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Tips to avoid being scammed
River Forest police offer the following tips to avoid being victimized by charitable solicitation scams and/or property theft:
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Identification of Walmart theft suspects sought
Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers needs the public’s help identifying a man and a woman who allegedly stole a man’s wallet at the Walmart on Pine Island Road on June 6.
Read more on NBC 2 Fort Myers
I sincerely hope that you already have some knowledge of identity theft because it is a growing crime that has an absolutely devastating effect on it’s victims.
Traditionally, identity theft was commited offline with criminals retrieving information from dumpsters.
Nowadays, it is more likely to occur online as the identity thieves extract your information from the social web, through installing malicious code onto your computer or by tricking you with fake phishing emails.
One of the ways to protect yourself against identity theft is to educate yourself about this type of crime.
By understanding the different types of id theft, and why they occur, you will be better placed to defend yourself against an attack that takes years, maybe decades, to recover from.
The 5 Different Types Of Identity Theft
1. Identity Impersonation
Identity theft is nearly always financially motivated but there can sometimes be exceptions. An identity thief may want to steal your good name in order to hide their own criminal past. They may also want to impersonate you in order to gain revenge if they feel that you have wronged them, or to gain for medical insurance purposes.
2. Medical Identity Theft
This is one area of identity theft that is most definitely on the increase. Medical insurance is not cheap and thieves will attempt to steal your identity so that they do not have to pay for their medical care. This is typically an inside job comitted by medical personnel and insurance agents.
3. Social Security Numbers
Your Social Security Number is a unique number which identifies you as an individual in the US. It has many uses based around employment, taxation and for obtaining a passport to name but a few. Identity thieves will steal your SSN in order to avoid tax, gain employment and acquire false passports.
4. Driving License Theft
An identity thief may want your driving license for a couple of reasons – it can often be used to cash checks and also it can be given to the police when pulled over, thereby avoiding any penalties.
5. Financial Theft
The most common and obvious form of identity theft has a financial motive. Thieves will steal your credit card and/or banking information in order to run up debts on existing or new accounts. This can ruin your credit rating for many years, if not permanently.
Hopefully you are now aware of the motives behind identity theft and realise just how serious a crime it is.
You need to learn how to protect yourself from id theft, especially online where it is the fastest growing crime.
Read more on my blog as detailed below…
The risk of identity (ID) theft has been with us for a long time. With our high-tech toys like computers, smart phones and bank machines, keeping your private, sensitive information, well, private, has become more complicated. In this article, we are going to review some dos and do nots, in the form of a handy checklist. Why not print out a few copies, and distribute them to your friends and family.
It is important that you make a bit of an effort to protect your data. Why? Because recovering from ID theft can be costly, time-consuming and frustrating. For example, there have been cases of ID theft which led to the home of the victim being sold right out from under him, without his knowledge or permission of course.
Read the following checklist carefully, but do not be discouraged or overwhelmed. All you need to do is be alert and vigilant, and you will be fine. OK, here we go:
1. Never give out any personal information unless you really have to. Some large stores ask for your phone number or zip code at the cash, for marketing purposes. Identity theft alert! Just say no.
2. There are three critical pieces of your information which you should never give to anyone except your bank, employer or government agency, and then only if you must. These are your date of birth, maiden name of your mother and your Social Security Number. Once a crook has this information, it is much easier to dig up almost anything about you.
3. Be careful in your choice of passwords online. Do not use your date of birth or Social Security Number (do not laugh; it has happened). Do not use the name of your child or pet, local landmark or college, favorite restaurant, any word in the dictionary, or anything related to you. Crooks use this info to break into your email and online bank accounts. This in fact happened to Sarah Palin.
4. Check your bank and credit card statements upon arrival. Report any discrepancies at once.
5. Check your credit report a couple of times a year, especially before making a large purchase such as a car or house.
6. Make sure all security programs on your computer are up to date, including Windows. You do have anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs, right? If not, get them, pronto!
7. Avoid public computers and public wi-fi hot spots. Or at least do not visit sensitive sites such as your banking and shopping web sites from these places. Use strong encryption. Currently, that means WPA2.
8. Always practice safe surfing, and train your kids to do the same. Educate yourself about spam, phishing attacks, email attachments, etc. Do not copy and paste login information and passwords. The contents of your Clipboard can easily be seen.
