Office of Thrift Supervision

OTS PROMOTES CUSTOMER EDUCATION PROGRAM ON IDENTITY THEFT

Washington, D.C. — The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is encouraging savings institutions to take advantage of a new Treasury Department program to educate their customers on identity theft prevention and remedies.

The program, available to institutions on a DVD, entitled Identity Theft: Outsmarting the Crooks, informs consumers on protecting themselves against identity theft. The Treasury Department launched the DVD, created by the Department's Critical Infrastructure Protection Office, on January 26th. The DVD educates consumers on what identity theft is, how they can protect themselves, and what they should do if they become victims of identity theft. It covers topics such as: online safety, access to credit reports, taxpayer vulnerabilities to identity theft, and how to deal with debts and debt collectors in connection with identity theft. 

Institutions can obtain a free copy of a master DVD from which they may make unlimited additional copies by contacting the Federal Citizen Information Center at 1-888-8PUEBLO, and asking for the “Identity Theft: Outsmarting the Crooks” DVD. OTS is encouraging institutions to distribute copies of the DVD to their customers as part of an education campaign to help prevent identity theft, and to aid customers who have been victims of identity theft. Institutions can also obtain artwork for the DVD and for a DVD cover from the OTS website at http://www.ots.treas.gov/IdentityTheft.

A “companion learning guide” to the DVD is also available from the Treasury’s Office of Domestic Finance website (http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/financial-institution/cip/identity-theft.shtml)

A copy of the DVD Cover is attached.

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The Office of Thrift Supervision, an office of the Department of the Treasury, regulates and supervises the nation's thrift industry. OTS's mission is to ensure the safety and soundness of, and compliance with consumer protection laws by, thrift institutions, and to support their role as home mortgage lenders and providers of other community credit and financial services. OTS also oversees the activities and operations of thrift holding companies that own or control thrift institutions. Copies of OTS news releases and other documents are available at the OTS web page at www.ots.treas.gov.

Created: Thursday, 3/23/2006