10 Tips to Protect Yourself from On-line Scams During this Holiday Season

News Channel 10 Has Put Out a Holiday Alert:
“ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF SCAMS”
Online shopping has become a lot more popular with working people and those who do not like to fight the crowds. More than half the consumers are expected to shop online for holiday gifts. This year 26% more folks will be shopping online than last year. However, online shoppers are at risk for scams and identity theft during this holiday season. Internet fraud cost about $340 million last year.
e.Week.com reports that online fraud depends on an offline component – people who launder money. National and International Cybercriminals first use online Trojan Horse Viruses to gain access to your bank account and credit card numbers and passwords. A Trojan Horse Virus works by hiding in a seemingly acceptable program and makes you think that there is nothing wrong with it. It will then steal your personal information and send it to an internet server designed by the cybercriminal, thereby gaining control over your computer which will eventually crash. Trojan Horse Viruses are difficult to remove.
After your information is stolen, Money Mules, people who think they have legitimate jobs as salesmen, private financial receivers, or shipping managers, are recruited. Their job is to transfer illegal funds from your credit card and bank accounts to websites or wholesale product distribution services owned by the criminals. In this way anti-fraud systems are avoided.
10 Steps to Protect Yourself from Online Scams:
1. Don’t let your guard down when shopping online. Do business with companies you know.
2. Make sure the company is secure by noting whether the Web address starts with http://.
3. Check for the padlock icon on the bottom of the browser. Click on the icon and you should see the site address. It should match the address on the top of the page. If they don’t match, it could be a fraudulent website.
4. Avoid shopping on sites that don’t have a bright green banner in the address bar when you are checking out. The green banner indicates that the site meets the industry standard for online safety.
5. Keep printouts of the web page describing the item you ordered, the price you paid, any email messages, and the page that shows the seller’s name, address, and telephone number.
6. Make sure all your security software is updated before you do shopping online. These include antivirus software, antispyware, and firewalls.
7. Be proactive in looking for the best kinds of computer protection. You need industrial grade security software rather than over-the-counter or freeware products to block the Trojan Horse Virus before it can steal your personal information.
8. Most of the common hassles and headaches that come with being infected with Trojan Horse Viruses are eliminated.
9. A personal computer service will make your experience on the computer fun, productive and hassle-free.

10. You should seriously consider considering having industrial grade software and a personal computer service where a team of trained professionals constantly keep your computer protected and manage everything for you. The service includes security checkups, system cleanups, and online repair. Freeware and traditional over-the-counter computer protection products do not provide this type of service.

When you have industrial grade software that bypasses the Windows’ operating system and blocks trojan horses, viruses, spyware, and malware from entering your computer along with a personal computer service, you can safely shop online and enjoy this holiday season.

10 Tips to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft During the Holidays

10 Tips to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft During The Holidays

The Identity Theft Resource Center has put out a Holiday Alert:
“IDENTITY THIEVES DON’T TAKE A HOLIDAY”

The ITRC reports that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the biggest shopping season of the year. They remind us to take extra precautions against identity theft. Credit card companies offer us new cards. We get mail from stores with discounted products. Charities are asking for donations. Shopping environments are crowded, and conditions are ripe for thieves to steal our identities. No one is immune-from birth to beyond death. About 10 million people have their identities stolen each year.

Follow these 10 Steps to Safeguard Your Identity:

1. Guard Your Social Security Number as if it were cash. If it is lost, contact the Social Security Administration at www.ssa.gov or 1-800-772-1213 to get a new one. However, reporting a lost card will not prevent misuse.
2. You will need a service that monitors your social security number daily to check if an identity thief is using it, contacts the necessary agencies, and fills out all the paperwork to help you restore your identity to pre theft status.
3. Check your bank and credit card accounts. If you notice something suspicious, contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately.
4. Never give personal or financial information over the telephone.
5. Leave your checkbook at home as it has information identity thieves want, e.g. name, address, telephone number, and routing and account numbers on it.
6. Carry your money and credit cards securely. Women should not leave their purses open or unattended, and men should not carry their wallets in their back pockets.
7. Be aware of your surroundings. Go to a brightly lit ATM, shield your transactions with your body, and if you see an odd looking gadget attached to the ATM use another machine.
8. Protect your credit card receipts. Don’t let store clerks staple them to bags, rip up carbon copies, and don’t put them in trash cans for identity thieves to get.
9. Protect yourself against credit card skimming when a store clerk or waitress slides your credit card through a second machine and downloads it onto a counterfeit card.
10. Be extra careful when it comes to mail. Lock your mailbox. If monthly bills haven’t arrived on time, contact the issuer and the post office. Mail bills at the post office at the end of the day. When you go away, hold your mail at the post office, and shred any credit card offers that aren’t wanted.
Following these simple tips can help you avoid being a victim of Identity Theft this holiday season. Being safe and secure helps ensure a stress free holiday.

