Current Events in December 2013

Palama Holdings of Kapolei, Hawaii, is expanding its recall of raw, frozen marinated chicken products to approximately 24,784 pounds because they may have experienced temperature abuse in the distribution chain.

The company has received no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The expanded recall covers all teriyaki chicken products produced at the company’s Kapolei plant with “Best by” dates ranging Sept. 24, 2014 to November 6, 2014.

The products subject to recall include:

• 10-lb. cardboard boxes, containing four individual cryovac sealed packages of May’s Hawaii “Hawaiian Style, Boneless and Skinless Teriyaki Chicken Thighs.”
• 5-lb. cardboard boxes, containing two individual cryovac sealed packages of May’s Hawaii “Hawaiian Style, Boneless and Skinless Teriyaki Chicken Thighs.”
• 2-lb. cardboard boxes, containing one cryovac sealed package of May’s Hawaii “Hawaiian Style, Boneless and Skinless Teriyaki Chicken Thighs.”

The products were produced on various dates between Sept. 24, 2013, and Nov. 6, 2013, and distributed for retail sale on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii, and to a nearby military commissary. The packages bear the establishment number “P-11077” in the USDA mark of inspection.

Bloated boxes of the products were found at a retail location in recent days. The problem was initially discovered during shipment when the company’s distributor observed boxes of product swollen with gases from the bagged chicken -- an indication that there may have been temperature abuse during storage prior to distribution.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Gary Hanagami, May’s Hawaii vice president of retail sales, at (808) 682-8300.

Lee Bros. Foodservice of San Jose, Calif., is recalling 740 pounds of sausage products that may be contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin.

There are no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.

The following products are subject to recall:

• 16 oz packages of Lee’s Sandwiches brand Pork Sausages produced on 2/11/13 with an identifying code “042P” printed on the back of the package
• 16 oz packages of Lee’s Sandwiches brand Pork and Chicken Sausages produced on 2/12/13 with an identifying code of “043PC” printed on the back of the package

Each package bears the establishment number “Est. 11041” inside the USDA Mark of Inspection. The products were sold at the wholesale and retail level in Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas and online.

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact the company’s Customer Service line at (800) 640-8880.

Landscape Structures of Delano, Minn., is recalling about 177 Oodle Swings.

The swing seat is suspended too close to the ground, posing an injury hazard to children who can get their legs caught underneath.

Nine children have broken their legs or suffered sprains when their legs got caught under the swing.

This recall involves Landscape Structures’ Oodle Swings. The swing frame is a double arch, comes in a variety of colors and measures 9 ½ ft. high by 13 ½ ft. long by 4 ½ ft. wide. The swing seat is an oval-shaped ring, measures 4 ft. wide by about 3 ½ ft. deep, comes in a variety of colors and is suspended from the frame by four black cables or chains. It holds as many as six children. Landscape Structures is printed on label near ground level on the frame. The swing set’s model number 173592 is printed in the swing’s instruction manual. “Landscape Structures” is molded in the black rubber bumper of the swing seat.

The swing set, manufactured in the U.S., was sold to schools and other facilities with playground equipment nationwide from February 2011, through November 2013, for about $4,350.

Consumers should stop using the swings immediately and measure the distance between the bottom of the swing seat and the ground. If the distance is less than 12 ¾ inches, contact Landscape Structures for a free repair. The company is contacting its customers directly.

Consumers may contact Landscape Structures toll-free at (888) 438-6574 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

Now that the Healthcare.gov web site is working a lot better than it did on its disastrous roll-out, more uninsured consumers are beginning to sign up and choose healthcare plans on the marketplace.

But how do you decide which plan is best for you? There are a lot of things to consider, especially if you have a doctor you like. If you go with a cheaper HMO policy your doctor might not be part of that network.

In addition to making sure your relationship with your current healthcare provider continues without interruption, you will likely consider what the policy covers and what it costs. Even then, however, there are plenty of pitfalls.

Alarming results

Using simulated exchanges modeled on the design of the actual exchanges, researchers at Columbia Business School say their findings suggest that more than 80% of consumers may be unable to make a clear–eyed estimate of their needs and will unknowingly choose a higher-cost plan than they need. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reached a similar conclusion in November.

