Goals:

There are two primary fields in which I would like to work: identity theft and loss prevention/related (loyalty, coupon fraud, etcetera).

During my time as a graduate student, I wrote the majority of my papers on identity/medical identity theft and loss prevention, specifically in retail/corporate retail.

Loss Prevention:

Post-graduation, I designed a course to help employees better understand how loss (through stolen and damaged goods, as well as accepting wrong or fraudulent coupons) ultimately hurts them as well as the customers. This course has been reviewed by my capstone course professor (from whom I took the Fraud Management seminar), and he found it to be a well-developed course.

I have several years experience in retail from the perspective of an associate, and believe that this would aid me significantly on solving problems from the other side. I have several ideas I'd love to try out in a retail setting, to see if we can lower the ratio of goods lost through theft (internal and external).

Identity Theft:

While I don't have hands-on experience in the identity theft field, I did do quite a bit of research in this area during my time as a graduate student. I learned that CA and AZ are two of the best states to be a victim of identity theft due to the practices these states have in place to help you if your identity has been stolen.

Virginia, regrettably, does not have very good practices in place. They do have a card which can be issues to you if you claim your identity has been stolen, but this is not easy to find information. I feel it is likely most Virginia residents are completely unaware this card exists. Secondly, Virginia also views you as 'guilty until proven innocent', as all the state's wording about identity theft in VA is written as "John Doe claims to be a victim of identity theft."

Medical identity theft is another problem, and not as well known. It can even have fatal consequences! This is a situation, unfortunately, where HIPAA, a program designed to protect your records can actually hurt you, because if your records get (un)intentionally mixed with another patient's records, you may not be allowed to see your records to fix the problem!

I would love to be part of an organization or company which helps victims of identity and/or medical identity theft, and for Virginia, and states like Virginia, helps to improve the practices currently in place.

Non-technical skills:

• Research, writing, editing
• Detail-oriented
• Hard working / Quality focused
• Enthusiastic
• Works well independently and with a team
• Excellent memory
• Efficient
• Learns quickly
• Effective decision making skills
• Consistently meets deadlines

Careers I am interested in pursuing include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Loss prevention in retail (local, regional, and/or corporate)
• Coupon Fraud Investigation
• Identity/Medical Identity Theft Investigations
• Working with a police department
• Working with an investigation agency
• Working with banks to investigate and prevent fraud (internal or external)
• Working with credit card companies to investigate and prevent fraud (internal or external)
• Insurance claims (fraudulent) investigator
• Professional Witness
• Fraud (general) Investigator

Should relocation be an issue, areas I prefer to relocate:

1. NY

2. PA

3. NH

4. Canada