The market online and electronic market for ringtones is full of scams.

Leave it to resourceful identity thieves to find a way to take advantage of our need for the latest  ringtones and applications for our cellphones. Thieves have found a way to steal identities using ringtone web sites.

Kids make especially good targets.

Teenagers with cellphones invariably have to have the latest and coolest ringtones and, even worse, will almost always download “free” items without a second thought. Often, sites that advertise free ringtones will attach viruses to your download in order to steal personal information. or kids are enticed to text free ringtone sites to get free downloads.

The following tips can help keep you safe:

Teach your kids about identity theft and how thieves use the information they collect.

Use the ring tone that came with your phone. This isn't fun and it definitely isn't cool, but it's the only sure-fire way to avoid identity theft with ringtones.

Don't download ringtones from free sites. Too often, these sites attach viruses to your download, which can then steal personal information.

Don't send text messages to to sites in order to receive free ringtones. A common scam is to charge a fee or subscription that will appear monthly on your cellphone bill.

Don't keep sensitive personal or financial information on your cellphone (bank info, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers or dates of birth). The less personal information there is on your phone, the less thieves have to work with if you do get a virus on your phone.

Only buy your ringtones from established cell phone service providers.

If you do find yourself the target of ringtone thieves, file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – click on this link.

Audit highlights missing laptops.

An audit of laptops used by operatives at one of Britain's main intelligence agencies revealed that the agency “lost track” of 35 laptop computers, including three that were certified to hold Top Secret information; a parliamentary intelligence and security committee reported this past Thursday. The rest of the laptops were not approved for unclassified information. According to the report, the agency's process for logging the allocation and subsequent location of laptops at GCHQ had been "haphazard" and that the agency showed a "cavalier" attitude to tracking equipment – an attitude that generated sharp criticism from the government last week.

"The Committee considers that this formerly cavalier attitude towards valuable and sensitive assets was unacceptable. GCHQ must ensure that it controls, tracks and monitors its equipment effectively. Now that proper processes have been introduced, we trust that this problem will not arise again."

In response to the report, a government statement said it accepted the committee's criticism and conceded that GCHQ had been unable to account fully for all of its laptops at that time. The government statement pointed out that although the missing laptop documentation was troubling, there was “no evidence of any loss of laptops or classified information." "The most likely explanation in most cases is that the laptops were destroyed but without the destruction being fully recorded. GCHQ has now tightened up its controls." Over the past several years, the British government has been repeatedly embarrassed by lapses over missing laptops and storage devices involving losses of information, such as when tax authorities lost data on 25 million people exposing them to the risk of identity theft and fraud.

GCHQ is the responsibility of the UK Secretary of State. The agency carries out intelligence functions similar in many ways to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Based in Cheltenham, the agency operates under the guidance of the Joint Intelligence Committee, and falls under the direct supervision of the British Secretary of State. GCHQ was originally established after World War I as the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS or GC&CS), by which name it was known until 1946. During the Second World War, GCCS was based largely at Bletchley Park, and is most famous for cracking the German Enigma code.

More Bad News At The Gasoline Station – identity thieves who install hard-to-detect electronic devices at stations to steal credit and debit card data.

If you drive a car – and that means almost everyone in the U.S. - an unthought-of source of identity theft worries has become a problem in many states. Incidents in many states have law-enforcement personnel scrambling to deal with a new identity theft threat - “skimmers” attached to gasoline pumps that store credit card data. These devices look so much like the actual card-swipe hardware used by gas stations that they’re hard to detect. Thieves attach these devices for a month or more and then retrieve them – as well as the data from thousands of credit cards.

Just yesterday, three men were arraigned in a Los Angeles courtroom for stealing over $2 million by installing devices on gas station pumps that recorded credit card numbers. They were each charged with conspiracy, identity theft, grand theft and computer access fraud, and each man faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. According to prosecutors, they installed skimmers on computerized gas pumps, which recorded credit card, debit card and PIN numbers that later were used to withdraw cash from ATMs. When arrested on February 25th, they were in possession of more than 10,000 stolen credit card numbers. Police also seized $40,000 in cash and several cars, including a Ferrari.

