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CRIME STOPPERS OF HOUSTON FUGITIVE FRIDAY
10 Ways to Prevent Identity Theft
You use your personal data to perform a myriad of tasks every day, including accessing bank and credit card accounts, email, social media sites, and other password-protected accounts. Although this data is usually encrypted, that doesn’t mean it’s completely secure. In fact, your personal information, and thus your identity, can be stolen and used by identity thieves for their financial gain. Read our guide for practical tips on how to protect your identity.
The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network, which tracks identity theft and other consumer fraud complaints, received 1.4 million reports of identity theft in 2021. The most common types of identity theft were credit card fraud, government documents or benefits fraud, and loan or lease fraud. “Our information is pretty much all over the place, and that information is being used to commit crimes and fraud,” says Henry Bagdasarian, founder and executive director of the Identity Management Institute.
The good news is that you can help prevent identity theft with some basic due diligence, including good cybersecurity practices to thwart hackers. You can also use free tools to receive credit card and bank account notifications, as well as to help monitor your credit. Subscribing to an identity theft protection service is also highly recommended because it will help you spot signs that your identity might have been stolen and help you recover if you become a victim.
The U.S. Department of Justice explains that identity theft (which is also called identity fraud) refers to when a criminal uses someone else’s personally identifiable information (PII) to commit fraud or deception. This is usually done for financial gain. There are many ways to commit identity theft, including hacking, financial and social media account takeovers, credit card fraud, phishing, ransomware attacks, tech support fraud, medical ID fraud, and others. PII includes important information that can be used to identify you, such as your date of birth, passwords, passport number, Social Security number or Social Security Card, credit and bank account numbers, telephone number, birth and death certificates, medical ID number, and biometric data, like fingerprints and scans.
We use our personal information, like passwords and account numbers, almost every day to access online accounts and perform other routine tasks. Unfortunately, there is always a chance that someone could steal this data whenever we provide it. However, you can take simple steps to reduce the chance of identity theft.
The best way to help prevent identity theft is to sign up for an identity theft protection service. Although an identity theft protection service can’t prevent identity theft, it can alert you promptly when it happens to limit the damage and help you recover. Identity theft protection can help safeguard your personal information for a monthly or annual fee. Subscriptions can include monitoring of credit reports, financial accounts, medical information, social media activity, the dark web, and more. Identity theft protection companies also provide recovery services if your information is compromised. Some offer identity theft coverage of up to $1 million and access to attorneys or private investigators to help you restore your credit and reputation. Most also give you a dashboard to view notifications and contact customer service if fraudulent activity occurs.
Besides subscribing to an identity theft protection service, there are other ways to help prevent identity theft. These include:
Collect mail daily
Some of the ways that criminals can steal your identity are decidedly low-tech. For example, they can simply take bank or credit card statements, utility bills, health care or tax forms, or pre-approved credit card offers out of your mailbox. Thieves also can reroute your mail by submitting change-of-address requests in your name, so keep track of expected mail that doesn’t arrive. In addition, put your mail on hold while you’re away.
Review credit card and bank statements regularly
It’s important to regularly review your credit card and bank statements, because someone with your credit card number or bank account information could make small charges to see if they can get away with it. These transactions can easily slip through the cracks without you or your financial institution noticing them. Know your statement cycles and follow up with credit card companies and financial institutions if you don’t receive statements on time. Credit card fraud is the most common type of identity theft, based on FTC Consumer Sentinel Network statistics.
Freeze your credit
When you freeze your credit file, no one can look at or request your credit report. Therefore, no one (including you) can open an account, apply for a loan, or get a new credit card while your credit is frozen. To freeze your credit, you must contact each of the three credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. The credit bureaus provide online, telephone, or mail-in options for freezing your account. Upon doing so, they will provide you with a PIN or passcode you can later use if you temporarily lift or stop the credit freeze. Credit freezes are free and won’t impact your credit score.
Parents should seriously consider freezing their children’s credit files. A 2021 study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that child identity fraud costs U.S. families nearly $1 billion annually. About 1 in 50 U.S. children were victims of ID fraud, and 1 in 45 had personal information that was exposed in a data breach. This can cost the average family more than $1,000.
