Category Archives: Preventing Identity Theft

8 Ways to Protect Your Identity While Shopping Online

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Concept of mobile shoppingAs we move into the most frenzied shopping season of the year, scam artists will be on the prowl for vulnerable shoppers. To avoid becoming a victim, consider taking steps now to keep your financial accounts and personal information safe.

1. Skip attachments and hyperlinks. Even attachments from people you know can be nefarious, since those acquaintances could be infected with a computer virus. If the email contains unusual or scant wording, don’t open the attachment. The same logic applies to hyperlinks in emails (or requests for information received over text message). First hover over the link to make sure it’s going to direct you to a valid address.

2. Don’t make purchases over coffee shop lattes. Any public Wi-Fi connection, such as those offered at coffee shops or libraries, carry extra risks, since they aren’t private. Try to avoid shopping online or engaging in any financial transactions, like logging into your bank account, from such hot spots.

3. Protect your smartphone. Web browsers and retailer apps on mobile devices make it easy to shop on the go, but doing so can also expose shoppers to extra risks since many phones don’t have the same kind of data encryption that’s often installed on computers. Even taking a relatively simple step, like enabling the password lock feature on your phone, will make it harder for a thief to access private data stored on the phone in case it’s lost or stolen. The computer security company McAfee also warns against downloading apps that might steal personal information.

4. Don’t trust your “friends.” Hackers target social media, including Facebook and Twitter, because they know it’s easier to get people to click on a link that appears to be recommended from a friend. McAfee has identified dozens of examples, including free dinner offers at Cheesecake Factory and fake mystery shopper invitations. Offers that sound too good to be true, such as free iPads or free iPhones, are also a common lure. The company cautions against clicking on fake alerts from friends, who may have been hacked themselves, and avoiding shortened links on Twitter that claim to offer deals.

5. Open e-cards with caution. They can be cute, but they can also be malicious. McAfee warns that some e-cards download viruses onto your computer when you download them. To avoid that outcome, the company suggests only opening e-cards from domain names that you recognize.

6. Upgrade your passwords. The holiday season can serve as a good reminder to give your passwords a makeover; security experts recommend changing them regularly as a precaution against hackers. Avoid common and simple words, use long combinations of words that also incorporate numbers or symbols, and never use duplicate passwords for multiple accounts. Sites that offer two-step authentication, such as Twitter and Gmail, can also add another layer of protection.

7. Check up on an e-retailer before making purchases. Some fly-by-night operations take advantage of the uptick in shopping around the holiday season to collect cash without ever mailing out the goods in return, warns the Better Business Bureau. The same applies to in-person exchanges on Craigslist or other online sites. To protect yourself, the bureau recommends never wiring money or paying in advance, and bringing a friend to any in-person exchanges.

8. Review your statements. The first sign of identity theft is often an unfamiliar charge on a credit card or bank statement; reviewing those statements carefully and contacting your financial institution or card provider with any concerns can prevent a theft from expanding. Credit cards usually come with some measure of automatic protection, as long as you report the scam relatively quickly.

Following these tips might leave you feeling overly cynical about the world, but the real downer would be dealing with a stolen identity just as the holiday season is heating up.

Article Source: Kimberly Palmer for US News – Money, Http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/09/16/8-ways-to-protect-your-identity-while-online-shopping

 

Steps to Protect Against Credit Card Fraud

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Secure purchasesIn light of recent retailer data breaches and with credit and debit card fraud becoming more frequent, be sure to read and follow these 8 steps to protect yourself and your identity from being stolen.

1. Be sure to get a new replacement credit or debit card if yours was compromised. If you suspect fraudulent transactions on your card and your financial institution hasn’t contacted you or provided you with a replacement card – be sure to call and request one.

2. Check your bank account and credit card activity online to see whether your card was used at any retailer that was recently hacked. Don’t wait for your print statement to come in the mail; check the latest account activity digitally with online access to your account information or by using a mobile banking app. Also watch out for changes to your debit card PIN.

3. Be alert for post-breach phishing attempts. Hackers don’t always get everything they need to break into your accounts, so they will typically send you emails or even call on the phone and pose as your bank or card issuer to try to trick you into giving up the missing pieces, including mother’s maiden name, account username and password, date of birth, and Social Security Number. Do not give this information out – your bank will never call, text, or email you for the information you already provided when you opened your account.

