Cash gifting schemes are the latest scam to make their way from the hotel ballrooms to the web, according to the Better Business Bureau.

The pitch, however, remains the same.

You still learn about the fabulous wealth that awaits you by gifting money to someone else and having other people gift money to you.

You still hear about how it's entirely legal because it is a gift.

And you still get people swearing up and down that it's not a scam and not a pyramid. (Yeah, right!)

Only now, the message is being delivered via viral video on YouTube or Facebook. The goal is to try to build a friend network for the purpose of gifting money.

YouTube has roughly 24,000 cash gifting videos online, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Those videos have been viewed 28 million times!

That's roughly 9% of the American population trying to decide if this is a viable way to make money.

The problem with any form of passing money is that the people who get more than they put in are getting illegal gains; those who come in last get nothing; and those in the middle may break even. The one constant, mathematically speaking, is that you quickly run out of people on Earth to sustain a pyramid scheme like this.

In addition, The San Francisco Chronicle found that 90% of participants lose their initial gift money. So you have a 90% chance of losing money?! Not good. And the 10% who make it are doing it illegally.

RIP-OFF ALERT: Have you noticed that Clark is hitting numerous rip-off alert sounders these days? The last time we had so many back-to-back warnings was during the recession of the early '90s. Back then, the Internet was only used by researchers and some government types. But today it's a prime form of communication. Little wonder then that many scams have morphed and gone online.

Facebook, the hugely popular social network for people in their 20s and 30s, has proven to be a breeding ground for get-rich-quick schemes, according to The Washington Post. Clark wants to emphasize that this is through no fault of Facebook's; rather it's a testimony to the portal's immense popularity that criminals are coming to them to tap into their audience.

Know that any promises for magic amounts of money for little work are suspect. Remember that the next time you see an online come-on to make $30,000 per transaction doing some work-at-home business.

Clark has a story that will turn your stomach if you have a passport. The Washington Post reports that there was a crooked employee at the U.S. State Department who worked with a criminal ring to steal personal info from passports.

What kind of info is available in a passport record? Basically everything that a criminal could want to steal your identity and open false lines of credit. That includes Social Security number, physical description, names and places of birth of your parents, etc.

The D.C. police stumbled onto this ring back in March when they stopped a 24 year old smoking marijuana in a car. They had probable cause to search the vehicle and found passport applications, multiple credit cards and more. It was the tip of the iceberg of cracking this ring that potentially had access to the records of up to 192 million Americans who have passports.

The State Department is now sending letters to the several hundred people who actually did have their identities breached, and they're offering free credit monitoring for a year. But they refuse to talk to the media on record about this employee breach.

So what can you do? There's only one imperfect remedy -- but it works: Do a credit freeze. See Clark's guide to credit freezes for detailed info.

Police officers do an important job in our society, putting themselves in harm's way for the public good. When a police officer pulls you over, it's a natural assumption that they're the real deal. Very rarely it will be an impostor -- and it always makes big news. In the Internet world, however, it's much harder to tell friend or foe.

The hottest way to steal your personal info right now is through pop-ups or other ads that claim to be for antivirus programs. A new report suggests that 30 million of us have been fooled in this way. That's 1 in every 7 adults! Panda Labs -- a company selling legitimate antivirus software -- reports there's now 7,000 phony solicitations from the bad guys out there in cyberspace.

Don't click on those pop-ups about antivirus software! Ignore those e-mails about free services!

A North Carolina State study found that a majority of us believe when a dialog box pops that the people initiating the Internet chat are legit. Don't fall for it. The Internet does not have brave men and women running around acting as police officers to protect you. You've got to be your own cop on the beat.

If you need antivirus software, see our suggestions for free or low-cost options. And heed this warning: Don't visit our messageboards looking for a link. Yes, we police our forums with the help of a team of moderators, but we can't ensure that every thing on the forums is completely legit.

In related news, be wary of e-mails promoting secret shopping and mystery shopping. It used to be that you'd get taken for $20 or $30, but now the scammers are angling for $2,000 or more. You should never pay to be a mystery shopper -- whether it's $20 or $2,000.

Finally, Christa read an article in the Pocono Record that reports the money transfer scam -- an oldie but baddie -- is back. Here's how it works: You're contacted to act an intermediary who transmits money for others. You're sent a check and told to keep 10% of it and wire the rest to a certain person or business. It turns out to be a stolen checking account number, perhaps from a real business. When the police come after you for cashing fraudulent or washed checks, that's when you get to wear some new jewelry -- handcuffs! Don't do it!

RIP-OFF ALERT: Scamsters have been getting very sophisticated in their phishing attempts following the numerous bank failures in our nation. Clark himself says he received a phishing attempt that looked very legitimate after the Wachovia collapse.

Here's one example of what's been going on: Within minutes of the original plan for Citibank to take over Wachovia, the scamsters were blasting out e-mails. Each message said that in order to access your Wachovia account, you'd have to fill out an online form that asked for all kinds of personal info. Unfortunately, many people fell for it because they were dumbfounded by the news of the day about Wachovia.

Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times report that British researchers have found sophisticated phishing scams such as this one have a 90% success rate. That's really scary!

The takeaway here is that you should never reply to any supposedly legitimate e-mail from a financial institution asking for personal info. Nor should you ever click on a hyperlink in an e-mail that supposedly takes you to your bank or brokerage house's website. If you are in doubt, close out the e-mail in question; open a new browser window; and type the URL directly to verify the info contained in the e-mail.