Essentially, consumers tend to choose a plan with low deductibles and co-pay and high monthly premiums, regardless of their healthcare needs.

"Consumers' failure to identify the most appropriate plan has considerable consequences on both their pocketbooks as well as the cost of the overall system," said Eric Johnson, co–author of the report and co–director of Columbia Business School's Center for Decision Sciences.

Two problems

The problem is twofold. First, consumers spend more on health coverage than they should. Second, Johnson says if consumers can't identify the most cost–efficient plan for their needs, the exchanges will fail to produce competitive pressures on healthcare providers and bring down costs across the board, which, after all, was one of the main reasons for relying upon choice and markets.

Because the federal government will subsidize many of these healthcare policies, American taxpayers could pay an additional $9 billion for consumers' mistakes in choosing more costly plans, according to the Columbia research.

What you should look for

If you are in the market for a new health benefits policy, what kinds of things should you look for? All the plans, regardless of their cost, are required to cover certain essential health services. The difference is how much of the cost you pay and what you pay for this coverage.

For example, some plans pay for more of the medical services you receive. As you might expect, it costs more each month for that kind of coverage. A plan that requires you to pay a bigger share of your healthcare costs will have a lower monthly premium.

Key question

So one question you need to answer before selecting a plan is how much healthcare do you expect to consume? If you have a chronic ailment that requires frequent trips to the doctor and expensive medication, a policy that covers more of those costs might be prudent.

But if you are in reasonably good health and maybe see a doctor once or twice a year, it almost always will pay to select a plan with a lower premium and higher out of pocket costs. Why would you pay an extra $1,000 a year in premiums in order to save $100 on a office visit?

Yet researchers have found that consumers, left to their own devices, seem to gravitate to more expensive policies because they want to avoid out-of-pocket expenses. The numbers simply don't add up.

Johnson and his colleagues identified several things that significantly helped consumers pick a more appropriate policy. These include:

• Estimate First, Peruse the Plans Second: Estimating your medical services before choosing a plan increases your chances of choosing the best plan.
• Educate: Tutorial links and pop-ups that explain basic terms like "deductibles" that might not be known to new buyers, increase your chances of choosing the best plan.
• Implement smart tools: Adding a calculator to the process improves your chances of choosing the right plan and reduces the size of errors by over $216.
• Implement other "smart defaults": Including a tool that defaults to the most cost-effective plan drastically improves a participant's chances at selecting the most cost-effective plan by 20%, they say. Together, calculators and defaults reduce the average mistake saving consumers and the government $453.
• Limit the number of choices: Exchanges that limit their amount of choices in healthcare plans will help to avoid confusion among consumers  

It’s crunch time, people, and if you still haven’t bought Christmas gifts for various folks on your list, maybe you’re thinking “Y’know, I’ll just buy them a gift card for this store here, and let them choose for themselves what they want.”

And we’re here to tell you: that’s a bad idea. Not the whole “let them choose” bit, but the part where you decide to buy them a store-specific gift card; if you must give a card in lieu of actual money, a prepaid debit card valid with any merchant who takes credit cards is far better than a gift card limited to one company.

If you don’t believe us, take a look at this advertising email a friend of ours received and forwarded to us, announcing that “Gift Card Exchange Day is Dec. 26.” The email came from “Gift Card Granny,” alleged seller of “discount gift cards” — a business model that plainly would not exist if not for legions of people getting gift cards they don’t want.

The National Retail Federation reported 80 percent of shoppers planned to give gift cards as presents this holiday season. Additionally, gift cards have topped holiday wish lists for seven years running, with six in 10 consumers hoping to receive one for Christmas this year. Meanwhile, the CEB TowerGroup reports $1.7 billion in gift cards went unused in 2012, leaving quite a bit of money on the collective table.

Unwanted cards

Indeed. The idea behind the Gift Card Exchange is that people who got unwanted gift cards for Christmas can try selling them for cash — although the odds that, say, a $25 gift card to Company X sell for the full $25 are very slim.

Point is, if you’re the one who shelled out the $25 for that unwanted gift card, chances are your recipient won’t get to spend anywhere near the full amount anyway; you probably gifted money to the store rather than your friend or loved one.

