Posted on February - 17 - 2010
Every day, we learn about new identity theft scams. And since you visit this site, odds are you protected yourself. Taking on the task of convincing your friends and family about the serious nature identity theft really may prove a little trickier. Fortunately, here are some easy steps to take and help protect them as well.
1. Warn them of the possibility that identity thieves pretend to be them
Sometimes with small children, we suggest code words — a secret phrase an adult can use to tell a child that yes, your parents really did send me to pick you up after school. A similar safeguard is useful in email.
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Posted on February - 12 - 2010
Security lapses from the federal, state, and local government are putting you at risk for identity theft. While Americans are sitting at home trusting the government to keep their personal information safe, serious breaches are occurring. Learn how it happens and what to do about it.
Government security leaks
Investigation has shown that the government is the source of one out of five ID breaches. This number is astounding. The very agency that we trust to protect our personal information and the agency that we have no choice about giving our information to makes us vulnerable.
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Posted on February - 06 - 2010
It is scary in this day how careful people must be. You cannot talk to a stranger on the street and wonder if the small details of your world will make you a candidate for identity theft or not. You have got to take precautions and even mother your information more than is probably necessary, including seeing what identity theft companies have to offer. It is only in this way that you can put up good defenses when it comes to identity protection.
The hard thing is with job applications. People are living in troubled times, which means there are many people out of work. This also means that criminals are getting more creative in order to enhance their own paychecks.
Many people have been smart enough to catch on to and report bogus calls for jobs.
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Posted on February - 02 - 2010
The new year is shaping up to be a banner year for spammers. They have a new twist that makes the emails look like they’re coming from social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace. Even LinkedIn isn’t as safe as you may have thought in the past.
There are still too many people who think only their ‘friends’ are following and contacting them. Little do you know that your friends just may be an organized cybercrime group looking to steal your identity or install some kind of malware onto your computer.
Spammers have been releasing an onslaught of emails from these addresses:
- message.myspace.com
- facebookmail.com
- new-music.itunes.com
These are all false addresses and shouldn’t be opened and certainly you should never click on a link or respond to them in any way.
Don’t depend on FB or Myspace to keep you safe. There are h
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Posted on January - 28 - 2010
No one wants to think of a tragedy like the Haiti earthquake in conjunction with charity scams, but unfortunately there are a lot of people out there willing to make a buck any way they can. A charity scam provides the perfect opportunity to rip people off. Many individuals who are very wary when it comes to ‘get rich quick’ schemes are more than willing to open their wallets without question to help other people.
Recognizing charity scams
Obviously, charity scams takes advantage of your willingness to help others. But beware: just about anyone can solicit money to help the Haiti earthquake, or Russian orphans, or Middle Eastern war victims.
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Posted on January - 23 - 2010
You’ve heard of it before most likely but are you really sure what identity theft is? It’s when someone besides you gets a hold of personal information and uses it without your knowledge. They may use your social security number to get credit cards established for them. Or they can use a credit card to make purchases. Consider using one of the identity theft protection services to help prevent identity theft in the first place.
No matter how they do it, it can lead to you having bad credit, because the chances of them paying for what they got are nil. Meaning you will be stuck with huge bills, or telephone or other bills in your name. One
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