In the movie, Ford's character, banking security expert Jack Stanfield, is a victim of identity theft by perpetrators who want to force his assistance in a US$100 million theft. A Web site of credit-monitoring service Equifax Inc. is featured in a scene in which Stanfield checks his online credit report.

The Web site Stanfield consults -- and finds a $95,000 collection notice for a gambling debt he says he didn't incur -- is for Equifax's Credit Watch online products, where real consumers can go to monitor their own credit records to protect themselves from data theft, according to Steve Ely, group executive of Equifax Personal Solutions.

The service, available in three levels, allows subscribers to receive e-mail notifications if inquiries are made about their creditworthiness by banks, credit card companies or retailers. If the subscriber applied for credit, he can ignore the alerts. But if the subscriber didn't apply for credit, he can contact Equifax or log into the site to find out what activities are taking place involving his records.

"You have all kinds of stuff like this in the news virtually every day now," Ely said, referring to identity and data theft cases. "People need to monitor it, to stay on top of it and make sure it's accurate."

Representatives from the film production company contacted Atlanta-based Equifax early last year seeking advice on how to make the identity theft scene as realistic as possible, Ely said. Equifax did not pay for product placement in the movie, he added.