Santa hasn't even made his rounds yet and already Uncle Sam is on your doorstep with his hand out.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has just announced that it plans to open the 2014 filing season on Jan. 31. The tax agency says this will allow it adequate time to program and test its tax processing systems. The annual process for updating IRS systems saw significant delays in October following the 16-day federal government shutdown.

“Our teams have been working hard throughout the fall to prepare for the upcoming tax season,” IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel said. “The late January opening gives us enough time to get things right with our programming, testing and systems validation. It’s a complex process, and our bottom-line goal is to provide a smooth filing and refund process for the nation’s taxpayers.”

Shutdown produces delays

The government closure meant the IRS had to change the original opening date from Jan. 21 to Jan. 31 -- one day later than the 2013 filing season opening following tax law changes made by Congress on Jan. 1 under the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA). The extensive set of ATRA tax changes affected many 2012 tax returns, resulting in the late January opening.

The October shutdown came during the peak period for preparing IRS systems for the 2014 filing season. Programming, testing and deployment of more than 50 IRS systems is needed to handle processing of nearly 150 million tax returns. Updating these core systems is a complex, year-round process with the majority of the work beginning in the fall of each year.

About 90 percent of IRS operations were closed during the shutdown, with some major work streams closed entirely during this period, putting the IRS nearly three weeks behind its tight timetable for being ready to start the 2014 filing season. There are additional training, programming and testing demands on IRS systems this year in order to provide additional refund fraud and identity theft detection and prevention.

Filing options

The IRS notes that several options are available to help you prepare for the 2014 tax season and get any refund you have coming as easily as possible. New year-end has been added to the IRS website.

In addition, many software companies are expected to begin accepting tax returns in January and hold those returns until the IRS systems open on Jan. 31. More details will be available in January.

The IRS emphasized that it will not process any tax returns before Jan. 31, so there is no advantage to filing on paper before the opening date. Taxpayers will receive their tax refunds much faster by using e-file or Free File with the direct deposit option.

The April 15 tax deadline is set by statute and will remain in place. However, the IRS reminds taxpayers that anyone can request an automatic six-month extension to file their tax return. The request is easily done with Form 4868, which can be filed electronically or on paper.

IRS systems, applications and databases must be updated annually to reflect tax law updates, business process changes and programming updates in time for the start of the filing season.

Ransomware, malware that takes over your computer and holds your files hostage, is nothing new. But it's latest incarnation is something that has the FBI and other law enforcement officials worried.

What has galvanized official attention and terrorized some computer users is Cryptolocker, a Trojan that encodes all the files on your computer so that you cannot access them without the key. And the key will cost you. A spokesman for the FBI in Boston says having Crytolocker on your computer is about the same as having your computer “destroyed.”

Launched with email

It all starts when you receive an email purporting to contain tracking information about a package that is in transit. This time of year millions of consumers are expecting packages.

The email contains a link with instructions to click on it to find out where your package is. However, if you click on the link you launch cryptolocker and your computer locks up. A screen pops up with instructions to follow, along with a countdown clock. When the clock reaches zero and you have not submitted payment the program destroys all the files on your computer. Yeah, these guys don't mess around.

According to report by WBZ-TV, even the Swansea, Mass., Police Department fell victim. The entire department's computer system fell under control of Cryptolocker and it cost the police $750 to get it unlocked.

The security software firm Sophos says Cryptolocker is a worldwide problem and could get much worse in the year ahead. Once a computer is infected, Sophos experts say the Cryptolocker gang demands a payment of about $300 in untraceable bitcoins in exchange for the encryption key to unlock the files. But as in any extortion scheme, there is no guarantee that they will unlock your computer after they have received the ransom.

Dangerously simple

The danger, says James Lyne, Global Head of Security Research at Sophos, is Cryptolocker's simplicity. It requires no special set of skills and your average non-hacker scammer can easily figure out how to use it. Not only will it become widespread but we could see even more variations of it in the years ahead.

”Cryptolocker is very much a deviation from the norm, and I actually think it is a sign of things to come,” James said in an interview with the BBC.

Security experts at McAfee say Cryptolocker is a significant jump in the threat level from so-called “scareware.” This type of malware flashes a warning that your computer has been infected with a virus and offers to remove it for a the small cost of a download.

