Avoid Work at Home Scams

Finally, someone took the time to critique all these too good to be true opportunities you see on TV or in the magazines. I admit, from time to time, I waste time thinking about the viability of some of these opportunities. to achieve my own personal financial freedom. Luckily I come to my senses before doing something stupid.

Check out The Work at Home Scam Blog

Maybe you’ll recognize something you’ve thought about and stay away from it.

-Roland

Article: Identity theft risk greatest in major cities

News.com reports: Identity theft risk greatest in major cities

“Residents of New York, Detroit and Los Angeles are the most at risk of having their identity stolen, according to new research.” Other states with low rates of identity related fraud are Wyoming, Vermont and Montana.

“Moving is a very dramatic way to reduce your identity risk. It is more appropriate for people to understand the risk of their area and to take the appropriate precautions.”

I’m a bit leary to believe this is entirely true. Consider the far-reaching nature of electronic identity theft. Consumer Bob could live in Wyoming and use his credit card with a company based in New York. If that company falls victim to losing their consumer data files to a thief, Bob in Wyoming is a risk just like anyone else.

Another scenario. Black hat Ted in Los Angeles calls Vermont Martha and manages to con (”social engineer”) info — social security number, checking account number, etc. — out of her over the phone. Ted can then use that info to portray Martha, open a credit card, ship to another address, etc.

My point… Don’t falsely believe that your safe anywhere you live. Take precautions and be vigilant to guard against bad behavior.

-Roland

Article: Phishing attacks now using phone calls

USA Today reports Phishing attacks now using phone calls

Phishing is the scam where a fake email or Web site is used to try to scam an unsuspecting consumer into revealing personally identifiable information that can be used for identity theft or credit card fraud.

“And the victims are no longer just the usual targets, including customers of AOL, eBay, PayPal, Citibank and Bank of America. Early this year, phishers began preying on customers of regional banks and credit unions.”

“The deceptive e-mail messages and websites have also gotten much craftier. One recent phishing attempt actually warned customers about phishing and asked them to update their information for security reasons. To assure wary users, the legitimate 800 phone number of a targeted company was included in the e-mail.”

For several years, legitimate companies have tried to educate their customers not to reveal personal information online and encourage them to call customer service if in doubt.

Savvy fraudsters are now setting up fake telephone numbers in the attempt to trick consumers. In some instances, they are actually calling consumers directly trying to con them out of some piece of information. Wary consumers who hesitate are often bullied into revealing more than they should.

It happens all to fast. A skilled con man can set a person at ease with polite tone and a scrap of information about his mark to gain trust. Over the course of innocent conversation, the victim will reveal little bits that can all be pieced together.

Key take aways:

• Scrutinize everything, whether online, mail or telephone.
• Be cautious when clicking links in emails. Better yet, if you weren’t expecting the message, just delete it.
• Don’t allow any stranger on the phone to bully or pressure you into providing any information you are not comfortable about.

Be wary, stay safe, and don’t be afraid to say no.

-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional concerned about how companies handle personally identifiable information. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.

Article: Portrait of an identity thief

I found a thread on Slashdot.org this week: “Portrait of an identity thief” talking about a profile The New York Times did recently on a young man in his early twenties, who scammed hundreds out of thousands of dollars.

NYTimes.com (07/04/2006): Identity Thief Finds Easy Money Hard to Resist

Excerpts…

Identity theft can, of course, have its origins in a pilfered wallet or an emptied mailbox. But for computer-savvy thieves like Mr. Sharma, the Internet has forged new conduits for the crime, both as a means of stealing identity and account information and as the place to use it.

Apparently, he became quite adept at being able to con novice Internet users out of their personally identifiable information. With the money, he acquired better tools to conduct more elaborate online cons.

Among the items seized from his parents’ basement were a computer, two digital cameras, a scanner, nearly 500 blank plastic identity cards with magnetic strips, two Marine Corps ID’s — with Mr. Sharma’s name and photo — and a newer model Eltron photo ID printer. A search of his computer revealed personal identifying information on hundreds of people from across the country.

Take away lessons…

• Use common sense.
• Don’t believe every thing you read online. Be suspicious of any email that asks you for your information, credit card, or to login to your account. Especially watch for misspellings, a common sign of a con. If the email seems legitimate, call the customer service number of the company you deal with to verify.
• Be mindful of social engineering traps. Con artists might call you over the phone for a simple request. Before you realize, you may have given away a piece of private information.
• Look carefully at the Web page url. A common trick is to substitute other characters or numbers in a url. At brief glance, you may not realize the deception. For example, www.aol.com might have a zero substituted for the “O”, or a capital “I” for the lowercase “L”.
• Never, never, never send private details by email, even to close friends or relatives. Although extremely convenient, Emails sent over the Internet are often insecure packets of information that can be viewed or intercepted by people with the right tools. It is better to call the other person and verbally pass confidential information, passwords, etc.
• Watch your home mail box. Put a lock on it if possible, or be vigilant to pick up the mail as soon after the letter carrier has delivered. If you can afford it, a P.O. Box is safer.
• Shred papers and statements before you throw them out. Tear the name and address labels off your magazines, too, before you discard them.
• Watch the gas station attendant or restaurant server when they take your credit card. Some carry special hand held card readers to pull the data off the magnetic strip of your card. Then they sell all that data to some thief with the equipment to manufacture replacement cards with your data on them.

Links…

• NYTimes: Graphic of an identity theft scheme
• Chaos365: Protect your personal information

I hope you find this useful. Please post your opinion.
-Roland

Roland Reinhart is an interactive marketing professional who is concerned about how personally identifiable information is handled. His observations can be found at Chaos365.com and AdMadMan.com.

©2006 Roland Reinhart. All Rights Reserved.