Comments on: Identity Theft: What Not To Do http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/ standards, accessibility, and ranting and general stuff by the web chemist Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:21:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Steve The Identity Protection Guru http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-22226 Steve The Identity Protection Guru Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:42:33 +0000 http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-22226 "Even more bizarrely, I thought the person was possibly giving away too much information, with all of the following being listed in full" Many of the "best" scams involve people who have created elaborate websites and or using the new and cheap voip phone systems to make them appear like large and legit companies. The best pieces of advice I can give you are the following: 1. If you have never contacted the company before, do not give them personal information. 2. If you have never heard of the company before, do not give them personal information. 3. If they ask you to verify your password or personal information for "security" reasons, do not give it to them. The easiest way to confirm if an email is a scam is that the "to" line will not be addressed directly to you. This is not always the case, but more than 95% of the time, phishing emails (phishing is the attempt to get you to give up your personal information) are sent to huge distrubiton lists. If you don't see your email address in the to line, it is definitely a scam. If someone calls you with some kind of legit sounding offer, ask them for their name, department name, phone number and extention. Most of the time they will hang up immediately. If they give you the information, DO NOT use it. Use your favorite search engine to find the 800 number for the company in question. Call that number and ask for the name of the employee or the extension number. If the person or extension exists, then the offer is legit. If you would like some more information on how to prevent identity theft, I have written a <a href="http://topinternetguides.com/2007/12/10/what-happens-if-your-identity-is-stolen" rel="nofollow">guide for Top Internet Guides.com</a> Thanks, Steve Warshaw [Edited to remove email address] “Even more bizarrely, I thought the person was possibly giving away too much information, with all of the following being listed in full”

Many of the “best” scams involve people who have created elaborate websites and or using the new and cheap voip phone systems to make them appear like large and legit companies.

The best pieces of advice I can give you are the following:

1. If you have never contacted the company before, do not give them personal information.

2. If you have never heard of the company before, do not give them personal information.

3. If they ask you to verify your password or personal information for “security” reasons, do not give it to them.

The easiest way to confirm if an email is a scam is that the “to” line will not be addressed directly to you. This is not always the case, but more than 95% of the time, phishing emails (phishing is the attempt to get you to give up your personal information) are sent to huge distrubiton lists. If you don’t see your email address in the to line, it is definitely a scam.

If someone calls you with some kind of legit sounding offer, ask them for their name, department name, phone number and extention. Most of the time they will hang up immediately. If they give you the information, DO NOT use it. Use your favorite search engine to find the 800 number for the company in question. Call that number and ask for the name of the employee or the extension number. If the person or extension exists, then the offer is legit.

If you would like some more information on how to prevent identity theft, I have written a guide for Top Internet Guides.com

Thanks,
Steve Warshaw

[Edited to remove email address]

]]> By: ThePickards » Blog Archive » Is It Time To Teach Cynicism In Schools? http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-16045 ThePickards » Blog Archive » Is It Time To Teach Cynicism In Schools? Sat, 14 Jul 2007 09:01:45 +0000 http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-16045 [...] there was the story of the bizarre spam on AccessifyForum, where someone claiming to be looking for work seemed to think it necessary to post his name, [...] […] there was the story of the bizarre spam on AccessifyForum, where someone claiming to be looking for work seemed to think it necessary to post his name, […]

]]> By: Seb Crump http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-15995 Seb Crump Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:15:42 +0000 http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200707/identity-theft-what-not-to-do/#comment-15995 I'm glad you go the bank to at least pretend to be interested and take details (the way banks are treating people's data these days I'm sceptical they will do anything about it). When we started getting letters addressed to someone who didn't live in the next door flat (it's been empty since it was built 5 years ago) from the bank that clearly said payment overdue warning of court action through the plastic address window, I tried calling the bank in question to let them know someone may be trying to defraud them. They were not at all interested. They kept on send more and more letters and eventually we started getting debt collection and solicitors letter too, despite more futile attempts to stem the flow. Apparently, because of the Data Protection Act, they have to keep automatically sending letters and cannot do anything about it. Complete waste of paper, postage, etc. I’m glad you go the bank to at least pretend to be interested and take details (the way banks are treating people’s data these days I’m sceptical they will do anything about it).

When we started getting letters addressed to someone who didn’t live in the next door flat (it’s been empty since it was built 5 years ago) from the bank that clearly said payment overdue warning of court action through the plastic address window, I tried calling the bank in question to let them know someone may be trying to defraud them. They were not at all interested. They kept on send more and more letters and eventually we started getting debt collection and solicitors letter too, despite more futile attempts to stem the flow. Apparently, because of the Data Protection Act, they have to keep automatically sending letters and cannot do anything about it. Complete waste of paper, postage, etc.

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