There is no doubt that identity theft is a growing problem and we should all try to educate ourselves to avoid being a victim of this often devastating crime. It seems that criminals are using increasingly ingenious methods to gain access to our private and valuable personal information and computer users must be aware of criminal information gathering techniques known as phishing.

You may have heard about phishing scams in the news recently because so many have fallen prey to this clever methodology employed by tech savvy criminals. We are all busy in todays fast paced world and it's hard to keep up with every new threat and development so the purpose of this article is to describe what phishing is, and how you can avoid being a victim.

Phishing attacks employ social engineering and technical subterfuge in the attempt to obtain an individual's personal identity data and financial account information. Social-engineering schemes use fraudulent e-mails which attempt to direct consumers to counterfeit websites, often perfectly replicating legitimate business sites to trick recipients into releasing financial data such as credit card numbers, account passwords, user names and social security numbers. Hijacking brand names of banks, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers regularly obtain this private data. Technical subterfuge schemes usually plant spyware and crimeware onto user computers to access personal data directly, most often utlizing Trojan keylogger spyware.

What can we do to avoid such clever deceptions? First of all just knowing that the threat exists is very important and many victims report that they had never heard of phishing before becoming a victims. In addition there are several practical precautions we can all take to minimize our exposure to risk.

1. Be wary of any email containing urgent requests for financial information suggesting your immediate response is required, statements designed to upset and excite the respondent are often included to elicit a quick reply. These emails often demand user names and passwords as well as SSN's. Legitimate businesses never ask for confidential data via email and none of this information should ever be sent by email as security is severely compromised.

2. If you question the authenticity of an email don't use the links embedded in the email to access the company webpage, instead type the URL of the company in your browser to insure you are looking at the legitimate website. You can also phone the company to insure an email request is authentic and companies today are aware of phishing threats and will generally appreciate being informed of a potential problem.

3. Financial information should only be communicated through a secure website or by telephone and never by an email request. Secure websites always have the https:// preceding the web address rather than just http:// in the browser address window.

4. Check your online accounts on a regular basis even if you have no transactions, dormant and little used accounts are common targets for online predators. Carefully review your credit card statements for unauthorized transactions and make sure your shred them if not retained for your records.

5. Make sure your browser is updated regularly with the latest security patches and you should also have an anti-spyware program installed and running at all times.

Take these necessary precautions to avoid your exposure to the identity theft problem known as phishing.

Jim Hutton researches and writes on the subject of identity theft and you can view the entire Identity Theft Article Library at:
Identity Theft Prevention.

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The first part of this post may seem patronizing, but in fact it represents my true thoughts. In my opinion the people of Mexico are for the most part some of the finest people in the world. The majority of the Mexican people I know are bright, hard working, diligent, kind and generous to a fault. The majority of people of Mexican descent who reside in this country, legally, make great additions to our nation.

Some problems with amnesty are that we don't really know how many illegal immigrants actually reside in this country but we do know that less than half of the illegal immigrants are Mexican. We don't know how many illegal immigrants came here while trying to escape the law in their own country, we don't know how many came here in order to engage in criminal activities, we don't know how many came here in order to harm this country and no matter how hard we try to check them out, there is no way to do a proper job of clearing all of them.

Another problem with amnesty is that by granting any type of amnesty we are in effect rewarding people who broke our laws in order to enter this country. Would you reward someone for breaking into your home and having a party because your home was nicer than theirs.

Additionally, whether you like it or not, illegal immigrants are criminals. They came into this country illegally, many bought forged documents, many came in with drug smugglers, many came in smuggleing drugs themselves, all of them are trespassers, many destroyed private property (if you don't believe me, just ask some of the people who live or lived by the border), many are here illegally collecting welfare, etc.. If you start out breaking laws it is easier to keep breaking laws.

Finally, they are not citizens or even legal residents but they are making demands and threats against the people of this country and our government. I, for one, had a lot more sympathy for the illegals before they started demonstrating and protesting, before they tried to shut down our ports and businesses and before they said that they were going to bring America to it's knees.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Resources For Attorneys

By Robert Carberry:

As the debate keeps heating up in the U.S. regarding immigration, some are pointing to a huge hypocrisy regarding the way Mexico treats its immigrants. Mexican President Vicente Fox has been very focused in getting as many Mexicans into America as possible. He calls any attempts at restriction as "racist" or "nativist." However, in his nation he looks the other way regarding immigrants into Mexico.

In a just released AP article regarding the double-standard Mexico uses with immigrants, it was found that non-natives are not allowed to hold many posts in government. In the U.S., only native-borns can run for president or be vice-president. And there is solid debate in America about changing that. On the other hand, Mexico bans non-natives from president and both houses in congress. That's right. Nada. To make things worse, the government of Mexico has pushed cities to ban non-natives from thousands of jobs including firefighters, police and judges. Imagine if America pushed for something similar?

Even more hypocritical is the fact foreign-born make up a tiny 0.5% of the population. In America it is a robust 13%, and Mexico would like that number to be a lot more.

In America, roughly 500,000 people receive citizenship a year. Mexico checks in with a whopping 3,000 a year. Are we ready to puke yet? The debate on immigration and illegal aliens has actually tried to make Americans feel "guilty" about their status. Meantime, America lets people from all over pour into this country. Most of the world is quite the opposite.

Such an outlandish double-standard with Mexico is truly having an effect. Many Americans feel like their nation has become the dumping-ground for the world. And yes, America goes far and above the rest of world regarding immigration.