Think you may have already given up sensitive info? Then immediately contact your financial institution and tell them you need to restrict access to your account.

Parents often call Clark looking for advice on software they can run on the family computer to prevent their children from accessing objectionable websites.

But now the penny-pincher wants to share a tactic that can help adult children who are worried about their elderly parents getting ripped-off online. Elders are prone to give up their credit card numbers on the web and get taken by marketers pushing all kinds of products they don't need.

In fact, Clark recalls doing a TV story about a senior who filled every nook and cranny of her home with things she bought on the web -- and she was virtually broke in her golden years. Can you imaging how disturbing it must be to adult children if you think your parents are set and then they become destitute?

The San Francisco Chronicle reports there is a way to protect your aging parents in cyberspace. Safe Eyes -- a software program designed to protect children on the web -- also works well for seniors. You can set it up so that your parents will be prohibited from any checkout screen. The program sells for anywhere from $35 on up.

In related news, The Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that the cell phone increases the strength of the family unit. For example, Clark's teen daughter texted him twice while he was on air talking about Safe Eyes. It turns out she's bored in math class!

Thanks to the cell phone, the concept of long distance is almost becoming a thing of the past. When Clark was in college back in the Stone Age, a long distance call was a minimum of $3.55 so you never picked up the phone unless someone died. Not so today.

There is, however, a real danger to cell phones when people become so engrossed in their conversations that they ignore what's going on around them. Clark recently saw a real estate agent who walked across an intersection while talking and right in front of a car that nearly hit her. She never noticed the near-collision. So be careful out there.

Many years ago, Clark had a TV producer named Greg Turchetta who has since gone on to become a big-time player in Florida media. As he and Clark would discuss possible TV stories, Turchetta always wanted to know, "How are people supposed to act on the info you're telling them?" That question has become known as "the Turchetta rule" on the show, and Clark always keeps it in the back of his mind as he goes on air each day.

The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts has a new law going into effect in January that will require corporations to strictly control the data they collect about you. The law aims to prevent the kind of security breaches that have become so common.

But that law only affects residents in one state of our nation. So in the spirit of the Turchetta rule, what can you do? The answer is one you've heard before: Do a credit freeze!

Unfortunately, Clark's words often fall on deaf ears -- even among his staffers. Only 1 staffer has done a credit freeze so far. We all have our excuses -- either we're too busy with our families or we think we don't have enough assets to protect -- but neither excuse will prevent a criminal from targeting you and your good credit standing. Don't wait until it's too late.

Five years ago, the hottest rip-offs were phishing scams, where you received a bogus e-mail that looked legit and claimed to be from your bank or a busines. The hope was that you'd click on a link in the e-mail to access your account online and reveal sensitive financial info.

As consumers got wise to the threat, criminals ratcheted things up by getting toll-free numbers to make their ploys seem legit. Eventually, people got wise to that too.

Now the latest wrinkle is that there's a new wave of e-mails that are so secure and legit looking that even people who work in the financial industry are falling prey.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 95% of these e-mails are aimed at the customers of banks and credit unions. This is surprising to Clark because the big bucks are in brokerage houses, so you think criminals would target those customer bases.

The takeaway here is that you shouldn't click on any links in that e-mail! Instead, open a new browser and go to your bank's website where you can manually access your account. Likewise, take care to ignore any telephone numbers they want you to call.

Of course, there's danger in just opening a phishing e-mail. You may inadvertently download a keylogger. To avoid that danger, some bank websites allow you to enter your password using your mouse -- a move that defeats most current keylogger technology.

Be aware of what to do if you get a call from somebody claiming to be from your bank. They may talk a good game and have tons of info on you -- but it's probably the kind that's all obtainable on the web. So hang up and call your bank back at the number on your statement that you know is legit.

Clark is not trying to scare you; he just wants to make you cautious.

The ID Theft Resource Center reports that data breaches for 2008 have already exceeded last year's total. 22 million of us have had our info breached due to corporate laziness -- more so than to criminals being overly clever.

For example, the British media recently reported that a computer was sold on eBay for $69 at auction. The computer contained info on 1 million people -- names, addresses, bank account numbers, mother's maiden names, digital images of signatures, etc. -- who did business with American Express and several banks.

What can you do to safeguard yourself? Clark advises people to vet their financial statements line item by line item. With credit cards, you have 60 days to dispute a charge and the issuer has to rectify the situation. But there's no protection under the law if your brokerage or mutual fund account is tapped into!

Christa is OCD when it comes to checking her brokerage account online everyday. One day, she logged in and noticed that every holding was sold, the address on the account was changed and there were instructions to wire the money elsewhere. Her vigilance foiled a crime in progress.

So be sure to check your online brokerage account at least 3 times a week. For your credit card, you can do so on a monthly basis.

In related news, criminals in Ireland recently dressed up like repairmen and installed skimming devices on ATMs. But they couldn't use the info they stole because Europe uses "smart chip" technology in its cards. So what did the criminals do? They printed up bogus cards and shipped them to cronies in the United States. We're still using easily compromised 1960s technology for our cards over here.

Experian and TransUnion now allow residents of all 50 states to freeze their credit online. With Experian, it takes about 90 seconds. With TransUnion, 3 minutes. Want to find out how to do it? Follow the bolded links on Clark's guide!

