It happens every day. Now it’s happened to you. Your wallet was stolen, and you’ve lost your driver’s license, credit cards, ATM card, Social Security card, library card, and all the pictures of your kids. You’re worried about identity theft. What do you do?

Contact your bank immediately. An ATM/debit card often has a VISA/MC logo, so it can be processed like a credit card, but the money comes out of your checking account. You can dispute fraudulent withdrawls with your bank, but you only get the money back if their investigation goes your way – and that can take 60 days or longer.

If you had a check or deposit slip in your wallet/purse, open a new account and move your money. Talk with the bank manager. Let them know what has happened. You’ll find they can help a lot.

Contact your credit card companies next. Credit card fraud is a common form of identity theft.

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Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off post from the ITAC blog. All we can say is wow. The ITAC blog (like many) typically take the weekend off its a good time to rest up and prepare for the work week ahead. Though, it seems that this weekend was THE weekend to be plugged into the data breach news cycle. The IMF experienced a breach, the Turkish government made some major arrests, and (we knew this was coming) Spain was targeted by Anonymous. Thankfully we have pulled together all of these stories for you in one convenient location. Happy Monday!

Join the Club: International Monetary Fund Gets Hacked The International Monetary Fund now joins Citibank, Sony, Nintendo and other high profile targets as the latest victim of an attack by hackers. This is all starting to seem just a little ridiculous.

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Sony, Citigroup, Michael’s stores, Epsilon, Massachusetts unemployment recipients, Texas state retirees, etc., etc.  Data breaches this year have affected hundreds of millions of accounts of all stripes and it might just be time for a new law.

OK, new law haters, there’s some rationale here. Wildly inconsistent reporting by companies (and government agencies) has left consumers ignorant of their status as victims. And wildly inconsistent levels of security of personal data has caused some companies to give up their customer records to thieves by the million.

Data breach news tends to trickle out and usually those affected find out quite some time after their information has been sent to parts unknown. Citi

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Six people in California have been charged with defrauding banks out of more than $3 million dollars.

An indictment handed down by a federal grand jury charges the six individuals with 29 felony counts of bank fraud.

The suspects stole the identities of people with good credit scores to establish lines of credit and used the money for personal expenses.

According to the FBI, the group obtained personal information including dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit profiles, FICO scores and driver’s license numbers.  They then used this information to complete fraudulent applications for business lines of credit at Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank branches.

The stolen identities also were used to create phony corporate officers of shell corporations that did not exist, the FBI said.

To fool bank employees who made on-site inspections, the defendants created fake offices where they posed as employees to make it look like the corporations were legitimate.

Once the applications were approved, banks deposited money into the accounts, usually in amounts of $100,000.

The defendants liquidated accounts in a few days, making checks payable to themselves. The

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For the new breed of underground hacker bent on vigilante justice – or just interested in messing with the establishment – there is no target that is off limits.  Corporate America as well as international governments have been under siege for the past several months.  But the next step has been taken.  A group of hackers called Lulz Security went after the U.S. Senate.

It was confirmed to the media by a Senate representative that Lulz broke into the Senates Web site, and gained access to the servers directory and file structure.  Of course, they did not stop there.  They also published this information on their web site.  Check it out here.

The word is that the government initiated a security review and (to date) determined that network security was not compromised and that no user information was breached.  Here’s a statement that from the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate on th

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Getting rid of credit card debt is one of the most demanding financial objectives of all cardholders in America and many people are still struggling to reduce their credit card debts, sometimes with the help of professional debt relief programs. They also consider taking advice from debt counselor to define what kind of debt programs will be the most effective in this case. These companies provide a very important service, but they are not designed to help everyone.

First of all you need to understand what these companies offer, how they charge for their services and laws for this sector are very important. Knowing how the industry works, you’ll be able to make an informed decision when considering debt relief service. These specialists are working as negotiators. They may request that the membership fees removed and reduced interest rates. Full Article…