McAfee says most scareware programs are easily removed and consumers soon learned they didn't have to pay. Cryptolocker, however, significantly raises the bar.

“The encryption method may be known but if the key used is unknown then decryption is, if not actually impossible (the NSA could probably do it), then not feasible for almost everyone who is affected,” McAfee warns on its website. “Cryptolocker is the most recent and most widespread of this class of ransomware, and someone somewhere is raking in the cash as a result. Note that payment for decryption cannot be done using credit cards: you have to make payments using MoneyPak vouchers or BitCoins.”

In the video below, a British security expert purposely infected a computer and walks you through the steps of paying off the extortionists and getting your files back. As you will see, it is not a simple process.

To avoid falling prey to this scam, never click on a link in an email.  Easier said than done, perhaps, but that's the unfortunate truth.

A lot of people are pretty skeptical about Google Glass, saying the goofy-looking goggles have no redeeming social value. Ah, but what if they could recognize faces?

A company calls FacialNetwork is claiming it has the software to make that happen. It would be a real blessing for anyone who has trouble remembering names. And just think of the potential dating applications -- all you'd have to do is stare at someone, say the magic word and get their name, email and -- I dunno -- Facebook profile or whatever.

And, sure enough, that's what FacialNetwork is promising. It calls the product NameTag and says it uses some of the most accurate facial recognition software in the world to grab faces using Google Glass' camera, send that face wirelessly to a server, compare it to millions of records and in seconds return a match complete with a name, additional photos and social media profiles.

FacialNetwork.com is also currently creating technology to allow the scanning of profile photos from dating sites such as PlentyOfFish.com, OkCupid.com and Match.com. The technology would also allow users to scan photos against the more than 450,000 entries in the National Sex Offender Registry and other criminal databases.

Story continues below video

A brave new world

"I believe that this will make online dating and offline social interactions much safer and give us a far better understanding of the people around us," said NameTag's creator Kevin Alan Tussy.  "It's much easier to meet interesting new people when we can simply look at someone, see their Facebook, review their LinkedIn page or maybe even see their dating site profile. Often we were interacting with people blindly or not interacting at all. NameTag on Google Glass can change all that."

This all sounds great, at least to those who think such ideas aren't completely loathsome. But so far Google remains unconvinced.

Google has said that facial recognition will not be supported for Glass. Tussy thinks this is due to pressure from privacy groups but he thinks that when it seriously considers the "vast societal benefits," Google will eventually reconsider.

"There will be many providers of augmented reality headsets and even if facial recognition is not supported by some, I'm confident that there will be solutions for such limitations. We are not publishing any information about of our financiers or investors at this time but I will say that we are involved with some very well-respected individuals and venture funds," said Tussy.

Patients, families and their advocates deserve and demand that they receive only the medical treatment that they want.  Nothing less… and nothing more.  There is an unfortunate and growing trend of individuals receiving medical treatment against their wishes, most often occurring in violation of their advance directives at the end of life when they cannot speak for themselves. 

The last place most Americans want to end up is in the hospital, hooked up to machines and tubes at the end of their life.  Polling indicates that people overwhelmingly want to die at home surrounded by their loved ones.  So why is it that we are seeing an increase in the numbers of people dying in the intensive care unit (ICU)? And why do terminally ill patients who are eligible for home hospice care when they have six months left to live are never told of this preferred option until the last few days of their life? 

The nation’s leading end-of-life consumer advocacy group, Compassion & Choices has joined a powerful group of consumer health organizations, including the Consumer Coalition for Quality Health Care and The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, whose goal is to end the scourge of unwanted medical treatment. 

Informed choices

The “Campaign to End Unwanted Medical Treatment” is designed to empower consumers to make informed choices about their treatment preferences and demand that health care professionals to honor their wishes.  The groups honor the dignity, values, and health care choices of every person at each state of his or her illness.  They also ensure that consumers have access to a full range of well-coordinated care and treatment options, including curative care, palliative care, and hospice care. Finally, they help consumers enforce their constitutionally-protected right to decline unwanted medical treatment. 

