Giving Credit Where Credit Is Not Due3 Y* Z4 R# V# W8 s! y
The big identity-theft bust last week was just a taste of what's to come. Here's how to protect your good name., G. u9 T3 P4 O! y; p V0 P9 E
HERE'S THE SCARY THING about the identity-theft ring that the feds cracked last week: there was nothing any of its estimated 40,000 victims could have done to prevent it from happening. This was an inside job, according to court documents. A lowly help-desk worker at Teledata Communications, a software firm that helps banks access credit reports online, allegedly stole passwords for those reports and sold them to a group of 20 thieves at $60 a pop. That allowed the gang to cherry-pick consumers with good credit and apply for all kinds of accounts in their names. Cost to the victims: $3 million and rising.- E5 h% L, V* I7 [. q
Even scarier is that this, the largest identity-theft bust to date, is just a drop in the bit bucket. More than 700,000 Americans have their credit hijacked every year. It's one of crime's biggest growth markets. A name, address and Social Security number--which can often be found on the Web--is all anybody needs to apply for a bogus line of credit. Credit companies make $1.3 trillion annually and lose less than 2% of that revenue to fraud, so there's little financial incentive for them to make the application process more secure. As it stands now, it's up to you to protect your identity.
4 o2 I' o" w0 S8 c! L2 j+ x& Y$ V The good news is that there are plenty of steps you can take. Most credit thieves are opportunists, not well-organized gangs. A lot of them go Dumpster diving for those millions of "pre-approved" credit-card mailings that go out every day. Others steal wallets and return them, taking only a Social Security number. Shredding your junk mail and leaving your Social Security card at home can save a lot of agony later.
4 o/ n) |9 T* J# r4 f. u But the most effective way to keep your identity clean is to check your credit reports once or twice a year. There are three major credit-report outfits: Equifax (at equifax.com), Trans-Union (www.transunion.com) and Experian (experian.com). All allow you to order reports online, which is a lot better than wading through voice-mail hell on their 800 lines. Of the three, I found TransUnion's website to be the cheapest and most comprehensive--laying out state-by-state prices, rights and tips for consumers in easy-to-read fashion.2 y9 e! J1 c9 N8 t
If you're lucky enough to live in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Vermont, you are entitled to one free report a year by law. Otherwise it's going to cost $8 to $14 each time. Avoid services that offer to monitor your reports year-round for about $70; that's $10 more than the going rate among thieves. If you think you're a victim of identity theft, you can ask for fraud alerts to be put on file at each of the three credit-report companies. You can also download a theft-report form at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, which, along with a local police report, should help when irate creditors come knocking. Just don't expect justice. That audacious help-desk worker was one of the fewer than 2% of identity thieves who are ever caught.( S0 c9 J" Y. `# o8 m7 e
1.What is the trend of credit-theft crime?5 c9 F* _" a0 l; _; _1 w" O
[A]Tightly suppressed. [B]More frightening. [C]Rapidly increasing. [D]loosely controlled.6 C: d4 v' D: z" Z% s
2.The expression “inside job”(Line 6, Paragraph 1) most probably means _________.' W# ]4 r1 Y9 A
[A]a crime that is committed by a person working for the victim [B]a crime that should be punished severely0 N# m; |- G/ x. a( ^9 V
[C]a crime that does great harm to the victim [D]a crime that poses a great threat to the society0 `4 }+ D* Y' d0 i% m, H
3.The creditors can protect their identity in the following way except _________.
7 Q6 { ], v# D# f$ p6 {" p [A]destroying your junk mail [B]leaving your Social Security card at home. m4 C$ q. u+ f4 @. L/ \+ s
[C]visiting the credit-report website regularly [D]obtaining the free report from the government
# l2 k2 t: e& j+ `# M 4.Why is it easy to have credit-theft?
( ~, ]( a! k* D; E8 b% E6 [ [A]More people are using credit service. [B]The application program is not safe enough.
3 S5 o/ h/ n7 Z/ @! S! Q [C]Creditors usually disclose their identity. [D]Creditors are not careful about their identity.' A/ K% W3 Z# ^* C+ ~8 K
5.What is the best title of the text?
8 R; m! h' E5 g9 R [A]The danger of credit-theft [B]The loss of the creditors
( z) T8 |: V5 q9 j$ { [C]How to protect your good name [D]Why the creditors lose their identity# b3 e+ P+ o1 j3 Q; k
答案:CADBC |