Delta102

ATTORNEY'S ADVICE -- NO CHARGE
A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his
company.
1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead
of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your
checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your
initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your
checks.

2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO
ID REQUIRED".

3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,
DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just
put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the
number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes
through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone.
If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not
have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on
your checks. You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it
printed, anyone can get it.

5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both
sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in
your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call
and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy
of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard
horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name,
address, Social Security number, credit cards. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.
But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers
handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your
credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers youwere diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if
there ever is one). But here's what is perhaps most important of all
(I never even thought to do this.)

3. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to
place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had
never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an
application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The
alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information
was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the
theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the
credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I
knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has
been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone
turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your
wallet, etc., has been stolen:

1.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
2.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
3.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
4.) Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289

Bob Barker

Back in '96 or '97 a guy I used to work for had a bank account drained by a thief who just had his account#. The thief took the account# and had checks made in his own name. Cashed about $900 worth of checks before my boss found out. He notified the bank but they still took 30 days to replace his lost cash. At least it wasn't difficult to find the thief. Hopefully, banks are more dilligent about cashing checks these days.

-Bob