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Recently, I reactivated my Identity Theft Radio Show and going along with that, I have imported my Credit Repair and Debt Management blog here at The NMP Network. Since part of identity theft recovery is credit repair, this will make a nice fit along with the Identity Theft Radio blog posts.

I stopped regular posting a couple of months ago to the Credit Repair blog after almost daily posting for more than a year and a half. I will be revamping the domain at http://www.robwhite.us (where the Credit Repair blog has been for a while) and turning it into a personal blog site.

So, the import has completed and there are a couple of new categories that you can check out now. Also, the comments that were made on the other site have also been imported to keep the flow of the threads complete.

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Welcome to our 2nd episode of the new year! Tonight, we will discuss the first type of ID Theft called Credit and Financial Identity Theft.

What is Credit and Financial Identity Theft?

When an ID Thief steals your bank account information, credit card information, savings account information or other types of financial data, they can not only access your existing accounts, however, they can also use this information to open new accounts in your name.

In most cases, an ID Thief will only access existing accounts and drain your accounts, thus stealing your money. At the same time, they will also sign up for credit cards, usually lots of them, and will use these new cards to further steal money from you. Remember, all of these credit cards are in your name with your address and information. The bills go to you!

What can you do to prevent this type of identity theft?

Not much, except to monitor your credit reports and financial statements for unauthorized withdrawals, etc. The first thing you need to do to begin your road to being safe with your accounts, is to check your credit reports. Not just one, but from all three of the major credit reporting agencies.

You are allowed by law, to get a free copy of your credit reports from all three agencies once a year! Visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com to pickup your free copies.

By the way, stay away from places that claim to give you free credit reports. They only do this when you purchase a monthly monitoring service from them! We’ll talk more about these types of services in future episodes.

That’s it for tonight! Next week, we will discuss the next type of Identity Theft, Social Security Number Identity Theft.

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Identity Theft Radio began more than two years ago as a pilot project and went for nearly 75 episodes before going into hiatus. Due to the large number of shows that The NMP Network was producing at the time, some had to go because there wasn’t enough time to produce shows on a daily basis.

Now, after nearly a year in hiatus, Identity Theft Radio will make it’s return debut in January 2009 as a weekly series. An exact date has not been announced yet, but will be closer to the debut date.

Rob White, a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist, will host the show and the premiere episode will start off the series again, from the beginning so that everyone will have a chance to catch up and at the same time, find out what’s new in Identity Theft!

Also, since The NMP Network also produces videos for their current shows, Identity Theft Radio will not be an exception to the rule! A simulcasted video will be produced for every episode and can be seen on our live page at http://www.newmediapro.tv

Watch for notices regarding the new day and time for Identity Theft Radio, coming in January 2009!

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Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. The U.S. Secret Service has estimated that consumers nationwide lose $745 million to identity theft each year. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the average victim spends 607 hours and averages $1,000 just to clear their credit records.

Identity thieves employ a variety of methods to gain access to your personal information. They may get information from businesses or other institutions by stealing it; by bribing an employee who has access to records; hacking into records; or conning information out of employees. Once identity thieves have your personal information, they may use it to commit a fraud or theft in your name.

How can you tell if you have become a victim of identity theft? Some signs include unexplained charges or withdrawals from your financial accounts; bills or other mail stop arriving (the thief may have submitted a change of address); a credit application is denied for no apparent reason, or debt collectors begin calling about merchandise or services you didn’t buy.

Your computer can be a goldmine of personal information to an identity thief. To protect yourself and your computer against identity theft consider:

• Updating virus protection software frequently. Consider setting your virus protection software to update automatically. The Windows XP operating system also can be set to check for patches automatically and download them to your computer.
• Not opening files sent to you by strangers, clicking on hyperlinks, or downloading programs from people or companies you don’t know.
• Using a firewall program, especially if you use a high speed Internet connection like cable or DSL that leaves your computer connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.
• Providing your personal or financial information through an organization’s secured website only. While not fool proof, a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a URL for a website that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for secure), may provide additional security.
• Not storing your financial information on your laptop, unless absolutely necessary.
• Deleting all the personal information stored on a computer before disposing of it. A wipe” utility program to overwrite the entire hard drive is recommended.
• Checking with an anti-fraud education organization such as CardCops (www.cardcops.com). Card Cops runs a web site designed to help consumers determine whether their credit card numbers may have been stolen. They monitor Internet “chat rooms” where identity thieves illicitly trade and sell stolen credit card numbers. CardCops turns the information over to law enforcement authorities, but also allows consumers to access their database to see whether individual card numbers may have been stolen. In the first two months of operation, the site identified more than 100,000 stolen credit cards.

As with any crime, you can not completely control whether you will become a victim, but you can take steps to minimize your risk by remaining diligent and by minimizing outside access to your personal information.

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