BigShield eNews

Treasury, IRS Warn of Identity Theft Scheme Involving Bogus E-mail, Web site

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today warned taxpayers of an e-mail-based scheme that attempts to trick taxpayers into revealing personal information such as social security numbers, driver’s license information and bank and credit card numbers.

In this ploy, unsuspecting consumers receive an e-mail, claiming they are under investigation for tax fraud and are subject to prosecution. The e-mail informs recipients they can “help” the investigation by providing “real” information and directs them to an official-looking Web site, http://deptreas.org/irs/7634//, where detailed personal information must be provided to dispute the charge.

CPSC, Tai Tung International Recall Children's Play Car and Washing Machine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2004
Release # 05-020
Firm's Hotline: (800) 516-2988
CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Toy Ice Cream Car, Police Car and Washing Machine
Units: About 128,880
Importer: Tai Tung International, Inc., of Los Angeles, Calif.
Hazard: The multicolored beads inside the toys can become accessible to children, posing a choking hazard to young children.
Incidents/njuries: None reported.

CPSC, International Playthings, Inc. Announce Recall of Rattles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 21, 2004
Release # 05-024
Firm's Hotline: (800) 445-8347
CPSC Consumer Hotline: (800) 638-2772

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Earlyears(r) Spirolly Rattle
Units: About 1,600
Distributor: International Playthings Inc., of Parsippany, N.J.
Hazard: The spiral section of the rattle can come apart, releasing small balls inside. This can pose a choking hazard to young children.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received one report of the spiral section of the toy coming apart. No injuries have been reported.

The Best Identity Theft Restoration Service

If your identity is stolen, you may not know it for up to a year and you will spend hours and hours of valuable time trying to fix your identity. It is extremely important to have experts on your side to help you fix your identity and there are many brand new companies now offering this type of service.

Over the past year we have been meeting and interviewing many of the most well known identity repair companies. We feel that by far the best one is a company in New York called Identity Repair, LLC. They have a very experienced staff and work hard for their clients. They will take care of everything involved with fixing your identity. They are also the most reasonable when it comes to cost.

You can go ahead and purchase the service by clicking the link below.

http://www.identityrepair.com/

New Google tool for searching computers a privacy risk on shared PCs

Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press Oct 18 2004
People who use public or workplace computers for e-mail, instant messaging and Web searching have a new security risk to worry about: Google's free new tool that indexes a PC's contents for quickly locating data...

Putnam Issues National Cyber Security Call to Action

Washington, Sep 22
At a Congressional oversight hearing today examining the growing issue of identity theft, Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, called on all Americans to take immediate action to improve the overall cyber security protection of the nation.

The Best Credit Report Monitoring Service

Monitoring your credit report is a very basic and extremely important part of protecting yourself from identity theft. This service is offered primarily through the Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) and other companies reselling the CRAs services.

Over the past year we have been testing the available credit report monitoring services. We feel that by far the best one is offered by Equifax. We have tested all of the CRA's services and those available through Identity Guard and Pre-Paid Legal and the best value comes from Equifax. The Equifax monitoring is the fastest, meaning when we opened up credit card accounts and bank accounts, the Equifax monitoring alerted us much earlier then the other monitoring services. Also, the Equifax members site is the most user friendly and informative.

You can go ahead and purchase the service by clicking the link below.

CPSC, Sky High International Announce Recall of Care Bears Lunch Kits Sold at Kohl’s Department Stores

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2004
Release # 05-012

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Care Bears Lunch Kits with Water Bottles
Units: About 13,000
Manufacturer: Sky High International LLC, of New York, N.Y.
Hazard: The pull-up drinking spout can detach from the bottle, posing a choking hazard to young children.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received two reports of the drinking spouts detaching. No injuries have been reported.

CPSC, IKEA Home Furnishings Announce Recall of Fargglad Multi-Color Children’s Chair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2004
Release # 05-013

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the following recall in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Fargglad multi-color children’s chair
Units: 7,279
Importer/Distributor: IKEA Home Furnishings of Plymouth Meeting, Penn.
Hazard: Choking hazard from red plastic feet that can detach from chair legs.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Identity Theft Scams Spreading Faster Than Credit Card Swipes at Local Grocer

John L. Smith; Las Vegas Review Journal; May 30, 2004
Credit cards are as much a part of the American lifestyle as cheeseburgers and traffic jams. In a few short generations, we've gone from a nation that prided itself on paying its own way to one whose citizens now knit their eyebrows at rubes who pay for groceries with greenbacks...