The best way to avoid being scammed this year is to avoid giving out your personal information to anyone who may be soliciting it. Whether it is through email, phone, voice or text -don't assume people are who they say they are!
January is Financial Awareness Month and a great time to act on your new year's financial resolutions. One step you should consider is figuring out your plan of action should you learn your information has been stolen or compromised.
Remember, the best way to prevent an identity theft -is to plan for one! Would you know who to call if your wallet went suddenly missing? Do you have a plan of action?
Also it's important to stay on top of your credit reports. One in four have errors that could cause you to pay higher interest rates and higher insurance premiums.
Order your free annual credit reports from the official place.
You can either call the automated toll-free line at 877-322-8228 or order them at annualcreditreport.com (but be watchful of your spelling, or you may be taken to a fake site)
Also take the time to review your credit card statements and bank accounts. Stay informed of the latest scams, as knowledge is power. You can search here and find info on various scams!
Some of the same old scams are circulating -with new twists;
Twitter Scam
Users of the popular social networking site Twitter have been warned to look out for a scam that is intended to steal the user's login and password details.
The scam starts with a direct message appearing in a user's Twitter account, urging them to check out another site - a scam message such as "hey! check out this funny blog about you..." is pretty common.
Click on the link provided and you'll be taken to a screen that looks a lot like a Twitter login screen but is actually a trap.
Twitter has now posted a number of blogs on the scam and had one crucial piece of advice for users who are worried about the integrity of their information in this post: "If this has you feeling a bit weirded out, feel free to change your Twitter password."
Here's a screen shot of the bogus screen.
*************************************************
Credit Union Scam
The Cape Regional Credit Union is warning members of an e-mail identity theft scam. But please beware that scammers have been using various credit union names -and sending throughout the web. They hope that their email lands in someone's in box who has an account with that particular credit union -and then falls for their scam.
The scam email reports that the email recipients bank card has been deactivated. The fraudulent e-mail states that "for your security, the card and PIN have been disabled." They provide a phone number -urging you to call in order to reactivate your card. Don' t fall for it.
Here's more on this scam.
*******************************************
LifeLock warns of Copy-Cat Scam
LifeLock prides itself on educating consumers about the dangers of identity theft and what scams are often used to obtain money or personal information.
Now LifeLock is issuing a warning to consumers about criminals scamming consumers by posing to be real companies, including LifeLock.
A telemarketing scam has recently come to LifeLock's attention, and now the company wants the general public to understand that the most common scenario is:
* A senior citizen receiving a phone call from an unknown individual, pretending to be a LifeLock related company;
* The unidentified individual falsely tells the senior citizen that his/her personal information can easily be found on the Internet;
* The unidentified individual scares the senior citizen into providing bank account/debit card information and authorizing the transaction to allegedly provide a solution;
LifeLock representatives will never call consumers at home or sell anything that is not available on the company website.
Anyone who may have had an experience similar to that listed above should contact the company at 1-800-LIFELOCK.
January is Financial Awareness Month and a great time to act on your new year's financial resolutions. One step you should consider is figuring out your plan of action should you learn your information has been stolen or compromised.
Remember, the best way to prevent an identity theft -is to plan for one! Would you know who to call if your wallet went suddenly missing? Do you have a plan of action?
Also it's important to stay on top of your credit reports. One in four have errors that could cause you to pay higher interest rates and higher insurance premiums.
Order your free annual credit reports from the official place.
You can either call the automated toll-free line at 877-322-8228 or order them at annualcreditreport.com (but be watchful of your spelling, or you may be taken to a fake site)
Also take the time to review your credit card statements and bank accounts. Stay informed of the latest scams, as knowledge is power. You can search here and find info on various scams!
Some of the same old scams are circulating -with new twists;
Twitter Scam
Users of the popular social networking site Twitter have been warned to look out for a scam that is intended to steal the user's login and password details.
The scam starts with a direct message appearing in a user's Twitter account, urging them to check out another site - a scam message such as "hey! check out this funny blog about you..." is pretty common.
Click on the link provided and you'll be taken to a screen that looks a lot like a Twitter login screen but is actually a trap.
Twitter has now posted a number of blogs on the scam and had one crucial piece of advice for users who are worried about the integrity of their information in this post: "If this has you feeling a bit weirded out, feel free to change your Twitter password."
Here's a screen shot of the bogus screen.
*************************************************
Credit Union Scam
The Cape Regional Credit Union is warning members of an e-mail identity theft scam. But please beware that scammers have been using various credit union names -and sending throughout the web. They hope that their email lands in someone's in box who has an account with that particular credit union -and then falls for their scam.
The scam email reports that the email recipients bank card has been deactivated. The fraudulent e-mail states that "for your security, the card and PIN have been disabled." They provide a phone number -urging you to call in order to reactivate your card. Don' t fall for it.
Here's more on this scam.
*******************************************
LifeLock warns of Copy-Cat Scam
LifeLock prides itself on educating consumers about the dangers of identity theft and what scams are often used to obtain money or personal information.
Now LifeLock is issuing a warning to consumers about criminals scamming consumers by posing to be real companies, including LifeLock.
A telemarketing scam has recently come to LifeLock's attention, and now the company wants the general public to understand that the most common scenario is:
* A senior citizen receiving a phone call from an unknown individual, pretending to be a LifeLock related company;
* The unidentified individual falsely tells the senior citizen that his/her personal information can easily be found on the Internet;
* The unidentified individual scares the senior citizen into providing bank account/debit card information and authorizing the transaction to allegedly provide a solution;
LifeLock representatives will never call consumers at home or sell anything that is not available on the company website.
Anyone who may have had an experience similar to that listed above should contact the company at 1-800-LIFELOCK.
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
SUBSCRIBE
CONTACT
Leave a comment