In the coming months, the Campaign to End Unwanted Medical Treatment will host a luncheon series in Washington, D.C., aimed at educating policymakers about unwanted medical treatment and formulating a plan to stop the practice.  Each lunch will be followed by the release of a policy issue brief from the National Academy of Social Insurance recapping the important policy recommendations made at the luncheon.  The first brief is titled, “Getting the Treatment You Want: Is Anyone Listening?” and is available for free online. 

The first luncheon occurred in early December and featured Dr. Bernard “Bud” Hammes, the director of the internationally renowned Medical Humanities and Respecting Choices® for Gundersen Health System. He talked about how this program’s amazing 98 percent success rate in educating consumers about advance care planning and medical staff to follow patient’s choices.

To learn more about the Campaign to End Unwanted Medical Treatment – and to take action – please visit www.endumt.org

It might seem odd that globe-girdling duopolist AT&T would feel the need to go running for help because it was being bullied by relative pipsqueak Charter, which is only the fourth-largest cable operator in the country.

But that's what happened and the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division sided with AT&T, the marketing journal MediaPost reported.

Charter, you see, had been running ads for its broadband service claiming it was faster than AT&T's. Well, in fact, it is but the BBB said that Charter unfairly compared its broadband service, which offers speeds of 30 Mbps, to AT&T's DSL, which is only one-fifth as fast.

Of course, Charter's broadband is also faster than AT&T's U-Verse, which pins its needle at 24 Mbps.

Charter was unfair

But the BBB said it was unfair of Charter to say that AT&T business subscribers were using "outdated, slow equipment” and it also took offense at Charter's claim that “AT&T can’t keep up with your business. It’s time to move on.” 

Not only that, but the BBB also said Charter shouldn't have suggested that AT&T was hindering business with its slower speeds. 

“While a difference of even a few minutes in downloading a file can be substantial for a business, there is no evidence in the record that companies who use AT&T’s DSL and phone service are less productive and/or successful than businesses who use other providers (such as Charter Business),” the NAD wrote.

Consumers earned more money in November, but spent even more than they took in.

Figures released by the Commerce Department, show personal income increased $30.1 billion, or 0.2%, with disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- up 0.1% following an 0.2% decline in October.

At the same time, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose 0.5% -- to $63.0 billion, the biggest increase in 5 months.

Wages and salaries

Private wages and salaries increased $26.1 billion in November, with goods producing industries' payrolls increased $8.3 billion. Manufacturing payrolls made up $4.8 billion of that. Services-producing industries' payrolls increased $17.8 billion, while government wages and salaries increased $1.0 billion.

Personal spending and savings

Personal outlays, which include PCE, personal interest payments and personal current transfer payments, jumped $62.6 billion in November after rising of $43.9 billion in October. PCE was up $63.0 billion, compared with an increase of $44.2 billion the month before.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays – dropped to $525.4 billion last month from $571.8 billion in October. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was down 0.3% in November -- to 4.2% .

The complete report is available on the Bureau of Economic Analysis website.  

Spokane Produce of Spokane Wash., is recalling approximately 59 lbs of Victor’s Sesame Hummus due to concerns about possible Listeria monocytogenes.

No illnesses have been reported in association with this recall.

The following product is subject to the voluntary recall:

11-oz labeled “Victor™ - Toasted Sesame Hummus” with UPC 6 09722 76501 5, best by 12/29/13.

The hummus was distributed to retail locations (Rosauers, Brewster Market, SuperOne) in Washington and Montana.

Consumers who have purchased Victor - Toasted Sesame Hummus are urged not to eat it and to dispose of it or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Palama Holdings of Kapolei, Hawaii, is recalling approximately 3,600 pounds of raw, frozen marinated chicken products because they may have experienced temperature abuse in the distribution chain.

The problem was discovered when the company’s distributor observed boxes of product swollen with gases from the bagged chicken.

There have been no reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.

The products subject to recall include:

• 10-lb. cardboard boxes, containing 4 individual cryovac sealed packages of May’s Hawaii “Hawaiian Style, Boneless and Skinless Teriyaki Chicken Thighs.”

The products were produced Oct. 15, 2013 and Nov. 5, 2013 then were distributed for retail sale in the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui and Kauai and to a nearby military commissary. The packages bear the establishment number “EST. P-11077” in the USDA mark of inspection on the package.

