The Federal Trade Commission is getting serious about helping educate consumers about protecting themselves against Internet fraud and identity theft – so the FTC is playing games.

Well, the agency is inviting consumers to play games. Taking advantage of the love people have for video games, the FTC has developed a site, onguardonline.gov, which uses games to teach. The games include “The Case of the Cyber Criminal,” “Phishing Scams” and “Invest Quest.”

In the first game, a techie spy backed by his crew attempts to get his hands on your personal information. In order to protect yourself, you have to know what to o to prevent him from getting it.

in the game, “ID Theft Face-Off,” players become victims of identity theft and must work to get their identities back by correctly answering questions about identity theft protection. In “Beware of Spyware,” gamers are challenged to keep their computers free of spyware, which can give scammers access to personal information, including credit card numbers and bank account information.

Other games on the site educate consumers on smart investing decisions, how to protect their laptops, spotting risky shopping offers online, understanding health products and information online, and peer-to-peer file sharing understanding.

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We’ve all seen them – the ads that promise opportunities to make extra money or work from home and make a fortune. But the fact is that many of these are scams that take an applicant’s money up front and then never delivers what was promised.

But how do you know if an ad is bogus? It’s often not easy to tell if an ad is fraudulent, but there are certain clues that give it away. One is the type of business opportunity being advertised. Fraud is most often associated with vending machine, display rack, medical billing, mystery shopping, work at home and some Internet-related business opportunities.

Fraudulent opportunities are quite common – you can find them in newspapers, magazines and online every day. The bait is similar in all of them: excellent pay and the ability to set your own hours, be your own boss and work from home.

If you are considering a business opportunity, be sure to thoroughly check it out first. Read the ad carefully. If it claims you can earn a certain income, it must also give the number and percentage of previous employees who achieved these earnings. The seller is violating the law if this information isn’t there.

Get information in writing about how much money you can make. Be sure to study all the materials about the opportunity. Ask to speak with other employees, at their place of business.

You should contact the Better Business Bureau, attorney general’s office, and state or county consumer protection agency to find out if there is any record of unresolved complaints on the company. Do an Internet search on the company name and the CEO or president, along with words like “complaints” and “scam.”

If a business opportunity involves selling products from well-known companies, call the legal departments of the companies behind the merchandise and find out if the company is truly affiliated with the promoter.

Be sure to consult an attorney, accountant or business adviser before you sign anything or hand over any money. If the promoter requires a deposit, ask your attorney to establish an escrow account where the deposit can be maintained by a third party until the deal is closed.

Take your time. Promoters behind fraudulent offers will often try to push you toward signing on the dotted line. Don’t rely on a money back guarantee or refund policy as your get out of jail free card. If the business is legit, it will be there after you’ve done your homework and are ready to make a decision.

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Identity theft is hard to deal with. It’s like a “kick in the gut” when you find out you’ve become a victim. But there are things you can do to prevent that from happening.

Watch this video to learn some practical steps you can take. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/video/avoid-identity-theft-video.html

Then call LifeLock. One of the best things you can do is to get proactive. Don’t wait for identity theft to happen to you – go on the defensive and take charge of your personal information. The best offense is a great defense. Calling LifeLock is the first step.

Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”

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The Senate unanimously approved legislation this week that would exempt small businesses from the Identity Theft Red Flags Rule. The bill will now go to the House for approval.

Senators John Thune and Mark Begich introduced the measure in May. This latest version of the bill does not spell out that certain professionals with 20 or less employees are exempt. Instead, it uses more general terms to define the term “creditor” so that far fewer organizations must comply with the Red Flags Rule.

The legislation makes clear that lawyers, doctors, dentists, practitioners, social workers and other types of health care and service providers will no longer be classified as creditors for the purposes of the Red Flags Rule just because they do not receive payment in full from their clients at the time the services are rendered.

The original rule became effective Jan. 1, 2008.

The Federal Trade Commission has postponed enforcement of the rule several times, and there are lawsuits pending on behalf of attorneys and doctors seeking to block the FTC from applying the rule to these professionals.

