This year an estimated 10 million people will be victims of identity theft in the United States. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America costing consumers and businesses tens of millions of dollars a year. Though there is no way to totally prevent yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft you can lower your risks of becoming a victim by taking the right precautions and understanding how identity theft occurs.

How Thieves Take Your Identity

-Snatch your wallet or purse.

-Steal your mail.

-Thieves may go through your trash looking for bank and credit card statements or anything containing your personal information.

-Thieves may steal your information from organizations such as merchants, banks, utility companies or even government agencies. They might do this by hacking into their systems or simply breaking into the business and stealing it.

-Thieves will send you fraudulent emails known as “phishing”. These emails look as if they are from financial institutions or businesses and try to con you into providing personal or account information. They may claim that there is a problem with your account and that you need verify your information in order to fix it. Do NOT provide any information to them as these emails are phony.

How to Protect Your Identity

-Check your credit reports at least once a year.

-Shred unwanted documents that contain personal information in a cross cut shredder.

-Close any unused credit card or bank accounts.

-Remove your name from mailing lists for pre-approved credit lines and telemarketers.

-Keep your PIN number and any other passwords confidential.

-Contact your financial institution or service provider if you notice odd charges or if expected bills don’t arrive.

-Update your computer virus software, use a spyware removal program, and install a firewall program.

-Consider getting a credit monitoring service. This service will alert you when an entry is made on your credit file.

-DON’T give out personal information via the mail, phone, or Internet unless YOU initiated contact.

-DON’T carry your Social Security Number or any PIN numbers or passwords in your purse or wallet.

These are just a few things that can help prevent you from becoming a victim of identity theft. However if you do become a victim of identity theft be sure to file a police report and contact the three credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your file. In addition contact your financial institution and creditors and let them know you have been victimized.

From #983 in 2010 Inc. 5000 to # 132 in Inc. 500 in ranking for America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies, Renters Warehouse and CEO Brenton Hayden continue to grow at a remarkable rate.

Golden Valley, Minnesota (PRWEB) September 02, 2011

Renters Warehouse’s story of growth and success is one that is different than most. Started by CEO Brenton Hayden at the age of 22, he knew he had the business model and niche to make a splash in the real estate industry. With a few years of real estate experience under him Mr. Hayden saw with decreasing home prices, that residential property management was the market to be in and not in buying and selling home. Within the Minnesota residential property management market, Mr. Hayden knew there was competition, however he felt no company owned the Minnesota residential property management market, and that became the goal for Renters Warehouse.

Move forward to 2011, Renters Warehouse has now become the leader with approximately 50% of the Minnesota residential rental property management market share under their management, with a focus to increase that each year. Renters Warehouse’s employees are primarily under the age of 30, which provides the company a technological and current way of thinking in both the ideas they come up with, and the services they offer. They are not afraid to try a new idea to see if it works. That is one area Renters Warehouse differentiates itself from the rest of the competition in the residential property management market.

Renters Warehouse also has incorporated services and ideas that the competition has not or would not try. To begin with, the use of celebrity endorsers by Renters Warehouse has done great things for the company. With political personality Glenn Beck as one of the company’s endorsers, the company within a year brought in a million dollars in new revenue directly related to his endorsement. Newest celebrity endorser Josh Altman, Star of: Bravo TV’s Million Dollar Listing brings a luxury real estate experience to Renters Warehouse in an effort to grow their luxury rental listings. As a real estate agent himself Josh Altman, is part of Renter Warehouse’s plan to grow the brand through selling franchises across the country.

Not banking off of celebrity endorsements alone comes what sets Renters Warehouse apart from the competition, which is their proven process. With no upfront costs, an array of services, a daily deal coupon site, and even warrantying tenants to name a few. The primary and supplemental services that Renters Warehouse provides put them in a league of their own. Property owners that work with Renters Warehouse can look forward to tenant find and placement service, full service property management, 6 month tenant warranty, which is extended to 9 months if Renters Warehouse manages the property for you, an eviction protection plan, and the ability to have your rent direct deposited into your bank account. For renters that are looking to rent a property with Renters Warehouse, they are provided a free credit repair service to raise their credit score, online rent payment, and even a free Apple TV for renting a property with them for 18 months or longer.