Consumers with questions about the recall may contact Gary Hanagami, May’s Hawaii vice president of retail sales, at (808) 682-8300.

Chrysler Group is recalling 4,194 model year 2013 Chrysler 300 AWD, Dodge Charger AWD, and Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 vehicles equipped with ZF all wheel drive ("AWD") 8HP45 transmissions.

In the affected vehicles, the transmission output shaft may fracture, resulting in a loss of power, which could increase the risk of a crash. Additionally, if the parking brake is not applied before exiting the vehicle, the vehicle may roll away despite the transmission being placed in 'Park'.

Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the transmissions, as necessary, free of charge. The recall is to begin in January 2014.

Customers may contact Chrysler at 1-800-853-1403. Chrysler's recall number is N65.

In the classic holiday movie "Home Alone," a young boy holds off a pair of bumbling burglars who have targeted his home after his entire family has packed up and left the country on Christmas vacation.

Burglaries around the holidays, from Thanksgiving through New Year's, happen all too often, but unlike the movie, they aren't very funny.

“Burglars are aware that we go away to visit family and friends at Christmas and they tend to prey on unoccupied homes and sparsely populated neighborhoods, where there are fewer neighbors to look out for you,” said Stephen Ebbett, president of Protect Your Bubble, a company that sells renters insurance and other insurance products.

According to the FBI, there are about 400,000 burglaries in the U.S. each November and December. In the majority of cases, these aren't carried out by professional burglars.

In search of drug money

“There's a strong correlation between burglary and substance abuse,” Ebbett said. “A lot of burglars are looking for quick, easy money. They'll pick neighborhoods where they know residents are affluent.”

They also spend as little time in the house as possible, mostly getting in and out in about 10 minutes. That means leaving your home unsecured for just a few minutes while you are out and about can be risky.

Once a burglar is inside your home Ebbett says he will try to maximize his time, getting the most he can for his effort and risk.

“Unfortunately it tends to be the smaller, more valuable items they gravitate to because they're easy to carry,” Ebbett said. “Your gadgets, your jewelry, your art work all tend to be very easy targets.”

Smartphones a prized target

In fact, Ebbett cites a statistic showing that 19% of stolen smartphones and tablets and not taken in public but in the owner's home. When leaving home, he says, don't leave gadgets and small, valuable items lying around in plain sight. If a burglar has to spend precious minutes searching for an item, chances are he won't take it.

“I think the key thing about tablets and smartphones is they have a very high resale value,” Ebbett said. “They don't depreciate in the black market the way a lot of other consumer goods do. A $700 iPhone will easily sell on the black market for $500.”

Since burglars tend to target unoccupied homes, it's important to never allow your home to appear unoccupied. If you are leaving town for more than a day or two, stop mail and newspaper delivery or have your neighbors pick them up for you. Use timers throughout the house so that lights come on and off on a regular basis.

Don't leave keys under door mats, flower pots or other predictable places. And in the era of social media we often thoughtlessly broadcast the fact that our home is unoccupied to the world. We shouldn't.

Think before you post

“We're always very eager to update our status on Facebook and tell people what we're doing,” Ebbett said. “But 75% of burglars use social media to help them find their next victims. Don't tell people you're out of town. Maybe wait until you're back before you post holiday pictures.”

Keep your property well-lit, not just inside but outside too. Burglars hate light and a motion-sensitive exterior light, that comes on when someone enters its field of vision, may be enough to send a burglar running, in search of a safer target.

The massive data breach affecting up to 40 million Target customers has left those customers wondering if they're affected and, if so, what they should do to protect themselves. New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman offers these tips:

If you think you might be a victim

• Report to any of the three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Transunion or Experian) that you may have been a victim of identity theft. Make sure the credit reporting agency has your current contact information so they can get in contact with you. 
• Ask the credit reporting agencies to put a fraud alert on your credit file.  This will still allow you to use your credit card. If you put a fraud alert on your file, you may ask for a free credit report from each of the credit reporting agencies.  Contacting any one of the three credit reporting agencies above is enough to file a credit alert with all of them.  A credit alert must be renewed every 90 days.
• You also have a right to put a credit freeze on your credit file.  This will block someone from obtaining credit using your name or personal information.  This means you won’t be able to apply for any new credit cards or loans while the freeze is in effect, but you can continue to use your existing cards.  To freeze your credit file you must notify each of the three major credit bureaus.   You can remove the freeze temporarily or permanently by contacting each of the three agencies.  There is no fee if you have been the victim of identity theft.  You may be charged a fee of up to $5) if you have not been a victim of identity theft.
• You should also check your credit activity regularly with each credit issuer.  You don’t need to wait for your monthly statement, though you should check that as well.  Many banks provide online information to account holders about recent activity. 