In February, Rocklin California police stated that that at least 57 people had their debit card information stolen by devices hidden in two gas pumps at one gas station. So far, at least $43,000 was taken from ATM accounts by cards created by the thieves using stolen numbers. It is likely that the total theft is much higher, as only two of the 16 financial institutions whose cards were affected have so far reported customers' losses to police. Police have obtained security camera footage of eight suspects using ATMs with the stolen PINs and homemade cards related to this skimming case.

Because using your credit or ATM card at the gas pump doesn’t involve a cashier, identity thieves find them to be an easy (and lucrative) target – in one estimate, between $1 million and $3.5 million was stolen from victims of gas pump identity theft in five states over four months in 2008!

Medical identity theft becoming an increasing problem

Medical identity theft is becoming an ever-increasing issue, and with credit card theft, once an identity thief gets hold of enough information they can easily assume another identity and obtain medical services under the name of another person.

The number of medical identity theft cases has grown rapidly. As many as 500,000 Americans have been victims of medical identify theft, according to the World Privacy Forum. The World Privacy Form compiled statistics on medical identity theft for the period 1992 through 2006. According to the 2006 report, the Federal Trade Commission received almost 19,500 reports of medical ID theft between January 1992 to April 2006. About one every four reports were received in 2006. A second report on medical identity theft is currently being finalized, which is likely to be published in early 2010.

According to Government Technology Newsletter (www.govtech.com), medical identity theft is  comparatively lucrative as compared to other forms of identity theft. A stolen Social Security number has an estimated street value of $1 per identity; stolen medical identity information averaged $50 per identity in 2008. At one medical clinic in Weston, Florida, a front desk clerk downloaded information of more than 1,100 Medicare patients and gave it to a cousin who made $2.8 million in false Medicare claims.

Medical ID theft is not something people consider and don't safeguard against. In fact, you can be victimized and have no idea for years, unless false information in your records comes to light when you seek medical care. Once you have become a victim of medical identity theft, you may find that the thieves charged large hospital bills in your name and then disappeared. This can wreak havoc on your credit report, and can take years to straighten out. In the meantime, you may have to deal with collections agencies and could even lose out on a car loan, mortgage or even an employment opportunity.

Fraudulent medical claims can even max out your health insurance coverage and leave you with no health insurance in an emergency. There can be darker consequences. If your records contain wrong information such as blood type or information about medications that you are (or are not) allergic to, your life or long-term health could be put into jeopardy if you are given the wrong medication or blood type in an emergency.

In addition to the possibility of receiving incorrect treatment due to medical identity theft, there are a number of other possible consequences. These include

• False medical and pharmaceutical bills
• False health insurance claims
• Denial of health insurance claims
• Denial of health insurance coverage
• Denial of life insurance claims
• Denial of life insurance coverage
• Denial of employment based on false medical history
• Time and expense correcting false patient records
• Time and expense correcting false insurance records

There are some concrete steps that you can take to find out about possible fraudulent information in your medical records. If you are worried about medical identity theft, or feel that you may be a victim, read the World Privacy Forum's “What to do if you are a victim of medical ID theft” consumer tips,  released in May 2006 and updated regularly.

Women seem to be more likely to become victims of identity theft than men.

Once again, the Javelin Identity Fraud Survey Report has been released and shows a significant difference between the way men and women react to identity theft fraud. For the second straight year, the  study by Javelin Strategy & Research shows a “pronounced gender disparity” in identity theft, with women found to be 26 percent more likely to be victims of fraud than men.

