Identity Theft is America’s fastest growing type of robbery. There have been an estimated 9.9 million victims on America and over 40% of all consumer complaints in the U.S. Involve identity theft. About half of the victims do not know how the thief obtained their personal information. The Boston Globe and Newsweek have both covered Identity theft recently telling us how prominent it is for us to educate ourselves on preventing and protecting ourselves from this type of robbery. Identity theft can happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone, individuals or businesses. everybody must be educated and aware so it can be avoided. Michael Blanchard, Us Postal Inspector says postal money orders and company or certified checks are one way you can be at risk. Most identity theft involves the U.S. Mail which is why the U.S. Postal Inspection aid is a lead division in investigating Identity Theft. Identity Theft is a criminal offense.
Some scams are internet related, you go into a chat room and chat with people there, man approaches you as a friend, or about an auction. You come to be comfortable with these people you are chatting with and start a “friendship”. The man who has befriended you may tell you such things as, “I am in the Peace Corp, and I have a money order that I can’t cash where I am”, which is Lagos or Nigeria. They might ask you if they send you the money order, if you will cash it and send them the money. This is a scam. The money order you receive can be fraudulent, once you cash and send the money you are out this money once the bank realizes the money order was no good.
2 Post Server Rack
Another scenario might be if you sell items at online auctions. man may email you about your item that is for sale. They will tell you they want to purchase your item, and they are in Nigeria so they will send you extra money to pay for a shipper to send the item to them. They will send you a counterfeit money order or check and ask you to cash the check and wire the extra money to them so they can pay the shippers to ship your item. They may even ask you to go to a bank to cash the money order rather than the post office. The presume for this is that the post office has a motor that can tell if the money order is fake, and they have much more feel with money orders than banks.
Many of these types of scams create in Nigeria, London and Toronto. If you are aware of this, you can preclude this from happening to you. Most thieves still collect personal data straight through primary rather than electronic channels. In the cases where the method was known, 68.2% of data was obtained off-line versus only 11.6% obtained online.
If you receive a fraudulent money order and take it to a bank, rather than the post office, a bank can take a month or more before they wise up you that the money order is fake. If this happens, you are then responsible for the funds. If you do get caught up in this situation, take your money order to a post office rather than a bank, it is not guaranteeing you will not be “taken” but it lowers your chances.
How can you tell if a money order is fraudulent? Fake money orders do not have a water mark. Hold up the money order to the window or light, can you see the portrait, on the left side? This portrait needs to be backlit by light to be seen and cannot be mimicked. Some producers of fake money orders try to use fake pictures as a water mark; you will be able to tell if you hold it to the light. These money orders are commonly printed in Nigeria, they use the same offset press we use to print real money orders, so check your money orders! You can also check for type size, color and fonts. someone else step you can take is to call or go online to the Post office and give them the serial number off of the money order; they can tell if it is real. If you receive a counterfeit money order, you will want to give it to the post office or police. proprietary of a counterfeit item is a felony.
Other scams include receiving an email or letter stating you have won a lottery, or a prize notification. Some letters or announcements will arrive with a counterfeit check and you pay a processing fee to get the prize. These checks are counterfeit; never send money to anyone who is request for money from you in order to give you money, either it is disguised as a prize or lottery. Any prize that requires you to pay anyone is no prize.
How do these people get my name? If you have a reputation card, your name is sold to third parties, if you do not want this to happen, you must feel your reputation card companies to wise up them that you do not want your data sold. Check the privacy notice that comes with your bill. If you enter contests, your data becomes public. Also, when you buy a new product, and fill out the warranty cards, those companies sell that data you supply to other companies. Since when does your toaster constructor need to know you households’ annual revenue to increase a warranty on your toaster? Thieves use dumpster digging, phishing, and pharming to collect your information. Things they steal from your trash include:
• Pre-approved reputation card offers – they unblemished them and have the card sent to them at a dissimilar address
• Loan applications- they unblemished the application and have the money sent to a phony address.
• Bank statements- they then have your bank inventory number and can print counterfeit checks
Becky Palmer, a consumer reputation Counselor, knew of man who had their wallet stolen, and they used the reputation card to buy a 00.00 gift card at Wal mart, this then come to be very hard to trace.
People that are more at risk are senior citizens, people with disabilities and immigrants, but remember that everyone, along with children are at risk. Senior citizens are home all day; they might get a phone call from a fake charity request for money. Immigrants are desperate for credit, they may have just arrived in the Us and know they need reputation to do anyone and are not aware of these scams. people with disabilities are home, and may come to be a victim of phone or online fraud. There have also been cases of home care providers taking benefit of their clients. Remember, it is not always a stranger that can steal someone’s identity. Did you know children can be victims of identity theft? This could affect or ruin their reputation before they even are able to build up reputation for themselves. There have been cases of parents using a child’s name for their galvanic bill or phone bill when they have bad reputation or owe the utility company money. Thieves will collect the group security number of these children then use that number to get reputation cards and rack up purchases.
Some of these scammers will call you and say they are from a fictitious charity. They will offer to have your offering automatically deducted from your checking inventory and will ask for your routing number, bank name, and inventory number. Do Not Give Out This Information! If you pick up a call from a telemarketer, ask them the following questions and if they are a fraud, they will hang up quickly.
