I’d like to share a recent event that really made me think about the many seemingly insignificant things we can do to protect our identities and sideline theft, yet through carelessness or lack of knowledge, we just don’t give security a chance.

It all started when I tried to pick up a camera that my father had purchased – the store didn’t have the chosen model in stock, so he gave me the receipt to pick it up at another location. At the store, a manager told the clerk that my dad would need to give his permission – no surprise there. I called my dad and handed the phone to the clerk, who then asked if it was okay for me to claim the camera. My father said yes, and that was that. I thought it strange that the clerk didn’t ask either of us to at least verify an address. Instead, he apologized and thanked me profusely for my cooperation.

“Sure,” I said, adding, “I understand how important it is to take security seriously.”

“You’d be surprised how many customers don’t,” the clerk replied. “I’ve had people yell at me just for asking to see their driver’s license.”

That statement captured the real-world difficulties of establishing proper security measures within retail. Quite honestly, personal protection is a two-way street. As consumers, how can we expect policies and procedures to be enforced when we kick up a fuss or otherwise choose to circumvent them?

Certainly I’m not suggesting that a customer’s touchy reaction absolves a retailer’s shoddy attempts at security (remember, there wasn’t much to that phone call verification). The fact is that an identity thief could make quite a show of complaining, in an effort to hide the fact that he is not the person he claims to be.

I think it boils down to a topic we talk about at Kroll a lot: behavioral change. Simple things like point-of-purchase security efforts are a first-line defense against theft and fraud, if we’ll let down our resistance about being inconvenienced – especially when it’s for our own good. Has a bank teller, or a grocery clerk, or another retailer asked you to prove you are you? How did you react?

Cassandra Eddins
Kroll Guest Blogger

Tags: consumer data security, identity theft, point-of-purchase security, retail data security

Categories: Data Security Issues.