Stacey Beattie asked:


Susan Littlegate has been a victim of online fraud not once but twice. In September last year her debit card was used in bank fraud transactions in Brazil, on the over side of the world. Luckily her bank spotted the irregularity of the transaction and cancelled it. The second time she was simply online shopping when her bank card was refused. Upon checking her bank statement her balance had been wiped to zero – her card had been ‘cloned’ and her bank account emptied.

When these situations occur it can be devastating. After Susan’s second experience of bank card online fraud it took well over a month for her bank to retrieve the money, resulting in finance charges for her unpaid mortgage and credit card payments.

It begs the question: – “How would you manage a month with no access your bank funds”?

Rise In Online Bank Fraud

Online bank fraud is on the up and incidents in 2008 alone totalled a staggering £52.5 million in the UK alone.

Nearly 15m people in the UK use the internet for finance and banking services and the most significant rise in online fraud is when criminals take over someone’s bank account through card ID theft with losses up by 39% in 2008.

Online Fraud Tactics

Online fraudsters are known to use a device called key logging.  It is software that tracks what you type in order to collect bank passwords and credit card details. These malicious computer software programs usually find their way onto a computer when a user clicks on an unsolicited e-mail.

Another fraud tactic is ‘Phishing’ where an email is sent pretending to be from your bank asking you to click on a link which will take you to a fake website identical to your own bank site and ask you to confirm your personal bank finance details.

‘Chip and pin’ bank cards were introduced by UK banks in 2004 and proved to be successful in lowering the amount of banking frauds but as online banking has

become increasing popular, with consumers taking advantage of the chance to bank from their armchairs, online bank fraud has started to rise again.

Protecting Yourself

Despite the large number of internet users many have no idea how to protect themselves online.  In order to bank safe online it is essential you play your part in making sure you do not become a fraud victim.

Here are five online finance recommendations to help protect yourself against online fraud: -

1        One in four people do not carry out any checks to see whether a site is safe and secure before carrying out a transaction.  It is essential that you stay vigilant and never relax your guard while shopping online or carrying out financial transactions. Free anti fraud software is available by McAfee to check whether a site is safe before you click on it. Make sure your firewalls are always turned on and you antivirus software is always kept up to date.

2        Always make sure you log out of sites when you have finished your shopping/transactions. If you stay logged in it means your financial details are available to others.

3        Don’t open emails from people that you do not know. Do not click on a link especially if it is in the email and it asks you for personal finance bank details. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of the email do not respond. Beware of emails which offer you a prize or a discount which requires you to choose a user id and password (as many people use the same details for many bank accounts and thieves will collect these details and try to use them).  Any emails which have a sense of urgency or ask you for personal finance or bank details be wary of.

4        It is advised that you change your online bank password every 60 days. All sites that you have an account with will let you easily change your password usually by following a very simple and quick set of procedures. Changing your password regularly will help limit the accounts exposure and misuse, meaning less danger of online fraud. To make your password harder to guess use a mixture of upper case, lower case and number (as long as you can remember it!).

5        Stay in control of your money. The Eclipse prepaid MasterCard is a great way to do just that.  The Eclipse card is not a credit card so you do not need to worry about debt or fraud and it is not debit card so it is in no way linked to your online bank account. You are not able to borrow money; you simply can only spend what you have loaded onto the card, meaning you are completely

in control of your money.  As it is not linked to your online bank account it means people will not be able to fraudulently carry out any activities with your personal banking details. It literally takes seconds to top up your card either using your phone, wire transfer or online banking. You can also use cash to top up at the post office, Paypoint or using a top up pack.

Anyone in the UK who does fall victim of online fraud will have their money reimbursed as long as they have acted with ‘reasonable care’ and not in a fraudulent manner. If you do fall victim to online fraud there are many places where you can get help and advice, including: -

http://www.apacs.org.ukhttp://www.cardwatch.org.uk/

http://www.eclipsecard.co.uk/eclipse_card/Online_security





Frank

Vijayanand asked:


If you’re like most people, you work hard to build your assets and maintain good credit in the eyes of lenders. Through no fault of your own, however, your hard work can be undermined through Identity theft. Having your identity stolen can wreak havoc on your life. If your social security number is compromised, thieves can rack up thousands of dollars on credit cards you don’t even know you have. Your credit rating can be ruined to the point where it’s impossible for you to get any kind of loan. In the worst cases, thieves can get driver’s licenses in your name and impersonate you in criminal pursuits. A warrant could be issued for you for crimes someone else committed in your name.

