Airlines Facing New Cyberfraud
Posts tagged "identity theft expert"
6 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook
6 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook
by Kathy Kristof
The whole social networking phenomenon has millions of Americans sharing their photos, favorite songs and details about their class reunions on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and dozens of similar sites. But there are a handful of personal details that you should never say if you don’t want criminals — cyber or otherwise — to rob you blind, according to Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearing House.
The folks at Insure.com also say that ill-advised Facebook postings increasingly can get your insurance canceled or cause you to pay dramatically more for everything from auto to life insurance coverage. By now almost everybody knows that those drunken party photos could cost you a job, too.
92% of U.S. Babies Are Online
When these children become adults, it will be literally impossible for them to separate from their digital past. I can just see the photos and stories posted when they begin to run for office, try to find a job or meet a partner. Digital memory lasts forever, and it is very unforgiving. Those of us older than about 35 have had a chance to put our bad decisions behind us. Children born today will have every aspect of their life recorded, uploaded, backed up, forwarded and publicized completely without their consent.
Twitter Security Loophole Exposes Your Direct Messages
Shannon recommends you don’t ever log in to a site (other than Twitter.com, obviously) using your Twitter user name and password. Another writer at Search Engine Watch recommends that users erase their Direct Messages after viewing them. There has been no comment from Twitter, but we hope they are looking into the issue now that the problem has been made public.
Law Enforcement Cuts Mean Identity Theft Will Continue to Rise
Non-violent crimes have sunk to the bottom of police stations agenda. With no funds to investigate these crimes and catch the criminals, identity theft rates will continue to rise. Criminals will see this as an opportunity to prey on victims and steal identity for financial gain without any consequences.
Jury Duty Scam
The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and states that you’ve failed to report for jury duty. They inform you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for “verification” purposes. Specifically, they ask for the victim’s Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information — exactly what the thief needs to commit identity theft!
College-Bound Students are Vulnerable as Identity Theft Targets
College-bound students should take the following steps to fight identity theft:
1. School mailboxes can be easily tampered with and are not always safe. Instead of having sensitive (bank, legal, personal) documents sent to your apartment or dorm room, have them sent to a permanent address (your parents’ home or the post office) or sent requiring your signature.
2. Invest in a fire-proof lock box to store all your important documents. This can be vital when you are sharing a living space and can’t control everyone that comes and goes. You should lock up your Social Security card, passport and bank and credit card statements. Shred any important financial documents that come in the mail and never leave any sensitive mail lying out.
Identity Theft Speaker Endorsed by Fort Bragg
I had the privilege of speaking at Fort Bragg this summer! Here is what they had to say:
I saw John Sileo’s presentation at a conference recently and I was thoroughly impressed. He really interacted so well with the audience that I actually wanted to bring him to Ft Bragg to help us celebrate our Consumer Awareness Month. It took several months of coordination, but we finally all got it together and John came down and did an excellent presentation to help us out with teaching our community all about identity theft. His presentation was interactive, dynamic, the audience was really pleased and after the presentation they held him there for an hour asking great questions! We were thoroughly pleased with John and we really enjoyed his presentation.
3 Steps To Take When Disposing Of Your Computer
Most people wouldn’t throw out their Social Security card or toss a credit card in the trash. Yet careful souls worldwide have been dumping old computers by the millions, filling landfills with exactly that kind of sensitive information, where aggressive high-tech criminals can readily scoop it up.
According to the latest statistics from the EPA, 205 million computer products were disposed of in 2007, with a paltry 48 million of those recycled. That leaves plenty of identities in the garbage stream just waiting to be poached.
Indeed, many computers are being mined for Social Security numbers, credit card information, bank statements, investment records and various other tidbits that open the door for everything from credit card fraud to full-on identity theft. While exact numbers are difficult to come by, there’s no doubt it’s happening with ever more frequency.
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