So what's going on with Equifax? Currently, only residents of 4 states -- Georgia, Iowa, New Jersey and Wyoming -- can freeze their credit online. Those are the 4 states that are required by law to allow their residents the online option. But by Nov. 1, Equifax expects to make the online option available to residents of all other states too.

Please note that while a credit freeze can help shut down economic ID theft, it will not help eliminate criminal identity theft. That's where crooks use a fake ID with your information.

In order to tackle criminal identity theft, local law enforcement will have to move to electronic fingerprinting and/or iris reading to make sure a suspect is who he or she claims to be.

Little by little, we are getting the tools we need to stop ID theft. It's only been more than a decade coming! Clark recalls that it all started with a couple named the Foleys in San Diego who founded the ID Theft Resource Center after it happened to them.

Clark was recently disturbed to learn that your personal info can float out in cyberspace long after you think it has been removed. This is because of caching issues.

Search engines send spiders out across the web to find info that's stored on servers all over the world. Then they present that info to you during a web search.

But the spiders only crawl certain parts of the web every few days or weeks. So info can be stored or "cached" in cyberspace even after it's gone from the original server. In most cases, there will be a lag before it disappears completely.

When it comes to browser security, Clark uses a free tool available at Finjan.com. It prevents him from going to mistyped addresses where danger may lurk, and it goes beyond just looking at URLs to look at the actual code on a page.

Meanwhile, here's one low-tech suggestion to beat keyloggers. A keylogger is a program that gets secretly installed on your computer when you visit bogus websites. It can be used to track every keystroke you make and steal valuable passwords.

This trick involves typing passwords out of order or adding extra characters that you goes back and erases before logging on. Say for example your password is "jane." Instead of typing "j-a-n-e," try typing something like "j-a-x-n-x-e." Then go back and manually erase the extra characters (the x's) using your mouse, not the keyboard, and you just may trick someone who may be remotely monitoring your keystrokes!

Syndicated financial writer Kathleen Pender has calculated that 65 million Americans are paying for credit monitoring or fraud alert services right now. That's about 1 in 4 adults!

These "services" can cost you from $6 to $15 per month. They're marketed very effectively on radio, TV and the Internet and try to play on your fear.

But the real problem is that fraud alerts are routinely ignored. And with credit monitoring, you'll only learn after the fact if unauthorized lines of credit are opened in your name.

In reality, there's only one effective way to prevent criminals from using your credit to make purchases. It's called a credit freeze and Clark has prepared a guide to help you navigate the process of applying for one.

With a credit freeze, you shut down a criminal's ability to do anything with your info -- even if it should be compromised. That's because you get a secret code that only you know.

The one-time cost of a credit freeze varies by state from free to $10 per credit bureau. Compare that to a monthly fee for monitoring or reporting! Should you have to apply for new credit, you'll need to "thaw" your records. Again, the cost will be from zero to $10 per bureau.

Many talk-show hosts are currently doing spots for one popular credit monitoring/fraud alert service called LifeLock. While this is a legitimate company, Clark wants to emphasize that you shouldn't waste your money.

Our senior producer Kim froze her credit with all 3 bureaus. She used the info contained in Clark's guide and found the whole process only took her about an hour. It's all been very painless so far; she didn't even need to thaw her credit when she opened a new checking account or switched her auto insurance.

If you've ever seen or heard a LifeLock ad, you know that CEO Todd Davis proudly announces his Social Security number – essentially challenging thieves to steal his identity.

Clark is often asked about whether or not Davis' company offers a legitimate service. First off, yes, LifeLock is a legitimate company. However, Clark doesn't believe they're very effective at protecting your identity. Now the CEO is being sued in Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia by customers who say his service doesn't work.

LifeLock's business model is based on repeatedly putting fraud alerts on your credit files. These alerts are meant to raise a flag to potential creditors so they carefully verify an applicant's identity. Too often, however, the alerts are ignored and credit is extended anyway to thieves using your name.

The truth is there's no perfect way to prevent ID theft. In the event of a theft, the banks and credit-card companies know it's cheaper to deal with write-offs after the fact than to institute industry-wide practices to end the threat before it begins.

So what's the best available solution? Do a credit freeze. This will shut a criminal down cold when it comes to applying for credit in your name. They can still take a card from your wallet and charge it up, though. But that's the least harmful crime in this arena.

Credit freezes are not a panacea and can be somewhat of hassle to establish. That's why Clark has compiled his credit freeze guide to help you through the process. When you do want to use credit again, "thawing" your records can take from a few minutes to a few days, depending on your state of residence.

Clark has been a real nuisance for MySpace and Facebook over the years. He thinks they created a dangerous environment for teens, and was shocked by how reluctant they initially were to stop Internet predators.

However, MySpace was the first site to come to heel after action taken by the attorneys general of 46 states. Now Facebook has reached a deal with all 50 states.

The new arrangement has several requirements. Facebook must go through special steps to ensure people are who they say they are online; teens will only be allowed to receive carefully vetted ad content; and they'll also receive continuous safety warnings while online.

Facebook has also joined a task force (along with MySpace) that seeks to make social networking sites safer.

Clark salutes these efforts, but knows there's no way to eliminate all the predators out there. So you as a parent must request to be added as a "friend" on your child's social-networking site of choice. Then you've got to be diligent in monitoring their online circle of peers.

The latest Internet Security Threat Report shows that the value of stolen info has declined as the crime of ID theft spikes. Who knew that supply and demand even drove prices in the criminal underworld?!

