Former Head of NYPD Orgznized Crime Task Force on Identity Theft

Here is what Joe Coffey has to say:

600 Kraft Food Employees Victims of Identity Theft Gang

A gang of identity thieves who stole the identities of 600 employees of Kraft Foods have been indicted.

The defendants stole the employees’ information, including names, addresses and social security numbers, and used that personal information to create counterfeit identifications and open credit card accounts at Costco stores throughout the United States. The defendants then used those bogus credit accounts to purchase or attempt to purchase over $200,000 in expensive items, such as plasma screen televisions and expensive jewelry for their own use or for re-sale, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

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New Identity Protection program is available

FraudGuard recommended to it's readers PrivacyMatters 1-2-3 Identity Theft Protection Program.

Local government to supply free shredding services to fight Identity Theft

Consumer experts say one of the best ways to avoid identity theft is to carefully dispose of sensitive documents like old tax records, bank and credit card statements and pay stubs.
The best way to do it is to shred them.

Home-office supply stores sell shredders. But if you, like many homeowners, have boxes or drawers full of old documents the home-office models might not hold up under the strain.

To help those hoping to get rid of a backlog of pertinent papers the Anne Arundel Police Community Relations Council is holding a countywide shredding event on May 12.
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