Free Identity Theft Prevention

Be sure to protect both you and your loved ones identity and finances. It is really a simple process and it's free. You contact any of the three national credit rating agencies and tell them your identification may have been compromised. You need to mark the date you called the credit bureaus because you have to continue to make these calls every 6 months or yearly. They will put an alert on your information and nobody can get credit in your name without the creditor calling you first for your approval. If your relative has moved make sure you list the new phone number. The Federal Trade Commission website and phone number is also listed below. The Department of Justice has a website below that is full of important information on this subject and other ways to protect your loved ones.

Equifax P.O. Box 740250, Atlanta, GA 30374-0250 888-766-0008 http://www.eqifax.com

Experian P.O. Box 1017, Allen, TX 75013. 888-397-3742 http://www.experian.com

Transunion P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634. 800-680-7289 http://www.transunion.com

Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Clearinghouse Ph: 877-438-4338 FTC's free identity theft guide "Take Charge," http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/idtheft.html

Database Theft & Hacking Keep your personal financial information off of corporate marketing databases to lower your risk that your information will be hacked and taken. To have yourself removed from many mailing lists for up to 5 years contact the association below.

DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION Mail Preference Service P.O. Box 643 Carmel, NY. 10512 http://www.the-dma.org

SIMPLE WAY TO AVOID ELDERLY FRAUD

Elderly people are easy targets for con artists. The way these people get to the elderly to swindle them is by phone. You need to take fraud seriously because some elderly people get their whole life savings wiped out. They succeed in tricking the elderly out of their money because it is hard for them to hang up on telemarketers. Your loving elders don't want to be rude and hang up.

Place your relatives phone number on the do not call list and after 30 days you won't receive any telemarketing calls. Now if you do get calls, train your elder to immediately say, "I'm on the Do Not Call List." Any reputable company representative will then discontinue any further chat and hang up. Teach your elder to hang up as soon as she tells them she is on the list. Their company could receive severe fines from government authorities. Now if she gets a call and they continue to talk after being informed that she is on the do not call list, you can be fairly certain that they will be talking to con artists and she definitely needs to hang up. After an experience like that she may have no problem hanging up the phone.

It occurs to me that some elderly people may stay on the phone because they are lonely and want somebody to talk to. Maybe we should call our relatives more often so they won't be so lonely to have to talk to predators.

However, we should never underestimate our elders. I got a good laugh when an elderly gentleman I knew stopped a telemarketer in his tracks. Somebody from a newspaper or magazine called him trying to sell him a subscription. He lied and told the phone solicitor that he doesn't know how to read. The telemarketer didn't know what to say next, obviously embarrassed.

Don't delay; call the Do Not Call List number now. You can also check with your State Attorney General for a state do not call list.

DO NOT CALL LIST 1-877-382-4357