Do Not Fall For An Email Like This

The Official U.S Green Card Lottery Program United States Department of State, National Visa Center 32 Rochester Ave, Portsmouth, NH 03801-2909 www.us-green-card-lottery.org Case Number: 20070C00000156 PA Name: [Your Name] Preferences Categories: DV DIVERSITY Foreign State Chargeability: Asia-Pacific

Dear [Your Name],

We wish to notify you that you are among the selected lucky winners of the U.S visa lottery (Green Card) through our email ballot lottery program held on the 20th of October 2007 in Arkansas (USA) The Green Card email ballot lottery program was conducted under the terms of Section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 2006 (Pub.L.101-649) The aims and objectives of the program is to give free visas to citizens of developing countries around the world who wishes to travel to U.S and start a new life and work.
Selection.
6.3 million email addresses were randomly extracted during the 33-days extraction period that ran from 12.00 AM on September 10, 2007 until midnight, October, 9 2007. All extracted email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy for final selection through computer draw system, your email address attached to ticket number 56402-188 drew the lucky numbers which subsequently won you the U.S Green Card.
Notification is through the selected winning email addresses with the PA name, approximately six hundred and twenty five (625) lucky selected winners had been notified through their selected winning email addresses including you today (Mon 05-11-2007) All the selected lucky winners will need to obtain their visas from any of the U.S Embassies and arrive here in the USA for the issuance of their Green Cards under the U.S Government Green Card lottery program and they should act on their visa claim application quickly before the expiration of the visa claim deadline which is on the (10-12-2007)
The visas have been apportioned among the six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country, our Green Card experts had been apportioned among the six geographic regions. Your visa duration is 10 years multiple entries to the U.S, it is renewable upon expiration and it permits you to travel to the U.S with your spouse.
Basic question.
How can I make the claim of my visa?
You will obtain your visa through the U.S Consular officer in your home country or any of the U.S Embassy nearest to you with your Green Card Certificates and visa claim application documents and arrive here in U.S for the issuance of your Green Card. Selected lucky winners living legally in the United States who wish to pursue their Green Card status should contact any of our regional offices where their winning details falls for information's on the requirements and procedures.
Visa claim application (step 1)
Your Green Card winning details falls within our Asia/pacific booklet representative office as indicated in the draw system and we have forwarded your winning details to our Asia/Pacific office for the processing of your Green Card Certificates and visa claim application documents with your case number which will enable you to obtain your visa, therefore, FOR YOUR VISA PROCESSING FORM, REQUIREMENTS AND FURTHER DETAILS, contact our Asia/pacific office with the below contact details;
CONTACT PERSON: MR. GEORGE GRAHAM.
Address: Indra Tower Suite 105, 75/6 Wireless Road Panthumwam Bangkok Thailand.
Tel: +66-835 619 209 +66-843 578 622
Fax: +66-2251 9977
Email: usdv@oued.org
Processing Fee.
Single-$750USD
Dual (Family application) $1,250USD
What is processing fee?
The processing fee pays for the accuracy preparation of every document. Green card experts charges a nominal fee to cover administrative and processing costs incurred in conjunction with the careful processing of every document.
Advanced question.
How can I pay the processing fee?
The following forms of payment are accepted,

* Money orders
* Bank transfers
* Western Union

The payment of the processing fee should be directed to any of our regional office where your winning details falls for the processing of your Green Card Certificates and visa claim application documents. According to J.Stevenson Wilson, Author of Visa Lottery services Report, the green card Lottery is a matter of huge benefits for those who want to try themselves abroad. The total average fee charged by green card lottery services ($750USD) for one person,there is no correlation between the fee charged and the quality of services provided and its benefits.
Benefits.
Winners will get FREE Airline Ticket to the USA.
people that win this Lottery will get the constant legal status of the US inhabitant, an opportunity of free country entrance and departure, the right to be working in the USA legally and getting American salary. You may have any job in America, whether it is a government, public or private job. A permanent residence visa (as well as American work visa) eases your life. In addition to permanent legal residence Green Card holders also receive health, education, retirement, taxation, social security and other benefits.
Non-Eligible Countries.
Selected winners from the following countries are not eligible to make the claim of their visas.
(Mexico-Brazil-Canada-Haiti-Columbia-Elsalvador-Jamaica-Poland-Peru-Korea-Dominican Republic-Philippines-Vietnam-Taiwan-Pakistan-China (mainland born) Russia and United-Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent countries) This is because each has more than 50, 000 candidates in the USA.
All selected lucky winners should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested and should go to the U.S Embassy when directed with their processed documents and interview appointment letters for the issuance of their visas.
Please retain this letter and take it with you together with your documents to your visa interview centre when directed for the issuance of your visa.
Please read and follow all the enclosed instructions very carefully.
Do not reply back to this notification email (busy)
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Christine Roberts.
(Secretary General U.S Consulate-Kentucky)
PRIVACY: This correspondence may contain confidential or legally privileged information or both. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. You have received this information in your mail box from U.S Department of state (Kentucky)