There are dozens of ways that criminals can access your personal and financial information. For example, they can steal your wallet or purse, rifle through your mail for credit applications, hack into your online accounts or bribe employees at companies who have access to your financial records and identity theft protection Protecting yourself from ID theft requires constant vigilance. There are steps you can take to minimize or prevent ID theft, some of the areas of opportunity for thieves (such as shredding credit card applications and using computer firewalls), but there are some vulnerabilities you simply can’t prevent ID Theft. For those things, early detection is the only way to minimize the damage.

The three main credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, all provide one free credit report per year to consumers. Reviewing these credit reports is one way to identify fraudulent activity. Unfortunately, checking your credit report once a year is not enough to prevent damage from ID Theft. Your credit rating can fall quickly once your identity has been compromised. You need to know what’s on your credit on a regular basis to thwart identity thieves from the start.

ID TheftSmart from Comodo offers credit protection Identity theft Prevention? Anchor text and restoration services. Besides providing access to your credit score and credit report, ID TheftSmart monitors your credit constantly and alerts you to issues before they have a chance to damage your credit rating. Additionally, they provide email warnings of potentially fraudulent activity so you can stop it in its tracks. You do not have to fear for your credit rating or your good name when you enroll in the ID TheftSmart program.

If you do become the victim of ID theft, ID TheftSmart makes it easy to rectify the problem. A team of licensed investigators immediately puts fraud alerts on your credit to prevent further damage. They then comb through your personal and financial records to identify any suspicious activity and work with the proper authorities to restore your proper credit rating and good reputation. Recovering from identity theft on your own can take hundreds of hours of your personal time. If you are a member of ID TheftSmart, however, most of the work is done for you. Neither your time nor your credit has to suffer from someone else’s bad deeds when you protect yourself with ID TheftSmart.



Laura

Michelle Oaks asked:


theft is a huge problem and as the economy has gotten worse so has identity theft. There has never been a time when it was more important to protect yourself from identity theft than now.

You may be wondering how you can protect yourself but first I think you should understand How bad identity theft has really become.

Here are some scary facts about identity theft – what is now the fastest-growing crime in the nation:

· There have been over 9 million victims a year for two years running

(Better Business Bureau and Javelin Strategy & Research, January 2005)

· Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to FTC five years in a row

(Federal Trade Commission, National and State Trends in Fraud and Identity Theft, February 1, 2005)

??????· Identity theft has claimed over 30 million victims in past five years

(Federal Trade Commission, 2003 and Better Business Bureau, 2005)

WOW! Identity theft has become a nationwide problem with millions of victims of all ages.

Here is a fact that will probably surprise you. In 2003, nearly 7 million people became victims of identity theft in the previous 12 months. That breaks down to around 19,178 per day, 799 per hour, and 13.3 per minute.

It is a fact, according to the US Department of Justice, that drug trafficking is now being replaced by identity theft as the number one crime. This affects all of us in one way or another.

Either you, or someone you know becomes a victim of identity theft.

AND, identity theft causes stores and credit card company to raise prices and their rates, respectively.

So what does this mean? We all pay for identity theft in some way so we all need to protect ourselves and our loved ones and we need to be sure to report as soon as possible anyone that we suspect of trying to steal someone’s identity.

Although identity theft scams most often happen over the phone you need to be careful where-ever you are. They could contact you online, over the phone or even come to your door.

Be sure to provide the police with any pertinent information that you may have. Time, location, what the person looked like, sounded like, caller id information, what type of vehicle-kind, color, year, distinguishing marks on the person or their vehicle, etc.

For many people it will probably take hundreds of hours, and an average of $1,000, just to recover from ID theft. Even worse is that in some innocent victims have ended up in prison because identity thieves have been committing crimes in their names. Thus, the victim then ends up being victimized twice.

Now hopefully this has shown you why identity theft prevention is so important. We want to help you to protect yourself from this awful nightmare. We have an excellent resource to help you to protect yourself so that you never need worry about becoming a victim of identity theft. Find out about the different ways that these scammers will use to steal your identity and how you can protect yourself from them.