4. Lock down your credit report with a security freeze, which essentially shuts off access to your credit history by new would-be lenders. If a hacker applies for a loan in your name, the creditor is less likely to approve it if he or she can’t see your credit file. Freezes are typically free for victims of identity theft.

5. Get as many free credit reports as you can per year so you can regularly monitor them and keep an eye out for fraudulent new accounts. You can get three free credit reports (one from each credit bureau) from annualcreditreport.com.

You’re also entitled to a free credit report from each bureau after you file a 90-day fraud alert, which you should do every 90 days if you’ve been a victim of a data breach, or have a good-faith suspicion that you’re about to become a victim of identity fraud.

6. Change your passwords regularly on your various financial accounts and use strong passwords to thwart hackers and protect yourself online.

7. Don’t panic, but take a breach threat seriously, because this problem is now a fact of life until the big payment card brands, banks, and retailers improve the security of payment processing systems in the U.S.

 

ID Theft Risks That Lurk in Your Child’s Backpack

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Girl walking away from School Bus while texting on her phoneWhile you’re out searching for the perfect back-to-school backpack for your child, the more important consideration other than style, size, and color should be — what can happen if a dishonest person gets a hold of it? The things your child carries in his or her backpack can become a huge financial headache if they fall into the wrong hands.

With identity-related crimes at historic levels, the odds are better than ever that a dishonest person will know the basics of taking advantage of the kinds of personally identifiable information, sensitive data (like passwords and credit card numbers), and the many other keys to your household economy that can lurk in your child’s backpack.

Here’s a short list of what a relatively creative thief might find in your child’s backpack, and what you can do to prevent the worst from happening.

1. A Smartphone

While obvious to you (hopefully), does your child understand the serious potential for disaster that a walk-about smartphone can bring to your doorstep?

It can be as simple as a scammer dialing 611 and ordering new services. Chances are good that there’s enough information in your child’s backpack for a motivated thief to get your name and thus the keys to your telephonic kingdom.

But there are other identity indignities that can be done. Many people store user name and password information on the Notes app of their phones. The Notes may contain other informational cracks and crevices as well and open up unsuspecting third parties — relatives and friends — to scams. Email scams, grandparent scams, an iTunes or apps shopping spree, malware installation — so many tidbits to exploit.

What to do: Talk to your kids about the dangers of an unsecured phone and discuss basic data storage details with them — like what information shouldn’t be on their phones. Is the phone locked with a passcode? It should be! Also have them set strong (think creatively alpha-numeric) passwords, and a Find Me app to erase the contents should the device fall into the wrong hands.

2. Their Laptop

You don’t need to be a movie buff to know that a computer is a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Most issues associated with a lost phone come to bear here as well. Emails can be sent to relatives or strangers in the service of stealing money or wreaking havoc.

Beyond the irresistible cornucopia of files that may well be saved on the device, email is a treasure trove of personally identifiable information — everything from credit card numbers to more data like name, address, email addresses and birthdays — pieces of a puzzle that can be assembled to present a believable story to a customer service representative and then steal valuable goods and services, or used as a fly trap to accumulate even more personally identifiable information.

Does your child have access to your Netflix account? How about Amazon or iTunes? Where else have they gone in cyberspace that might have their information — or yours? Open social media sites that are set to login automatically afford a wide vista of scamming opportunities too.

What to do: Make sure your child gets into the habit of logging out of all their online accounts, and that they don’t store sensitive information on their laptops. Talk to them about the wisdom of not saving user ID and password information, and how to make a good one. Finally, have your child set a password — shared with you — to protect their device against the wrong person accessing it.

3. Keys and Name Tags

So, this is pretty straightforward: If your child uses a karabiner to attach his or her keys to their backpack, you’ve got a potential robbery waiting to happen.

Additionally, there are apps that can allow a fraudster (as well as a person who might want to use the app to avoid unnecessary inconvenience) to make a copy of a key that a locksmith can duplicate.

What to do: Tell your child to keep the keys to your home in their pocket rather than on their back.

4. Gaming Device

Playstation Vita is a popular gaming device — and not the only device that could cause you a world of woe should it fall into the wrong hands — but we’ll single it out for the sake of illustration.

