Who's who?

Central High School students, their parents and the school faculty and staff got the lowdown last week from a former law enforcement veteran who has become an expert on identity theft: If you aren't actively guarding your personal information, you're a target of the people who can make money from it.

Loren Carl, a field representative for U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler of Kentucky, said a proactive approach is key to preventing identity theft. You may think the young waitress who takes your credit card at a restaurant is cute. She also could be skimming the credit-card information onto her Palm Pilot and selling it to sophisticated identity theft rings. Two waiters at a popular chain restaurant in Charlotte, N.C., were accused of skimming 650 credit-card numbers and selling them for $25 apiece.

One way to try to prevent identity theft is to monitor your credit rating and to put in a fraud alert with one of the three national credit bureaus to prevent thieves from opening new store accounts in your name.

Carl said 6,000 people are victimized by identity theft every day. The losses amount to $5 billion a year. For more information, and most of us do need to know more, visit www.identitytheft.com.