A stolen credit card number now nets a measly 40 cents! That sum used to be at least several dollars higher. Your bank account number now goes for about $10. And get this -- your entire identity (credit card number, Social Security number, name, address and date of birth) now goes for just $2! Stolen info is that prevalent; in just the first 90 days of 2008, more than 8 million people had their data breached.

Business owners face an added burden when it comes to certain kinds of ID theft. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, they may be held partly or totally responsible if their own credit card or business checking account number is used for phony charges. Consumers would be protected under the same circumstances, but not so with businesses. So it's imperative to keep your check book locked up at the office if you're a business owner.

For consumers, be sure to monitor your credit card statements closely. You have 60 days to dispute any fraudulent charges. And consider freezing your credit. It's the best preventative medicine you can take.

Both sides of the aisle are advocating the idea of a gas tax holiday this summer. Yet Clark thinks this is one of the craziest economic ideas he's heard recently. We're all hurting as we watch the dollars fly and the gallons crawl at the pump. But the gas tax holiday is a recipe for financial disaster. It would increase demand and ultimately drive up prices.

Brazil is one country that's made some smart decisions in the energy realm. The South American nation was even more dependent on foreign oil than we were during the last energy crisis in 1979. So they embarked on a program of energy independence using sugar. Our Brazilian allies now provide for 100% of their energy needs and can export additional sugar as well.

Sugar produces a fuel that's more efficient than the corn-based ethanol we use. So why aren't we getting Brazil's exports? Domestic sugar producers have gotten Congress to put up trade barriers to keep it out of the marketplace. Meanwhile, our farmers have turned to growing their corn crop for fuel use, not for food. That, of course, further drives up the price of food!

We continue to use foreign oil from those who want to destroy us, instead of using sugar from our allies in Brazil. It makes no sense to Clark.

Craigslist has been in the news a lot lately after an Oregon man came home to find almost all his possessions gone. Someone had made a Craigslist post stating the man had to leave town on short notice and was giving away all of his belongings, including a horse! Predictably, there was a feeding frenzy at the house. The man got on the scene and told those who had come that the Craigslist post was a hoax, but they just showed him the printout and acted like they had a right to take his belonging. Police have since discovered the post was made to cover up a burglary that had taken place just days earlier at the residence. While the Internet offers so much good, there's also a certain amount of anarchy in cyberspace. Several days ago, Clark was talking about JuicyCampus.com as an example of the downside to the Internet. In other news, there's a new lawsuit against Verizon, AT&T and Sprint for engaging in illegal gambling. TV viewers were paying fees to send text messages to shows that were essentially running non-government sanctioned lotteries.

RIP-OFF ALERT: Have you been enticed on the Internet with offers of free iPods, free computers, free flat-screen TVs and free vacations? If so, don't click through on those pop-ups or banner ads! Online marketer ValueClick has been fined $3 million for ripping people off with these kinds of false Internet come-ons. If you did click through on such ads, you'd have to navigate through multiple screens of sales pitches and surveys. Some people fell for the promise of free goodies and purchased what was being sold -- all in the hopes that it might improve their chances of getting that free iPod or free vacation.

Clark's producer Kim admits to having clicked through on these kinds of ads when she was enticed by an offer of an advance DVD copy of the third season of ABC's Lost. She clicked through multiple screens for about 15 minutes and eventually just closed out of her browser in frustration. Pop-up blockers have really helped to minimize the intrusion of these kinds of ads. But there are still embedded banner ads that tout this kind of stuff. Just before Christmas, the very popular Nintendo Wii seemed to be the product of choice for the scammers to promise you. Just know this: When somebody touts something for free, it's probably anything but that.

RIP-OFF ALERT: The Berkeley Center for Law and Technology analyzed corporate America to see which companies have the highest incidence of ID theft. The No. 1 company? Bank of America. BoA is the nation's second largest bank. (If you look at the numbers based on total customer base, BoA then actually comes in second behind HSBC). AT&T occupies the second slot, followed by Sprint (No. 3), JPMorgan Chase (No. 4) and Capital One (No. 5). Think about it: 3 of the first 5 are banks, which is understandable. But why are two phone companies way up there? The reason is because they do a credit check when you apply for phone service, and open yourself up as a potential target when they get your info. In the No. 6 spot, we have Citibank. As the nation's largest bank, Citibank has one-third less incidences of ID theft than the smaller BoA! Verizon, American Express, Washington Mutual and Wells-Fargo all round out the top ten. View the complete list online at the Berkeley site.

Now the inevitable question: Why do these institutions have high rates of ID theft? Clark speculates that it must have to do with the way they internally handle your information. Interestingly, the bank with the lowest incidence of ID theft is ING Direct. You would think they'd be up at the top of the list since they're Internet only. But being a newer bank, they've been dealing with outsmarting ID thieves since they launched. It's much tougher for a legacy financial institution to retroactively patch good protection into systems that were built decades ago. ID theft has not grown significantly -- it still happens to about 10 million people a year -- but it's still a major issue. Finally, from the "no they didn't!" category, the New York City Department of Finance sent tax forms to 1000s that showed people's Social Security numbers through the envelope. C'mon people, this is 2008! Get with the program.

For years, Clark has been warning parents about the dangers their children face when using MySpace and Facebook. Recently both of the social networking sites stepped up to the plate with procedures and initiatives to safeguard minor users. Just as parents across the country breathed a collective sigh of relief, a disturbing study done by the University of New Hampshire was published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study found that kids are in greater danger from predators in chat rooms and via IM than on the social networking sites.

