| More people are freezing credit report
Spooked by the possibility of identity theft, increasing numbers of people are taking a radical approach to thwart criminals: They are putting their credit reports on permanent freeze. A frozen credit report prevents almost anyone from using your name to take out a loan or sign up for credit, such as a credit card, a bank account or cell phone service. That is because, with a freeze in place, potential new creditors can't get access to your credit record kept on file by the three main credit-reporting bureaus without your explicit permission. Michael Dana, a Dallas police detective, chose to freeze his credit reports after a Texas law took effect last month that made freezes available to all residents. Dana says he received several notices from financial institutions and the government saying that some of his personal information may have been compromised.
More seek credit counseling
NEW YORK -- Consumers struggling to keep up with higher gas prices and other rising household expenses have been pulling out their credit cards more often -- sometimes too often. Credit counselors report a sharp rise in the number of families seeking help, many of whom end up on belt-tightening budgets and debt management programs to pay down their balances. .
Online gaming spurs spam outbreaks -- Symantec
MANILA, Philippines -- Online gaming is contributing to the huge amounts of spam coming from the Philippines, according to security experts from Symantec. According to Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report, the Philippines is now the second highest source of spam among all countries worldwide, second only to Uzbekistan. Richard Velasco, senior technical consultant for Symantec Philippines, said this can be attributed to growing broadband usage in the country. An offshoot of this is the popularity of MMOGs (or massive multiplayer online games) wherein literally hundreds, even thousands are logged in at the same time. These usually require users to purchase game credits either offline (normally prepaid cards) or online using credit cards.
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