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Real Estate Agents Lose licences Due To Property Scam

Three real estate agents have had their licence certificates suspended after being found to have inflated house sale prices, the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) said today.

Phillip Julian Cavanagh, Phillip John Niall and Faizel Jassat were working for real estate company Barfoot and Thompson at the time the scam was uncovered.

Also involved was Margot Jassat, who was an assistant to Faizel Jassat, and Raghu Srinivas Aryasomayajula, who was a former real estate agent for Barfoot and Thompson.

REINZ national president Murray Cleland said the case was complex and understood it involved the five buying development properties and inflating sale prices in order to borrow from banks via mortgages.

REINZ had wasted no time in initiating proceedings and having the salespeople's certificates suspended, he said .

"We take our statutory obligations very seriously and in cases of this nature we do not hesitate in seeking orders such as interim suspension.

"We need to protect the public, the borrowers and the industry."

Mr Cleland said the problem was uncovered by Barfoot and Thompson, which detected discrepancies in property transactions involving three of its sales men.

Their contracts were immediately terminated following the discovery and the institute was alerted.

They were served with orders by the Real Estate Agents Licencing Board and were prohibited from selling real estate until the board determined the substantive case issued by REINZ.

Barfoot and Thomson director Peter Thompson told Radio NZ that as it was the salespeople themselves buying the properties no private vendor had been affected by any of the transactions.

Mr Thompson said they had uncovered 20 transactions at this stage, which had been processed between last November and May.

The discrepancies had been discovered by accident after a company policy had been broken, Mr Thompson said.

"Once we started uncovering it, it made it a wider transgression they were doing and involved a lot of people."

Between 20 and 25 people were involved in the scam, including developers and valuers, he said.

Several banks had been involved in the plot and it was up to them to press criminal charges, he said.

"We had heard the Serious Fraud Office was investigating."

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Dont Get Caught Up In This Home Loan Foreclosure Scams

They're preying on Toledoans who face foreclosure. One woman shared her story on how one company tried to swindle her mother out of a thousand dollars!

The woman did not want to be on TV but she says her eldely mother is in foreclosure and she almost got scammed by a foreclosure rescue company.

They promise to get you out of foreclosure, but in order to do it, you have to pay a large fee. One company is called Global Home Associates and according to the Better Business Bureau, it's one of several foreclosure rescue scams.

The Toledo Fair Housing Center offers the same services free of charge. Keith Foster is the TFHC director of enforcement and compliance. He told us, "What happens when the foreclosure process starts, it's a public document so everyone in the world knows this foreclosure complaint was filed, including people who are trying to take advantage of persons. So they get that information and send out cards saying 'This is what we can do and give us some money we can help you out'."

Foster says these foreclosure rescue companies ask for outrageous fees and in the end, they don't help you get out of foreclosure. Foster says if you need help, call 1888-995-HOPE.

In August, the Ohio attorney general filed six lawsuits against companies for foreclosure rescue scams. Attorney general Marc Dann says the businesses would promise homeowners they'd stop the foreclosure process for a fee. Instead, they'd only pocket the money and the homes were still foreclosed upon.