As a parent, you need to monitor what your child is doing online. The rule in Clark's house has been that his teenager was not allowed to have a computer in her room until she turned 16. Meanwhile, his 8-year-old is only allowed to surf websites that are on a favorites list that he and his wife set up for her. Be sure to control your child's buddy list when it comes to IMs. You have to know and approve of every person on there to keep your child safe.

Clark has been vicious in the past towards MySpace and Facebook for their roles in helping child predators find their prey online. Both social-networking sites historically felt the responsibility was not theirs. But now MySpace has agreed to work with the states to protect the safety and welfare of kids in cyberspace. Clark is thrilled; for them to score cash and not have any sense of responsibility was unconscionable. The ultimate responsibility, however, still lies with you as a parent. You've got to know what your minors are up to online. Clark actually advises you to have access to your kids' account and spy on them. If you think that's too extreme, Clark argues that children don't have rights until they're adults and pay their own bills. If they live in your house, they must abide by your rules. Clark was once monitoring his daughter's Facebook account and saw pictures of her underage friends having beer at a party. He used that as way to open up a discussion and learn about some parts of his daughter's life that he didn't previously know about. If you just put on the blinders, you may not like what you'll later learn about your kids.

The latest figures show that ID theft continues to grow at an alarming pace. The feds report that 8.5 million people had their identity stolen last year. But other private industry reports put that number between 12-15 million last year. ID theft can range from a minor aggravation to a full-on tragedy. In the latter category, Clark has heard numerous stories over the years of ID theft taking place within families. There are instances where a father will steal the ID of a son, or a mother of a daughter.

So what can you do about ID theft? Try freezing your credit file. Credit freezes are now available in all 50 states from all 3 credit-reporting bureaus. See our credit freeze guide if you're having trouble navigating the often-confusing application process. Credit freezes shut down ID thieves cold. A "perk" is that you also shut down your ability to make an impulse purchase with a new line of credit! You'll pay a nominal fee to do a credit freeze or thaw. But the cost will be nothing compared to the hassle you could have if you leave yourself unprotected. A cautionary tale comes to us from Britain, where the government recently lost the data files of 25 million people in one fell swoop. Now criminals have all the info they need to wreak havoc. The British prime minister is understandably facing a firestorm of protest.

Clark wants to warn you about a new e-mail scam making the rounds. Criminals have been gaining access to e-mail contact lists and sweeping out all the addresses. They then send out a very distressed note in your name to every contact on your list. The e-mail will claim that you're in financial, legal or medical trouble and that you desperately need money right away. The criminals hope that even one or two of your closest friends will respond with an offer of funds. Public e-mail services such as Yahoo! have been hit by this scam, according to The New York Times. Sometimes the criminals will even change your password while they're in your account. At that point, it can be very difficult to reclaim your e-mail address. So if you get a suspicious e-mail from a relative or friend, call them first and find out what's going on before you give them your money. On a related note, there's now a $5 security key that really helps secure your PayPal account. The key generates a random code every 30 seconds that you must use to access your account. Even if a thief has your e-mail address and password, they still won't be able to get in without the code. These kinds of security keys have become so inexpensive yet so invaluable. Clark hopes that brokerage houses and banks will soon be offering these devices to customers.

Earlier this week, Clark told you about a security breach at Monster.com where hackers stole the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of 1.3 million people. There have been so many breaches over the years that we're almost numb to news about them. But now there's reason to believe that the Monster breach could affect more than just a million people. Nobody knows the exact number -- it's just larger than previously thought. So if you've ever posted your information on Monster.com, you need to be aware that criminals are calling people up and pretending to be potential employers or banks to get additional personal information. Once they get your additional info, they have all they need to take your identity or empty your bank account. You should only divulge sensitive information in person at a potential place of employment or a bank. The web is too anonymous and dangerous of a place to share your info via e-mail.

Job seekers who entered their information in the Monster.com database may be at risk of identity theft following a massive security breach at the company. Identity thieves managed to steal the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of 1.3 million people. So beware if someone claiming to be an employer calls or e-mails asking to screen you as a potential employee. If they're an identity thief targeting you, they may ask you to divulge your social security number, mother's maiden name or place of birth. These are some of the remaining key pieces of info they'd need to steal your identity. If you think you've already been targeted or may be in the future, you're best option is to do a credit freeze. Consumersunion.org offers a comprehensive list of states that have credit freeze laws on the books. If you're already a victim, it's free to do a credit freeze. But you may have to pay some nuisance fees if you just want to do a freeze as a preventative measure. Right now 10 million people have their identity stolen each year. So why is there no national credit freeze law? The problem is that Congress is in cahoots with bank lobbyists who want to repel all freeze laws -- even those on the state level. We'll keep you posted...

Modern technology brings with it modern crime. Clark loves Craigslist because it offers free local online classifieds across the country. But the website is also beloved by criminals who have made a cottage industry out of selling stolen goods online. The Washington Post reports that very expensive stolen bikes are now showing up for sale on Craigslist. These bikes originally cost their rightful owners thousands of dollars. But because they're not registered with tags or plates, they make a great target for thieves to steal and resell in the anonymity of cyberspace. It's getting to the point where bike theft, which used to be a crime of opportunity, is now like organized crime. Thieves are setting up rings to steal these expensive toys. So people are fighting back on websites where you post pictures and an exact description of your stolen bike. Even better, some owners equip their two-wheel rides with GPS technology so their bikes can be tracked if they're stolen. It's like having LoJack for your bike.