College Students Are At Risk for Identity Theft

Phillip Kuhlman reports in the Devil's Tale that Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the country and college students are very much at risk.

Jeri Ledford from About.com describes how identity thieves steal student's identities:

• 40% of college students receive multiple pre-approved credit card offers that are usually partially filled out with the recipient's name, address, and other personal data. 30% throw the form into the trash without destroying them. An identity thief can take it out of the trash can, fill in the rest of the blanks, and call the toll free phone number provided on the form, thereby stealing the student's identity.
• 30% of college students do not balance their checking and savings account statements. They are not aware of legitimate or fraudulent charges that shows that a thief has been withdrawing money in small amounts from their accounts. In time, this builds up to large amounts of money.
• Most college students use their computers to access on-line banking, pay bills, order merchandise, do social networking, and communicate in every area of their lives. Lax computer security puts them at risk of having their identities stolen.
• Many college courses require that students use their social security numbers to log into websites that are used to post homework assignments or other course communications, and 48% of grades are posted by social security numbers. If a thief watches the student enter his/her social security number or looks at the posted grades, the thief can gain access to that number along with a lot more personal information about the student.
• Many students use laptops in class to take notes and organize coursework documents. If the laptop is stolen, the thief will find their personal information.
• Students are at risk of having their wallets, purses, or backpacks stolen in a dorm room or at a party and their identities are then stolen.

If a student's identity is stolen, he/she has to clear up the mess. It's almost as if they have been assaulted as it can be a long and tedious process to rebuild one's identity.

The Federal Trade Commission provides 4 basic steps to take if you become a victim of identity theft:

1. Call a Fraud Alert to the three consumer reporting companies - Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. A fraud alert stays on your credit report for 90 days and can keep an identity thief from setting up new credit card accounts in the student's name.
2. Close breached accounts. It is better to do it in person, rather than on-line or via e-mail. Write to bank and credit card companies to create a paper trail. Supply each company with copies of supporting documents and send them by certified mail. Request a return receipt to have a record of when each company received the written documents.
3. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Fill out an on-line complaint form or call the FTC Identity Theft Hotline at (877) 438-4338.
4. File a report with the police in the area where the theft took place. Tell the police you want to file an identity theft report. If you can't do it in person, ask if you can place the report over the phone or on-line. If the police seem reluctant, ask them to fill out a Miscellaneous Incident Report.

Does it seem realistic that a college student who is in the middle of taking tests or writing term papers has the time to do all this?

A better way is for the student or his/her family to have an Identity Protection Service that includes the student and helps restore his/her identity to pretheft status. This Identity Protection Service provides:

• An affordable Expense Reimbursement Insurance Policy to cover the costs of repairing the student's identity.
• Monitoring of National Databases.
• Staff at the Service immediately notify the student if his/her identity has been stolen, unlike banks and credit card companies who let you know a month later.
• A professional team calls the agencies and does all the paper work.
• The team works together with law enforcement to find the thief and put him/her in jail

Now students and their parents can feel safe. They can feel secure that if the student's identity has been stolen, there is help to get it back.

What You Can Do If Your Medical Identity Has Been Stolen

According to the American Health Information Management Association, medical identity theft accounts for 3% of all identity theft crimes. 250,000 people a year have their medical identities stolen. Those particularly at risk are the elderly, newborns, minors, people on registries e.g. cancer registry, individuals with developmental disabilities, and dead people.

The major question is: What happens when a medical identity thief uses your name, social security number, and medical insurance information to get services from doctors, emergency rooms, and pharmacies? The answer is a false medical record is created in your name. When you go to get medical services, your treatment is now based on the thief's blood type, allergies, prescription drug use, and a history of his/her diseases, and you could die.

If you live, your life becomes a nightmare as it is difficult to get your medical identity back. You can't even get a copy of your medical records as your information is mixed in with the thief's information. The federal law known as Hipaa (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulates that the thief's medical information must be kept confidential.

