Governor George Pataki (R-NY) signed bills Saturday that will give Bronx residents the tools to combat identity theft.

One bill is designed to end the growing scheme of sending e-mails from what looks like legitimate businesses to trick people into giving out credit card and bank information. The scam is known as ?phishing,? a term short for ?password harvesting fishing.? It also has a provision to allow ?phishing? victims to get their money back.

Another bill allows New Yorkers to freeze their credit files to prevent thieves from taking out new loans and credit cards under a victim?s name. Plus, a third law requires companies to shred all documents containing employees' personal records.

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