If you have kids, you probably know that Facebook is big among teens. This social networking site is becoming one of the main ways that young people communicate with each other online. But the problem is that if you want to use Facebook, you have to list info about yourself on a public page. This makes you a target for identity theft. A recent study found that nearly 50 percent of Facebook users put enough info -- things like birth date, hometown, family information and more -- to aid ID thieves. Kids don't understand the risks inherent in using some of this new social networking technology. It should be up to parents to educate themselves so they can have an intelligent discussion with their kids about the issue. Clark advises parents to sign up for their own accounts and figure out how these things work so they can safeguard their kids.

Have you been receiving phony e-greeting cards in your inbox lately? If you open these, you might get spyware and others kinds of malware on your computer. Clark is really upset about this trend because e-greeting cards should be a pleasant thing. Unfortunately, something so innocent has been corrupted. The latest incarnation in this rip-off scheme works in the following way: Criminals send out bogus e-greeting cards and if you open it, you download a program that steals e-mail addresses from your contacts list. Once the criminals have those e-mail addresses, they send out another fake e-greeting that appears to be coming from you, staring the cycle all over again. The worst part is that when you opened the initial e-greeting, you probably also unknowingly downloaded a key logger program. This program tracks every key you type, including usernames and passwords for your bank, brokerage or mutual fund accounts. Under the law, you are protected if money is stolen from your bank account, but not from your brokerage or mutual fund account. Some brokers have issued their own policies that allow for customer protection. But the bottom line is that you must run anti-virus and anti-spyware software on your computer. Clark likes Spybot - Search and Destroy, a free program that will eliminate key loggers and other spyware on your system. Hopefully the legitimate e-greeting businesses will find a way to regulate their industry so people can again have faith in their products.

Penny stock e-mails are rampant these days. These types of e-mails are the fastest growing type of spam out there. These e-mails are all a part of the pump and dump strategy where a company or person will buy a bunch of the stock and send out these e-mails. They then hope that a fraction of the people that get the e-mail will invest in their chosen stock. Often the stock will jump for a short amount of time until it crashes back down. You are making somebody money when you are doing this but not yourself. Do not think that you are going to get rich quickly based on some insider tip, because you end up making someone else rich, and getting yourself hurt.

MySpace.com is not taking predators on their site seriously at all. If you have kids that go on MySpace, make sure you watch out for them. What is wrong with this company that they just allow registered sex offenders roam their site? Someone even set up a MySpace page for Clark that he didn’t want. He tried to call them and get things fixed and they treated him like dirt. Shouldn’t they take just a little of the huge amounts of money they are making to protect their consumers?

Auto-renewals have become almost regular in certain industries. The virus software companies in most cases make it next to impossible to cancel. If you don’t buy the software at a retail store, you are more than likely to be automatically renewed. One way to make sure that you don’t get stuck with one of these auto-renewing softwares is to read the user agreement thoroughly before you sign up. So if you don’t want to get billed too high a rate and not be able to switch services, watch your back and do your homework.

For the 7th consecutive year, identity theft is the No. 1 complaint filed with the federal government. In fact, it accounts for almost 40 percent of all complaints made today. It happens for all kinds of reasons, including local governments putting your social security number on Web sites. There is a lot of focus on industry being sloppy with our numbers, but government is just as guilty. In Texas, the state’s Attorney General has made it a crime for any government agency or individual to post this information. Even if it’s done inadvertently, that government worker can be charged with a crime. There is a site that allows you to see if your social security number has been compromised. It is called stolenidsearch.com. The site tries to push other ID theft prevention software that costs money, but don’t buy into those. Just enter your number and read what it says. So, where are you at the greatest risk to have your identity stolen? Based on per capita, the Top 10 in reverse order are Springfield, Ill.; 9 - Dallas; 8 – Portland, OR; 7 -Phoenix ; 6 – Atlanta; 5 – Greenville, MS; 4 – Little Rock, Ark.; 3 – Los Angeles; and 2 – Detroit. The city where it is most likely to happen is New York City. Just because someone asks for your social security number, doesn’t mean you have to give it.

A new scam alert from TechWeb.com warns about a new phishing scam involving phony telephone systems designed to steal your banking information. These criminals have somehow been able to duplicate your bank’s phone system exactly. It’s the first of its kind and apparently the message sounds identical to the one your bank would leave. So, if you get a message from someone claiming to be your bank and asking for account and PIN information, do not call back. They will leave a toll-free number for you to make it easier for you to call back. But it's not your bank's number. Check in the phone book and call your bank for real to let them know. In other tech news, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the main gateway for the phishing e-mails out there. That’s why Clark uses Firefox as his browser. But Microsoft has released its latest version – No. 7 – and it supposedly has spam protection. Check it out at msn.com. Lycos is also offering a free security bar, which uses “anti-phishing” technology. Even better, Lycos is coming out with free inbound fax service. Instead of paying a fee to computer fax services, you’ll get the service for nothing. Keep your eyes open for these services.

The No. 1 complaint received by the Internet Fraud Center these days is online auction fraud. More specifically, it’s eBay. Two-thirds of all complaints involving Internet crime are somehow connected to eBay. People are getting ripped off as buyers and sellers, as eBay sits back and banks the cash. Clark thinks eBay has some responsibility as the transactor. Christa disagrees. Both of them Clark would like to see eBay start a bonding program to help ensure the products and the transactions. But for now they don’t. So be careful!