If you are a victim:

• Create an identity theft fraud report.  To create one, file a complaint with the FTC and print your Identity Theft Affidavit. You can call the FTC at 1-877-438-4338 or go online.
• Use the FTC complaint to file a police report and create your Identity Theft Report. 
• An Identity Theft Report will help you deal with credit reporting companies, debt collectors and any fraudulent accounts that the ID thief opened in your name.
• Put a freeze (not just a fraud alert) on your credit report by notifying each of the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, TransUnion or Experian).  The freeze can only be removed by you.  
• Get your credit report from each of the three agencies.  You are entitled to free reports once you post a fraud alert or put a freeze on your account.  Read the reports carefully to see whether other fraudulent transactions or accounts are listed, and then take steps to correct the errors.
• Check your credit card account frequently to look for any irregular activity.

The contact information for the credit reporting agencies are:

Equifax
1-800-525-6285

Experian
1-888-397-3742

TransUnion
1-800-680-7289

In the race for justice, the prize often goes to the swift. And in this case, one of the top finishers was Los Angeles attorney Robert Ahdoot, who raced to San Francisco U.S. District Court yesterday and filed a class-action lawsuit -- dated 1:37 p.m. -- against Target for its role in what's being called the second-largest data breach in history, the theft of credit- and debit-card information on up to 40 million customers.

Ahdoot's suit, on behalf of named plaintiff Jennifer Kirk, claims that a blogger, Brian Krebs, first revealed the massive identity theft on Wednesday "before Target made any attempt whatsoever to notify affected customers," Courthouse News Service reported.

Target has not exactly covered itself in glory so far. It told customers it was sorry and then gave them some paternalistic advice about checking their credit report and keeping a close eye on credit card accounts. It didn't offer to pay for any additional protection.

Analysts of all stripes are lambasting the company for its feeble response and predicting dire consequences.

"There's a level of trust that's diminished and there is perhaps a loss of goodwill," said Daren Orzechowski, a partner at law firm White & Case in New York, who focuses on information technology legal matters, including privacy. The breach "could affect people who choose not to go to those [Target] stores versus a competitor," he told Advertising Age. 

"Inadequately designed"

Target has said the stolen data includes names, credit card numbers, expiration dates and the three-digit security codes on the backs of cards, but it claimed online purchases were not affected.

The leading speculation among cyber security experts is that hackers extracted the purloined data from the card-swipe machines used to process in-store payments, rather than invading Target's corporate information system.

"It appears that the majority of this information was taken from the point-of-sale (POS) machines themselves, which were infected by malware that intercepted the data itself during the magstripe swipe," said Kevin O'Brien, director of product marketing at CloudLock, in an analysis of the breach quoted by DarkReading. "The most likely scenario is the attackers hacked their way to a central relay point, where they could snag credit cards coming through for processing."

O'rien said it "is clear that the security and monitoring systems in place were inadequately designed and managed."

"Ham-handed"

As Kirk's class action suit notes, Target knew about the breach for four days before it bothered to tell customers. Even then, it didn't offer to do anything to help those whose data it had lost, a circumstance it has so far ignored in its public statements.

"We wanted to move swiftly to address the issue. This is a very important holiday week but our focus is on the guests," said Dustee Jenkins, a Target spokeswoman. "We want to reassure people that they can shop at Target."

"The reaction to it has been very ham-handed," said consultant Craig Johnson of Customer Growth Partners in the AdAge account. "You have to get out in front and communicate. No company is perfect but when an issue arises, when there's a theft or fraud thing….you want your customers to hear about it first from you."

Kirk's suit seeks class certification, damages and punitive damages for unfair competition, privacy invasion, negligence, conversion and other charges.