Beware of ID thief!

I know it's late I should be sleeping.. oh well I'm not getting up early after all. It seems a young man who had a track scholarship dropped it for a more exciting adventure...or should I say not to bright adventure. It seems his victim did some silly things too!

Anyway, this guy who appears well off, gets his wallet lifted from his jacket pocket and instead of having his credit card replace all together....he just gets another one. Maybe he didn't want to go through changing all the information already recorded on sites and in place, I dont know?

Of course the kid uses the information to get more credit cards. There is even a credit card delivered to the victim's front door and left between the doors that the victim leaves there because he is in a hurry to get somewhere. Of course, the young thief comes back to get it. The thief even had the correct maiden name of the victim's mother.

In the middle of all this the victim gets an American Express card, the theif closed the account and opened another in the victim's name. Amazing! Later FBI learned that someone had ordered an emergency replacement American Express credit card to be delivered to a hotel by the time the agents got there the thief was gone, but without the card.

The young thief even proceeds to call and harass the victim; even learns the victim's girlfriend's name. The FBI were involved and eventually caught the young man. Gee, if only he would have stayed in school and concentrated on his studies..but now he will spend time in jail; bail was denied. He's 22. If convicted he will spend 27 years in prison.

Anyway, here are tips to protect from credit and ID theft

Put passwords where needed; avoid easy and obvious passwords, secure personal information at home, especially if there is a roommate, or if workers have access. Do not give personal information by phone unless you have initiated the call, watch out for erroneous web sites and emails. Make sure you shred discarded credit cards, receipts, insurance forms, doctor statements, checks, bank statements, and credit offers. You can get a free credit rating by going to www.annualcreditreport.com or by phone, at 877-322-8228. You should check your credit rating periodically, because you may not know someone is using your information and before you know it, your ID is gone and your credit ruined.

Just another thing to be concerned about these days.