January 19, 2009 | Filed Under Personal Finance | No comments
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I’m at a loss for words here. As you may have noticed I’ve lost most of my recent posts (within the past month and a half) due to some wordpress malfunctions and a little bit of being too hasty on my part. I am really bummed about losing so much of my hard work so I am asking (nay, begging) you to check and see if you have any of my recent posts in your browser cache or if you subscribe to Debit versus Credit if you could PLEASE PLEASE send me any and all posts you can find from Dec 1st up to yesterday (Jan 18th).
My e-mail address is joseph[at]DebitversusCredit[dot]com. Replacing the bracketed words of course with their respective symbols. Thank you so much for any help you can provide!
November 27, 2008 | Filed Under Personal Finance | 1 comment
Yesterday in the post Identity Theft is No Laughing Matter I shared some basic information with you about identity theft. Today I’d like to take this one step further and educate you on some specific scams used to obtain your personal information. My hope is that by educating you on these scams you’ll be less likely to become a victim.
The Jury Duty Scam
You’re sitting at home enjoying your Thanksgiving dinner when the phone rings. You answer it and the person on the other end of the line is claiming to be a court worker and is telling you that you failed to report for jury duty and a warrant has been issued for your arrest. Naturally you’re skeptical and you tell the person on the other line that you never received a jury duty notification. The scammer then asks for confidential information in order to verify that you are who you say you are (how ironic is this?). This information usually includes your social security number, your birthdate and can often include credit card numbers as well, which is exactly what a criminal needs in order to commit identity theft.
Phishing
According to the dictionary, Phishing is “the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company.” Phishing is widely used to try to gain account information for banks and other financial institutions. I personally get phishing e-mails from banks that I’ve never even held an account at. A great rule of thumb to avoid being phished is that a legitimate company will NEVER ask you to verify your account information through an e-mail (and likewise over the phone).
If It Sounds Too Good To Be True… It Is
There’s a simple rule to remember when it comes to protecting your identity and, by extension, your financial well-being. If it sounds too good to be true then it definitely is. No legitimate company will send you an e-mail asking for you to verify your identity. No entrepreneur in Nigeria wants to send you money.
Let’s wrap this up with a few links to some documented scams: e-mail scammers, Gmail phishing attempt, PayPal phishing guide.
This post was written in response to the Spend on Life Credit Blogging Scholarship. If you’re a student with a blog and would like the chance to win a $2,000 dollar scholarship check out the Spend on Life Blogging Scholarship!
Tags: Identity Theft, Phishing Scams
November 26, 2008 | Filed Under Personal Finance | 1 comment
While watching The Office the other day I saw an episode where Jim, the office prankster, comes in dressed like Dwight, an annoying paper salesman. At first Dwight doesn’t realize that Jim is making fun of him, but after Jim starts to argue with Dwight about bears (Dwight’s favorite animal), he becomes enraged and shouts, “Identity theft is not a joke, Jim!”
While I hate to admit that Dwight may be right about something, he brings up an important point. Identity theft is not a joke - in fact it is a very serious problem that can have significant ramifications for those who have had their identities stolen.
What is identity theft?
Identity theft can be defined as a type of fraud where the criminal pretends to be someone other than himself with the intent of personal gain. One of the most common types of identity theft is financial identity theft, which is the act of using another’s identity to obtain goods and services.
A classic example of financial identity theft is bank fraud, where the criminal uses a fraudulently obtained social security number, address and other forms of identification to apply for a loan under the victim’s name. Once the criminal has received the proceeds from the loan he disappears, leaving behind a fraudulent loan on his victim’s credit and a serious headache.
Preventing identity theft
The easiest way to prevent identity theft is to never share your personal information with anyone that you don’t trust. While there have been many cases where personal information has been sold by a corporation’s disgruntled employee, most often criminals come into contact with sensitive materials through other means, such as:
- Stealing mail
- Retrieving information from old discarded computers
- Pickpocketing
- Hacking
- Digging through rubbish bins
Identity theft is a growing problem in today’s increasingly electronic world. It’s important that you learn how to protect your identity so you don’t end up paying thousands of dollars out of your own pocket trying to restore your (once good) name. Now that you know a little bit more about identity theft it’s time to take a look at a few common identity theft scams.
This post was written in response to the Spend on Life Credit Blogging Scholarship. If you’re a student with a blog and would like the chance to win a $2,000 dollar scholarship check out the Spend on Life Blogging Scholarship!
Tags: Identity Theft, The Office
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