| How to Catch an Identity Thief |
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After six months of hell caused by identity thief, Karen Lodrick realized that the woman ordering a latte behind her was the thief. The giveaway was the expensive coat that woman was holding. the same coat the thief wore when cleaning out her checking account.
Karen called 911 and then chased the thief through the streets of San Francisco, including taxis and buses. After 45 minutes the police arrived and found the thief hiding behind a car in a garage.
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| Ohio Data Breach |
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A backup tape containing the personal information and social security numbers of 64,467 Ohio State employees. was stolen from an interns car last week.
While we applaud any government trying to save money, it seems that using the home of an intern as an offsite storage facility is not the best place to save money. A media vaulting facility would have saved the state a great deal when all the costs for this incident are considered.
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| Advice from the Top |
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Here is some advice from Deborah Platt Majoras, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, on identity theft.
How vulnerable is the average person to identity theft? It's difficult to get our arms around the true scope of the problem, but we do know that millions of Americans are victimized every year.
What should people do to protect themselves? You need to be a smart consumer about protecting your personal information. Online, you never give account information out unless you've initiated the contact. Offline, don't throw away your bank statements that have your account numbers on them. Make sure you shred them. Check your bank account and credit card statements very carefully to make sure there are no unauthorized withdrawals or transactions, and you need to check your credit reports from all three credit bureaus at least once a year.
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