Now, if you would like to find out more about how identity thieves can steal your identity from you in the first place then please send a blank email to .

identity-theft-facts@freeautobot.com



Lester

Vijayanand asked:


Mike was like millions of Americans. He worked hard, was cautious with his spending and even paid off his credit card each month. He thought he was doing everything right. Then, something unexpected happened. He started getting calls from collection agencies. They were collecting on credit cards and other lines of credit Mike never opened. Mike had been the victim of ID theft.

Things went down hill fast for Mike’s credit. He quickly realized that there were several credit cards opened in his name fraudulently, and each one had overdue balances of thousands of dollars. Those balances had been festering on Mike’s credit report for months without his knowledge causing Mike’s credit rating to plummet to an abysmal 530.

This low credit rating affected Mike in numerous ways. He needed a new car, but was unable to get approval for a car loan. His oldest son was heading to college, but the school loans Mike applied for were rejected. Even Mike’s insurance premiums went up as a result of his low credit score. Mike knew he needed to do something fast.

Mike quickly discovered that the task of restoring his credit and good name was not as simple as he thought it would be. He would have to contact all of the credit agencies, place fraud alerts on his credit and investigate where else his identity had been compromised among other things. Where was Mike going to find the time to do all of these things? He worked full time and had a family to think about. Mike felt like he was caught in an impossible situation. In the end, it took Mike hundreds of hours to restore his credit rating and correct the errors on his credit report.

Once his credit was back to normal, Mike was determined never to allow such a thing to happen to him again. Mike had a friend who had gone through a similar experience just a year before. He recommended ID TheftSmart to Mike. ID TheftSmart is an Identity Theft Prevention and restoration service offered by Comodo, an innovative identity and trust assurance company. If Mike had already had ID TheftSmart program when he was victimized, his pre-theft credit status would have been restored without having to sacrifice hundreds of hours of his time.

To Mike’s surprise, he found that the licensed investigators at Comodo were prepared to do the lion’s share of the work to restore their client’s damaged credit. They work with the credit agencies to correct the issues on a credit report, place fraud alerts and investigate other issues related to ID Theft like criminal records, fraudulent check activity and other fraudulent uses of a social security number. Some of these issues Mike had not even considered when working to restore his damaged credit.

Mike decided to use the ID TheftSmart program to protect himself from future assaults on his credit, and you can do the same. The ID TheftSmart program monitors your credit on an ongoing basis so that you don’t have to go through the same ordeal Mike did. ID TheftSmart will alert you whenever someone tries to open a line of credit in your name. If your credit is compromised, the Identity Fraud Restoration services do most of the work to resolve your identity theft issues.



Nathaniel

Bernz Jayma P. asked:


Many people seeking to avoid the saddening effects of ID theft are in search of ways of minimizing such losses. Apart from enrolling in a credit card protection program, you can opt for identity card insurance, an insurance package tailored to meet the specific needs of potential ID theft victims.

Identity theft insurance, just like any other insurance is meant to cover for costs or losses incurred in the event of you becoming an identity theft victim. With cases on ID theft on the rise, it has become normal if not a prerequisite for one to have identity theft insurance. The many insurance companies marketing this service offer various policies depending on what your specific needs are, or what you risk looing in the event of ID theft.

The amount of coverage given for ID theft protection will largely depend on the type of policy you choose. The amount you will need to contribute will also depend on specific factors which will be inclusive in your policy.

Some companies offering credit service provide these policies as part of their plan or a form of endorsement to other forms of insurance policies. In such occasions the amount charged is often less. You can ask your creditor if such services exist in their products.

The most important thing to know before you take an insurance policy is its terms and conditions. This may be same across many insurance agencies but when it comes to what is covered in your policy, the list may vary sharply across the board.

Most insurers will cover legal costs incurred when you get an advocate to look into your case. Some will compensate for wages lost during the time you will spend dealing with the ID theft case. The loan re-application fees may also be covered by your agent. The mailing charges and other notary fees will also be inclusive in most policies. You may also send while notarizing various important documents to the relevant authorities.

Before going for an ID theft insurance policy, be informed of the above and such factors from the insurance agency in order to ensure the policy you get will provide you the maximum protection available. Identify theft insurance policies are a great way to protect you and your family against the growing threat of identity theft.



