Attorney: Identity theft is a wound that never really heals

• Having your identity stolen is a lot like having a venereal disease, says the attorney for Montana's consumer protection office.
• Jensen shared lessons on protecting yourself from consumer fraud with 120 business and consumer-science teachers from across the nation, who attended this week's conference organized by Montana State University's Family Economics and Financial Education Program.
• People worry about their identity or credit card information being stolen through the Internet, and there are ingenious scam artists operating online.
• But identity theft doesn't require high technology, Jensen said.
• If your driver's license number is still the same as your Social Security number, every time you write a check at a local store, you are giving a minimum-wage worker your most valuable financial information -- your banking account and Social Security numbers.
• On the Internet, there are two big ways of stealing your identity, called "phishing" and "pharming," Jensen explained.
• In phishing, you receive an e-mail from what appears to be a bank or PayPal, for example, saying your account has been jeopardized and you need to change your password.
• "You're going to have to fight, send lots of letters, talk to lots of debt collectors, who are not going to believe you," Jensen said.
• College students may go to a bank to find out why their financial aid was canceled and end up behind bars.
• If your identity is stolen, you can request a "credit freeze" from credit bureaus so that no new credit cards are issued in your name.
• Even that isn't foolproof -- thieves have stolen people's identities, then called up credit bureaus claiming to be the victim and requesting a credit lock password -- beating the real victim to the punch.