Under the new legislation, creditors that must comply with the rule would no longer include those who advance funds on behalf of a person for expenses incidental to a serve provided by the creditor to that person. Creditors that must comply are those that obtain and use consumer reports in connection with a credit transaction and furnish information to consumer reporting agencies. Also included are so-called payday loan companies that don’t necessarily use consumer reports.

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LifeLock complaints and the FTC settlement: What’s the real story?

There’s an interesting blog post at GuardMyCreditFile.com regarding LifeLock’s recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The website belongs to the American Consumer Credit Education Support Services (ACCESS), a non-profit consumer advocacy organization whose primary purpose is to disseminate credit education information and assistance to the public.

In the article, the ACCESS author addresses the FTC’s principle complaints against LifeLock: That LifeLock’s CEO, Todd Davis, assured their 1.6 million members that LifeLock provides ironclad, absolute protection against identity theft. Secondly, the FTC took exception to Davis’ flagrant display of his personal Social Security number in print ads, TV commercials, the company website—even on the side of a truck in Manhattan. The FTC asserts Davis misused his own Social Security number.

Both of these allegations are feeble. If LifeLock presented its services as absolute protection against identity theft, why would the company include a $1,000,000 Total Service Guarantee to assist in a members’ recovery and identity restoration if they become identity theft victims while they are LifeLock members? Doesn’t that constitute an admission of their service’s potential fallibility as well as their confidence in its quality?

The author details an instance in which LifeLock applied their Total Service Guarantee in the ID theft recovery of a member whose identity was stolen years before becoming a member. (Statement of full disclosure: I am a LifeLock member, and decided to become one after hearing similar stories that portray the company’s policy of doing what’s right, not just what’s promised.)

The second complaint regarding Davis’ misuse of his own Social Security number is equally bewildering. The level of consumers’ identity theft risk resulting from a data breach is determined by the specific compromised information.

For instance, if only names and addresses have been improperly accessed, the risk level is considered minor. The most serious risk occurs if consumers’ personally identifying information, i.e., Social Security numbers, are disclosed.

When it comes to personally identifying information, Social Security numbers are penultimate; they are the mother lode, the keys to the castle, the one bit of information we are advised to protect most vigorously. As such, is there any other bit of personally identifying information more personal? Is there any other bit of personally identifying information consumers “own” and are entitled to disclose or not?

Upon thoughtful consideration of the FTC’s complaints, the ACCESS writer is led to question the impetus of the FTC’s case. There have been millions of complaints against other companies—specifically, credit reporting agencies—that also offer identity theft protection services, compared to the 200 the FTC claims to have received from dissatisfied LifeLock members Why was LifeLock singled out?

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It’s impossible to write about the Red Flag Rules without an apologetic “stop me if you’ve heard this one before” preface. So don’t shoot the messenger, but the deadline for the Feds’ identity-protecting Red Flag Rules has been delayed. The newest deadline—the fifth—replaces the January 1 deadline with one of June 1, 2010.

Congress created the program in 2003 in an attempt to stem the tide of identity theft by forcing creditors to use a common sense approach to identity theft prevention. It was originally slated to take effect in November 2008.

From its inception the rules have met with formidable pushback from the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association and the nation’s bankers, each group taking exception to the FTC’s interpretation of “creditor.”

According to the FTC, anyone who provides goods or services but allows for later payment is a creditor, but the FTC website explains the delays are because of an “ongoing debate about whether Congress wrote this provision too broadly.”

Ironically, the Red Flag Rules aren’t particularly onerous; they require only that businesses have written policies for recognizing signs of identity theft, training programs for their employees and response plans. In most cases, the entire process can be contained in a one-inch binder at the front desk or presented to employees within five minutes.

Perhaps the real contention is that powerful lobbies represent the doctors, attorneys and bankers that refuse to be regulated. Perhaps they don’t particularly care that the identity theft of millions of Americans could have been prevented since 2003 if only creditors were willing to take common sense steps to protect them.

Anybody want to place money on whether the Red Flag Rules take effect June 1?

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