The good news: Your personally identifiable information is safe even if someone grabs the device, because it’s password-protected and associated with your gamer’s access to the network.

That doesn’t mean that a bad player can’t do some damage. First, they can play games and wreck your child’s sterling reputation in the community. Worse: Whoever has that device can buy games and run up a hefty bill. One-click purchased games are something any malicious third party can rack up in the way of a very expensive just-because crime.

What to do: Have your child set a passcode for access to the device and make sure they share it with you.

When it comes to data security, best practices are universal. It’s your job to pass on what your kids need to know to stay safe and keep your family out of the crosshairs of ID theft.

Article Source: Adam Levin for Credit.com, http://www.today.com/parents/identity-theft-risks-lurk-your-kids-backpack-1D80042370

3 Ways Consumers Can Fall Victim to Identity Theft

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Identity-Theft-CreditThere’s really only one way to protect yourself from identity theft. Stop spending money and trust no one. It’s pretty easy.

OK, it isn’t easy. Talk to enough victims of identity theft, and you start to realize that it really can happen to anyone – and sometimes, no matter how careful you are, it can happen to you. That’s why it helps to study how people’s identities were stolen and learn from it. Here a few ways identity theft happens along with strategies to prevent it.

1. Information is out there for anyone to see. Of course you don’t want to leave credit card statements lying around in public places, and when you discard your financial paperwork, it’s smart to run it through a shredder. But sometimes when you’re out in the world, your information can’t help but become a little exposed. You type a PIN number onto a pad and realize someone might have been looking over your shoulder. You hand your credit card to a waiter, who disappears for a while with it. Or you’re in a crowded store, practically rubbing elbows with an identity thief.

Sarah Dugo, co-founder of College Savings Dolls, got an unwanted education on identity theft when she was at a crowded Best Buy and bought a big-screen TV for the Super Bowl.

“The cashier took my credit card and delivery information, but they left it all on the computer screen and walked away from the check-out area. I was at one of the checkouts in the smaller section of the store, not the main front exit,” Dugo says.

It turns out that the thief used Dugo’s credit card information to order the same big-screen TV – and had it sent to his address. “That’s how they caught him,” Dugo says. Still, the crook did enough damage to her credit report and credit score that it took two years for her to straighten it all out.

She was in one of those situations where the employee ringing her up was interrupted by a customer before finishing her transaction. Dugo isn’t positive, but she thinks that’s how someone was able to see her information and either jot everything down or snap a photo of the computer screen.

Dugo isn’t sure what she could have done differently, but she figures that if she is ever shopping on another crowded weekend, she may make her purchase at the main entrance, where department sales clerks aren’t likely to be pulled away from the register.

2. You put your wallet or handbag in a vulnerable position. “Several years ago, I was shopping at a Safeway near my house. I was in the shampoo aisle and a well-dressed man asked me to help him find a product his wife asked him to get,” says Caren Kagan Evans, CEO of ECI Communications. While Evans pointed to the top shelf to show him where the product was, another man took Evans’ wallet out of her handbag, which was in the top part of her cart.

“I didn’t realize my wallet had been stolen until I went to check out,” Evans says. “I ran home, contacted the credit agencies, contacted my bank and of course contacted my credit card companies.”

Unfortunately, her Social Security Number was printed on her health insurance card, so the thief now had that information as well.

“This was a large group of people that were doing this kind of thing up and down the East Coast,” she says. “In a matter of just an hour, the team had used my cards at gas stations, Target, and other locations. They also were able to get checks printed since they had my social, and thousands of dollars disappeared from my checking account.”

Evans says she was lucky because she got her money back and was able to fix everything relatively quickly. “I have heard stories of people who had their identities stolen where the perpetrator took out mortgages on properties, and stories of people who literally spent years getting everything straightened out,” she says.

As for where Evans went wrong, she says it is easy to look at the situation now and realize her handbag was vulnerable. It was in the top part of the cart, and she was never planning on leaving it out of her sight. So you could take away from this story that you should never trust a stranger, even one who simply wants some help finding shampoo – or, better yet, remember to keep your eye on your purse or wallet since somebody else otherwise will.

Evans also says she no longer signs her credit card receipts, reasoning that a thief can study the receipt and later fake her signature. Sales clerks don’t push her to sign for merchandise, she says – they’ll just ask to see her identification. “And when they do, I thank them,” Evans says. “I appreciate it.”