Grinding poverty will always exist; or at least it seems that way. Allowing people in from such horrible poverty speaks incredibly well of America. However, there are billions of people who are in poverty and would come to the U.S. in a second. When does the rest of the world step up? Why can't Mexico step up? How about Africa? Because these places have been steeped in corruption and brutal policies toward its people. Instead of taking on problems they push them away like flies. President Fox is the king of that move. Pushing illegal aliens into America is a big gain for him as money sent home is in the billions. How about a real economic policy to take the place of dumping illegals into a so-called "friend's" backyard?

Robert Carberry is a freelance writer from New York.

In the war, yes I said war, between the Republicans and the Democrats, the Republicans are losing.

The Democrats think of only one thing. They don't care about America, they don't care about what is right, they only care about defeating the Republicans.

Many Republicans, who used to care about America and what is right, now care about only one thing. Not losing to the Democrats.

As far as I can tell, there are very few real Republican politicians left. One of those true Republican politicians is President Bush ( I don't count Secretary Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld as politicians because at this time they are appointees.). President Bush, however, has several very large problems. He is too honest, he cares too much about the American people, he has moral values and he feels that doing the right thing is more important than being popular. These problems used to be considered assets in a President. Now they are considered liabilities.

The Democrats who have united, behind the far left, union leaders and the 'Hollywood Elite', have spent the last five plus years turning those assets into liabilities. The mouthpieces for the Democrats have spent that time spewing half truths, mistruths and out and out lies to the American people about President Bush and the Republican Party.

President Bush has been so busy trying to do the right things for America that he has not taken the time to fight back. Additionally, due to his values he has refused to play the dishonest games that the far left has been playing. Due to the foregoing his poll numbers have sunk very low.

Many Republicans, especially conservatives, who have apparently forgotten the old saying "United we stand, divided we fall", have become very worried about poll numbers and about their own personal agendas, and are therefore not only abandoning the President, they are speaking out against him. They don't appear to realize that by doing so they are ensuring the takeover of our government by the far left Democrats. The Republicans, especially the far right conservative Republicans are becoming just as bad as the far left liberal Democrats. They may have different agendas but they are both trying to reach them the same way.

The far right can not, however, beat the far left because the far right are not as good at lying and distorting the truth. The far right still have an underpinning of certain moral values and that puts them at a disadvantage.

Many Republicans have forgotten that they came to power because the majority of Americans longed for the return of the values that the Republican Party stood for.

I understand that not all Republicans agree with everything that President Bush is trying to do, heck, I disagree with President Bush on numerous subjects. However, if they don't get unified behind him they will find themselves out of office and their party out of power, and that would be a shame. The Democrats have moved so far to the left that if they take over, I really fear for the future of America. President Bush may lean slightly to the right but he is basically a moderate and he cares about the American people, sometimes, it seems, more than he cares for himself.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Resources For Attorneys

Today as I do everyday, I was reading the letters to the editor section in that conservative, right wing newspaper, the Los Angeles Times (For those of you that do not understand sarcasam, stating that the Los Angeles Times is a conservative, right wing newspaper was a sarcastic comment.). As I was reading the first letter I started laughing and then I stopped laughing as I realized how pathetic the letter actually was. The letter talked about promoting American values by example and it used China as it's illustration of how countries have changed their values due to America's example. The letter stated that because of America's example "China is turning into the worlds biggest capitalist country".

How naive, gullible and moronic can a person be. China is not a capitalist country. Their leaders still believe strongly in Communism. Almost all big or profitable businesses are owned by the government, it's military, it's bank or by front people who are allowed to live well as long as they follow their govenment's dictates and do not open their mouths. If the front people do not follow orders they are arrested on trumped up charges and any part of any business that the may actually own is confiscated. China does have a stock market, however the majority of the stock in the larger companies listed on their exchange is owned by the government or it's fronts.

The leaders of China want money and they want it anyway they can get it, not in order to help their people but, in order to increase their power and in order to bring down the West, Russia, the rest of Aisa and someday the world.

The leaders of China have no more values today than they had fourty years ago. They don't believe in democracy, they don't believe in human rights, they don't care about human life and they don't care about their own people anymore than they care about the rest of the world. The only thing they care about is their power and increasing that power.

One of the biggest obstacles to China's power grab is the United States. The leaders realize that they can not defeat us, at least at this time, militarily so they have set out to defeat us economically. They don't want to adopt our values, they want to destroy us. With us out of the way, they feel that the rest of the world will be easy prey.

Anyone who thinks that the leaders of China will adopt American values because of our example is naive, gullible or a moron.

The problem is, everyday, I hear or read statements by Americans that are naive, foolish and moronic. Statements like, Russia is our ally, terrorists will not attack us again, it's our fault that the terrorists attacked us, there was no holocaust, our government probably blew up the World Trade Center, North Korea and Iran do not pose any threat to America, the United States needs the United Nations, the United States does not have the right to protect it's own interests, Hamas is not a terrorist organization, Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela is a kind, generous and great man, high gas prices are part of a government conspiracy, President Bush is a tool of big oil, Fidel Castro is harmless, catching Osama Bin Laden will end the war on terrorism, illegal immigrants should have the same rights as legal immigrants, the United States should open it's borders to everyone, privacy is more important than security, the rights of criminals are just as important as the rights of victims, if all drugs were legalized there would no longer be a drug problem, kids who commit crimes are not responsible for their acts, murderers, rapists and pedophiles should be rehabilitated not imprisoned or punished, etc., etc., etc.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
Resources For Attorneys