These days, everything seems to be communicated online. For many of us, we can be surprised when we turn on our computers and see a message reminding us that a friend or family member has an upcoming birthday or anniversary. This is usually the result of us inputting that information in our social networking profile or calendar software. So, unless the reminder requires us to actually go out and purchase a gift, we may be too busy to do anything els ...

Identity theft scammers come in many different varieties. Some are quite crude in their methods of obtaining an identity. This can be seen in those who will dig through your garbage or try to steal your mail out of your residential mailbox. Then there are those who have moved along with the times and are keenly aware of new trends in technology and social interaction. An example of this can be found in those who exploit technology and the current tr ...

Identity theft can take on many different forms. Some are more noticeable than others. Occasionally, we may run into someone who needed to shut down their website or create a whole new email address due to the fact that an identity theft hacker manage to compromise their website or email address. You may, yourself receive a bounced message that indicates spam was sent using our email address in the “From:” email field. Why are how are email ...

Every day, folks from all walks of life are treated to a variety of so-called “junk mail” flooding their mailboxes. It’s a fact of life and we seem to treat it as a minor inconvenience. But it doesn’t mean that we ignore all of it. We may spy a coupon for our favorite restaurant or a small discount on a brand of detergent that we use. These can be useful, so we save them. The rest will end up in the garbage. But we can also receive a “cust ...

One thing that many homeowners never stop to think of is an attack on their home equity credit line. This begs the question, “Have you checked yours recently?” If you haven’t, then it may be a good idea to do so. You can easily do this through the three main credit reports (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). The FBI warns of increasing line of credit attacks The FBI has recently reported that sneak attacks by identity theft criminals a ...

The next time you get ready to buy that new, faster and more advanced computer, think twice before you throw out your old one. Something that may appear to have no use to you might actually have great potential for identity theft criminals. You could be handing these thieves a veritable gold mine of personal information that can include financial, banking and other sensitive data. New evidence points to an emerging trade backed by disreputable co ...

It goes without saying that the Internet is full of schemes, frauds and all forms of rip-offs designed to steal money from the unsuspecting. Genuine online job opportunities are relatively rare and are usually confined to legitimate outsourcing companies. When an economy experiences a downturn, jobs will be lost. This can lead to desperation on the part of job seekers and an increase in attempts to prey upon those individuals. Even when people are a ...

Vehicle cloning is a growing epidemic in the world of identity theft. In this case, a car or truck is altered in such a way as to take on the identity of a vehicle owned by another individual. The scam begins when thieves steal an SUV or similar high-end vehicle. The vehicle is then taken to a location where a different vehicle identification number (VIN) is attached. The attached VIN would have been removed from a similar vehicle, owned by a differ ...

A new variety of identity theft scam was discovered in Grand Forks, N.D. involving bogus parking tickets. (See: References 1) Computer hackers were able to develop a technique that allowed them to convince a number of shoppers that they had been issued actual parking tickets. These fake parking tickets were placed on the vehicle’s windshields and contained a message that indicated a parking violation had occurred. The motorists were then instructe ...

A growing concern among consumers is the possibility of becoming a victim of identity theft. However, that concern can also work against you, should you become the target of a cyber-criminal’s bid to have you install their scamming software. How the scam works Responsible computer users are well aware of the need to have updated anti-virus and anti-spyware programs installed on their PCs. Without effective programs such as these, a computer ...