Legitimate businesses will never ask for this information over the telephone.

Never send money to someone you do not know.

Never send money to someone who has promised that you will receive a large some of money in return or that you have won the 'Lottery' and you had not entered any lottery.

Call 911 to report a scam, or any kind of phone activity that you suspect as being fraudulent. If you are, indeed, a victim of a fraud then you needs a police report to aid in resolving the problem.

Check it out: Check your Credit Report yearly with:

EQUIFAX 800-685-1111 http://www.equifax.com/

EXPERIAN 888-397-3747 http://www.experian.com/

TRANS UNION 800-888-4213 http://www.transunion.com/

Opt out from telemarketing:

Telephone registration at (888) 382-1222 for Do Not Call List https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

Fraud Alerts:

•      Fraud alerts are usually placed for 60 or 90 days. You may want to extend the time period up to seven years. You must do so in writing. You may cancel fraud alerts at any time.

•      Be aware that these measures may not entirely stop new fraudulent accounts from being opened by the imposter. Request a free copy of your credit report every few months so you can monitor for fraud.

•      Ask the credit bureaus for names and phone numbers of credit grantors with whom fraudulent accounts have been opened. Ask the credit bureaus to remove inquiries that have been generated due to the fraudulent access. When you provide your police report to the credit bureaus, they must remove the fraudulent accounts from your credit report. You may also ask the credit bureaus to notify those who have received your credit report in the last six months in order to alert them to the disputed and erroneous information (two years for employers). (Calif. Civil Code 1785.16(k)

Note: (The Arizona Civil Code may differ some from the California code.)

Web addresses to learn about how to combat fraud:

Federal Trade Commission - http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm

U.S. Department of Justice ID Theft kit - www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/

ID Theft Resources - www.privacyrights.org/

Consumer Information www.consumer.gov/

Federal Bureau of Investigation for Internet fraud Complaint Center https://www.ifccfbi.gov

Free downloadable tools to protect your computer:

Ad-aware 6.1 Spyware killer http://www.tucows.com/preview/236049.html

Spy-Bot Search and Destroy http://www.download.com/3000-8022-10122137.html

Zone Alarm Fire Wall http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=home_zainfo

Be sure to click on Free Download at the bottom of the page.