| Malone, NY - April 20, 2006 - On April 20th, Terry McCarthy, a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Public Accountant and Partner at Green & Seifter, visited Malone Correctional Facility where he presented "Understanding Identity Theft; The Premise to Protecting Your Money and Personal Information," sponsored by a grant from New York State. The presentation was well received by 150 employees of the Malone Correctional Facility.
The objective of the presentation was to educate the employees about how and why identity theft happens and to familiarize them with methods that identity thieves use to steal personal information and money. He discussed ways to minimize the risk of having your identity stolen and what to do if you were actually to become a victim of identity theft.
One point McCarthy makes is to be watchful of the people you interact with daily such as employees, babysitters, house cleaner, people at church, as well as family members. He also advises to watch for "scams" such as "pretexting", which is the illegal practice of obtaining personal information under false pretenses.
A suggested method for protecting your personal information using "SCAM"":
S - Stingy to whom you give personal information to on the phone and online.
C - Check your credit card bills and bank statements on a timely basis, use only 1 or 2 credit cards - one for online purchases and one for all other.
A - Ask for a credit report one a year its free! (website http://www.annualcreditreport.com).
M - Maintain and safeguard all your personal information in a private location.
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