Aug. 7--A former Countrywide Home Loans employee was charged last week with stealing and selling the private financial information of 2 million customers.

On Wednesday came the news that 1,500 people who purchased tickets from Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air have had their credit card information misused by an airline employee. The same day, headlines blared about the arrest of a gang of identity thieves who hijacked 41 million credit card numbers from U.S. retailers such as T.J. Maxx, Barnes & Noble and Forever21 during the past five years.

The good news about the global scam, relatively speaking, is that it involved only names and credit card numbers, not Social Security numbers that can be used to set up new accounts. Meanwhile, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

For advice, please turn to Page 3.

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Story Source: Chicago Tribune