Do you use a color printer? PC World magazine reports that every color printer in the world has a tracking code that can be seen with special equipment when necessary. Every sheet that is printed with this code via a program and the identifiers can tie the printer directly back to you. The purpose is to shut down counterfeit money makers, who have grown out of control in the world. The government has gone to extreme measures to counteract counterfeiters with new designs of bills and holograms on money. But crooks have been able to duplicate them. So what percent of counterfeit dollars are coming from a printer? About 60 percent, according to the Secret Service. So, just be aware that your printer is spying on you.

Have you heard of crime ware? It’s the term law enforcement has come up with for programs that spy on you and steal your passwords for all kinds of accounts. According to the LA Times, this kind of crime is exploding. It works like this: you open an e-mail or Web site and type in your login and password. These programs capture the key strokes and send them to the crooks. They’re also known as key logging programs. And people have been able to steal tens of thousands of dollars. It’s a new version of "phishing" because you don’t even know it’s happened. The folks at ING Direct have come up with a way to prevent this exact type of crime. Instead of having you punch or type in your code, the site displays a keypad on the screen that people touch with their fingers. Most of other banks aren’t concerned at all. But banks are responsible if a customer’s information if compromised. Bank of America is being sued for allowing criminals to hack into people’s computers and get these numbers. If you’re doing online banking and your bank is not installing better technology, it’s time to move on to a new company.

What are the chances that you will become the victim of identity theft? Well, about 10 million people had their identities stolen last year. The sad news is that solutions are there; we just don’t know about them. Financial institutions that could promote awareness and implement protection programs simply haven’t. Having the ability to freeze your credit is one of the most important steps once ID theft has occurred. Right now, just a handful of states allow you to do that. California, Vermont, Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, Washington and Maine have credit freezing laws. In California, you can even do a proactive freeze. You have to go through a lot of work to unfreeze your credit, but some people are willing to do it. There are varying degrees of identity theft and some are harder to clear up than others. Nationwide Mutual Insurance found that one in three people are unable to get their good names back once it’s happened. So what can you do? Don’t carry a checkbook, buy a shredder and “opt out” of credit card pre-approvals are three of the best ways to prevent it. Just call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT to stop pre-approvals. You will have to give your social security number and that is fine. Lastly, you want to get a copy of your credit report at least once a year. It’s free now, so just go to annualcredit report.com.

The Wall Street Journal has a Page 1 story about how several companies have leaked personal and financial information of some it’s most wealthy clients. It’s sitting there for public consumption because of the carelessness of several companies, including Bank of America, U.S. Banc Corp, AmSouth, City National Bank of Los Angeles and Dreyfuss. The Wall Street Journal contacted these companies and Bank of America claims it is committed to doing something about this. Dreyfuss officials said they are “re-evaluating” how information is processed at the company. But, really, what can BOA do? It’s also creating a crisis in public confidence. Apparently, people are getting more gunshy about buying things on the Web, which can seriously harm our economy. We need privacy rights legislation in the United States and the way to accomplish that is to take political action. We need clear laws about how our personal information can be collected and used, and Congress needs to establish a law detailing exactly that. So what can you do to help? We need to write our representatives and tell them exactly what we need. So Clark is crafting a letter you can send that will get their attention. We will let you know when it is ready. Identity theft didn’t exist until these databases started forming, and the organizations that collect our information are responsible for letting it get out of hand. We have some cowboy capitalism going on and we need a new sheriff in town.

Identity theft has become huge, as we all know. But how and why does it occur? Many people think that identity theft occurs because of what we do online. But just slightly more than 10 percent happens online. Almost all of it occurs when someone steals your checkbook, your wallet or your mail. The Internet actually helps in reducing ID theft, according to the Better Business Bureau. Monitoring your checkbook and credit card status online is a huge deterrent to identity theft because people find things quickly and can report them right away. So, if you still have a checkbook and you refuse to part with it, keep it at home and know where it is at all times. This is especially important for businesses, which are expected to keep a higher standard of security when it comes to securing checks. Businesses have liability for checks written that are stolen. So, keep very good track of your checks if you own a business.

An alarming number of people have been taken by the phishing e-mails that supposedly come from eBay. People get the e-mails, which include very believable graphics, and they send back personal information to scam artists. It’s known as phishing. But to eBay’s credit, the service is trying to prevent its customers from getting taken. The auction site has started a new e-mail function where people can check for mail from the service. So, you will no longer receive e-mail from eBay in your mail Inbox. From now on, you simply go to the site and login to their system to read correspondence from them. So, if you ever get an e-mail with the eBay logo, you will know it’s a scam. Approximately 15 percent of people have been taken by phishing scams so far, according to Cnet. That is huge, and Clark commends eBay on doing something to stop it.

As you may know, there are fake universities operating around the U.S. that will issue you a phony degree if you send them enough money. A bachelor’s degree may cost you $200 or $300, while a doctoral degree costs up to $1,000. According to NBC, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General wanted to see how far he could take the hoax. So, he sent in his cat’s resume. That’s right, his cat Colby apparently earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from Trinity Southern University. The school is supposedly in the Dallas suburb of Plano. Along with the diploma, Colby got a transcript of all the classes he supposedly took to receive his 3.8 GPA. You might find this funny. But if you’re an employer, it can be very damaging. People are “buying” degrees – even doctoral degrees – and passing them off as real because employers don’t check as intently as they should. Reference checking is more important than ever because it’s so easy to buy your education without doing any work.

