification that can be used for any kind of fraud immaginable.
I've always heard ' our liberty is never more in danger than when Congress is in session '...but it also appears that intelligence is out of town when the "powers that be" at DMV make decisions. One would be hard pressed to find a more stupid idea and try and call it an attempt to promote identity theft prevention.
* http://idtheft.about.com/od/identitytheft101/a/Mail_Theft.htm
close16 Comments
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GOLO member since March 3, 2008
July 1, 2008 9:42 a.m.
GOLO member since May 1, 2008
July 1, 2008 8:52 a.m.
GOLO member since July 2, 2007
July 1, 2008 8:26 a.m.
GOLO member since January 20, 2008
July 1, 2008 8:18 a.m.
Perhaps one could be given a choice when you are in the process of getting this license at DMV locations: have it mailed or come back & pick it up. I'd choose to return & pick it up.
I guess that would present just more problems though: is it ready yet? how to notify someone of its readiness. why did you mail it when I said I would pick it up? why isn't it ready yet - it's been over a month?
GOLO member since June 19, 2008
July 1, 2008 8:16 a.m.
I have actually had replacement license sent thru the mail. I don't remember what the envelope look like.
Just doesn't sound like a very well thought out plan. Maybe when they see how AWFUL it is for this one place, they will come up with something better. Like, uh, who knows, actually verifying the info RIGHT THERE and then.
GOLO member since July 15, 2007
July 1, 2008 8:02 a.m.
GOLO member since October 9, 2007
July 1, 2008 7:55 a.m.
GOLO member since October 18, 2007
July 1, 2008 7:51 a.m.
July 1, 2008 7:45 a.m.
July 1, 2008 7:33 a.m.
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