WALDORF --- On March 24 at 5:30 a.m., a 26-year-old Waldorf man was sleeping in his 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe parked in the 3000 block of Gallery Place in Waldorf when another man opened the vehicle door and threw him to the ground. The suspect entered the vehicle and fled the scene. Officers located the vehicle traveling on Mattawoman-Beantown Road and conducted a traffic stop. The driver was identified as Eddie Brooks Thomas, 22, of Temple Hills, and was found to be intoxicated and in possession of marijuana. Thomas was arrested without incident and charged with Carjacking, Possession With Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Possession of Marijuana, Driving While Intoxicated, Theft More Than $500, Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Driving Without a License and Driving While Suspended. He is being held at the Charles County Detention Center pending an appearance before the District Court Commissioner. Officer A. Celia investigated.

A recent study, however, shows that consumers who take common-sense precautions, monitor their financial accounts on the Internet and pay bills online actually may be safer than those who visit brick-and-mortar stores and then pay bills through the mail.

The survey estimates that 9.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2004, but it found that using the Internet can reduce the impact of fraud dramatically. Identity theft victims who regularly went online to look at their financial transactions often uncovered fraudulent activity much more quickly than those who awaited paper records in the mail.

The study, conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research for several financial institutions, estimated that consumers who discovered fraudulent use of their accounts online sustained an average theft of $500. Those who only checked paper records lost an average of $4,500.

Moreover, experts say criminals often have easier access to personal information from statements and receipts in unopened mail that are tossed in the trash, than from password-protected and electronically secured Internet accounts.

"Transacting online can actually combat identity theft very effectively if people do a few simple things like monitoring their financial accounts and protecting their financial information," said Rob Chesnut, vice president of Trust and Safety for eBay and the PayPal online payment service.

The best deterrent to online identity theft is to practice safe surfing. Besides monitoring your accounts online and shredding paper records before discarding them, follow these suggestions from Chesnut:

• Use payment services that protect your personal financial information and don’t share your financial data with merchants.

• Use a different password for each account so that if a thief discovers one, he cannot use it to access the others.

• Select a combination of letters and numbers for your online passwords. Some thieves use online tools that automatically try every word in the dictionary to uncover passwords.

• Don’t reply to and never trust the origins of an e-mail that solicits personal or financial information. While it may appear to come from a reliable merchant, its source can be disguised. Links in the e-mail that guide you to sites appearing genuine may actually be taking you to fraudulent sites where personal information can be gathered.

• To ensure you’re really visiting a legitimate site, enter its URL manually instead of clicking on an e-mail link.

Chesnut recommends consumers who suspect fraud take five steps immediately:

• For credit-card charges, phone the credit card company to set up a new account. Most credit cards provide protection against online fraud and will remove the charges in question if notified promptly.

• For bank account fraud, contact the bank and ask for their protection procedures.

• File a police report and keep a copy of it.

• Contact the Federal Trade Commission to help law-enforcement officers track down the thieves. File an FTC complaint online at www.consumer.gov/id theft.