Jeff Lanza's identity theft prevention seminar is Wednesday from 1-2:30 p.m. at the Edgewood Cinemas, 5220 S. 56th St., Lincoln, NE. The event is free and open to the public, but the Better Business Bureau asks that you call (800) 649-6814, Ext. 8600, to make reservations.
Identity theft is on the rise, both in Nebraska and nationally, which means Jeff Lanza has plenty of work left to do.
The retired FBI special agent, who spent more than 20 years fighting white-collar crime, now spends his days educating people about identity theft.
"In retirement my passion is to keep people and businesses safe," said Lanza, who makes his home in the Kansas City area.
To that end, Lanza will be in Lincoln on Wednesday to present a free seminar on identity theft in conjunction with the Better Business Bureau of Nebraska.
He said there are three main reasons identity theft continues to grow: It's easy to commit, it's very lucrative for the perpetrator, and it's hard for authorities to catch the crooks.
Nationally, identity theft complaints to the Federal Trade Commission dropped in 2009, stopping a nearly decade-long rise. But the nearly 280,000 complaints was still more than nine times the number reported in 2000.
The number of FTC complaints from Nebraskans also dropped in 2009, to 938, down from 1,055 in 2008. But that's more than triple the number of FTC complaints from state residents in 2000.
Lanza said one of the frustrating things about those statistics is that identity theft is such a preventable crime.
His seminars focus on five main areas of prevention, including shredding documents, protecting your computer and regularly checking your credit report.
Lanza normally works for private clients, including H&R Block, Hallmark, the Internal Revenue Service, Citigroup and Edward Jones.
This is his first-ever seminar for a BBB.
Sharon Brodhagen, branch manager of the Lincoln BBB office, said an employee of the Omaha office went to one of Lanza's seminars and was impressed.
"We're always looking for speakers who can inform consumers about scams, and he came highly recommended," she said.
Brodhagen said there is plenty of room for Wednesday's seminar, but the BBB requests that anyone wishing to attend call and make a reservation.
