Thousands of documents come through the Johnston County Register of Deeds office some of those documents provide a predator with exactly what they would need to steal a person's identity. As of December 1, 2005, the Register of Deeds can redact ID numbers (Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, etc) off of documents online, but only if the person requested it. This did not sit well with Craig. He knew that not all of the citizens of Johnston County would know what they would need to do to get this sensitive information removed, or that this information is even out there.

Craig worked with Senator David Rouzer to help introduce a bill for a stronger Identity Protection Act. That Bill passed July 2009, allowing Register of Deeds to remove Social Security Numbers and Drivers License numbers from documents automatically.

Putting the peoples best interest first, Craig implemented software to go through all of the Johnston County Register of Deeds documents (dating all the way back to 1746) and automatically find and flag all Social Security Numbers and Drivers License numbers. Craig continues to fight to keep your information safe and out of the hands of identity theft predators.

Facts of Identity Theft
Courtesy of The NC Dept. of Justice

• Nearly 10 Million people in the US are victims of ID theft each year. Every 3 seconds someone in the US is a victim.

• In NC 300,000 people are victims of ID theft each year.

• NC ranks 21st in the Nation in terms of identity theft with 4 NC cities rank in the top 50 metropolitan areas for identity theft complaints: Dunn, Thomasville, Lexington, Salisbury and Durham. The city of Dunn is only 25 miles away!

• Victims lose $5 billion as they try to restore their good names, credit, and an average of $500 per victim. Most serious ID theft, a person will spend $1,180 and 60 hours on average to try to undo the damage.

• Businesses lose nearly $50 billion to identity theft each year.