• Who do you work for? They will try to give you the name of the fake charity here, so ask them “who pays your salary?”
• How much of my donation (percentage) goes to this charity and what is the rest of the money used for?” If they are for real, they can authentically give you this information.
• What is the charity’s full name, address and phone number?
Once you have the above data you can check with the state attorney generals’ office or secretary of state to see if the charity is registered. Also check the charity’s rating thru the great company Bureau at http://www.give.org.
How can I preclude Identity theft from happening to me? Never leave your receipt or slip in the Atm or gas pump. Pay attentiveness to your habits, lock up or found and file your bills, and bank statements. Shred them using a cross shredder before throwing them away.
In a recent narrative in Msn Money their investigate showed that 32% of people said they had been a victim of identity fraud by a friend or family, and 13% were victimized by a co-worker. Beware! These people know your patterns and habits.
Some steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of Identity theft are:
Get a copy of your reputation narrative from all three reputation bureaus. (Free as of 9/1/05!)
Experien, Po Box 2002, Allen Tx 75013 http://www.experian.com 888-397-3742
Equifax, Po Box 740241, Atlanta, Ga 30348 http://www.equifax.com 800-685-1111
Trans Union, Po Box 4000, Chester, Pa 19016 http://www.transunion.com 866-887-2673
Opt out of mailing lists by contacting the reputation bureaus above.
Opt out by reading the privacy notice that comes with your reputation card and following the instructions.
Call the national Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 or visit http://www.donotcall.gov be sure to call from the number you want to register
Do not carry your group security Card in your wallet
Do not print your group security number on your checks
Do not get your group security number printed on your drivers’ license
Do not carry your medicade card with you, Medicade #’s are your group security number
Delete any emails from Nigeria, or lottery or prize notifications before opening
Stop reputation card offers 888-5-Opt-Out
Remove your name from national mailing lists by visiting http://www.the-dma.org or write to:
Mail Preference Service
Po Box 643
Carmel, Ny 10512
Install firewall and virus security software on your computer
Password safe your computer and private personal files
Format your hard drive or physically destroy when disposing of your old computer
When you order new checks, get your first preliminary printed on them instead of your first name
Use a cross shredder to shred your bills and bank statements or any junk mail
Bring your mail to the post office or collect mail box rather than leaving it in a rural box.
Use only one designated reputation card for online purchases
Be sure all online purchases are made straight through a collect server – notice the “lock” icon and how the Url address changes from http to https. The S means Secure.
Do not carry your Pin # in your wallet
Do not use your date of birth as a password or Pin.
Do not give out personal or financial data over the phone.
Grind up or shred back up Cd’s you are throwing away.
Check your online banking inventory at least 3 times a week and turn your password often.
There is a new bill that is being passes, it is a very weak bill but if passed, it will prohibit using a group security number for identification purposes. This bill should take affect in 2006.
If you feel you have been a victim of identity fraud, feel the division of Justice, consumer security division. They offer mediation with identity theft; they also have a hot line for consumers that is available 8-5 Monday – Friday. They pronounce a database of written complaints that goes back to 1998. They offer seminars to school, seniors or your group.
Be aware that 40 million crooks obtained reputation card numbers this past year, “Be Suspicious”. Also be aware that most identify theft is not reported, especially when it involves house members, so the statistics are off. These statistics show that consumers lost billion last year when in actuality it is closer to billion. There have been an estimated 9.9 million victims in America.
What can I do if I am already a victim of Id theft?
• Contact the fraud departments of the three major reputation bureaus, to place a fraud alert on your reputation file.
• Close all accounts that have been affected and ask copies of fraud-dispute forms and unblemished and return immediately. Keep copies!
• File a police narrative in each jurisdiction the theft occurred
• Send copies of the narrative to your creditors or anyone that requires proof of the crime
• File a complaint with the Ftc (800-Idtheft or [http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft]) and Post Office
• Contact the Identity Theft resource town at 858-693-7935 or http://www.idtheftcenter.org
• Request a new driver’s license from the state of motor vehicles and have a fraud narrative attached to your driving record.
• Notify check-verification firms about any fraudulent checks:
International check aid 800-526-5380
Telecheck 800-927-0755
Certegy Check Services 800-437-5120
• Call 1-888-Call-Fcc and file a complaint.
• Change your passwords and Pin immediately.
What is “Phishing”?
If you get an email or letter or form that looks like it came from your bank, reputation card company, the Irs, online auction or bill pay aid request you to verify data so they can modernize their records, verify this with your bank or reputation card company. Never click on the link in an email; it will take you to a fraudulent website that is disguised to look like the companies. If you call to verify and your bank or reputation card company wants this information, give it to them over the phone, if you initiated the call and are sure it is the definite number, or stop by in man if possible.
Warning signs you can look for to identify “Scams”
If man tells you: “Poor or no reputation – No problem!”
Offers you a “Bargain loan”
Rushes you straight through signing up for anything
Wants you to pay a fee
If a salesman comes to your door and says “I was just in the neighborhood”
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it is!
Are You at Risk for Identity Theft? Learn How to protect Yourself
No comments:
Post a Comment