Be Alert to Fraud

Review the various methods of fraud so you can avoid them.

In-person methods:

• Your wallet is lost/stolen
• Someone steals your incoming and outgoing mail from your mailbox
• Someone rummages through your garbage for unshredded credit card offers, personal documents
• Theft in the home, usually by someone who has access to your home when you're not there
• Someone lurking over you at the ATM to see your PIN code

On-the-phone methods:

• Someone who calls and tries a tactic to lure personal information out of you. Sometimes they pretend to represent a company you legitimately do business with:
• "Urgent notice" example:
  "There is a problem with your account. You must confirm your name, account number and password or we will be forced to close your account today."
• Other times, they just call you with any excuse to lure personal information out of you:
• "Friendly" example:
  "You have just won a $100 gift certificate. Please provide us with your name, address and Social Security number and we will overnight mail it to you."

Online methods:

• "Phishing," (pronounced "fishing") is the act of sending an e-mail that fraudulently represents a legitimate company and "lures" you (hence, the phishing name) into divulging personal and financial information that could then be used for identity theft.
  Review a phishing example.
  
• Spyware is remotely installed (through pop-ups and viruses) on any computer you're using and tracks your online activity
• Key logging software is remotely installed on any computer you're using and tracks which keys you type (e.g., typing a password into a password field)

Other methods:

• Thieves buy data from data brokers in an underground market
• Inside sources steal information from personnel files, payroll records
• Data recorders skim your credit card when you swipe it (ATMs, retail counters) and records the number so it can be duplicated even though you still hold the original

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Glossary