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     'Tis the season for increased fraudulent activity. There is a burgeoning theft industry that lenders might consider educating customers about - identity theft.

     Identity theft and identity fraud refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception. Your personal data, especially your Social Security number, your bank account or credit card number, your telephone calling card number, and other valuable identifying data can be used, if they fall into the wrong hands, to personally profit at your expense. In the past several years, many people have reported that unauthorized persons have taken funds out of their bank or financial accounts, or, in the worst cases, taken over their identities altogether, running up huge debts and committing crimes while using the victims's names. In many cases, a victim's losses may include not only out?of?pocket financial losses, but substantial additional financial costs associated with trying to restore his reputation in the community and correcting erroneous information for which the criminal is responsible.