ADVISORY/Experts Available To Discuss Identity Theft Resulting from Phish Emails.

Business Editors

ADVISORY...

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

TOPIC: According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, 60 million scam emails were sent during a two-week period in December, as reported by MSNBC.com. Experts say it is getting more difficult for email recipients to determine scam emails from real ones, as the fake emails appear to be from legitimate Internet sites. Phishers obtain personal information from consumers by masquerading as a company with which a consumer may have an account. The Anti-Phishing Working Group says approximately 5 percent of the consumers who respond to these emails fall victim to identity theft.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Felix Lin, founder of Qurb, Inc., is an oft-quoted easily accessible expert on spam and email trends and has been featured in top business and IT publications as well as MSNBC. Lin was a founder of AvantGo where he served as CEO and chairman of the board and then as vice chairman, continuing to influence the direction of the business through its IPO and subsequent acquisition by Sybase in late 2002. PR Contact: Melissa Liton 650-595-2582 [e-mail]

Shawn Bays knows what needs to be done when identity theft occurs: which agencies/organizations to contact, how to reach them, what to say to them, when to follow up. As the owner of Identity Restoration, a company that provides one-on-one assistance to victims, and as the author of IDentity SecurityNet, a software that walks users through the restoration process, Bays has developed ways to help victims through the maze of identity restoration. [e-mail]

Diane Terry is one of the nation's foremost authorities on credit fraud and identity theft. During her more than 20 years of experience in this field she has played an important role in numerous major fraud investigations; advised federal, state and local law enforcement agencies; taught courses in financial crimes; and written extensively on the subject of credit fraud and identity theft. In 1973, Terry joined TransUnion LLC, a leading provider of credit and financial data. Currently, she is director of the company's Fraud Victim Assistance Department (FVAD), having founded it in 1992. The FVAD is a one-of-a-kind investigative unit, staffed by over 100 TransUnion employees. They work hand-in-hand with local, state and federal authorities, analyzing documentation of credit-fraud and identity-theft cases provided by victims. They assist authorities in developing leads to apprehend perpetrators; they accompany police investigators working under search warrants; and they help sift through and identify evidence for use in criminal prosecutions. PR Contact: Jeffrey Junkas 312-985-3859 [e-mail]

ExpertSource cannot guarantee the immediate availability of these experts or their familiarity with this specific issue.

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