FTC Red Flags Rules - Not Just Financial Institutions

In addition to straight forward employment law changes, the FTC Red Flags Rules apply to more companies and industries than originally thought. The Rules provide for the identification, detection, and response to patterns, practices or specific activities – known as “red flags” – that could indicate identity theft. The Rules apply to financial institutions and creditors with covered accounts. The definition of “creditor” is where most of the confusion lies when determining if the Rules apply to s specific business. Basically, if an individual’s or group of individual’s identify is stolen because a company failed to protect personally identifiable information they collected on clients, vendors, employees or applicants, under the Rules the company is liable if they have not complied with the many steps set forth in the Rules.