The 2010 Javelin report found that fraud attacks involving women occurred more often through face-to-face interactions, occurring when making purchases at stores and restaurants, where there is less consumer control. Against common belief, online purchases actually offer the consumer greater control of sensitive financial information, with credit card numbers encrypted and a host of security controls in place due to the efforts of online merchants to counter the perceived threat posed by the internet to privacy. So called “in-person” interactions, that involve handing your credit card or a paper check (which usually involves the clerk or cashier checking your driver's license or other identification), actually offer the consumer very little control over their information.

Studies have shown that a greater portion of online sales are conducted by men than women. A greater percentage of women make “in-person” purchases than do men. In addition, women were almost three times more likely than men to report their information stolen during an in-person purchase. As a result, men seem to be less susceptible to identity fraud due to their preference for online shopping over real world retail, as just 6 percent of men suffered from breaches caused by in-store retail fraud compared with 16 percent of women. Also, because men seem to be statistically more likely than women to adopt newer technologies such as online banking, they more often have the benefit of high-tech safeguards.

Even worse, it takes women on average almost twice as long to catch fraud as men, mostly because men are more likely to use tools that help detect fraud more quickly, such as email or mobile alerts. Javelin reports that women took an average of 83 days to discover that their financial identities had been compromised compared with 45 days for men, leading to a far greater risk of repeat fraud for women.

The number if identity theft cases reported for 2009 has increased over the previous year once again, but a major study shows that increased security, consumer awareness and access to prevention services has had a beneficial effect for consumers.

The sixth consecutive Identity theft research study conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research has been released for 2009 and shows the total number of identity theft or fraud cases rose 12% over the prior year. More than 11 million Americans were victimized last year by some type of identity theft. This is the second straight year that the number if cases has risen. In 2008, identity fraud rose 22% over the previous year, and almost 10 million Americans were individually affected. The total cost of identity theft in the U.S. amounted to $54 billion dollars. According to James Van ***, the President of Javelin Strategy & Research, “... fraud increased for the second straight year and is at the highest rate since Javelin began this report in 2003.

The good news is consumers are getting more aggressive in monitoring, detecting and preventing fraud with the help of technology and partnerships with financial institutions, government agencies and resolution services.”

The good news is that, as with the previous year's study, the average cost to each individual victim continues to decrease. In 2008, the report found detection and resolution efforts are working well, and that the efforts of consumers and businesses have been effective in detecting and resolving fraud more quickly. As a result the mean consumer costs of identity fraud plummeted by 31 percent to $496 per incident in 2008. In 2009, that figure dropped even further to an average $373 per fraud incident. Out‐of‐pocket costs can include  unreimbursed financial losses, lost wages due to time taken off work, and legal fees for those victims who attempt to prosecute those responsible. As banks have increased their efforts in counteracting fraud and minimizing the cost and inconvenience suffered by consumers. Many victims did not experience any out of pocket costs at all.

The time in resolving fraud has also decreased for the second straight year. The average time to resolve cases of fraud was 21 hours in 2009. Due to the zero‐liability fraud protection offered by most banks and credit card companies, most victims will only have to pay out‐of‐pocket expenses to cover their time in resolving fraud, not for reimbursing fraudulent charges.    

These decreases are likely due to greater consumer awareness of the risk of identity theft and the increased availability of security, controls and consumer education campaigns by banks, card associations and other organizations; and greater access to more sophisticated prevention and detection resources from privacy and security companies. As businesses and consumers continue to work closely together and with consumers more frequently updating anti-spyware and anti-virus software and protecting sensitive data by safely adopting online financial services, such as online banking and bill paying, the Javelin report states that it expects these trends to continue down in the year 2010.

Robin Hood in Denver?

Robin Joshua Hood, 34, not the famed Sherwood Forest bandit — was charged today in Denver with identity theft and criminal impersonation.

Robin Hood was caught after attempting to steal from a Denver record store on January 6th. He was stopped by security personnel, police were called, and he was issued a summons to appear in court for shoplifting. The name and identification he gave to police were not his, it turns out.

