Identity Theft is when a person assumes the identity of another for immoral or illegal reasons. It can occur through the theft of personal information such as your date of birth, social security number, alien registration number, bank account number, loan information and account numbers or by the theft of your photographs and life history to include family members, employment information and background. This type of crime presents more risk than any other as it takes an instant for it to happen and a “lifetime” to unravel. Time, frustration, expense, denial of credit, and emotional distress are horrific. As the legal entities chase the offenders there will always be those inventing new methods of operation and if you will, “building a better mousetrap.” 

Scams are just another way, criminal minds have found to victimize men, women and businesses worldwide.   Scammers use the emotions and hearts of relationship seekers to relieve them of their hard earned savings.  The sob stories and excuses chisel away at emotions and susceptibility falls prey to the thieves of hearts through gifts, money and years of financial support.  

Consider this:

• The average identity theft victim spends 175 hours over two years to clear their good name.  (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse).)
• Identity theft represents the #1 consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission   (Federal Trade Commission)
• Over 1 million people will have their identities stolen this year.  That’s roughly one identity stolen every 32 seconds!  (Identity Fraud, Inc.)
• 5.5% of Americans have already fallen victim to identity fraud.  That’s 1 out of every 20!  (Star Systems)

Encrypted viruses in pixels in photographs and letters enable hackers and thieves to engage in “clickjacking.”  This allows hackers to conceal malicious content within content on legitimate sites.  Hackers can attach the malicious objects to almost any content on a Web page.   With the use of JavaScript, objects can even follow a mouse pointer around a page undetected, guaranteeing the successful launch of an unwanted script.  Through keylogging and keyjacking, PIN numbers and other financial information to include passwords and logins can be stolen in a heartbeat.  All major browser companies are currently working on fixes but experts say the best defense against clickjacking right now is to use Firefox with the NoScript add-on installed.  This prevents the most dangerous clickjacking targets, like Java and Flash content, from being embedded on a page.  Source:snpurl.com4019K 

Never allow anyone you don’t know to personally view your screen  
 
 Financial Scams

There are too many types of financial scams to describe and list. It is critical to read between the lines with offers that seem “to be too good to be true!”  The 419 Scam has received the most attention with attention directed at the country of Nigeria in Africa.   It must be said that this is only one country where “bad apples’ have spoiled the reputation and maligned the character of many genuine hardworking, God-fearing individuals. Stereotyping and generalizing causes the true offenders/perpetrators to slip through as authorities and individuals are too busy looking for who they think they are. There are many countries where the next SCAM is right around the corner with the frontrunners being  Republic of Benin, Romania, Ghana, South Africa  Russia, United Kingdom and yes….even the United States.   Credit card theft is big business and the internet has greased the information highway making it easy to steal PIN numbers, credit card numbers and personal information through cell phone numbers and other databases.  Within the borders of the United States, venue and jurisdiction can be established for prosecution of offenses committed here, however once the failsafe line is crossed, international police agencies are at a virtual disadvantage. County and State officials are also duped and are finding themselves facing the due process of the Criminal Justice System.   

• Never cash or deposit a check from someone you don’t know (you could be prosecuted)
• Be wary of shopping online – watch out for someone sending you a check more than the amount you asked for and wanting you to send them the difference is cash or by Western Union/Money Gram
• Never accept deliveries of items from an unknown person or entity

(They could be stolen and you could be charged with receiving stolen property)

• NEVER give your Social Security #, Date of Birth, Full name, address, cell or home number to anyone or business you don’t know
• If you don’t recognize a company , you call them back to verify they are who they say they are