Identity theft has reached an all time low. Criminals recently stole the identity of a 5-month old, according to recent news reports. Apparently, the five-month old was able to drive himself to the doctor’s office, get treatment and buy medicines. The child’s parents received the bill, and quickly sent a letter back to the doctor’s office explaining the situation. Nothing was done about the mistake for a while, and the doctor’s office even planned to turn it over to a collections agency. Now, with all of the media attention, the authorities have investigated the matter and they have a suspect. Turns out the child’s identity was stolen when he was just 21 days old. So, it could have been someone working in the hospital or dealing with the child’s records. ID theft has become so active that anyone is at risk. Be skeptical and be careful with your documents. Shred anything you don’t keep inside your files. And don’t give out your social security number ever!

When Clark checks his e-mail these days, the spam box outnumbers legitimate mail about four to one. And in his regular mail, there are things that shouldn’t have made it through because they are actually spam. At the same time, real e-mails are sent to the spam box and Clark never reads them. Spam has become such a huge issue because it accounts for about two-thirds of the mail people receive. The “pre-text” spam e-mails and “phishing” scams look so real that people open them unknowingly. They end up giving personal information and passwords because these spam/scam artists are so sophisticated. Furthermore, the big e-mail operators have failed to communicate with each other and develop good systems to block spam. But there are attempts underway to combat this problem. One that just got underway by the federal government is called “Operation Slam Spam.” Now, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is making its own effort. The DMA thinks these e-mail scam artists will severely damage their ability to market legitimately to the American people, so they are going after them. You’ll soon see people on trial for taking money out of checking accounts through phony e-mails and for lying to the public. You’ll never eliminate this problem entirely though. So, the major e-mail companies need to come up with ways to curtail this. And, as consumers, you must be sure never to respond to these e-mails. No matter how legitimate they look, no bank, auction site or credit card company would ask you to send personal or financial information over e-mails. Call the company directly if you have questions.

Some street vendors are selling fake I-Pod headphones because having one of these hip gadgets is considered the coolest of cool. In fact, I-Pods are such a hot commodity that owners are having their I-Pods stolen even as they listen. The thieves don’t want your money or your car; just the I-Pod. I-Pods allow people to walk around with the equivalent of 60 CDs in a gadget that is smaller than a deck of cards. Clark has a Trio 600, which can also carry tons of music along with other functions. He doesn’t use it as often as some, but he enjoys it. Trios and Blackberry devices have become targets of espionage among some criminals because they carry a lot of personal information. So, software experts are working on how to wipe out this information so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Watch your gadgets!

Clark gets more spam mail than regular mail every day, and it’s quite annoying. Companies have to give you an opportunity to “remove yourself” from spam mail. But often times, when you click on the link to do so, you are simply verifying that your e-mail is valid. It means you’ll get even more spam. Also, when you are sending e-mail greeting cards and postcards, you must enter your e-mail and the recipients e-mail address. Some of these companies are collecting that information solely to spam you, according to PC magazine. So, stick to sites that you know and trust when sending these cards. Some ISPs divide and block spam mail, and there are some that even require the recipient to verify the address before they receive it. But overall, there is a huge cost to storing and sending spam mail, and people need to go to jail to stop this epidemic.

An old, but evil scam is back bigger than ever, according to a report in the St. Petersburg Times. It targets people on the Internet who use a dial-up connection. DSL and cable subscribers are not affected. What happens is you’re surfing at home, and a pop-up appears. You try to click out of it, but you don’t quite hit the “X.” And when you’re not at home or on the computer, or when you’re asleep, a dialer program takes over your telephone line and makes calls to places you’ve never heard of. Your phone has been hijacked. Unfortunately, the phone industry has taken the position that you are responsible for the charges. That is ridiculous. There is a lot of gray matter when it comes to resolving these issues. The industry knows all about it, but many companies claim they don’t know anything about it. Verizon is at least notifying customers that it is going on. But, the only solution is to get “international call block” on your phone if you have no need to make international calls. Even if you need to make international calls, Clark has ways other than dialing “011” first on his site. Click here for more. You can also block pop-ups from appearing on your screen in the first place. On Clark’s site, we have information listed about this. Or Clark is fond of the toolbar.google.com.

More spam mail than real e-mail now comes to our Inboxes these days, and some of it can be very deceiving. “Pre-text” e-mails are cons that look like official e-mails from companies with whom you do business. It’s also known as “phishing.” And two major corporations have put out warnings today about these e-mails. The first regards an e-mail that looks like it comes from Citibank. The other is from AT&T. The Citibank e-mail claims that people must “verify their account” by clicking on a link in the e-mail. They come from Citibank security or accounts management, so they look official. And they claim that the company will have to cancel the account until the identity is verified. So, people quickly enter personal and financial information to avoid bouncing checks and other problems. AT&T’s e-mail looks very official as well. It says that you need to resubmit your credit card information for billing on your Internet service. And, this is going on with tons of companies. AOL has had problems, and Charles Schwab has information set up on its Web site specifically about these problems. You never know what can happen when this information gets in the wrong hands, so do not give out any information through these e-mails. If you’re having a problem with one of the companies you do business with, contact that company directly over the phone.