Debt Collectors

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. Secret Service has estimated that consumers nationwide lose $745 million to identity theft each year. They may get information from businesses or other institutions by stealing it; by bribing an employee who has access to records; hacking into records; or conning information out of employees. Some signs include unexplained charges or withdrawals from your financial accounts; bills or other mail stop arriving (the thief may have submitted a change of address); a credit application is denied for no apparent reason, or debt collectors begin calling about merchandise or services you didn't buy. To protect yourself and your computer against identity theft consider: Updating virus protection software frequently. Consider setting your virus protection software to update automatically. Not storing your financial information on your laptop, unless absolutely necessary. A wipe utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive is recommended. They monitor Internet chat rooms where identity thieves illicitly trade and sell stolen credit card numbers. CardCops turns the information over to law enforcement authorities, but also allows consumers to access their database to see whether individual card numbers may have been stolen.

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