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Released: September 13, 2011

Reclaiming your life from identity thieves

Source: David Lazarus, L.A.Times (Free Registration)

You can't know how big a hassle it is to have your identity stolen until some scammer enters your life and starts taking over. Michael Kalbs and his wife, Judy Rosen, learned this the hard way recently when they discovered that someone was applying for -- and receiving -- credit cards in Rosen's name and running up thousands of dollars in bills for gas and other everyday purchases. Then they had to spend weeks untangling the mess with various banks, businesses and credit reporting companies. An estimated 10 million Americans fall victim to ID theft every year, with related losses running in the billions of dollars. The Federal Trade Commission warned last month that fraudsters are increasingly snatching the Social Security numbers of children from school forms and using them to open credit card accounts.

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