Posted by: Matt Sarrel in: ● August 30, 2010
It’s that time of year again when thoughts turn to the less-than-exciting and impending return to the grind of school and homework. While our bodies are fully engaged in sunshine and playing outside, we’ll soon be engulfed in the busy worlds of academics, sports, and social life. And video games. Whether you turn to Wii, [...]
Posted by: Neal OFarrell in: ● August 12, 2010
One of the reasons identity theft is such a pervasive threat is that as part of our daily lives we often have to voluntarily hand over our personal information to complete strangers. We don’t know who these people are, or what their backgrounds are, and yet we still have to absolutely trust them. That’s one [...]
Posted by: Neal OFarrell in: ● July 21, 2010
An acquaintance of mine recently left a message on my FaceBook page offering to help me find my next dream vacation at a fraction of what I might normally expect to pay. When I got over the surprise that this person had actually worked as a travel agent all this time and no-one had bothered [...]
Posted by: Neal OFarrell in: ● July 20, 2010
If you haven’t already heard of skimming, I hope you don’t find out about it the hard way. In a nutshell, skimming is a scam where the thieves “skim” a copy of your credit or debit card information when you think you’re paying for something legitimate. For example, skimming is a growing problem at restaurants, [...]
Posted by: Neal OFarrell in: ● June 23, 2010
Welcome to the IDGuardian Podcast. These audio and video columns can be listened and or viewed to in a variety of ways: Through the blog via the media player found in this blogpost Through a manual download by clicking on the “Download” link By subscribing through iTunes This episode features Neal O’Farrell, an expert on [...]
Posted by: Anne Wallace in: ● June 21, 2010
A national law enforcement official who oversees a program to protect the elderly recently told us that fraud against older people is on the increase. We see these heart-breaking cases everyday at ITAC: older people victimized by a con artist, family member or friend. They take advantage of the older person’s loneliness, generosity, and in [...]
Posted by: Anne Wallace in: ● May 17, 2010
This is National Police Week, an opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifice law enforcement officers and their families make on our behalf. The financial services companies that belong to ITAC, the Identity Theft Assistance Center, are especially grateful. We know it’s a difficult and dangerous job. Our members work with law enforcement everyday to keep you [...]
Posted by: Neal OFarrell in: ● May 7, 2010
Computer contractor gets five years for $2 Million credit union theft In a stark reminder of the danger of dishonest insiders, a computer technician in Utah was just sentenced to five years in prison for stealing nearly $2 million from four credit unions he was working for. The case highlighted the risk every business and [...]
Posted by: Michael Stanfield in: ● April 6, 2010
In a recent posting, we advised college graduates to take a serious look at their social profiles with a particular focus on existing accounts with social networking sites. Now we turn our focus to credit profiles, and the relevance they play in job searches, new purchases, and house rentals or buying. Credit is and will [...]