About Renters Warehouse:

RentersWarehouse.com is home of Minnesota’s largest and fastest growing residential property management company. Having rented over 1 Billion dollars worth of residential real estate and currently managing over 200 million dollars worth of Minnesota property ! Renters Warehouse is dedicated to helping every type of property owner lease and manage their residential real estate. It’s easy why Renters Warehouse is Minnesota’s landlord of choice; no fees upfront, cancel anytime and there’s no cancellation fee. Renters Warehouse will even assume all costs associated with marketing and advertising your rental property. And the best part is, Renters Warehouse warranties all their renters unconditionally for 6 months. Sign up for our management services and Renters Warehouse will extend that warranty to an industry record – 9 months! Renters Warehouse has the largest inventory of available. Find out what your property will rent for and how you too can have your property listed on RentersWarehouse.com. Read reviews about Renters Warehouse from property owners just like you. Owning real estate is one of life’s biggest commitments; learn how renting your property with Renters Warehouse can grow your personal wealth.

To learn more about Renters Warehouse and property management visit their website at

To learn more about franchise opportunities with Renters Warehouse visit

Jonthan Confeld
Renters Warehouse
952-470-8888
Email Information

IT Security Expert Stu Sjouwerman Explains How Cybercriminals Use Spear-Phishing to Create Phony Articles and Lure Victims to Malicious Websites

Clearwater, FL (PRWEB) September 12, 2011

Many companies use Google Alerts to track online mentions of their company name, executive names and product names. The user specifies a topic, and Google will send an email or update an online feed with the latest news stories pertaining to that subject. The results are gathered from all over the Web; and while most come from legitimate sources, cybercriminals have realized that they can use this valuable tool for their own illicit purposes.

According to KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”), cybercriminals begin by creating a website that is designed to deliver a “drive-by” malware download when a user arrives at the site. Next, they publish a phony article featuring the name of the company, product or person they are targeting. This is considered “spear-phishing” because the attack is aimed at a specific organization or individual, and the perpetrator often uses prior knowledge of the target to make the message more believable. When recipients see this planted story in a Google Alert and click to read the article in its entirety, they arrive at the infected website – which then delivers its malicious payload and immediately compromises the user’s PC. Once the cybercriminals have gained control of a single computer, they can leverage that access to penetrate the entire network.

“I’ve been using Google Alerts for years to track stories about my business, so once again I’m amazed at how creative and enterprising the bad guys are proving to be,” said Sjouwerman. “This spear-phishing tactic is an advanced persistent threat that can sneak in under the radar, hidden among other valid news stories. Most people are so familiar and comfortable with Google Alerts that they don’t think twice before clicking a link to view an article – and that’s what cybercriminals are banking on.”

Sjouwerman notes that this type of attack can be especially hard to prevent because it’s so targeted: “Basic anti-virus software is no match for these emerging threats, which play to the human element and use social engineering to convince people to click. All layers of your IT security defense must be deployed and effective for this latest spear-phishing tactic to be caught. Make sure you address each level of security, including your policies, procedures and end-user awareness, as well as your perimeter, internal network, host, application and data security measures .”

KnowBe4 provides more detail on these security levels in its “Defense-in-Depth” overview at . Through its Internet security training programs, the company helps SMEs address the first-level defense of end-user awareness by educating employees on how to recognize and avoid common cybercrime tactics. KnowBe4 offers a free phishing security test to help business owners and managers find out what percentage of their staff is Phish-prone™, or susceptible to phishing attacks.

“After completing our phishing security test, some of our clients found that nearly half of their employees were Phish-prone – which gives you an idea of the severity of this issue,” remarked Sjouwerman. “However, the good news is that implementation of Internet Security Awareness Training can immediately reduce that Phish-prone percentage by 75% or more. After four weeks of subsequent testing and retraining, all of our clients achieved a Phish-prone percentage that was at or close to zero.”

In the short-term, Sjouwerman advises Google Alerts users to preview the URL before clicking any link. “By hovering a mouse over the link, readers can see the URL it is directing to. If it’s an unknown website, do not click! It’s best to only view stories posted on familiar news and syndication websites. While it’s not always safe to travel the Web, security awareness training can help users stay abreast of cybercriminals’ latest tricks and techniques.”

For additional tips on thwarting cybercriminals, SMEs can refer to KnowBe4′s free cybercrime education resources or read Sjouwerman’s latest book, Cyberheist: The Biggest Financial Threat Facing American Businesses Since the Meltdown of 2008. Cyberheist provides insights into the business of cybercrime, presents a variety of case studies and offers valuable cybercrime prevention advice.

