Can You Identify The Most Common Identity Theft Scams
There are many different identity theft scams that we are faced with. Part of keeping you’re your id, your money, and your credit safe is to know what scams are most common.
There are many different fraud scams and identity theft scams, so many that they all begin to blur after awhile. It’s important that you can identify the most common online identity theft scams.
The Nigerian fraud scam is one most of use have been exposed to at one time or another. This is the one where a wealthy foreigner emails you to tell you that they need to move millions of dollars out of the country and for your help they’ll pay you a nice percentage as a reward. But before long they’ll be complications, officials to pay off, and so forth, which you will be asked to, pay all the while dangling a large carrot of a sizable fortune. Who falls for this scam are those that are greedy, naive, or suckers. Remember if it sounds too good to be true it is. An awareness of other similar type scams would be wise.
Website spoofing involves a site that has been designed to look like that of a legitimate site like credit card or bank, but really, it has been created by a scammer in an effort to collect personal information from the visitors that come to the site. Once the scammer collects the information it can be used for id theft, to create fraud using credit cards information collected. The message here is be sure that you are on the site you think you are.
Phishing is another way of collecting personal information. This is accomplished by sending out an email that requests a password or personal information, and it indicates it’s urgent. It’s similar to website spoofing but it’s a scam accomplished through email.
Today there is a lot of fraud that also occurs over the telephone requesting personal information such as Sin numbers or passwords. Other scams involve moneymaking schemes, and often the promise of big cash prizes. It will help to remember that if you need to give them money it’s not a prize.
It’s important to remember that you should keep your information secure and not share it with any source that you are unsure of. Online never provide your password or credit card information unless you are sure about the site you are on, never follow a link in an email, and remember if it sounds too good to be true it is.