Ten Steps to Get Your Medical Record Corrected:

1. Contact the health information manager or the anti-fraud hotline of the health plan where the medical identity theft occured.
2. Request a copy of your medical records.
3. Work with the health plan to stop the flow of incorrect information and correct the existing inaccurate health record entries.
4. File a police report.
5. File a complaint with the attorney general.
6. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse.
7. Contact the Department of Health and Human Services for Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
   
8. Check with state authorities for resources.
9. Review health records to make sure they have been corrected before prior to seeking new healthcare insurance.
10. Change all personal identification numbers and passwords.

It can take years to correct your record using these methods. It must be done on a case-by-case basis as the thief's medical information may be hidden in complex payment systems, databases, and medical records of healthcare providers and insurance companies. Until such time as all your records are corrected, you could be denied additional health, disability, or life insurance, and your credit could be ruined.

I want to share with you the way I protect my medical identity. I just love having an Identity Protection Service as it monitors my social security number and medical insurance information every day for medical fraud, insurance records, and criminal records. Should my medical identity be stolen, a team of professionals will help me correct it.

Check List to Determine Whether an Identity Protection Service Would be Good For You:

• Would you like to quickly know if your identity theft has been stolen?
• Would you like a professional team to help you recover your identity?
• Would you like the team to call the agencies and do the paper work for you?
• Would you like your family to be protected?
• Would you like to have an affordable Expense Reimbursement Insurance Policy?

It would be my pleasure to share with you a safe and secure way to live and be healthy without stress and fear.

How European Cyber-Gangs Target Small and Mid-Sized Businesses

Brian Krebs, a Washington Post writer, reports that The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry group created to share data about threats to the financial sector, received alerts that European Cyber-Gangs set off a multi-million dollar crime wave by stealing from small and mid-sized U.S. companies. Until six months ago, cyber-gangs weren't noticed because the businesses were small and mid-sized.

Significant increases in funds transfers involved the exploitation of valid banking credentials belonging to these businesses. Cyber-gangs sent emails to controller or treasurers with a message that contained malicious software designed to steal passwords. They then used the passwords to send wire transfers in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid banks' anti-money-laundering reporting requirements. More than 100 billion spam messages are sent out each day by zombie computers.

Cyber-gangs are cashing in because of the economic downturn. Americans are turning to the Internet to look for jobs. The cybercriminals advertise jobs on the internet. Unsuspecting people accept these job. However, their real job is being a "money-mule" who launders stolen funds. They steal customer account information, set up fraudulent bank accounts, make unauthorized, and wire the money to the crooks.

Mules are a necessary part of cybercrime operations as monies transferred to a criminal's account is easily traced by banks and law enforcement. Since it is the mules who are laundering the monies, they get caught and convicted, not the cyber-kingpins as there is a significant lack of training and understanding in digital forensics, evidence collection as well as in the law courts.

The FBI is working on the problem. Shawn Henry of the FBI Cyber Crime Unit calls cybercrime "the most critical threat to our way of life other than weapons of mass destruction." The greatest challenge in the battle for winning the war on cybercrime is keeping up with the sheer volume of attacks. Hackers find new ways of getting around safeguards put in place. Therefore, it is very important to have multiple layers of defense to protect yourself from cybercriminals.

Check List to Survive on the Internet:

1. Professional Grade Software that bypasses the Windows Operating System.
2. Daily scans that detect and remove malware before it harms your computer.
3. A combination of anti-virus+anti-spyware.
4. Anti-rootkit technology that keeps hackers out of the back of your computer.
5. A monitored firewall.
6. A team of techs to keep your computer clean and running well.

Computer security is essential to survive on the Internet. Search for the best, but having a team of techs along with great software is the best protection from cyber-gangs.

Who Caused the Twitter Attack?

On 8/6/09 the an alarm rang that Twitter had been hit by a large attack and was not working for several hours,followed by a period of slowness and sporadic time-outs. It was so large that Twitter didn't even know it was under attack until it crashed. This was called a Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack (DDoS). It came from infected computers from all over the world. They were zombie computers and were used by hackers and cybercriminals to cause trouble.

Graham Cluley, a technology consultant at Sophos, explained in an article by C. McCarthy in CNET News, that DDoS attacks come from millions of compromised computers. Some of these computers belonged to people with Twitter accounts. Because they either did not install or update their security software, visited risque sites, or downloaded music and movies from unsecure sites, their computers had become zombie computers.

