The Lowdown on Identity Theft from a Former Fraudster
By now, you’ve already heard about the dangers of sharing your personal usernames, passwords, and credit card information online without protection. But sometimes, it takes reading about how easily identity theft and credit card fraud are perpetrated to get an idea of what you’re truly up against. You may want to upgrade your efforts after reading what a former fraudster accomplished with just a little research.
Phishing for Your Information
Phishing, an Internet crime that sends fraudulent, but official looking emails from banking institutions and credit card companies, is a favorite among criminals according to this former scammer. By simply sending an email to a large number of recipients, he was always able to get large numbers of victims to respond with their account information. He would simply tell them that their credit card account had been fraudulently accessed and needed their account number and password to begin an official investigation. He also would send out fraudulent emails telling people that they were owed money, and only needed their bank account information to deposit their inheritance or large refund. When people are offered free money, they sometimes don’t think before they respond. From there, he would create fake credit cards or drain entire balances from their bank accounts. In his words, “it is still ridiculously easy to do.”
Additional Information that may surprise you:
- There are people everywhere who are looking to get your information: While the biggest threat to your accounts lies in the online world, cases have been found in the retail and restaurant industries, where employees have been known to write down their patrons credit card numbers, expiration dates, and secret CSV codes (the number on the back of your credit card, usually 3 digits) to sell the information to would be credit card thieves. When paying with a credit card in any establishment, you should always be able to see what the server or employee is doing with your card. If you’re in a restaurant, pay up front instead of letting the server leave with your card.
- Thieves prefer no limit cards: It’s obvious that any thief would want the most bang for “your” buck, so American Express cards and those that are known to provide unlimited access to credit are the most desirable. Be careful with all your cards, but be very diligent with “no limit” cards.
- It’s relatively easy to get your email address…and more: There’s software that allows you to harvest email address from anyone who has posted them online. When this former scammer was targeting a specific group, he’d try to find email addresses for that group. For a PayPal scam, he tried to find people around his age or younger, so he targeted colleges and universities. As part of his scam, he’d get their date of birth, address, Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Then, he’d make a fake ID that had all accurate information on it. The only thing that wouldn’t be real would be the picture. It’s kind of scary how much information he could get individuals to reveal via phishing scams based solely on getting their email address.
What other mistakes do people make?
With the Internet as our primary tool to communicate, get news, and do personal business, unsecure Wi-Fi hotspots are emerging as the new place for cyberthieves to get a lot of information about you.
Each time you access a Wi-Fi hotspot at a restaurant, airport, or shopping center, you are putting all your Internet activities out on the open web. Because hotspots are used by so many people as a convenient, on-the-go way to access the Internet, no password information is required. That means that anyone can watch everything you do online, including all of the keystrokes you input when you are accessing your credit card accounts or banking institutions. And, you’ll never know that they have your information until it is too late.
Update Your Arsenal to Keep Yourself Secure
Being responsible with your accounts means more than protecting yourself from overdrafts, it means truly understanding that thieves are waiting for your missteps. Be diligent with your credit card and banking information, and make sure that you understand that none of your true financial institutions would ever ask you for your personal account numbers and passwords in an email. If you get one of these emails, contact your bank immediately, or go into a branch to alert them of this scam.
Next, to add an extra layer of security to your online activities and financial transactions, subscribe to a service that keeps all your online activities private and anonymous. By doing so, you will ensure that no one can see your personal account information when you are accessing your accounts from ANY Internet connection. A service such as Anonymizer Universal is ideal, and can be used on a Mac or PC, or for mobile Internet activities on your iPhone.
Stay safe and be aware, and let the Internet be your friend.