When Hood showed up in court, it was discovered that he had been fraudulently using the name and identification of a man whose wallet he claims to have found in the street one day. Police said that Hood stated that he had found a wallet in downtown Denver and decided to assume the identity of the owner because he was being investigated on drug charges and didn't want to be arrested in Denver. Police searched him and found four used "injection devices" in Hood's left front pants pocket. Hood told the officers that he used the devices for injecting heroin.

The man whose identification Hood was using told investigators that he had lost his wallet on December 14th. The wallet, he said, contained both his Colorado driver's license and ID. He also said he did not know Hood and hadn't given Hood permission to use his ID.

Robin Hood – the legendary, original Robin Hood was portrayed as “robbing from the rich and giving to the poor,” and lived in Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. The very first known rhyme, four lines from the early 15th century, began: "Robyn hode in scherewode stod." If there was actually a real “Robin Hood,” evidence survives from middle-age writings placing his birthplace at Loxley in South Yorkshire and his exploits in either Nottinghamshire or the area of Barnsdale, in South Yorkshire.

His grave has been claimed to be at Kirklees Priory, Mirfield in West Yorkshire. A statue to the famed archer and champion of the poor stands on the grounds of Nottingham Castle.

Watch your mail … many “tax-time” forms contain sensitive personal information … including your Social Security number.

As we reach the height of tax season, the mail is full of forms containing a wealth of personal information. Employers were required by law to send out W-2s by the end of January. In addition to W-2 forms, many organizations are required to send out something called “information returns,” better known as 1099s. While most people are familiar with W-2 Forms, which employers use to report wages and tips of employees, not everyone is familiar with 1099 forms.

A 1099 form is used to report certain types of income and financial transactions to the IRS.  A copy is required to be mailed to the taxpayer.  There are over 30 variations of IRS Form 1099.  You may receive a Form 1099 if you had non-wage income such as unemployment benefits, Social Security benefits, interest, dividends, pensions, death benefits, or consulting fees.  A 1099 is issued to you if you are paid as a self-employed, independent contractor. For a complete list of reasons why you might receive a 1099 form, read the IRS's Guide to Information Returns at http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=98114,00.html. Issuers of 1099s generally must mail copies to taxpayers by January 31, so you can expect to receive them in your mailbox by early February. Since 1099s contain your social security number, as well as financial information, there is a risk that they can be misused for the purpose of committing identity theft. For this reason, the IRS created a pilot program this year to test the idea of allowing businesses to only print the last 4 digits of your social security number on the 1099.

“A person’s identifying number is sensitive personal information.  A risk exists that this information could be misappropriated from a payee statement and misused in various ways, such as to facilitate identity theft.  In an effort to minimize this risk, this notice creates a pilot program allowing truncation of individual identifying numbers on certain paper payee statements.”

Businesses are not required to truncate Social Security numbers.  Furthermore, the pilot project does not include IRS Form W-2, the most common tax form this time of year. So you can expect that there will be mail in your mailbox that leaves you at risk for identity theft. Your social security number is the key to identity theft, but some 1099s also contain bank account or other financial account information. This is not something you want to fall into the hands of identity thieves!

So what can you do to protect yourself? Here are some suggestions:

• Purchase a locking mailbox – that way, only you can retrieve your mail.
• Never leave your mail in the mailbox overnight.
• If you are away on vacation, have your mail stopped and held at the Post Office until you return home.
• When you move, make sure that you send a change of address to all companies that you do business with, so your forms can come to the right address.

Don't let tax time be any more stressful than it has to be!

Creating strong passwords to protect against identity theft.

In the battle to keep our personal and financial information out of the hands of identity thieves, passwords are frequently the last line of defense. To an identity thief, there is a virtual treasure-trove of information stored online. Web-based e-mail programs, online banking and brokerage sites, photo and document storage sites all store personal data and require a username and password to gain access. Some sites, such as online banking accounts, may provide additional protection through “secret questions” or other security features.