“It’s a good idea to put a freeze on children’s credit files and to monitor those files as they approach their teen years,” says Robert Douglas, an information and security consultant and certified identity theft risk management specialist. “There are plenty of horror stories out there of people finding out that their child’s credit worthiness has been harmed at a critical point when they need a good, clean record like when applying for a student loan.”
Create different passwords for your accounts
A secure password is long, complex, and unique, according to the FTC. Create different passwords for various accounts, which is easiest to do with a good password manager. Avoid using information related to your identity, such as the last four digits of your Social Security number, your birthday, your initials, or parts of your name.
The FBI and National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends creating passwords with at least 15 characters because these are more difficult for a computer program or hacker to crack. As for security questions, the FTC advises selecting questions that only you can answer, instead of information that could be available online like your ZIP code, birth place or mother’s maiden name. Also, avoid giving generic responses, such as “chocolate,” as your favorite dessert.
Shred documents containing personal information before disposing of them
Dumpster diving might sound like an old-fashioned way of stealing personal information, given the influx of phishing scams and online data breaches, but criminals still do it. While some people might be looking for valuables or furniture, others are looking to steal your data.
Keep a few months of credit card and bank statements, utility bills, IRS correspondence, and other documents containing PII in a secure location like a safe. Shred the rest. Bagdasarian says he keeps his last three bank statements somewhere safe, replacing them with new ones every month.
Review credit reports annually
Requesting your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian is free, and you should do so annually. Accessing your credit reports won’t lower your credit score, and you can easily request them online. Also, the bureaus provide tools to help you monitor your credit, such as alerts to notify you of key changes. Ideally, pull your report from the bureaus at different times throughout the year so you are continually monitoring activity. You can also request free annual credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Install antivirus/software
Antivirus software can prevent hackers from accessing information on your computer and mobile devices. The FTC says you might be a victim of malware, which includes viruses, spyware, and other unwanted software, if your computer:
- Slows down, crashes, or displays error messages
- Fails to shut down or restart
- Delivers pop-ups or other unwanted ads
- Sends you to web pages you didn’t search for
- Shows new, unexpected toolbars
- Changes your default web browser
- Drains its battery quickly
Because criminals can more easily hack outdated software, keep your antivirus software current or set it to update itself automatically. For more information, see How Does Antivirus Software Work?
Enable two-factor authentication on devices and accounts
According to a 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report from Verizon, 81% of hacking-related breaches start with a stolen or compromised password. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an extra layer of password security. It’s based on your knowledge of something like a PIN or password, a possession like a smartphone or other device, and a biometric characteristic like your fingerprint or voiceprint. 2FA requires more than one of these identifiers to unlock an account. Thus, if your password is stolen, a criminal still can’t get into your account without your smartphone, voiceprint, or fingerprint. An example of 2FA at work is when you sign into an account with a password and then receive a text with a code you must supply to get into the account. You should set up 2FA for email, social media accounts, bank accounts, and credit cards.
Opt out of prescreened credit card offers
Credit card companies often send pre-screened offers to open new accounts, and criminals can intercept these mailed or emailed offers and open accounts in your name. Shred these offers rather than throwing them in the trash. Your credit report doesn’t show pre-screening that companies perform to give you these offers, so you might not realize that an offer has been stolen from your mail or email.
The safest way to avoid identity theft exposure from pre-screened credit card offers is to opt out of receiving them for five years or permanently through optoutprescreen.com, which is the official consumer credit reporting industry website.
Wipe electronics before donating
When you delete files from computers and other electronic devices like tablets, those files aren’t really gone; pieces of them remain and can be reassembled with a data recovery program until they’re overwritten with new data. This can be accomplished with overwriting software that wipes hardware or transfers data from your old computer to a new one.
For more information visit https://www.transunion.com/
Consumer.gov warns that criminals can access your personal information a number of ways. These include:
- Hacking
- Stealing mail to get account numbers or your Social Security number
- Posing as an impostor and requesting information via email
- Stealing account numbers from businesses, credit card companies, and medical offices
- Simply taking your wallet or purse to access credit cards, your driver’s license, and other personal data
You can report identity theft to the FTC, which will help prove to businesses that someone stole your identity. You also have the right to place a one- or seven-year fraud alert on your credit report, request that fraudulent information is removed from your report, and stop debt collectors from contacting you.