9. Shred or burn any documents bearing your name, address, etc. before discarding them.
10. If you travel across international borders with a laptop or even a smart phone, be prepared to have the devices searched and all your files examined. You may have to reveal the decryption key to any encrypted documents. Make sure you have a current backup at the office.
11. Before logging into that bank machine or hotel computer, glance around to ensure no one is snooping on you.
12. There are many resources online to fight identity theft, and to help you recover from an attack. Check them out. Look especially for government sites, that is, web sites ending in .gov.
By now you can guess that it is much easier to protect your credit rating and reputation, than to spend months or even years repairing them after they have been hijacked. So print this list and paste it up on the wall beside your computer, where the whole family can see it. Reread it from time to time, to refresh your memory.
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There are literally thousands of methods idetnity theives enlist to stealing vital personal information from consumers and small business owners. “Phishing” scams sent via email, shoulder surfing at ATM machines, fraudulant telemarketing calls, public records acess through local government agancies, identity theft at the workplace: the list goes on and on. Suprisingly, it doesn’t always take someone who is technologically proficient to get their hands on your social security number, credit card information or home address. The chain of theivery commonly starts with a method that existed long before the internet, email, telemarketing or ATM’s: the dreaded “Junk Mail List”.
Dumpster diving identity theives and computer hackers represent only a small fraction of the faceless armies constantly working to ruin your financial identity. Contrary to popular belief, junk mail, specifically credit card offers, are typically the culprit. In fact, every credit card offer you recieve is an invitation to have your identity stolen, and your credit ruined. These “mail box maruaders” are probably the most brazen identity theives, right up there with common burglar. Stealing mail directly from your mailbox is by far the riskiest method, which leaves the potential of being identitfied from eyewitnesses. Never the less, it does in fact occur and is a federal offence.
Once your financial information has been obtained, the two of the most common methods for setting up shop with your good name are “application fraud” and “account takeover”.
“Application fraud”, or “real name fraud” usually leaves identity victims unaware of fraudulent abuse of their personal information for long periods of time. This is due to the fact that the credit card statements are mailed directly to a forwarding address set up by the imposter. Another factor that leaves victims unaware is the time lag between the fraudulent transactions themselves and when they are reported to credit bureaus, such as Transunion, Experian and Equifax. This leaves a “time gap” for ID thieves to do as much damage as possible before it is detected, even if your regularly check your credit reports. All these criminals may need to commit application fraud is a utility bill or bank statement, authentic or counterfeit, to piece together a complete application. This is a methodical and effective form of identity theft.
Conversely, “account takeover” can happen almost intantaniously. This occurs when containing key personal information allows ID theives to actually takeover the running of your existing account. They will actually pretend to be you, making transactions and purchases as they see fit. To compound this problem further, these criminals may instruct your bank or credit card company to change you home address in the account and have cards and checks sent to another address. Once again this buys valuable time for these imposters to be detected and stopped.
So far as online purchases go, many online merchants have added an extra precaution to stave off fraudulent account activity with the CCV number. This is a three digit number on the back you credit card next to the signature box. Providing this number makes the assumption that your credit card is physically in front of you. Once again, if new cards have been ordered in your name unbeknownst to you, this safe-guard is rendered ineffective. You may only find out it has occurred when purchasing groceries or fuel for your car and having you credit or debit card declined. A rude awakening indeed.
Needless to say, the most effective way to avoid this finacial nightmare is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Though ID theft is growing problem for consumers and small businesse alike, it is not an inevitable part of modern life. Hence the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a a pound of cure”. And that ounce of prevention begins right at home, in your mailbox.
Over 4 million tons of paper “junk mail” are mailed in the U.S. every year, and 50% of it is never even opened. These are staggering stastistics and only grows as time goes by. Here are several tips and tricks to drastically reducing or eliminatiing bulk mail and credit card offers, thus aiding in the prevention of identity theft.
Credit Card Offers- The major credit agencies all sell credit information to the highest bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mailing lists based on certain demographic information including you zip code, annual income and general credit history. Stopping these types of offers are usefull in preventing identity theft for two reasons: First, it narrows down and seperates the “legitimate” offers from potentially fraudulent offers.
Second, it simply cuts down on the amount of mail you recieve, thus reducing the potential for information to be physically stolen from your mailbox.