Even though I know all this, my number one criteria when choosing a password is making it easy to remember! I am guilty of using the same password for every site I can. Sometimes I have to choose a password for a site that requires that the password be formatted a certain way (i.e., must be at least 6 letters, with one number and one capital letter). Even though I know this is to help me choose a more secure password, I find it terribly annoying, mainly because I cannot use the one I use for every other site!

I suspect that I am not alone. Experts tell us that password-protected web sites are becoming more vulnerable because often people use the same passwords on numerous sites. One study found that over 30% of users recycle the same password for every site that they access.

A strong password can help protect against hackers and identity thieves. Here are some suggestions that I've found to help come up with passwords that can aid in preventing unwanted invasions of privacy, fraud or identity theft.

• Don’t use personal information.  Any part of your name, birthday, Social Security number, or similar information for your loved ones is a bad password choice.
• Avoid sequences of letters or numbers such as “123” or “xyz.” Just as bad are sequences that occur via keys next to each other on the keyboard, such as “qwe.”
•  Most passwords are case sensitive, so use a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, as well as numbers.
• If the site allows, use special characters such as  $, #, and &.
• The longer the password, the better. There are computerized “password cracking” programs out there that can easily defeat a password of seven characters or less.
• Use different passwords for different accounts and applications. That way, if one password is breached, your other accounts won’t be put at risk too.  
• Write your passwords down and keep them in a secure place (secure places do not include post-it notes on your monitor, under your mouse pad or, worst of all, in a folder on your hard drive!)
• Common words are easier to break than passwords that are not actual words. One good way to create a strong password is to pick an easily remembered word and misspell it or add special characters and numbers to it.
• Many sites ask you to choose a security question, which is used when you have forgotten your password. While this can be a helpful feature, be careful when choosing your security question, as this can be a “back door” that lets unauthorized users gain access. Don't choose a question that can easily be answered by others.

Microsoft has an online password strength checker at: www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx. If your password is weak, change it! Remember, passwords are there to keep your personal and financial information secure – and even though they are sometimes a pain in the $@#!*, they are necessary tool in the battle against fraud and identity theft.

An alzheimer's caregiver charged with identity theft may also be indicted for the murder of another patient.

A Hinds County, Mississippi grand jury indicted Stephanie Fields on a charge of stealing a patient's identity. Roy Stingley, 90, was cared for by Fields along with several other elderly patients at her home on State Street in Jackson. Fields allegedly used Stingley's identity to open several credit card accounts and charging over $6,000. The Mississippi State Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is in charge of prosecuting the case, and continues to investigate Fields to see if there are other victims of identity theft among those she has cared for in the past. Stingley's family now has the burden of working to clean up his credit accounts and restore his good name.

In an unexpected twist of events, it was reported yesterday that Fields may face an additional muder charge. Another patient under her care, Janice Hollins died in January during the cold snap. The Hinds County coroner stated that she may have frozen to death while sleeping in a room with broken windows in freezing temperatures. If so, Fields could be charged with murder if the coroner determines that her death was, indeed a homicide.

Fields does not have a state license to operate a home care facility and only needs one if she cares for three or more people at a time. The health department does not oversee such unlicensed private care homes. The state legislature is working to close that loophole in the law and give the health department more oversight authority. In the meanitme, the county coroner, the Jackson Police department and the health department will continue to investigate the cause of Hollins' death. A final medical examiner's report is expected within days.

Fields remains at the Hinds County Detention Center.

What should you do to protect yourself against identity theft?

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) in San Diego, up to 7 million people are victims of identity theft each year … this translates to more than a dozen people per minute! Thanks in part to the internet revolution and the increase in the use of credit and debit cards over the past few decades, a greater number of people have access to our sensitive personal information, which has dramatically increased the risk of identity theft. Identity thieves are often highly sophisticated criminals, using technology to steal your personal information … instead of dumpster diving or stealing mail.