The companies are in Lucas, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Franklin, Hamilton, and Mahoning counties The attorney general now wants the courts to order the companies to pay restitution to the consumers, pay civil penalties of $25,000 per violation and be barred from business until they've paid up.
Meanwhile, if you face foreclosure, here are tips to avoid similar scams:

* If you're getting letters threatening foreclosure but aren't yet in a lawsuit, contact a certified HUD counselor for assistance.
* If you have a pending lawsuit against you for your home, get an attorney.
* Never sign a contract under pressure.
* Never make mortgage payments to anyone other than your lender.
* If you can't pay, contact your lender immediately to work out payment arrangements.
* Don't sign anything with blank lines or spaces.
* Call the Better Business Bureau and the attorney general's office to see if there are any complaints against a company before you use them.

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Getting ID Smart To Avoid ID Fraudsters

Imagine if one day you awoke to find yourself defending your good credit reputation, which you rightfully have earned, and even the possession of your own credit cards.
What if you had to work to prove you really are the person whose photo and information is printed on your driver's license?
Would you react favorably if you were informed by the federal government that you were registered not only as a resident of Hamilton County but also of a home in Illinois?
Not likely. But still many do not understand the significance of identity theft.
Most Fishers residents probably have heard of identity theft; avoiding the commercials is nearly impossible. According to the Federal Trade Commission, one in eight of us has experienced or been exposed to some form of it.
The negative result of this "victimless" crime is that every consumer is paying the cost through rising interest rates and overhead to increase security.
Only those who have experienced identity theft can really understand the stress and frustration that can be caused by fighting to reclaim good credit.
Most people believe identity theft means someone stole a person's credit card number or hijacked their information from the Internet. Credit card fraud is a steppingstone crime to the more major crime of identity theft.
The basic information that forms your identity is ever-present in our fundamental daily activities. ID theft education is relevant nationwide.
Professional Skills Consulting, a Fishers-based company, was looking for a way to help। Education at a more widespread and rapid rate became the goal; GetIDSmart।com became that solution.

Founder J. Michelle Sybesma created the Web site as a reaction to her own identity being stolen from a job application she filled out before establishing her business.
The Web site teaches people to create protection-friendly behavior to avoid the risks. The site is not about selling credit insurance and monitoring services, but rather about providing information free of charge to help educate the general public.
A Videos Tips section will illustrate smart purchase behaviors, office behaviors and day-to-day risk aversion. A Featured Story section lets victims share their experiences and provide readers new stories to keep the information fresh.
For those who have received a free copy of their credit report and found they were among the statistics, an After the Facts section outlines the best practices in damage control.

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Identity Fraud Cost Australians Billions Of Dollars Annually

Identity fraud was costing Australia billions of dollars a year and nearly everyone was concerned about the theft and illegal use of their identity, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said today.

At the opening of National Identity Fraud Awareness Week in Sydney today, Mr Ruddock warned people to take extreme care when handling documents and identification cards that may fall into the hands of fraudsters.

"The use of false or stolen identities underpins much criminal activity, from organised crime and people smuggling, through to money laundering and the manufacture and importation of illicit drugs," he said.

"It undermines border citizenship and passport controls and it facilitates terrorism financing."

With Mr Ruddock were NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Bob Waits and members of Crime Stoppers Australia.
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They urged people to protect their personal information and even recommended buying paper shredders to use at home when discarding any document that contained personal information.

"Identity security should be a critical concern for all Australians," Mr Ruddock said.

"We're talking billions of dollars (illegally obtained by fraudsters)."

A Galaxy research survey in May found 87 per cent of people were concerned about identity theft.

Most were concerned about financial loss, a sense of being personally violated and embarrassment if financial transactions were declined.

Mr Ruddock took the opportunity to promote the Government's plan to introduce a Smart Card that would replace a multitude of identity cards used to obtain government benefits.

As part of the ID fraud awareness week, a new website has been launched for Australians to learn about how to protect themselves from identity theft - www.stopidtheft.com.au

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To Solve or Prevent ID Theft....That is the Question!

Albert Einstein once remarked that...

"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."

With that wisdom in mind we'll see how you can be a genius when it comes to protecting yourself and your family from this financially and emotionally draining crime.

The first decision you'll need to make is whether or not you want to be completely and solely responsible for protecting one of your most precious assets...your good name.

Are you the "Do-It-Yourself" (DIY) type? Or do you prefer to work with professionals when it comes to important matters?

Either way, you'll find the help you're looking for to assist you with the 3 D's of ID Theft...Deter It, Detect It, Defend Against It!

