Wilma J., a former Pennsylvania real estate broker, placed a debit block on her bank account, but only after fraudulent withdrawals of $14,000 through debit card theft. "I didn't even know about debit block," she remorsefully admits. "If I had known, I could have saved myself a lot of money. I wouldn't have gotten cleaned out."



While on the subject of barn doors, locking, and disappearing horses, consider some of these additional debit card horror stories, as practiced by con men: An Ohio truck driver was cleaned of $19,000. A California high school teacher, $9,500. An Illinois Lutheran Minister, $6,000. An Arizona insurance agent, $11,000. Even a New York credit counselor, $18,300. These are just a few of the plentiful examples which move a grown-up to join the children, and cry.

Sadly, to go through the ritual of setting up a debit block is looked upon by many people as the equivalent of marrying someone your parents chose for you.

It's not really all that bad. Try it. If you are one of the few who even know about this banking service, and, If your bank is one that offers it, it is nothing more than added identity theft insurance. We're not trying to sound like the sheep herder who cried, "wolf," here. But, if you wait until after the fact--until a raid is conducted against your bank account--trying to correct it would be like attempting to run the Marathon with a cracked shin bone.

With some 50% of all major U.S. corporations being hit up with unauthorized withdrawals last year, this lucrative reward for identity theft is now more widely used by con men to go after consumers too, yes, people just like you. Surprising it is, in light of this, that so few debit card users even know of the simple steps that can be taken to protect their accounts.

First, you might well say, I don't want any con men breaking the bank at my expense. How to prevent? Let's begin at the beginning. What is a debit block anyway?

An ACH block (Automated Clearing House) works like a stop-payment order on a check. So, how do you use it to protect everyday debit card transactions? A variety--or combination--of ways:

>You can allow no ACH debits to your account at all. Except your own, that is.

This tightening of the screws puts out of reach your funds to all sources, both legitimate and illegitimate--prevents them from "tapping in" to your account. Not too practical, but effective. For con men, it totally denies them the intoxicating fragrance of easy money.

>You can set the block up to allow withdrawals only on certain dates of the month. This gives you a good measure of added protection, if only you know which days of the month your account will be active. Under this scenario you reverse the usual cat-and-mouse game with the con artist. You get to call the shots instead of him. You control the shell game yourself.

>It can be set up with a dollar limit, so that you cannot be cleaned out in one fell swoop. Limited in practicality, but effective in thwarting thieves. (Remember, you would be up against an adversary whose idea of the game is that it involves but one "sporting" gesture: when a victim is down, kick him.)

>You can structure it to allow payments to only payees on an approved list. These payees might include: your utility, phone, water, insurance providers, your daughter's private music instructor, and all others on your monthly billing cycle. Here again, you would be limiting yourself somewhat, in the name of protection against theft. For all the devil's inventiveness it's hard for con men to figure a way around this barrier.

These are just a few of the options you have. We're sure your friendly neighborhood banker would gladly provide more.

An oddity in our financial safety net--a big hole, really--is that credit card holders are liable (once quickly reported, a must) to a maximum of $50 in losses. On debit cards, however, you're on your own. With these, if you keep $30,000 in your account, that's how much you could lose.

The con men, in these days of such wide spread identity theft, are picking the low-hanging fruit. They are finding that these outrightly criminal withdrawals from bank accounts are as easy as stealing cookies from girl scouts.

You can't be the boy in the plastic bubble, insulating yourself from all perceived unpleasant realities, and their consequences Not when the remedy is so obvious. Satisfy yourself with knowledge. Study up on the subject. You don't have to be a victim. Not when it is so relatively effortless to set up your own debit block at your bank.