You might want to file a police report for identity theft if you know the person who committed the crime, or if you find out the thief used your name or information during a police interaction, such as pretending to be you upon arrest. Credit card companies or financial institutions might request that you file a police report if you claim identity theft and ask them to investigate the case, remove the fraudulent activity from your account or cover the cost of lost funds.
Source: www.usnews.com
Hispanics officially make up the biggest share of Texas’ population, new census numbers show
The point at which Latinos would outnumber white residents to make up the biggest share of the Texas population has been on the state’s demographic horizon for years.
It seemed that long-awaited milestone was reached in 2021 when a closely watched data release last year was the first to reflect the culmination of decades of transformative growth.
But confirmation did not come until this week, when the U.S. Census Bureau updated its official population estimates. In new figures released Thursday, the bureau confirmed Latinos have made up the largest share of the state’s population since at least July 2022. The new population figures show Hispanic Texans made up 40.2% of the state’s population last summer, barely edging out non-Hispanic white Texans, who made up 39.8%.
The updated estimates retroactively captured a landmark moment in Texas’ demographic evolution, but it’s not much of a turning point. The new figures showing Latinos outnumbering white Texans by about 129,000 cap off a population boom that has been culturally recasting the state for several decades.
The state had a white majority from at least 1850 until 2004, when white people’s share of the state population dropped below 50%. People of color, Latinos in particular, have been powering the state’s population gains for at least the last 20 years.
The state’s growth — usually close to evenly split between natural increase and net migration, including both domestic and international — has brought diversity to pockets of the state that were once nearly all white, transforming classrooms and workforces. Hispanic Texans are expected to make up a flat-out majority of the state’s population in the decades to come, and most Texas children will soon be Hispanic. Recent census estimates showed that 49.3% of Texans under the age of 18 are Hispanic. It’s been more than a decade since Hispanic students first came to make up a majority of Texas public school students.
The newly reached demographic milestone underscores the urgency with which the state must buy into its future, said Sharon Navarro, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“I think it speaks to the importance of state and local government to invest in their institutions and organizations that will train and equip Latinos with the skills that they need to obtain high-demand jobs, living wages, access to food, housing and other essentials that will allow them to participate in a robust economy and would also allow them to accumulate and pass on their wealth,” Navarro said.
But economic and political gains have not kept up with population growth. Hispanics living in Texas are disproportionately poor. Up against longstanding education disparities, they are less likely to have reached the higher levels of education that offer social mobility — and that are increasingly necessary to succeed in a flourishing Texas economy.
Hispanic Texans are more than twice as likely as white Texans to be living below the poverty level and less than half as likely to have graduated from college with bachelor’s degrees or higher. Recent estimates show 95% of white adults in Texas have at least a high school diploma, compared with only 70% of Hispanic adults. Hispanics are just as far back on income: The median income in 2021 was $81,384 for a white household but just $54,857 for a Hispanic household.
That these persistent disparities remain even as the state’s population has grown and transformed so significantly shows “the state of Latinos in Texas really hasn’t changed much” since the time of institutionalized discrimination, Navarro said.
“It also says the state is leaving out a significant portion of the population that can contribute in a number of ways in the political scape, the cultural scape and the economic scape,” Navarro said.
It should be noted that Texas is increasingly becoming a multicultural society in ways that make it harder to track its population through precise racial and ethnic categories. For example, the Census Bureau estimates the number of Texans who report more than one race is steadily increasing.
But in a state where opportunity and life outcomes so closely track with identity for Texans of color, policymakers say the new census estimates demand an emphasis on the state’s Latino growth.
Amen y Ausar Thompson, gemelos elegidos en Draft de NBA de forma consecutiva
El Draft de la NBA 2023 tuvo un momento particular con la elección de los hermanos Amen y Ausar Thompson, gemelos que provienen de Overtime Elite y ahora jugarán en el Mejor Basquetbol del Mundo con Houston Rockets y Detroit Pistons, respectivamente.
Amen y Aubar se desempeñan como guardias e hicieron historia como los primeros hermanos en ser reclutados dentro de los cinco primeros picks del NBA Draft, algo insólito en la historia de la Liga. Llegan a dos de los equipos con peor récord de la temporada pasada, por lo que esperan ser figuras en proyectos a futuro, con talento joven.
¿Quiénes son?