Personally, I've already got enough to worry about so, I enjoy the peace of mind that comes from never really worrying about ID theft any more. How 'bout you?

Imagine for a moment an identity thief got a hold of ALL your valuable personal information; name, address, social security number, etc.

Now, imagine the crook could do absolutely nothing with it...even with all your vital information at their fingertips, they can't use it to their benefit.

Well, you can stop imagining because it's possible to achieve that level of ID theft security...today! And for less than a subscription to your daily newspaper.

Quick Word to the Do-It-Yourself'ers:

If you decide to go the DIY route there's no way to guarantee you won't fall victim to identity theft, but there are clearly defined steps you can take to reduce your risk factors and hopefully minimize the damage done if your personal information is breached.

DIY'ers can skip the next few sections and just scroll down to the "Do-It-Yourself" Protection section for helpful "How-to" videos and a free ID Theft Recovery Kit download!

For those interested in professional protection that offer rock solid guarantees with NO fine print, we're going to examine the solutions that are available.

4 Categories of Identity Theft Solutions

The ID theft protection biz is taking off, but all the companies end up falling into one of 4 categories of solutions.

#1 - Prevention (Einstein's Choice)

#2 - Remediation/Restoration

#3 - Insurance

#4 - Monitoring

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Beware Of Loverboy Con Artists

Julia, a legal secretary, was tired of the New York dating scene, so she decided to look for love online. She soon met a man who said his name was Scott. He told her he was a young widower from California who was volunteering at an orphanage in Nigeria. "I was very touched. That said to me that this is someone who has a lot of love in his heart," Julia says.

Julia says she and Scott made an immediate connection. After a month of daily e-mails and instant messaging, Julia says they began to fall in love. When Julia discovered she had skin cancer and had to have surgery, Scott was supportive and loving, even from 5,000 miles away. Julia was thrilled when Scott proposed a few weeks later. "He said, okay, so shop for your dress. Money is no object. As soon as I get there, we're going to be married," Julia says. "I felt like Cinderella."

After sending him money to help support his orphanage, Scott asked Julia to put on a white dress and meet him at the airport. She waited for six hours, and her Prince Charming never showed up. "My heart was broken. I was devastated," she says.

Scammers don't discriminate.

In order to find out more information about Julia's scammer, Scam prevention expert Sid Kirchheimer, visited a website that reports information about online dating cons. There he found the alleged con man listed, along with several of his aliases. Sid says the handsome, blond man Julia thought was her boyfriend is actually a model who isn't involved in the scam. "What scammers do is they steal photos from online modeling sites," Sid says.

Each month, thousands of people—men and women—get caught in similar traps, Sid says, and the scammers know how to work their victims. "From the outside you may say, 'How did she fall for that?' But you heard Julia. She was being wooed every day—e-mails before work, after work. [She] probably expressed that she liked children. He has an orphanage," Sid says.

Sid says the scam artists often pose as rich American or British businessmen living overseas who charm their victims, gain their trust and then have some sort of financial need—often money for surgery or passport cash to fly to the United States and get married. He says the con artists claim to be paid in U.S. postal money orders and ask the victims to cash them and wire over the cash. "Once you send the money, you don't hear from them. Or they're brazen enough to actually call you and say, 'I scammed you,'" Sid says.

Julia says the victims can be any age, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, and scam artists target them in many different venues—from dating websites to gaming chat rooms. According to Sid, the FBI estimates that about half the victims of these kinds of scams are male. They are oftentimes conned by men posing as female Russian models.

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Online Lottery Scam Can Ruin Your Life

Christina, a struggling mother of four, couldn't believe her luck when she got a letter in the mail saying she won a lottery in Australia. "I have four children and I was living with my mother, and I was like, 'Wow. I can put a down payment on a house. I can pay a lot of my bills," Christina says.

The letter said Christina had just three weeks to claim her $50,000—all she had to do was pay the taxes, and the remainder of her winnings would be sent to her. Three days later, Christina received two checks in the mail for a total of a little less than $8,000. "[One was for] federal fees and one was for state fees," she says.

Because she was skeptical, Christina says she did some legwork to try to make sure the checks were legitimate. She called the Better Business Bureau and learned that a company referenced in the documents—a firm that deals with unclaimed funds—was an actual business. Christina says she tried to verify the checks' authenticity by calling the phone number written on them and pretending to be a bank official who wanted to confirm the routing and account numbers. The person who answered the phone said the information was correct. Christina also had a friend look on the Internet to check the bank's address.