3. You trusted someone a little too much. Everyone knows the importance of vetting people who work for you, and yet you can never say it enough.

Arthur Gregory is a serial entrepreneur. He’s a partner in two restaurants and owns EatUsa.net. The printer who made his menus overheard Gregory tell a colleague that he was looking for a bookkeeper.

“I do that,” the printer said. And Gregory, who liked how his menus were made, figured he’d give him the job.

As it turns out, the man was trustworthy when it came to menus, but not when it came to bookkeeping. “He stole my identity,” Gregory says.

And he didn’t just go out to a department store and buy things in Gregory’s name. He took out corporate credit cards in Gregory’s name and tried to take over his business, contacting vendors and doing a ton of damage. He now keeps all of his personal information in a lock box, so not even his current bookkeeper can see it.

Gregory, unfortunately, is also a case study in why it’s impossible to prevent identity theft. Even if you were willing to live out the rest of your life on a deserted island or in a cave to wall yourself off from problems, you could still discover you’re already a victim of identity theft.

As you can see, identity theft is an immense problem throughout the world and only becoming more and more frequent. As previously stated, there is no way to completely prevent identity theft, but there are certainly ways to minimize your risk and protect your finances.

Article source courtesy of Geoff Williams of US News.

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Identity Theft

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WideModern_IdentityTheftComposite_121813620x413We’re all experts on identity theft.

Not by choice – but live your life, and it’s hard not to pick up something on the topic. And odds are, you or a friend or family member has been a victim. According to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics survey of 70,000 people, 1 out of every 14 Americans ages 16 or older has been a target or a victim of identity theft.

So in the interest of protecting yourself and learning even more about identity theft, here are some things you probably didn’t know.

Military members are particularly at risk. Military veterans file more complaints about identity theft than any other group, according to Scott Higgins, CEO and founder of Veterans Advantage, a national program that partners with corporations, offering discounts on various goods and services. The Federal Trade Commission even designated July 17 as Military Consumer Protection Day to help educate the military about the dangers of identity theft.

What is it about being in the military that makes members such prime targets? Higgins says servicemen and women are conditioned to provide whatever personal information is asked of them throughout their service. “Unfortunately, this ‘conditioning’ often stays with them beyond their careers, leaving them susceptible to both ID theft and data grabbers who bird-dog veterans – offering a small perk and then selling their personal data wherever they can make the biggest buck.”

Medical identity theft is becoming a problem. Just because someone isn’t using your credit card illegally doesn’t mean you’re safe from identity theft. Someone could be using your name to get free medical services at a clinic or hospital, “possibly sticking you with the bill,” says Van Zimmerman, compliance and solutions architect at DataMotion, an email encryption and health information service provider in Morristown, N.J.

According to the Ponemon Institute, a research center devoted to privacy, data protection and information security policy, medical identity theft has increased 20 percent, and almost two million Americans have fallen victim. How does it happen? A thief with access to your personal information can create a fake ID with your name on it, and suddenly they’re you – at least as far as a hospital or doctor’s office staff knows.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do to avoid this since, as Zimmerman says, so many of consumers’ medical files are managed by third parties. But it may give you yet another reason to be careful when it comes to giving out personal information.

Identity theft via computer games is a growing trend. According to Rob D’Ovidio, an associate professor of criminal justice at Drexel University in Philadelphia, video game accounts “are increasingly coming to the attention of identity thieves as they realize that these accounts hold real-world monetary value. Trends in phishing show attacks against financial services, online payments services and online auction brands decreasing, while attacks against video game and social networking brands are increasing.”

Phishing, in case you’re not aware, occurs when scammers construct a fake website with the goal of luring consumers to provide their personal and financial information. For instance, an email hits a gamer’s inbox, stating there is a problem with their account information. The gamer clicks on the link and provides information to the scammer posing as the legitimate service. Or a consumer might receive an instant message, seemingly from a friend, with a link to a gaming website – but clicking on the link brings malware, a type of software that can disrupt your computer or steal your personal information.

D’Ovidio says criminals who manage to access video game accounts through phishing and other methods can also steal virtual money and virtual goods and sell them for real-life dollars. “As well, video game and video game console community accounts are, at times, tied to the account holder’s or their parents’ credit card,” D’Ovidio says.