Los gemelos nacieron el 30 de enero de 2003 y fueron criados por sus padres Troy Thompson y Maya Wilson en San Leandro, California. Comenzaron a jugar a los siete años por influencia de su papá, además de que crecieron admirando a LeBron James, quien curiosamente fue elegido en el Draft de 2003. Ambos provienen de Overtime Elite, una liga de basquetbol profesional para jóvenes de 16 a 20 años, que se encuentra en Atlanta, Georgia.
Amen Thompson destaca por sus habilidades con las asistencias y su defensa, uniéndose a un roster que incluye al escolta Jalen Green (segundo pick del Draft de 2021) y a Jabari Smith Jr., ala pívot reclutado con la tercera selección global en 2022. Su entrenador será Ime Udoka, quien llevó a Boston Celtics a Las Finales de 2022, que perdieron ante Golden State Warriors.
Ausar Thompson ha sido reconocido por su rapidez y explosión, además de que es un buen playmaker. Se suma a un equipo que reclutó a Cade Cunningham, base que fue primer pick en el Draft de 2021, Jaden Ivey, escolta que fue quinto elegido en 2022, así como Jalen Duren, centro reclutado el año pasado con el decimotercer turno.
El equipo es dirigido por Monty Williams, quien llega a Detroit tras ser despedido de Phoenix Suns, al que convirtió en uno de los equipos más competitivos en la actualidad.
Source: www.milenio.com
Habló un turista alemán que viajó al Titanic en el sumergible de OceanGate: “Fui ingenuo, era una operación kamikaze”
Arthur Loibl contó que su inmersión tuvo problemas de batería, lo que retrasó el viaje, y en total duró 10,5 horas. También reveló que algunos pasajeros pagaron y no pudieron ver el barco hundido.
Mientras continuaba la operación internacional de búsqueda de un sumergible que desapareció cuando se dirigía a los restos del Titanic, un hombre que fue uno de los primeros clientes de la compañía del vehículo describió la inmersión que hizo en el lugar hace dos años como una “operación kamikaze”.
“Hay que estar un poco loco para hacer esta clase de cosa”, dijo Arthur Loibl, aventurero alemán y empresario retirado de 61 años.
Loibl dijo a The Associated Press que había tenido por primera vez la idea de ver los restos del Titanic durante un viaje al Polo Sur en 2016. En ese momento, una compañía rusa ofrecía inmersiones por medio millón de dólares.
Después de que OceanGate, con sede en el estado de Washington, anunciara su programa un año más tarde, él aprovechó la oportunidad y pagó 100.000 dólares por una inmersión en 2019 que se canceló cuando el primer sumergible no resistió las pruebas previas.
Dos años más tarde participó en una travesía que tuvo éxito junto al director general de OceanGate Stockton Rush, el buzo francés y experto en el Titanic Paul-Henry Nargeolet y dos hombres ingleses. 
“Imagine un tubo de metal de unos pocos metros de largo y una placa de metal como suelo. No se puede estar de pie. No se puede estar de rodillas. Todo el mundo se sienta cerca o encima de otro”, dijo Loibl. “No se puede ser claustrofóbico”.
Durante las 2,5 horas de ascenso y descenso se apagaron las luces para conservar energía, señaló, y toda la iluminación procedía de una varita fluorescente.
La inmersión se retrasó varias veces para arreglar un problema con la batería y el lastre de equilibrio. En total, el viaje tomó 10,5 horas.
El grupo tuvo suerte y disfrutó de una espectacular vista del crucero hundido, dijo Loibl, a diferencia de visitantes de otras expediciones que apenas vieron una zona de escombros o, en ocasiones, nada en absoluto. Algunos clientes perdieron pagos no reembolsables cuando el mal tiempo hizo imposible el descenso.
Loibl describió a Rush como una persona hábil para hacer reparaciones que intentaba resolver problemas con lo que tuviera disponible para realizar las inmersiones, aunque en retrospectiva señaló que “era un poco cuestionable”.
“Viéndolo ahora, fui un poco ingenuo”, dijo Loibl. “Era una operación kamikaze”.
El sumergible OceanGate, en el que viajaban Rush, Nargeolet, un aventurero británico y dos miembros de una familia paquistaní de empresarios desapareció el domingo tras salir hacia los restos del famoso transatlántico, que chocó con un iceberg y se hundió en 1912. Apenas 700 de los aproximadamente 2.200 pasajeros y tripulantes sobrevivieron.