After doing everything she could think of to find out if the checks were genuine, Christina finally went to the bank. She says the bank cashed the checks for her right away—no questions asked—and the people there even congratulated her. "They put the money in my hands. I was like, 'I really actually truly did win the lottery,'" Christina says.

Reality sets in.

Following the instructions given to her by the people who sent her the letter, Christina wired the money she received from the checks to New York. She thought she was paying taxes on her lottery winnings. Then, Christina got a third check in the mail. "They said they did not send enough for the federal fees the first time, and once I sent that, I would have my money," Christina says.

So, Christina took another trip to the bank to cash the third check, but there was a problem. "[The bank] said, 'Oh no, the first check came back. It's counterfeit,'" Christina says. "I thought I did my homework. I thought I was very thorough, and they said I'm responsible for the money."

Instead of reaping $50,000 in lottery winnings, Christina ended up being scammed out of nearly $8,000—even though she says she tried to protect herself. "She did all the right things. The fact of the matter is that these are professional con men who do this."

Red flags on Christina's checks.

By examining Christina's documents closely, there are several red flags—starting with the grammar of the letter. "This is allegedly an Australian lottery, yet read it—this [is] scammer grammar. Australians know the English language better than this. There are misspellings. There's improper grammar use."

The fact that the scammers asked Christina—who lives in Alabama—to mail her supposed tax money to New York is another hint that something is wrong. "When you pay your taxes, you're paying it to the regional office, probably in Atlanta."

Even the phone number that Christina called to verify the check's authenticity—which she found on the check itself—is part of the scam. "These scams operate on a sense of urgency. It's like, 'You won $1 million. How come you haven't claimed your prize yet? Time's running out! Here is the number to call.' It's a boiler room. She dials a toll-free number. It could be set up anywhere."

Christina's bank cashed the checks so quickly, because federal mandates require that banks make the funds available within one to five days. But that does not necessarily mean that the bank had actually gotten any money. "You have to hear that the funds have been collected. That will take two weeks. That means the … bank has gotten those funds from the check issuer."

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Australian Government To Launch Alert On Online Scam

A national alert service designed to protect home users and small businesses from cyber threats will be launched by the Federal Government.

The industry is being invited by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to put forward proposals for setting up the service, aimed at protecting home internet users from online threats such as phishing, ID theft, banking frauds and other scams.

The project is part of a $13.6 million package over the next four years to strengthen home user and small business security.

Reaction to the proposed service has been mixed.

Simon Clausen, chief executive of Australian PC security software maker PC Tools, says those most likely to sign up for the service are the ones least likely to need it. "They're the people who already think twice before opening attachments and visiting dodgy web sites."

Nishad Herath, senior researcher with security software maker McAfee, says the service could work if it were well promoted. He says a wealth of information about security is already available to home users and small business. The trick is to convince end users they need to educate themselves.

"If you are interested, there are so many existing sources of information. There's nothing to stop you from finding this information for yourself now," he says. "I'm not sure there's a problem with the industry's lack of focus to the consumer. I think it's more to do with the fact that the average consumer has very little motivation to actively look for solutions."

Karl Hanmore, operations manager of not-for-profit IT security information centre AusCERT, is more upbeat: "Providing a good central place for information is a positive step. It's definitely a step in the right direction. High level, it looks good."

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Marriage Scam Victim Heads Back To Australia From Mali

A SOUTH Australian farmer lured to Africa with promises of marriage and gold then held hostage for 12 days will arrive back in Adelaide tonight.

Des Gregor, 56, from Hoyleton about 120km north of Adelaide, arrived in Mali on July 27 after corresponding with his supposed bride-to-be "Natacha" on the internet.

Soon after arriving in the west African country, he was assaulted, stripped of his credit cards and cash, and taken to an apartment in the capital Bamako where he was held hostage.

An gang demanded thousands of dollars, which they tried to secure through Mr Gregor's family back in Hoyleton.

But his family contacted Australian Federal Police who eventually secured the farmer's release.

Mr Gregor's brother Phil, 46, from Halbury also north of Adelaide, said he would be at the airport tonight to meet his brother.