During the DDoS attack, zombie computers were used to inundate Twitter servers with communication requests. It was difficult for Twitter to deal with the attack because it was hard to distinguish legitimate Twitter communications from communications that were part of the attack. They did not want to block access from IP addresses as many of the zombie computers that was sending traffic to Twitter belonged to law abiding people.

The question is "Who Caused the Twitter Attack?" There are several possibilities:

1. Paul Henry, a security analyst, explained that it happened at the same time as the Hacker Convention where a new version of malware, that was found on Twitter messages, was introduced.
2. A European Blogger believes that a foreign country was behind the attack because such a large attack could only be organized by somewith huge resources.
3. According to a spokeswoman at Facebook, the attack might have been directed at an individual who had a presence on a number of sites, rather than the sites themselves.
4. So many Twitters did not have adequate security on their computers and were zombie computers that they made it easy for a hacker to attack Twitter

We can all learn from the Twitter attack how important it is to install security software on our computers and continuously undate and upgrade them. This will keep them safe and secure and not put Twitter or any other site at risk of being attacked.

I can identify with those who had no security on their computers. I once was like you, but then my computer started to slow down. I met someone who told me he could help. I took a test and found out that 7,500 malicious codes were on my computer. I immediately enrolled for personal computer services. A team of techs cleaned up my computer and installed professional grade software on it. I now occasionally call them if I have any computer related issues.

Check List for a Safe and Secure Computer With the Following:

• Alerts of unexpected events that could harm your computer.
• Daily scans that detect and remove malware before it harms your computer.
• The latest security updates.
• A protected computer with a combination of antivirus+antispyware.
• Have the holes in back of your computer closed up so hackers can't get in.
• Critical data and sensitive information protected from being compromised or modified.
• Your organization's computing assets protected from loss and/or damage from network attacks.
  
• A firewall that is monitored.
• Fully protected emails and attachments.
• Improved performance of your computer.

Was your computer one of the zombie computers that contributed to the attack? Even if it wasn't, are you sure it won't be in the future? Click on the Twitter icon to learn how to protect your computer from cybercriminals.

How Social Networking Websites Have Become A New Battlegroud for Cybercrime

Originally, social networking websites such as Twitter, Face Book, My Space, and Linked in were considered to be one of the most remarkable technological phenomena of the 21st century and a great tool to allow like-minded people to interact with each other.

However, the European Commission has singled out social networking websites as potentially dangerous. It was recently predicted that social networking websites will soon become the most dangerous places on the Internet, where users are most likely to face cyber attacks and digital annoyances. They will become the main battleground for cybercriminals and identity thieves.

Twitter. a social networking site with 44 million people, has had several attacks. In April 2009 a phishing campaign sent you to a website that stole your user name and password. Staff from Twitter said it was due to a basic vulnerability. Holes like these were found on Face Book and My Space in the past.

On August 6, 2009, Twitter was shut down for hours by cybercriminals. It was described as a Denial of Service Attack, affecting millions of Tweeters. Zombie computers from all over the world had attacked Twitter. It was a complete blackout and was due to SABOTAGE.

A man with a Face Book account was recently hacked. A message was placed on his site stating that he was away from home, had lost his wallet, and requesting money. When he realized that he had been hacked, he contacted Face Book. It took them 5 hours to close his account. During that time, his friends sent $3,000 to the cybercriminal.

Another way that hackers steal your identity is by building fake YouTube Pages with an error message claiming the video you want won't play without your installing new software. When you click on the error message, a virus is put on your computer. Once infected, the hacker then redirects you to a real YouTube page to see the videos you wanted to see - and hides the crime.

Always be on Guard to Protect Yourself on Social Networking Sites and Win the War on Cybercrime. Make sure the URL for the sign up page is correct. If the URL doesn't look right leave the web site and contact the social network. Forward phishing emails to space@uce.gov. If you believe you have been scammed by cybercriminals, file a complaint at www.ftc.gov.

Install a combination of antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit, anti-malware and other security technologies along with a bi-directional firewall for superior PC and email protection.

Educate others. Make sure they understand how serious the situation is and how to protect themselves from cybercrime. Tell them they need a managed internet security system with a personal team of techs that takes care of their computer and security problems by phone or remote internet access.
Identity theft, the cybercrime of this century, has become the fastest growing white collar crime in the world and affects us all. It doesn't matter where you live, how much you protect your personal or business information, or how careful you are. Identity theft is an equal opportunity crime with the ability to hurt everyone.