Acusaciones conocidas ahora sugieren que se hicieron advertencias de seguridad importantes durante el desarrollo del sumergible, llamado Titan.
La Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos lideraba la operación de búsqueda. Una aeronave detectó sonidos bajo el agua el martes y el miércoles, aunque las autoridades no estaban seguras de qué las había provocado.
Source: www.infobae.com
Severe Weather Leaves Hundreds of Thousands Without Power
A string of intense storms that blew through the Greater Houston area on Wednesday evening left more than 300,000 CenterPoint Energy customers in the dark at the height of the severe weather.
As of Thursday morning, about 160,000 people were still waiting for their power to be restored, according to CenterPoint Energy’s outage tracker.
The storm system moved southward from Dallas and arrived in the area around 9 p.m. It brought heavy rainfall and high wind speeds, around 60 mph. One of the local airports, George Bush Intercontinental, reported wind gusts up to 97 mph on the tarmac.
Damage from these conditions included downed trees and large branches but occurred mainly north of Houston in Spring, The Woodlands and Tomball.
A ground stop was issued around 10 p.m. on Wednesday to all inbound and outbound planes at Bush because of the thunderstorms. Although there were several delays and cancellations as of Thursday morning, operations appeared to be back to normal, according to FlightAware.
Space City Weather reported that these storms were not expected but held their intensity as they moved toward the region. They caused the high temperatures to drop into the mid-70s; however, this will not last too long.
Storms have a chance of picking up again on Thursday in the afternoon hours but are more likely to occur northwest of the area. There is a 50 percent chance of rainfall expected north of Interstate 10. Otherwise, the day will be partly sunny, with highs in the mid-90s.
Friday, the break in triple-digit heat continues, with highs again in the mid-90s. Morning showers are possible, but the chances are even lower than Thursday, around 20 percent, as forecasts indicate.
The brief pause in warmer weather ends at the start of this weekend, as temperatures will begin to climb back up to a little over 100 degrees. This extreme heat will continue into next week.
Source: www.houstonpress.com
Jimmy Lozano es presentado ante los jugadores de la selección mexicana en Houston
Jaime Lozano fue presentado este miércoles ante los jugadores de la Selección Mexicana de Futbol y el staff, a quienes les dedicó unas palabras previo a la Copa Oro donde iniciará su trabajo como DT interino.
La presentación se realizó en el hotel de concentración del Tri en Houston, desde donde realizaron una transmisión en vivo para toda la afición. Ademas de Lozano y jugadores, estuvieron presentes Iván Sisniega, presidente ejecutivo de la Selección y Duilio Davino, director de selecciones varoniles
“Es un honor estar aquí con ustedes y estoy convencido del gran grupo humano que son y de la gran generación de futbolistas que tenemos, quiero que eso lo tengan claro si no yo hoy no estaría aquí, porque no voy a tomar una decisión si no confio en la gente que está adelante de mí. Creo en ustedes, en sus capacidades, creo en mi y en mi cuerpo técnico. Hay que tener la capacidad de reinventarnos, abrazar las oportunidades porque tenemos una nueva oportunidad de poner el nombre de Mexico muy en alto”, declaró el director técnico interino de México.
En el evento, Lozano tambien aprovechó para hablar sobre la afición que estarán al pendiente del equipo desde el estadio y desde cualquier parte del mundo.
“Lo mejor de todo es que tenemos una gran afición que va a estar nuevamente ahí esperando ver a sus idolos dar la vida en cada jugada y en cada partido; démosle a esa gente que ha creido por muchos años, lo que se merecen, nuestro mayor esfuerzo. Si hacemos eso y tenemos una idea clara de lo que queremos hacer dentro del campo, estoy seguro que los resultados llegarán”, agregó.
La selección mexicana, dirigida por Jimmy Lozano, inicia el próximo domingo 25 de junio su camino en la Copa Oro ante Honduras desde el estadio NRG en Houston.
Source: losnoticieristas.com
¡Que Onda! Magazine Houston – edición 1266
Gracias por SEGUIRNOS, este artículo contiene la edición 1266 de la revista digital de HOUSTON de ¡Que Onda! Magazine.
Del 22 de junio al 28 de junio del 2023