To access KnowBe4′s free phishing security test and other cybercrime prevention tools, visit . For details on Cyberheist, or to order the paperback or e-book edition, visit .

About Stu Sjouwerman and KnowBe4

Stu Sjouwerman is the founder and CEO of KnowBe4, LLC, which provides web-based Internet Security Awareness Training (ISAT) to small and medium enterprises. A data security expert with more than 30 years in the IT industry, Sjouwerman was the co-founder of Sunbelt Software, an award-winning anti-malware software company that he and his partner sold to GFI Software in 2010. Realizing that the human element of security was being seriously neglected, Sjouwerman decided to help entrepreneurs tackle cybercrime tactics through advanced Internet security awareness training . He is the author of four books, including Cyberheist: The Biggest Financial Threat Facing American Businesses Since the Meltdown of 2008.

Karla Jo Helms
Joto Extreme PR
1-888-202-4614
Email Information

Home invasion suspect still on the lam

Police are still searching for a man who failed to appear for a preliminary exam in court on home invasion charges.

A bench warrant has been issued for Patrick Wiggy Taylor, 19, of Ypsilanti. He failed to appear for a preliminary exam Aug. 25.

Taylor was arraigned Aug. 18 on first-degree home invasion.

Police say he is also a suspect in several home invasions that have occurred since his release.

All of the incidents occurred in the area of Ellsworth and Golfside roads between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. while victims were asleep.

He is described as 5-foot-10 and weighing 160 pounds. He has a cross tattoo on his right upper arm.

Deputy prosecutor Steve Hiller said the charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Anyone who sees Taylor should call 911.

Police incident summary

Pittsfield Township police investigated eight assaults and three burglaries among 23 crimes reported on the crime map Aug. 28 through Sept. 3.

The police handled 221 calls last week, bringing the yearly total to 9,114. Those numbers are down slightly when police had 270 calls for the week and 9,140 calls for the year to date.

The fire department has had 1,721 calls, a bit higher than last year at this time at 1,688.

New email scam crops up

The Department of Public Safety is warning residents of a new email scam that promotes assistance for “ACH Security.” The emails speak of commercial accounts being suspended because of ACH and wire fraud. In fact, they are an attempt to get people to open an attachment labeled “FDIC document.zip,” which allows malware to be placed on the victim’s computer

You can find more about “malware” at the OnGuard online link

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Gel fuel recall announced

The Pittsfield Township fire department wants residents to know about a recall of gel fuels.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and nine manufacturers, including one in Ypsilanti, are participating in a voluntary recall of all the gel fuels they produce.

The recall is due to serious risks of flash fire and burns when people add pourable gel to already burning fire pot. People should stop using the pourable gel fuel.

At least two people have died and 34 have been injured as a result of gel fuels igniting and splattering on people nearby when poured into a firepot that is still burning. The CPSC says people should not try to repair the gel fuel bottles and retailers should stop selling the products.

An estimated 2 million units of gel fuels packaged in one-quart plastic bottles and one-gallon plastic jugs and sold in scented and non-scented forms are included. They have been sold since 2008 for between $5 and $20 by Bird Brain Inc., of Ypsilanti, among businesses in other states.

Consumers can contact these companies for obtaining a refund and to ship the unused portions back to the manufacturer.

–Compiled by Jim Pruitt, freelance reporter

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DUI ARREST – At Big Oak Road and Knightsbridge Drive, police on patrol stopped a vehicle for violations. Further investigation led to the arrest of the 22-year-old male driver from Yardley for driving under the influence. The DUI arrest was reported at 2:41 a.m. on Sept. 1.

- At Taylorsville and Woodside roads, police responded to the report of an accident. Further investigation led to the arrest of the 45-year-old male driver from New Hope for driving under the influence. The DUI arrest was reported at 4:42 p.m. on Sept. 1.

THEFT – At the 700 block of Stony Hill Road, complainant reports that sometime overnight, unknown person(s) removed a ladder. The theft was reported at 6:58 a.m. on Sept. 1.

- At the 1400 block of Woodside Road at Makefield Highlands Golf Club, complainant reports sometime after Aug. 23, unknown person(s) removed an eagle statue from the golf course. The theft was reported at 11:14 a.m. on Sept. 1.

