Identity theft initiated through email can not only be damaging but for the less savvy computer user, but it can actually be difficult to keep it from happening repeatedly.  A resident of Valencia, CA was recently the victim of a type of identity theft no less than four times in two years.  Apparently, the thieves had gained access to her checking account on each occasion and linked the account to online PayPal accounts.  They then drained the checking account into their PayPal accounts and disappeared with the money. 

It’s very likely (though hard to prove) that the thieves were able to access her computer repeatedly over time, even though she changed all of her bank account and auto bill pay information.  The point of the story: thoroughly clean your computer after a virus attack. You can prevent future attacks by ignoring unfamiliar emails that contain attachments.  Here’s a link to the full story for more information: http://lat.ms/eS3z6l