Criminal ID Theft - just one of 5 types

But, Officer, that isn't ME

It's bad enough when someone uses your credit cards to go on a spending spree. But a criminal identity thief could rob you of your good name and put you at risk for arrest.

Get the October 2005 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance. http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/magazine/index.html

Karl Koessel Never imagined that losing his wallet would land him in Jail.

Allison Curry, a 4th-grade teacher in San Diego, discovered that someone she voluntarily mentored in a foster-care facility had stolen her identity and that she, Allison, was wanted for the crime of prostitution.

In both of these cases, the victims had to prove their innocence and it took hours and it cost dollars to do so.

There are 5 types of ID Theft and financial ID Theft is only one of them. Criminal ID Theft is another - check back for more on this.

We must protect ourselves -- Visit this site and watch the movie for your benefit.

Jury Duty Scam Leads to Identity Theft

A New Scam of which to be Aware.

Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury duty scam. Here's how it works:

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for "verification" purposes.

Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information -- exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.

So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state. It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential information.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.

Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone call.

This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information.

It doesn't matter *why* they are calling -- all the reasons are just different variants of the same scam.

Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.

Click here: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Crime (Jury Rigged)
http://www.snopescom/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

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