Victims of identity theft can have money stolen from them and find their credit rating damaged. This can affect their ability to get a loan, rent an apartment, or take out new lines of credit. 

An identity thief can use your information to buy things with your credit cards, take out loans in your name, open a cell phone or utility account, steal your tax refund, get medical care,  and say they are you if they are caught speeding or are arrested. 

In his presentation, Bruce Blackwell, Executive Director of Cape Cod’s Consumer Assistance Council, will show you how to protect yourself against identity theft. He will also show you how to minimize damage and make sure you’re not held responsible for debts illegally taken out in your name. 

The Consumer Assistance Council is a non-profit consumer advocacy and education group that works in cooperation with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. In the last few years, the CAC has saved close to $1 million for consumers on Cape Cod.

About Bruce Blackwell

The career of Bruce Blackwell, Executive Director of the Consumer Assistance Council, Inc., has gone nearly full circle. Early in his professional life, he was researcher and press secretary for a U.S. Congressman, where he worked on consumer protection legislation. He then became an investigative reporter, editor and nationally syndicated columnist with Gannett Newspapers. While a reporter, he wrote a series of articles and gave lectures on consumer rip-offs and how to avoid scams.  Bruce eventually left journalism and spent 20 years as a senior executive in the broadcasting, cable and motion picture industries. He was Vice President of Corporate Affairs for New Line Cinema, Vice President of Public Relations for MGM, and Vice President of Development for VCA Teletronics, which was one of the country’s premier TV production and post-production companies. His broadcasting career culminated  in a position on the U.S. Board of BASYS, an international broadcast news technology company. When that company was sold in 1991, he opened his own consulting firm, Career Strategies Group, specializing in job search and re-careering for attorneys and executives in mid-life and beyond. 

When Bruce and his family moved to Cape Cod, he accepted the position of Executive Director of the  Barnstable County Bar Association, where he helped modernize its technology and member services. A strong believer in consumer advocacy, Bruce resigned from the Bar Association to take over the helm of the CAC and increase its visibility and outreach services to consumers and businesses on Cape Cod. Under his leadership, the Consumer  Assistance Council has opened two new offices on Cape Cod, one in East Falmouth and the second in Yarmouth Port. He  has also modernized the CAC’s technology and will be launching a major consumer outreach initiative in 2024.