- At the 1300 block of Apple Blossom Drive, complainant reports theft of $600 from her pocketbook. The theft was reported at 1:47 p.m. on Sept. 1.

DRUG ARREST – At the 500 block of West Trenton Avenue, police were dispatched for a call regarding a possible medical emergency. Further investigation led to the discovery of two duster cans. The 24-year-old female and 26-year-old male, both from Hamilton, N.J., were arrested for illegal use of noxious substances, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The arrest was reported at 7:26 p.m. on Aug. 31.

DUI ARREST – At Evergreen Road and East Crown Terrace, police on patrol stopped a vehicle for violations. Further investigation led to the arrest of the 50-year-old male driver from Upper Darby for driving under the influence. The DUI arrest was reported at 10:43 p.m. on Aug. 31.

THEFT – At the 400 block of Stony Hill Road, complainant reports that sometime on Aug. 27, unknown person(s) removed copper piping from the basement. The theft was reported at 7:44 p.m. on Aug. 31.

CREDIT CARD THEFT – At the 1600 block of South Crescent Boulevard, complainant reports $822.78 worth of unauthorized charges on his debit card. The credit card theft was reported at 2:18 p.m. on Aug. 31.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT – At Oxford Valley Road and Route 1, police on patrol stopped a vehicle for violations. Further investigation led to the discovery of a small amount of marijuana. The 32-year-old male driver from Levittown was cited. The disorderly conduct was reported at 10:29 a.m. on Aug. 31.

UNDERAGE DRINKING – At River Road and Kathy Drive, police on patrol stopped a vehicle for violations. Further investigation led to the discovery of alcohol and marijuana. Two 18-year-old males from Yardley and two juveniles were cited. The underage drinking was reported at 12:42 a.m. on Aug. 30.

THEFT – At the 1000 block of North Elbow Lane, complainant reports sometime overnight, unknown person(s) entered the vehicle and removed an iPhone, white Otter box case, two car chargers, gift cards and $7. The theft was reported at 7:15 p.m. on Aug. 30.

THEFT – At North Homestead Drive, complainant reports that sometime between Aug. 24 to Aug. 27, unknown person(s) removed two Garmin GPS Nuvi’s and an iPod mini from the vehicle. The theft was reported at 2:50 p.m. on Aug. 29.

At the 700 block of Stewarts Way, complainant reports sometime overnight, unknown person(s) entered the vehicle and removed $3 and a Panasonic video camera. The theft was reported at 8:49 a.m. on Aug. 29.

THEFT – At the 1400 block of Heather Ridge Drive, complainant reports sometime between Aug. 24 to Aug. 27, unknown person(s) removed copper and a cast iron heater from the rear of the property. The theft was reported at 11:23 a.m. on Aug. 28.

DRUG ARREST – At the 1600 block of Quarry Road at Afton Elementary, police on patrol spotted a suspicious, unoccupied vehicle in the parking lot. Further investigation led to the discovery and arrest of an 18-year-old male from Fairless Hills for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The drug arrest was reported at 11:23 a.m. on Aug. 27.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF – At the 1900 block of Knights Drive, complainant reports that sometime overnight, unknown person(s) keyed the driver’s side door. The mischief was reported at 10:55 a.m. on Aug.27.

THEFT – At the 1600 block of South Crescent Boulevard, complainant reports that sometime overnight, unknown person(s) entered the vehicle and removed a GPS, sunglasses, a wallet and credit card. The credit card was subsequently used at a 7-Eleven. The theft was reported at 6:04 a.m. on Aug. 26.

DRUG ARREST – At the 1000 block of River Road at Macclesfield Park, police on patrol spotted a suspicious vehicle. Further investigation led to the arrest of the 18-year-old male driver from Yardley for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Four juveniles were also cited for disorderly conduct. The arrest was reported at 3:03 p.m. on Aug. 26.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF – At the 500 block of Stony Hill Road at Giant, complainant reports having an altercation with an unknown male and female in the parking lot, prior to entering the store. Upon returning, the vehicle had been keyed. The mischief was reported at 3:24 p.m. on Aug. 26.

DUI ARREST – At Stony Hill and Township Line roads, police on patrol stopped a vehicle for violations. Further investigation led to the arrest of the 48-year-old male driver from Morrisville for driving under the influence. The DUI arrest was reported at 3:16 p.m. on Aug. 26.

Originally published Tuesday, September 6.

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