Articles and Ideas March, 2009
You may think you're keeping yourself from harm's reach by trashing SPAM and watching your bank account.
But identity theft experts say ID defrauders are smarter than ever about getting what they want—even from savvy citizens.
Find out the steps identity thieves take to steal information...and your best defense against each one.
ID Thieves Know Their Target
Today's “evolved” techno-thief has studied his target and knows exactly what to do to finagle information from a very targeted victim (for example, baby boomers, recent college graduates or single parents). The days of red-eyed hackers weeding through thousands of pieces of data in cyberspace seem to ...
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For some time now we've been reporting that identity theft is going high-tech, with techno-savvy thieves creating more and more ways to target and rob their victims.
As computer-operated machines, ATMs have not been immune. Familiar ways to steal information from ATM cards include withholding and skimming, both of which involve the placement of mechanisms on the machine to read a card's data, and the installation of tiny cameras to watch customers input their PINs.
But now ID thieves have kicked their crooked technology up a notch—by installing a Trojan virus to hack victims' information from the inside.
The Discovery
The hacking was ...
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Almost three quarters of identity theft victims can't pinpoint the source of the crime, says a survey recently released by the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC).
The information was compiled from the input of over 1500 ID theft victims. The survey results were released on Business Wire yesterday.
ITAC representatives said that victims who did know the source cited such examples as a lost or stolen wallet, theft by a friend or relative, computer-related crimes or data breaches, including those by employees.
Of known ID theft sources, friends, relatives and employees topped the list, at 26.5%.
Crimes are Becoming More Targeted
Criminals are honing their ...
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Identity theft can easily lead to credit discrepancies and legal issues.
But respondents to a Nationwide Insurance survey said today's difficult economy is making financial recovery following ID theft much harder than in the past.
Though credit card fraud is often reimbursed following an investigation, debit card theft may not always be, and loan fraud can involve legal fees beyond the victim's means, the survey said.
With salary freezes, layoffs and fewer bonuses, an identity theft victim may be left without the resources to fight thefts made in his name. And this is on top of losses already incurred by the theft ...
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How much does it cost a thief to steal your identity and thousands, tens of thousands or more of your personal assets?
Less than $200, according to a San Francisco-based security expert.
News site KTVU.com interviewed eBay security professional Chris Paget for the chilling low-down on how your passport could potentially lead a victim to your information…and your credit cards.
A Passport to Identity Theft
It sounds like something straight out of science fiction, but Paget told KTVU it’s all true: an individual with the correct (and legally purchased) equipment can drive by and “clone” passport information from unsuspecting individuals.
According to Paget, RFI (radio ...
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Privacy and security research company Ponemon Institute, Michigan, has released a report stating up to 60% of people have admitted to stealing company data upon leaving their jobs.
And it may not be for the reasons that you think.
Perhaps most chillingly of all, companies admit to as much as expecting some degree of data breaches within the organization and that it is “just something they have to live with,” spokespeople told BBC News in a report on the Ponemon findings.
Read on to find out how it's no longer the “big guy” you may need to fear—and how everyday workers are ...
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Generation Y may be the most techno-savvy group to date, but they are also the group most vulnerable ID theft, according to new data.
The FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network report for the calendar year 2008 (see below for link) shows that the 20-29 year old age group was more targeted for network identity theft than any other in 2008, with 25% of such complaints coming from this demographic.
Unfortunately for those fresh out of college, 2008 was the third year in a row that twentysomethings were targeted for a majority of ID theft attempts and successes, the data showed.
In second place ...
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Research company Gartner, Inc., Stamford, CT, released results yesterday of a study that analyzed financial fraud rates in 2008.
The news wasn't good. According to the results of the study, some 7.5% of adults in the U.S. were affected by financial fraud in some way during the past year.
Gartner also said that conviction rates for financial fraud were comparatively low, due in part to about one-third of victims not reporting the crimes—a surprising and discouraging finding.
Unsettling Findings
Gartner surveyed 5000 U.S. adults and, as part of the study, asked about the impact of financial fraud.
Most financial fraud in 2008 occurred in the ...
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It's been done before: con artists are offering “free” software on how to receive government grant checks. According to the come-hither claims, a majority of U.S. citizens qualify for grant checks—we just have to know how to go about getting them.
However, the impact of such bogus sites is bigger than ever in the wake of the development of an actual Washington stimulus package plan. Real government moves (or talk of them) are opening the door for more scam artists than ever, who are using the believability factor—as well as a tough economy—to push their product farther than ever.
Worst of all, ...
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