Channel 12 News Reporter Victim of Identity Theft

Well Rick DeBruhl, a news reporter with Channel Twelve News in Arizona just became an apparent victim of identity theft and decided to write a story about it in the Arizona Republic. His story presents an interesting variation of typical identity theft problems which unfortunately have been popping up more and more frequently. Apparently, this news reporter’s identity on E-Bay was stolen and thieves began selling phantom DVD’s to unsuspecting buyers. When buyers paid cash but did not receive their DVD’s, they’d blame Rick DeBruhl. Unfortunately, he became a victim and found out the hard way that scammers of this type are out in cyberspace. Fortunately, the theft of his identity apparently was limited to E-Bay account information.

I guess that the moral of this story is that you can never be too careful and never buy DVD’s from Rick DeBruhl! When you buy products on E-Bay, generally choose sellers who allow you to use a credit card to pay for purchases. By so doing, your credit card company will come to your rescue in case of fraudulent activity. For all internet vendors, make sure that you only buy products on line from business vendors who take personal information by using encrypted web pages over the internet. Encryption is not full proof; however, it does provide a more difficult hurdle for thieves who are constantly on the look-out on line for easy-to-nab personal information. I am sorry that Rick DeBruhl had such a bad experience; however, perhaps writing about it will help others to use simple prevention techniques to avoid having to caution buyers against buying DVD’s from them.