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  • Keep Your Identity: Be on the lookout for scams.

    Posted on November 26th, 2012 admin No comments

    No one is immune from identity theft, regardless of how careful you are. Depending on your habits, affiliations and activities, these variables may be a significant factor in the manner in which you might become an identity theft victim.

    The Internet can serve a very useful purpose and keeps us informed about this crime and its trends. At the same time, it can be a trap, so if you receive electronic or junk mail luring you with enticements, you should know to immediately delete, trash or shred.

    Here are some examples of electronic, paper and phone enticements you should be very careful of:

    • •We’ll remove the virus we found for $100. These are typically bogus tech-support scams. Of course, there is no virus, so you pay for an unnecessary service. The crook may also take the opportunity to install mock antivirus software that later starts “finding” nonexistent malware. That can cost you a bundle for removal. You also may have provided a credit card number to someone you will wish you hadn’t.
    • Confirm the flight reservation you didn’t make. These are phishing and malware scams. If you follow the instructions, you might end up downloading malware designed to take control of your computer and turn it into a spamming robot, harm it with a virus, or mine your files for financial information.
    • You’ve just won a $100 gift card! Burglary. Someone claiming to be from a local store calls to tell you that you’ve just won the prized plastic, and you must come and pick it up. The game: get you out of the house, allowing thieves to break-in, grab up information they can use time and time again.
    • Now you really can see who views your Facebook profile! Social media sites. They’ve long since become fertile ground for fakery. In the scam, targeted victims receive a link that drives the curious to a fake Facebook website, then asked to “like” the app or other bait, which forwards spam to other “friends,” all of whom are asked to complete a survey, collecting opinions and personal information.
    • Cut your credit-card interest rate to 4.75 percent. A lower rate? Sounds great. The service costs $695 up front, and you must fill out a “financial profile form,” detailing debts, balances, credit limits, interest rates, plus your name, address and of course your Social Security number. I suspect you know what to do if you get this call.
    • Want a $17.50-an-hour- job? An identity theft scam. When applicants (who became victims), went to a library (not in Naples) to fill out applications with their name, date of birth, Social Security number and more at the request of a person claiming to be a recruiter — and then later went to the store that was allegedly hiring for training — they learned that the recruiter wasn’t associated with the store at all. Know this, job-seekers: face-to-face job interviews are a new brazen way to extract information for ID theft.
    • And as the holiday shopping season approaches, watch out for this one, under the very good impersonation of a credit card company or store you frequent. “We’d like to encourage each of you, our valued members, to be watching your email for a very special Member Referral Program from us that will enable you to earn extra holiday cash!” Be on the lookout for this email! If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Contributing information source: ConsumerReports.org.

    (original post)

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