Other LanguagesA consumer contacted our office to question the legitimacy of the American Community Survey mailed to him by the U.S. Census Bureau. He was concerned that the survey advised him he was compelled by law to fill it out. It asks for personal information, so he thought it might be ...
As merchants get busier with holiday shopping, the Federal Trade Commission is reminding them to be sure treceipts they give customers don't contain full credit or debit account numbers ...
Looking for romance online? You’re next scintillating chat may be with a computer, not a human. A Russian Web site called CyberLover is advertising a software tool that it claims can simulate flirtatious chatroom exchanges. ...
The Federal Trade Commission this week released a survey showing that 8.3 million American adults, or 3.7 percent of us, were victims of identity theft in 2005. Most of those cases involved misuse of existing credit card or other accounts, while 1.8 million found that new accounts were opened or other frauds were committed using their personal identifying information.
The UK Times is reporting that banks may stop reimbursing identity fraud victims who post personal information on Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The Times doesn’t quote any bank officials in its story, strangely. But the article does help raise a red flag concerning the amount of personal information available on social networking sites.
So many free shred events this month! Tomorrow, October 20th, Attorney General Rob McKenna will join Washington’s credit unions in a statewide effort to reduce identity theft. More than 20 credit unions...
A few years ago, one of our kids mistakenly set the microwave to 40 minutes to cook a bag of popcorn. My wife and I arrived home to find the first floor of our house covered in smoke and the smoke detector...
We love snappy consumer protection campaigns. And the New York Public Interest Research Group's new CyberStreetSmart.org Web site hits the mark. The site advises consumers on how to protect themselves...
U.S. Postal Inspectors unveiled a new consumer education campaign aimed at reducing fraud involving fake checks and wire scams -- a growing problem in Washington state. You can test your ability to detect...
We recently announced on this blog that Trans Union plans to allow consumers to freeze access to their credit reports starting Oct. 15. Now Experian says it will do the same beginning Nov. 1. Equifax is...