Raleigh, NC - Wed, Jun 14th 2006, 00:00

Charlotte News & Observer

June 15, 2006

Change your toothbrush; switch your passwords

By Vicki Lee Parker

Get a temporary credit card to shop online. Use software that can alert you if you are being lured to a fraudulent Web site. Change your passwords when you change your toothbrush. Those were among the tips offered to people who attended a workshop Wednesday on how to protect against online fraud and identity theft.

More than 60 people attended the event, conducted by the Americans for Technology Leadership and hosted by state Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Some had been targeted. Others had family members who had been victimized by online scams or phishing, which involves messages that appear to be from a bank or business but are actually attempts to steal passwords and other personal information.

Among those attending were Helen and Charles "Mickey" Cochrane of Garner.

Mickey Cochrane, 88, said he is among the retired veterans who received a letter from the U.S. government that their personal information was on a laptop stolen from an analyst for the Veteran Affairs last month.

"A month ago, my 28-year-old grandson tried to use his credit card and was told he couldn't," said Helen Cochrane, 83. "Someone had stolen the number and tried to buy a large television. I think ... [identity theft] is happening to a lot of people."

Rosetta Jones, vice president of issues management at Visa, said credit card charges linked to fraud represents 7 cents of every $100 transaction -- half the amount of 10 years ago.

The decrease comes in part because companies such as Visa are using technology to fight crime. Visa spends $300 million a year on such tools, Jones said.

Consumers also have become more cautious. Margaret Riddle of Raleigh said she became suspicious after she was asked for account information on what she thought was her bank's Web site.

"I had heard or read somewhere that a bank would not ask for personal information through an e-mail," she said. "So I called the bank to check." Sure enough, Riddle had been led to a fake site.

"That woke me up," she said. Riddle went to the workshop to find out how to protect herself and what the state and financial companies are doing.

Among the steps being taken:

* Businesses and state government agencies may not use Social Security numbers on public forms and receipts, Cooper said. He said the state is working with law enforcement agencies and banks across the country on a national database of identity theft cases that will help spot criminal trends.

* AOL members can go to daol.aol.com and click on a safety menu to sign up for e-mail alerts that will let them know if their credit card or bank balances have decreased by a certain amount, said Brian J. Zwit, executive director of integrity assurance at AOL.

* On its Website, AOL also lists the top five Internet threats.

* Microsoft has a video that explains phishing e-mail scams and how they are used for identity theft. It also has a video that shows what bogus Web sites might look like. To learn more, go to www.microsoft.com and type "phishing" into the search function.

Staff writer Vicki Lee Parker can be reached at 829-4898 or vparker@newsobserver.com.