Locking your car doors might seem like overly simplistic advice. But you’d be surprised at how many people lose laptops, wallets and all kinds of stuff because they leave their car doors unlocked.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
Ditto for the world of cyber crime.
Do you share passwords with someone? Respond to every legitimate-looking e-mail? Take a picture of your child at home and then post it online where anyone can see it — and maybe connect a home address to your child? Do you give anyone who asks your Social Security number?
The Federal Trade Commission received 250,854 complaints in 2010 regarding ID theft — making it the No. 1 complaint.
Online scam artists can be based in Canada or overseas and are able to easily trick consumers into giving personal information.
Identity thieves want to use information that’s easily available — and what’s easier than targeting someone in a rush, someone who needs cash quickly or even an unsuspecting child?
“In general, people really need to keep their address, phone numbers and other information more private than they do,” said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C.
And the same is true for information regarding children. The FTC reported that victims age 19 and younger accounted for 8 percent of the identity-theft complaints it received in 2010.
And as much as we’ve all heard warnings about phishing scams, we’re all still seeing plenty floating around the inbox. The bait created for some e-mails makes you concerned about your bank account, tax refund or something else of value.
“You’ve got $68 coming your way,” says one scam that claims to be an e-mail from the IRS.
You do not have a $68 tax refund, of course, but you could be tempted to click. And that’s true especially if you start hearing about “unclaimed tax refunds.”
But the IRS is not sending e-mails to people who are owed refund money. You could end up giving away valuable identification — and get nothing but a headache if that information is used to open up new credit.
Chuck Whitlock, an ID theft author and expert, advises: Do not give in to your curiosity, and make certain to never click on any links in an e-mail that arrives out of the blue.