To protect yourself against identity theft, shred or burn papers with credit card or bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or other personal information before throwing them away. Don't have your Social Security Number printed on your checks. Make sure that you check your credit report at least once per year to make sure it doesn't have accounts you don't know about. It's also a good idea to check your credit report before applying for a loan, if you've been denied for credit, or if you're planning to take steps to repair your credit. Under federal law, consumers who believe their identity has been stolen are eligible to receive a free credit report.  These reports can be easily ordered on-line from all three major credit bureaus, or from a site like FreeCreditReport.com. Carefully read through each line of your reports, taking note of any discrepancies, unfamiliar accounts or credit inquiries, or any incorrect information (wrong home addresses, phone numbers, etc).

If somebody acting in your name illegally openes new credit accounts or applies for unsecured loans, you can ask the credit agencies to issue an initial fraud alert on your credit report. This is the same step you would take if, for example, your wallet has been lost or stolen. An initial alert requires companies to contact you to confirm requests for new accounts before they are  established. In the event of more serious theft, you can have an extended alert placed on your credit report,which lasts for seven years, and entitles you to two free credit reports within twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies. Consumer reporting companies will remove your name from their lists for pre-screened credit offers for five years. Contact all of the creditors who have  issued fraudulent accounts to dispute any charges. By law you have 60 days from the day you receive your credit card or banking statements to contest any charges; after that you may be held liable for any false charges, regardless of whether or not you actually incurred them! Some creditors will require you to file a police report. Close all accounts that you know or suspect have been tampered with.

Be alert for e-mail “phishing” scams. "Phishing" is the attempt to obtain personal information via fraudulent email. These e-mails look real and are an attempt to scam you into surrendering private information. The e-mail will usually contain a link to a bogus Web site where you will be asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers. Reputable organizations will almost NEVER send you and e-mail asking you to send personal information! If you do receive such an e-mail and are not certain whether is is fraudulent or not, call the company involved.

Unfortulately, identity theft is a fact of life and repairing your damaged credit and reputation can take months or years and cost you a lot of money. Be alert to possible fraud and take preventive action to minimize your chances of becoming a victim. Take the ID Theft quiz at LifeLock.com to see if you are at risk for identity theft!

Finally some good news for the Bernanke family!

Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke's confirmation as the nation's top banker seemed like a sure thing until recently, when the political fallout from the Republican U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday cast uncertainty over the result of his impending Senate hearing. But some good news did arrive this past week: one of the leaders of the identity theft ring that swiped his wife's purse, which contained the couple's checkbook. A few days later, someone started cashing checks on the Bernanke family bank account.

The Federal Reserve Board chairman was one of hundreds of victims of an elaborate identity-fraud ring, headed by a convicted scam artist known as "Big Head," that stole more than $2.1 million from unsuspecting consumers and at least 10 financial institutions around the country. The stolen family checkbook became a part of an ongoing identity-theft investigation by the Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which resulted in a series of arrests and criminal indictments of members of a nationwide ring that used a combination of traditional theft and high-tech electronic fraud to steal from the bank accounts of victims.

One of the leaders of the ring, Leonardo Darnell Zanders, 49, from Dolton, Illinois, was sentenced this past Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to 16 years and eight months in prison. Zanders was the scam artist known by the name “Big Head.” Zanders pleaded guilty during his trial in September to charges of conspiring to commit bank fraud.

Since the case was brought, twelve people have been charged, and 10 have pleaded guilty in the case.

Some simple steps you can use to prevent identity theft.

Identity theft can occur when someone uses your personal information without your permission. Identity theft is a major problem in today's society and it can affect anyone. In order to prevent identity theft it is crucial that you do everything you can to protect your personal information. Identity theft can cause long-term financial harm to you because, once the thief has enough of your personal information, he or she can commit financial crimes such as applying for and receiving credit cards and loans in your name or making significant purchases on your credit cards or other financial accounts. This can damage your ability to get credit on your own for years afterwards. People whose identities have been stolen can spend years cleaning up the mess thieves have made of their good name and credit record, not to mention a significant amount of money! While your financial good name is damaged, you may miss out on job opportunities, be refused loans for a home or car, or even get arrested for crimes you didn't commit.

