Identity Theft, Phishing, Vishing; How to Recognize and Bust it!
With the increasing popularity of social networks, online shopping, and the rise of technology it makes sense that scams, fraud, and identity theft are at an all time high.
Today, the use of these popular tools in your everyday life at home and in your business is important and in most cases it’s imperative. Take the opportunity right now to explore and learn a few simple ways in which you can protect your personal, business, and family information and learn how you can report these types of scams.
First, lets take a look at some of the terms that are used to describe crimes involving your identity and personal information:
- Identity theft; the vital information that identity thieves need to obtain includes your name, address, date of birth, social insurance number, and mother’s maiden name. Once this information is in their possession then they can proceed to access and transfer funds from your bank accounts, apply for loans, credit cards, and try to purchase big ticket items such as cars and even take vacations.
- Phishing; is when someone sends an email claiming to be a legitimate organization such as a financial institute or Paypal. They will try to convince you that you need to send them your personal information in order to confirm your account or something to that effect.
- Vishing; also called voice phishing is when someone uses VOIP technology to create an automated phone message claiming to be a legitimate organization. The message will usually ask you to punch numbers into your keypad to confirm or verify your personal information. The criminal will then be able to translate these keytone’s into usable information.
Now, lets look at some easy ways in which you can prevent these crimes:
- Credit cards; sign, report stolen when lost, check credit card statement regularly, and never lend anyone your card.
- Telephone; never provide personal information to anyone who calls you over the telephone.
- Mail; don’t respond to surveys, prizes, special promotions offering awards in exchange for personal information.
- ABM; never leave your banking or credit card receipt anywhere.
- Correspondence; invest in a shredder and destroy all pre-approved credit cards, utility bills, and everything with your personal information.
- Writing lists; avoid writing down a list of your personal information such as SSN, SIN, PIN numbers, computer passwords etc..
Finally, bust it:
- Phone Busters (Canada)
- RECOL.ca (Canada)
- Fair Trade Commission, FTC (US)
- Internet Crime Complaint Center (US)
- Comprehensive Global List
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