Scam Alert: Ways to Foil ID Thieves

Last year, as many as 16 million households fell victim to identify theft. Don't join them this year. Fear of identity theft has spawned an entire industry offering protection against this fraud. But, there are a number of things you can do yourself. Here are some tips on reducing your risk:

Get off mailing lists for preapproved credit card offers, a gold mine for identity thieves. Call 888-567-8688 or visit optoutprescreen.com. Stop other junk mail at dmachoice.org (mailed requests cost $1).

Enroll in free alerts from your bank and credit card users to flag unusual activity on accounts.

Ask your credit card providers to issue you new "smart cards" with safer EMV chip technology. if they're unavailable, request replacement plastic with your photograph.

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Hey, Someone Stole My Purse!

You could call it "Bad Day at Bad Rock". That's how I remember the day my computer crashed and someone stole my purse (the dog). Unfortunately, what I didn't know was that my days would get worse, not better.

The capsule version of that day goes like this: computer goes dark and won't respond; danced with the online assistance-to no avail; carted the computer to "the Geeks" for professional assistance. Rushed back home to get the cord for the computer. (You know...the cord they said they wouldn't need.)
So far, so good, right? Not so.

After we pulled into our "secure gated community"' and entered our garage, we left the door opened. I left my purse inside the car. What could be the harm...the car's inside the garage, right? It'll just take a minute to get the cord, right? But, we were hungry and how long could it take to fix a sandwich to go? It all went to hell from there.

We were gone fifteen minutes max! When we went back to the garage, front and back doors on the driver's side were standing wide open. Instant panic grabbed us both. Needless to say, the purse that I left sitting on the floor under my seat, in my car parked inside my garage was gone, gone, gone.

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