Waging war against identity theft

New law, new tools help, but consumer awareness is the key The high cost of identity theft is sufficiently serious for resource mobilization for issuers of credit cards, suppliers, legislators and regulatory authorities for financial information more secure. But at the end of the day, the chain is as strong as its weakest link, and it is quite possible for consumers.

It is wrong to claim that consumers about the naive question of identity theft or the dangers that personal data to fall into the wrong hands - it still uncertain what they should do to prevent it. In order not to make mistakes, identity theft is a crime that can be found on the ground. If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of consumers surveyed last fall to determine how the problem was serious, they found more than 27 million people were victims of crime between 1997 and 2002 - nearly 10 million in 2002 only. Losses for the year 2002, last year data are available, a total of nearly 48 billion dollars, and the consumer pays $ 5 billion in Out-of-pocket expenses for their lives on track after his good name and credit was removed and dirty. After the outcry of protests from consumer groups and many horror stories about how the crime has ruined life, gave Congress a few consumers of new instruments to fight against identity fraud last fall in the form of exhibitions and truth credit (FACT Act) of 2003. Last week, the FTC has the finishing touches on the first phase of the new rules, by the fact - rules requiring that nation-states, the three associations consumer credit reporting agencies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - to consumers a free copy of their credit - Reports (also known as the “annual file disclosure) per year. While a free credit report may not seem like the silver ball in the war against the usurpation of identity - finally, consumers can buy his own credit reports today for about $ 8 or they can get one for free if they apply to credit and are rejected

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