Filing an Identity Theft Police Report Can Save you Money

"California leads the nation when it comes to critical privacy protection laws," said Charlene Zettel, director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs. "California law [Penal Code section 530.6] enables California residents who believe they have been victimized by financial fraud and identity theft to request a police report -- regardless of whether the crime was committed in the victim’s location or somewhere else in the country."

California has enacted nearly 80 privacy protection laws during the past six years. "Having civil and criminal identity theft penalties in place and continuing to inform Californians on how to prevent the theft of their personal or financial information will help stem this invasive crime," Zettel said.

A helpful Identity Theft Victim Checklist is available from the California Department of Consumer Affairs’ Office of Privacy Protection at www.privacy.ca.gov. There is also a Guide for Victims of Criminal Identity Theft. The California Office of Privacy Protection provides information, advocacy, training, and "best practice" guidelines for consumers, businesses and other organizations.

New Twist in Identity Theft -- Car Cloning

A new type of identity theft is on the increase, called car cloning. Thieves take the identity of your vehicle by copying its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and then applying that VIN to a similar, but stolen, vehicle. Paperwork may then be generated to support the copy cat car, and the car may be sold to an unsuspecting customer.

This process makes the auto theft more difficult to trace.In fact, the buyer may be among the first to discover the fraud when attempting to properly register the vehicle.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau ( NICB), "auto theft costs the citizens of the United States over $8 billion annually."
NICB Cloned Vehicle Fact Sheet

Charitable Trusts

Taking time to learn about a charity before you donate can go a long way to making sure that the nonprofit organization and cause match your intentions. However, researching charities can be daunting when you consider that there are more than 700,000 federally recognized nonprofit organizations - nearly 90,000 of them in California - and no official "seal of approval" issued.

The "Charities Search" section of California Attorney General's Web site offers links to GuideStar's information on California charities, including many charities' filings with the IRS, Form 990. The database is searchable by name, location, income range, category or identification number. For more information see Charitable Trusts.

Free Credit Report

A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights and how to order a free annual credit report. A credit report contains information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.

Reporting Web Sites or Offending E-Mail

Receiving “stuff” from on line solicitors via e-mail or on the web and want to report it? There are four sites you can go to lodge a complaint regarding spam, child pornography, obscene web sites dealing with adult pornography or anything obscene, or a web site that is criminal in natural and does not fit the above categories – more

Prescription drug discount cards

Touted under a new Medicare program as a way to save money, prescription drug discount cards are now being sold by private businesses and organizations with actual benefits taking effect beginning June 1. Since Medicare beneficiaries can purchase only one prescription drug discount card until January 2006, California seniors will want to study each card's features carefully.

Before buying a drug discount card, California consumers should find out if the card is approved by Medicare and will cover drugs actually being taken by the consumer. Consumers also will want to determine how much they would likely save since the card may not be right for all consumers - such as middle-income seniors in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) or low-income consumers in the Medi-Cal program who already receive drug price discounts.

Drug discount cards may provide buyers with savings of 10 percent to 25 percent off retail prescription drug prices with annual fees of up to $30. According to Medicare, only cards that meet certain standards, such as providing a range of different categories of discounted drugs, access to local pharmacies, and regular price comparisons for discounted drugs are being approved. The Medicare web site provides a drug benefit calculator and additional information on approved drug discount cards.

SPAM SCAM - Spoofing You Out of Personal Info

Consumers should be on the alert for more sophisticated "spoof" e-mails that trick unwary and unsuspecting Internet users into giving personal information that can be used to drain bank accounts, fraudulently get credit cards and commit other crimes.

The scam is commonly called "brand spoofing" or "phishing" because the spam mail sent uses familiar or legitimate-sounding names of companies to gain personal information. This scam capitalizes on names that are close to the real one. A recent example is instead of the real Earthlink.net, the spam mail used an URL like www.earthlinkservice.com. Small and large companies have been spoofed, such as Bank of America, Best Buy, PayPal and First Union Bank.

Consumers may be sent e-mails that seemingly come from a company with which they've done business or be sent by hyperlink to a phony web site - designed even to look like the legitimate business web site. One victim reported getting a seemingly authentic e-mail from what appeared to be his Internet Service Provider telling him his credit card had expired and new information was needed. He was asked to provide a credit card number and to give his bank account number and ATM PIN number.

• When in doubt, throw the e-mail out.
• Never give out personal information by e-mail.
• Don't trust e-mail headers. They can be faked.
• Never fill out a form in an e-mail message. You never know who will get it.
• Never trust the link in an e-mail message. Scam artists are getting sophisticated and are able to have their web site mirror a legitimate business web site.
• Don't trust e-mail messages on the status of your account. Always go directly to a company's web site to access your account information by means of your personal identification and log-in.

Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call Registry

The Federal Trade Commission's national "do not call" registry, which is a part of the amended telemarketing sales rule, or TSR, is available online or by phone. The do-not-call registry covers most unwanted telemarketing calls that are part of nationwide, interstate selling campaigns.

Do-not-call registration is free. Online registration is available if you have an e-mail account. To register by phone, you will need to call from the number you wish to register.

Telemarketers will be required to access the registry to "scrub" their calling lists beginning in September 2003. You should see a decrease in unwanted telemarketing calls approximately three months after you register. In October 2003, the FTC and the states will begin enforcing the national do-not-call provisions and violators will be subject to a fine of up to $11,000 per violation.

• Call to Register for the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry: 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236)
• Register for the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry
• FTC's Do-Not-Call Web site