He said he had spoken to Des soon after he was safe at the Canadian embassy in Bamako.

"Des, in his usual manner, is a very caring person and he was more concerned with the ordeal we'd been through than the ordeal he'd been through, that we were all OK,'' Phil Gregor said.

He said he did not know what he would say to his brother tonight.

"We really do have a lot to talk about but we're basically glad that he's home,'' he said.

"You see this in a movie, you read about it in a book, it happens to someone else not you. But it does - I found that out.''

Phil Gregor said he and Des were "very close" and talked about everything but he regretted not asking to see the emails his brother exchanged with "Natacha".

"He was absolutely blinded by the fact it was a scam," Mr Gregor said.

"I really hope that a message gets out to people that they look after their family, and if anyone talks about internet relationships, that they can be open and share the mail with them to get an objective opinion.

"When you're in that relationship it does seem that the reality of the scam doesn't show up to the person that's in it.

"I want people to be prevented from having to go through what we did. It's not a nice thing and it can be avoided with some family participation."

Des Gregor's release came on Thursday when his kidnappers were persuaded to set their hostage free for a short period.

Australian Federal Police convinced the kidnappers there was money to be collected by their captive from the Canadian embassy and they released him for a few brief moments.

Police said Mr Gregor suffered no injuries and was in good health.

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Victimized By Identity Theft - What To Do?

Scam prevention expert Sid Kirchheimer outlines the steps you should take if you are victimized by identity theft—or merely suspect you may have been.

Contact a Law Enforcement Agency
It's unlikely that your local police department will solve the case—or even investigate it. Still, filing a police report may help you regain your good name—and your good credit rating—with creditors and credit reporting bureaus. After contacting your local police, you may also need to notify the police department that oversees the location where the identity theft most likely occurred. (You should also contact your state Attorney General's office, which may direct you to other agencies.)

• If the identity theft occurred from online activity, contact the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center) at www.ic3.gov.
• If you believe the identity theft resulted from mail theft, report it at www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect.
• If you suspect you were victimized by ATM skimming or crime involving your debit card, notify the local Secret Service field office; a contact list is available at www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml.
• If you believe your credit card number (or the little plastic rectangle itself) has been stolen, notify the fraud department of your credit card company.

Shut 'Em Down
Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with and notify the sponsoring institution(s) of the theft. You usually have to provide the company with two documents: 1) a report filed with the local, state or federal law enforcement agency and 2) an identity theft report.

Some companies provide their own forms for the latter, but most accept the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Affidavit, which is available online at www.consumer/gov/idtheft. There, you can also find a link to file your complaint with the FTC. Or you can call the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline at 877-438-4338, or write to:

Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20580

Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Reports
Contact one of the three major credit reporting bureaus and request that a fraud alert be placed on all your credit accounts. (The initial bureau you notify is required to contact the other two, which should then place alerts in their systems.) This signals creditors that you've been victimized by fraud. In theory, it should also block any new accounts from being opened in your name unless someone contacts you first and obtains your express consent.

There are two types of fraud alerts:

An Initial Alert
This alert lasts about 90 days. It is placed by a credit reporting bureau if you suspect that you have been—or simply are about to be—a victim of identity theft. If your wallet has been stolen or you've been hoodwinked by a phishing scam, for instance, you should instruct at least one of the three major credit reporting bureaus to place an initial alert on all your accounts. Taking this action entitles you to one free credit report from each of the Big Three.

An Extended Alert
This alert stays on your credit report for seven years. It should be placed if you know you've been victimized. To have an extended alert placed on your accounts, you will need to provide an identity theft report (generated by your local police department) to at least one consumer reporting company. Placing an extended fraud alert entitles you to receive two free credit reports from each of the three main consumer reporting companies within 12 months. In addition, those firms must automatically remove your name from marketing lists for prescreened credit offers for five years (unless you opt back in). Getting the credit reports allows you to examine them quickly, then notify the appropriate agency (such as retailers, credit-card companies, and the like) of any fraudulent charges—or of any changes that a scammer may have made to your address, Social Security number or other personal data.

In 25 states, you can also get a credit freeze that prevents new lenders and creditors from looking at your personal financial history. A freeze offers more protection than a fraud alert, since responsible lenders are very unlikely to issue credit in your name without a review of your history.