Identity theft is a shockingly simple crime to pull off. According to a survey commissioned by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an estimated 10 million Americans become victims of some form of identity theft each year. The estimated loss in business revenue is estimated at more than $33 billion annually.

Ideally, prevent identity theft before it happens to you! Keep a eye out for warning signs: a denied credit application notice, collection agency calls, a revoked drivers license, or changes to your bills that you did not initiate. Prevent identity thieves from getting your personal information in the first place. Some of the typical ways that thieves obtain their information are by:

• stealing your wallet or purse to get your identification and credit cards.
• "dumpster diving” - digging through your trash.
• stealing your mail, especially bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, new check deliveries, or your tax information.
• Posing as you and completing a "change of address form" to divert your mail to another location.
• Pretending to be a legitimate business or government official to scam information from you.

You can get a more complete list of the ways that identity thieves steal information from the Federal Trade Commission web site: http://www.ftc.gov/.

Some of the steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft are to:

• Buy a shredder. Shred all communications from doctors and other health care providers, banks and financial institutions and anything else that contains personal information. Be sure to shred any credit offers you get in the mail.
• Keep track of your credit cards. Always put them back in your wallet or purse immediately after using them. Keep your receipts; when you get your credit card statement, match the receipts to the transactions listed on the statement. Call your credit card company immediately if there are discrepancies.
• Never put your outgoing mail in your mailbox. Take it directly to the post office instead.
• Update the firewall, spyware and virus protection software on your home and business computers.
• Do not carry your Social Security card with you. Give out your Social Security number only when absolutely necessary. If you can, only give out the last four digits of you number.
• Don't give out personal information on the phone, through the mail or over the Internet unless you've initiated the contact or are sure you know who you're dealing with.
• At least once a year contact the three major credit bureaus to obtain copies of your credit reports and examine them carefully for any discrepancies.

If you do have the misfortune to become a victim of identity theft, there are some concrete steps you can take to get your life back on track. Immediately stop all payments on your credit and bank cards. Close your existing bank account and open new ones. Report an identity theft by calling the FTC's ID Theft Hotline-1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338) or use the FTC's online ID Theft Complaint form (http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/index.html).

In today's culture identity theft is something that everyone needs to know how to prevent. Make sure that you know the warning signs of identity theft and know what to do if it happens to you.

Once again, tax season is upon us. The documents and emails we send and receive at this time of the year contain a wealth of information for identity thieves: your name, address, social security number (as well as those of your dependents), bank and investment account information, etc. For an identity thief, tax time is a golden opportunity.

Its vitally important that you safeguard your personal financial information and not become a victim of identity theft this tax season. There are some concrete steps you can take to keep your personal data out of the wrong hands.

Understand what the IRS requires. According to the IRS web site, you will never receive an email or telephone communication from them requesting personal information. The IRS does business through the mail. If you receive an email or phone call that purports to be from the IRS, don’t respond to it. If you do receive what you believe to be a fraudulent phone call, call the IRS assistance line at 1-800-829-1040. If you receive an email that appears to be from the IRS, forward it to phishing@irs.gov. Once you file your tax return, the IRS will not ask for additional forms or information in order to process your return.

Keep your paper documents safe. Always keep your tax paperwork in a safe, locked location. Financial documents don’t belong in a briefcase, handbag, purse or in your car. They can be lost or stolen if left unguarded for even a few minutes. Invest in a document shredder and put papers you no longer need through it. Identity thieves love it when you leave receipts, papers with credit card account and Social Security Numbers (such as health benefit payment and income reporting forms), and loan documents where they can find them, like in your trash! All it takes is a few documents with your personal information on them for a thief to open a new account in your name. Even a seven-year old receipt can often be used by a thief.

