Information 1)Thieves

What is on your computer and what thieves can do with it
1.
"2)Identity 3)theft" can happen if a 4)criminal has enough of your personal information to make banks or government offices think the criminal is you. 5)Credit card 6)fraud is the main reason criminals 7)commit identity theft. A thief gets banks to send him credit cards, and then you are left to 8)deal with the bills.
1) thief (n.) 賊，小偷 2) identity (n.) 身分 3) theft (n.) 盜竊，偷竊
4) criminal (n.) 犯罪者，罪犯 5) credit card 信用卡 6) fraud (n.) 詐期，欺騙（行為）
7) commit (v.) 犯（罪） 8) deal with 處理

2.
Once identity theft has happened, criminals can do more then just get credit cards in your name. There are many things they can do. They can 9)set up a 10)cell phone in your name. They can open new 11)bank accounts and write 12)checks in your name. If they 13)manage to get a 14)driver's license using your information, they will have photo 15)identification saying they are you. They might even be able to get a 16)loan to buy a car. And once they disappear, you have to 17)figure out what happened and explain it to the banks and police.

9) set up 設立 10) cell phone 手機 11) bank account 銀行帳戶
12) check (n.) 支票 13) manage to 設法做到 14) driver's license 駕照
15) identification (n.) 識別，鑑定，證件 16) loan (n.) 貸款 17) figure out 搞清楚

3.
So how does identity theft happen? Where do criminals get other peoples' personal information? They can steal someone's 18)wallet, or they can take someone's letters from the 19)mailbox. A third way that is becoming popular with criminals is to look through old computer hard drives. People keep important information on their computers, and sometimes that information is still on the computer when they sell it or throw it away.

18) wallet (n.) 錢包 19) mailbox (n.) 信箱

4.
When you 20)delete a 21)file from your computer it might not completely disappear. It is possible to get that information = back. Even if a hard drive has been formatted it is still possible to find old information. Special 22)software should always be used to safely delete information from a computer. Unfortunately, most people don't know that they need to use this software and their personal information becomes 23)available to criminals.

20) delete (v.) 刪除 21) file (n.) 檔案 22) software (n.)【電腦】軟體
23) available (a.) 可得到的，有供應的

5.
When a company goes out of business it might not have enough money to safely delete all the information it has on its computers. When these computers are sold, the information collected by the company becomes available to criminals. This could include information such as credit card numbers, 24)tax records, or home addresses. Even more troubling is that companies sometimes sell personal information, so you can't even be sure who has your information.

24) tax (n.) 稅

6.
So how can people protect themselves from identity theft? First, make sure the mailbox at your home has a lock on it. Second, whenever you sell or throw away an old computer, use special software to 25)properly 26)erase what is on the computer. Finally, think about what companies you give your personal information to. You never know where that information might 27)end up.

25) properly (adv.) 恰當地 26) erase (v.) 擦掉 27) end up 結束，最後的下場是……

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