Jeffrey

Bernz Jayma P. asked:


Many people seeking to avoid the saddening effects of ID theft are in search of ways of minimizing such losses. Apart from enrolling in a credit card protection program, you can opt for identity card insurance, an insurance package tailored to meet the specific needs of potential ID theft victims.

Identity theft insurance, just like any other insurance is meant to cover for costs or losses incurred in the event of you becoming an identity theft victim. With cases on ID theft on the rise, it has become normal if not a prerequisite for one to have identity theft insurance. The many insurance companies marketing this service offer various policies depending on what your specific needs are, or what you risk looing in the event of ID theft.

The amount of coverage given for ID theft protection will largely depend on the type of policy you choose. The amount you will need to contribute will also depend on specific factors which will be inclusive in your policy.

Some companies offering credit service provide these policies as part of their plan or a form of endorsement to other forms of insurance policies. In such occasions the amount charged is often less. You can ask your creditor if such services exist in their products.

The most important thing to know before you take an insurance policy is its terms and conditions. This may be same across many insurance agencies but when it comes to what is covered in your policy, the list may vary sharply across the board.

Most insurers will cover legal costs incurred when you get an advocate to look into your case. Some will compensate for wages lost during the time you will spend dealing with the ID theft case. The loan re-application fees may also be covered by your agent. The mailing charges and other notary fees will also be inclusive in most policies. You may also send while notarizing various important documents to the relevant authorities.

Before going for an ID theft insurance policy, be informed of the above and such factors from the insurance agency in order to ensure the policy you get will provide you the maximum protection available. Identify theft insurance policies are a great way to protect you and your family against the growing threat of identity theft.



Vincent

Avery Mann asked:


Identity Theft is On the Rise

Privacy Protection for Your Computer

The definition of Identity Theft is simple. It is when someone uses another persons personal information for their own gain. The results are not so simple however. Lives have been totally destroyed. Experts say that it has steadily risen each year, and tragically affecting almost 10 million victims in 2008. As of now, online ID theft accounts for less than 20%, but that too is on the rise. Most PCs store history about different activities that are usually private. This information is stored on your hard-drives and virtually everyone who has the knowledge of it can take a look at it. It is possible to purchase  zero-liability fraud protection programs offered by financial institutions and other privacy protection companies. If you are the type of person who doesn’t want that kind of hassle to begin with, than there are a few things you should know about your PC.

For those of you who think that using the “Clear History” button or common protection tools like firewalls and anti viruses will completely eliminate Identity Theft, here is what you don’t realize. These methods will not totally remove your personal information, and the hackers know it. Sophisticated hackers are using  advanced methods and tools like Phishing, Spamming, Indentity Theft to pluck out vital and valuable information your software missed. Think about the places your PC hides personal information? This includes e-mail accounts, credit cards, bank accounts, Paypal accounts, web sites you browse on the Internet and you don’t want other people to find. All of these are within some hacker’s grasp.

Your PC is a Garbage Can of Sorts



Reasons to Get Privacy Protection Software

Email…Windows stores in its cookies your user name and password and on occasion  your email addresses will contain  private information.

Internet Banking…As this practice grows, so do the threats. You need to completely clear your browser history.

Credit Cards…More common than banking, making payments with your credit cards, can be very enticing to the hacker. With the use of certain  trojans and malware, they can get your credit cards information from your computer

Stored Documents…Windows may save temporary files that are left unprotected, and thus exposing all private personal and work related information left on your computer’s hard-drive.

Sharing Your PC…You want to be confident that any activity is cleared every time someone uses it.

Software Designed to Make Your PC Safe

Use Your PC Stress Free

Just as there is software that will eliminate adware and spyware, so too is there software specifically for Privacy Protection. Besides adware and spyware, Malware comes in many other forms, such as Trojans, Dialers, worms and viruses. Any software that you engage should protect all your programs as well as your identity with real-time security updates, powerful first layer defense, and fastest possible responder to online threats, and must be  compatible to your PC.

I have created a site, where you can go and peruse the top rated software for Privacy Protection, as well as all the top rated registry programs available on the internet.

PC Rescue Reviews is a one stop shopping Registry Products site.  Not only will you find the top rated software programs available, but also information on how you can do-it-yourself with no software, if that’s your preference. This is a very convenient way to check out all your options in one place. So go to:

PC Rescue Reviews for all Privacy Protection and Anti-Identity Theft help.



Wendy