Search engine poisoning is more popular than ever. “Identity thieves are increasingly using a technique known as search engine poisoning to manipulate the results that show up and bend reality,” says Hugh Thompson, a Columbia University computer science professor and the program committee chair of RSA Conference, an annual information security conference.

Thompson says identity thieves, hackers and attackers can manipulate search engines so that their fake websites “appear higher in the search results than the real thing.”

Then, if it works, you’ve just been phished. Fortunately, there are ways you can spot a fake, and some of them are pretty obvious. If there are a lot of grammatical errors on the site, for example, that may be a danger sign. Many of the rules in the next section can help you realize you’re about to be had.

Criminals like to put fake Wi-Fi hotspots up at public Wi-Fi hotspots. If you go to a hotel or airport and log onto the official Wi-Fi hotspot, generally speaking, you’re perfectly safe. The problem is that you may wind up logging onto a fake Wi-Fi hotspot that simply looks like it belongs to your hotel or the airport, says Thomas Way, associate professor of computing sciences at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa.

He says there’s no sure-fire way to identify a criminal’s hotspot, but there are red flags to look for. First, look for the SSID (service set identification), the “name you see in the list of hotspots, and see if it is the one that the hotel, airport, et cetera, has told you to use,” Way says. “Second, when you get the typical approval page, where you usually click on a button or checkbox to agree to the terms of use, you should never have to enter identifying information, only, at most, a hotel room number and last name. If it asks for more, don’t do it.”

Way adds that just to be safe, look at the URL of the first page. “It should match whatever the page claims to be,” he says. “If it is a hotspot provided by the hotel, it should either be the hotel Web address or it should match the company that is providing the hotspot. If it is a spoof page, it’ll be noticeably different.”

Despite all the talk about online identity theft, you still need to watch your wallet. According to Phrantceena Halres, CEO of Total Protection Services Global, a Charlotte, N.C.-based security services company, only a fraction of identity theft cases are related to online fraud. “The majority is made up of stolen credit cards, checkbooks and wallets,” she says.

That’s because plenty of criminals aren’t computer geniuses. Most of them are hoping you’ve been careless enough to leave your wallet, filled with cash and credit cards, lying on the passenger seat of your unlocked car.

*Article by Geoff Williams of USNews. Click here to view the article source.

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7 Safety Tips for Using a Public Computer

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How-to-Check-If-Your-Computer-Is-Safe-400x350Public computers in libraries, Internet cafes, airports, and copy shops can be safe if you follow a few simple rules when you use them. Read these tips to help keep your work, personal, or financial information private.

  • Don’t save your login information: Always log out of websites by clicking “log out” on the site. It’s not enough to simply close the browser window or type in another address. Many programs (especially social networking websites, web mail, and instant messenger programs) include automatic login features that will save your user name and password. Disable this option so no one can login as you.
  • Important – Don’t leave the computer unattended with sensitive information on the screen: If you have to leave the public computer, log out of all programs and close all windows that might display sensitive information.
  • Erase your tracks: Internet Explorer offers InPrivate browsing that leaves no trace of specific web activity. Internet Explorer also keeps a record of your passwords and every page you visit, even after you’ve closed them and logged out.
  • Disable the feature that stores passwords: Before you go to the web, turn off the Internet Explorer feature that “remembers” your passwords. 1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools , and then click Internet Options. 2. Click the Content tab, and then click Settings, next to AutoComplete. 3. Click to clear the check box for User names on passwords and forms.
  • Delete your temporary Internet files and your history: When you finish your use of a public computer, you can help protect your private information by deleting your temporary Internet files.
  • Watch for over-the-shoulder snoops: When you use a public computer, be on the lookout for thieves who look over your shoulder or watch as you enter sensitive passwords to collect your information.
  • Don’t enter sensitive information into a public computer: These measures provide some protection against casual hackers who use a public computer after you have. But keep in mind that an industrious thief might have installed sophisticated software on the public computer that records every keystroke and then emails that information back to the thief. Then it doesn’t matter if you haven’t saved your information or if you’ve erased your tracks. They still have access to this information. If you really want to be safe, avoid typing your credit card number or any other financial or otherwise sensitive information into any public computer.

T.H.I.N.K First because There’s Harm In Not Knowing

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