Simply contact the three of the major cedit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis with your current address former address within two years, and social security number. Request to be “opted out” of these mailing lists. These requests will be granted immediately as required by law.
First Class Mail- This is a sneaky tactic used sometimes to make a credit card offer seem exclusive or more appealing. After you recieve one of the first class offers, simply cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write exactly this: refused: return to sender. Mail it in any mail box and it will be returned directly to the sender.
Bulk Mail in General- Your local post office will always dispose of bulk mail it cannot be delived, so “returning to sender” does absolutely no good. The USPS actively provides for bulk mailers to accumulate their mailing lists. As hard as it is to belive, they actually encourage it. Simply write “address correction requested” circle it, and drop it in any the mail box.
If Bulk Mailing persists, simply send a letter or postcard to the Mail Preference Service,
There address is: Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643
Be sure to include your full name, current address, zip code and request to “activate the preference service”. This will stop mail from all of it’s member ogrganizations for up to five years.
A Secure Mail Box- Obvouisly, this is probably the simplest method protect mail from being stolen out of your mail box. Don’t be afraid to buy a lock for your mail box. Get to know your neighborhood delivery schedule and your mail carrier.
Your home is the front line in the ongoing battle against identity theft, pure and simple.
Identity theft is something that no one would ever want to experience as it is a case where the victim looses almost everything their financial status and even personal identity. Using everyday data such as your social security number and drivers license the id theft thieves can easily assume your identity to open new bank account, write bad checks, establish new credit card account, avail loans and even take cash advance on your name.
Additionally they might also set up cell phones or run up bills and utility services apart from just making charges on your previous account. The thieves can even gain access to your employment identity and rent an apartment over your identity. Just a single instance of this crime can negatively affect your credit score which can create a lot of problems when you need to avail financial help in the future.
Types of id theft
You can say it identity theft when someone else has sufficient information about you to stand up as you. The id theft criminals can use your information in different ways. There are way main types of id theft or the reasons for the theft. Firstly it can be for account takeover in which the criminals would use all your existing bank accounts including credit cards and run huge bills for you to pay.
The other common type is application fraud. With this type the criminal would take your information to open new accounts, which can take several days to detect as the address provided to the company would probably not be your real one.
How to prevent identity theft
Firstly you should know what you have which means getting ready of all the debit and credit cads you have with their contact numbers. Make sure you don’t carry more than 2 debit or credit cards with you. In case you would be around people such as the city center, keep your wallet safe and in less accessible place. When using the ATM, using your hand as a shield when typing the PIN would be wise. There are several other things to consider to prevent identity theft
Put fitness back on your to-do list
Like most men, I would exercise daily and be a picture of manful health if only I wasn’t so damn busy and important. You see, my family, my employers, and the smooth functioning of the nation as a whole, depend on my willingness to put my needs aside and meet the demands of the world with wrinkle-browed virility.
Read more on thewest.com.au
Are you searching for a new job right now? In these tough economic times, identity thieves are taking advantage of vulnerable job seekers like never before with job identity theft scams. Whether they’re using job search sites like Monster.com to “hook” an unemployed person with a job offer that may be too good to be true, then sending emails requesting bank account information and Social Security numbers, or even creating fake Web sites that don’t match the job description on a jobsite, scammers are relentlessly trying to steal your identity. Fortunately, by paying attention to ID theft warning signs and using tips to prevent ID theft, you can avoid the scammers and land a great job this year.
How to Spot Job Identity Theft Scams:
How can you be sure job postings are legitimate and not job identity theft scams? Ask yourself these questions before you apply:
Another easy way to spot job identity theft scams is to contact the Better Business Bureau to see whether the company has a high or low rating, and whether any suspicious activity has been reported.
How to Avoid Job Identity Theft Scams:
Job identity theft scams are rampant online, so you have to be vigilant. Use common sense and follow these tips to prevent your identity from being stolen by unscrupulous identity thieves posing as employers:
Want to learn more about preventing ID theft and avoiding job identity theft scams? Contact The Identity Advocate at 310.831.4400 or via email at info@theidentityadvocate.com. Visit us online at www.theidentityadvocate.com.
Fitness calendar
Submit entries at least two weeks in advance to Fitness Calendar, P.O. Box 2090, Asheville, NC 28802, e-mail to melmoore@CITIZEN-TIMES.com or fax to 251-0585.
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