Protect your computer. If your computer is linked to the internet, make sure to have updated firewall, antivirus, and spyware software to protect you from identity theft hackers. e sure to password protect your files. Since many taxpayers file their taxes and store financial information on their computer or online, it is critically important not to let thieves steal your information electronically. Even if you do not file online, identity thieves can still get access to important information through an unprotected computer.

Watch for email scams. Tax time is an especially fruitful time for email scams. If you receive an email asking for your Social Security Number or other financial information, delete it or send it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at spam@uce.gov for investigation. In some cases, you will receive an email stating that you are being electronically audited or notifying you of a refund and asking for bank account information. Remember – the IRS does not send emails to taxpayers!

Watch your mail. Uncollected mail sitting in a mailbox is an open invitation for an identity thief. If you plan on being away from home, arrange with the postal service to have your mail held until you return (you can even do this online!). When mailing your tax documents, always take them directly to the Post Office. Don’t ever leave tax documents in an outgoing mail box at work.

Be careful when hiring a tax preparer. Its always a good idea to check out tax preparation companies before entrusting them with your personal data! Many online tax preparation companies spring up around tax time, some of them nothing more than elaborate scams. Investigate tax preparation companies with the Better Business Bureau, especially new or seasonal offices. Unfortunately, even reputable tax preparation companies can hire an identity thief. Check to see how your information will be stored, what computer security software is used, and if the person working on your taxes has undergone a thorough background screening. Trust your instincts. If you see personal papers displayed on desks or are uncomfortable or doubt the firm’s commitment to protecting your private information, go elsewhere.

Tax time can be stressful. Don't make it worse by letting your personal financial information fall into the wrong hands. Be careful, and aware of the risks. Avoid identity theft. Protect your personal data - in the real world and online.

Although the term, “identity theft” was only coined in the 1990s, the practice of fraudulently assuming the identity of another person has been around for a very long time, and has been used for a variety of reasons, some criminal and some that are just plain strange!

In one of the more bizarre recent instances of identity theft, a 33-year old mom from Green Bay, Wisconsin was charged with felony identity theft after enrolling in High School pretending to be her 15-year-old daughter. She claimed to have suffered from an unhappy childhood and wanted to regain a part of her life that she'd missed, joining the cheerleading squad, attending practices and even going to a pool party at the coach's house. The charade went unnoticed until the the $134.50 check she gave to the coach for her uniform bounced.

In the case of Private Richard J. Preskenis, a man who was killed in action at Quan Lai in Vietnam while serving with the 1st Battalion of the 7th Marines. Preskenis real name was actually William Joyce. Joyce had apparently had some “legal trouble” and was worried that he would be prevented from enlisting. He enlisted in the Marines under the name of an acquaintance that had attended the same high school, served for three years and was killed in action in 1966.

But perhaps the most strange case of all of a man assuming the identity of another person dates from 1943, and was actually a successful attempt to deceive the Germans into thinking that the planned Allied invasion of Sicily was actually aimed at Greece. Major William Martin, of the Royal Marines was killed in action in April and washed up on a beach in Spain, which was nominally neutral, but which sympathized with Berlin and was awash with German spies. Major Martin carried "top secret" documents giving details of Allied war plans indicating that any military move against Sicily was a “diversion” from the real attack which was to be against Sardinia, in Greece. Major Martin was actually a deceased Welsh alcoholic by the name of Glyndwr Michael, who had died in such a way that, when examined by the Germans it appeared that he had drowned. The deception was a complete success, and  resulted in a major diversion of German strength away from Sicily, which was invaded by the Allies in July. “Major Martin” was later buried with full military honors in Spain. The real “Major Martin,” Glyndwr Michael is listed as a casualty on the war memorial in Aberbagoed, South Wales. The story of the deception, codenamed “Operation Mincemeat” was told in a 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 World War II war film.