For the specific rules of credit freezes, contact each credit reporting bureau:

• Equifax: www.econsumer.equifax.com/consumer
  /sitepage.ehtml?forward=elearning_credit11
• Experian: www.experian.com/consumer/
  security_freeze.html.
• TransUnion: www.transunion.com
  /corporate/personal/fraudIdentityTheft/
  preventing/securityFreeze.page?

Contact Your Bank and Creditors
Notify credit card companies (including retail stores for which you have credit accounts), the mortgage company, and the issuer of your car note or other loans. Your credit card companies will likely close your existing accounts and issue you new plastic with a different card number. By law, you will be liable for only $50 in fraudulent charges (and it's unlikely you'll be charged for even that amount).

You may also want to close your existing savings and checking accounts, and move the funds they contained to new accounts. If your financial company isn't helping you as much as you'd like, contact the agency that oversees your bank. To find the name of this agency, call your bank or go to the Institution Search section of the National Information Center of the Federal Reserve System at www.ffiec.gov/nic.

Respond Quickly to Debt Collectors
If a debt collector contacts you about new accounts opened in your name or unauthorized charges made to existing ones, respond immediately in writing—and keep a copy of your letter. Explain why you don't owe the money in question. Enclose copies of any supporting documents, such as an official identity theft police report or an FTC affidavit.

Also ask the debt collector for the name of the business trying to collect the debt, and the amount allegedly owed. Then contact that business—also in writing—and request copies of the credit applications or any other documents linked to transactions you believe were made by the identity thief. Send these letters by registered mail, and get an acceptance receipt from the post office.

Contact the Department of Motor Vehicles
This step, often overlooked, must be taken to guarantee that the identity thief has not applied for a new driver's license in your name. These bogus licenses take two forms: a replacement license that pairs your license number with the thief's picture, or a new license with a new number. Ask that a freeze be placed on your license until you can get a bona fide replacement (to simplify this process, bring along your Social Security card and other identifiers). And if your state is one of the 19 that still allow your Social Security number to double as your license number, ask to have another number substituted.

A little preparation now will make all of these steps much easier to take later on, should it come to that. Therefore, make photocopies today of all your credit cards and identifying documents. Include your driver's license, Social Security card, birth certificate and even a business card. Keep these facsimiles in a safe spot in your home, workplace or a safe-deposit box. And don't forget to follow the prime directive of foiling identity thieves: Never, ever carry your Social Security card in your wallet!

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How To Stay Safe On The Internet

In May 2005, the privacy software company Webroot revealed a startling statistic: At any given time, said the company's State of Spyware Report, two of every three personal computers in the United States are infected with spyware that raises your risk of identity theft.

When it comes to identity theft, fraud expert Sid Kirchheimer says the primary purpose of spyware is to capture sensitive online data: user names, passwords and account numbers.

How does spyware infiltrate your computer? It can piggyback on other applications, hiding inside the "install" commands of Internet software, such as music download programs.

How to Protect Yourself
The first rule of preventing spyware is to be careful about what you download on your computer, says Doug Tygar, Phd, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Think twice about installing freebie software, no matter how enticing it appears. Forbidden landing zones should include any website offering sexy photos of your favorite starlet. And never open unsolicited e-mails promising discount products.

The second rule is to scan your computer once a week or more with a good anti-spyware program. "My recommendation is to use Ad-Aware," suggests Dr. Tygar. "It's free—and, based on my experience, it's among the best anti-spyware programs available." For a free Ad-Aware download, visit www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware.

Consider a Different Browser
The most popular browser is Internet Explorer, which comes pre-installed on most personal computers. Small wonder, then, that most viruses and spyware programs target Windows-based PCs rather than Macintosh computers.

Dr. Tygar recommends using alternative browsers such as Firefox or Opera to address identity theft or online privacy concerns. These alternative browsers can be downloaded free of charge. To learn more, visit www.getfirefox.com or www.opera.com.

Although Macintosh computers are generally safer, Dr. Tygar recommends that Mac users download the browser named Safari on their machines. For more information about Safari, visit www.apple.com/macosx/features/safari.

Get a Second (or Third) E-Mail Account
Never use your real e-mail address in online chat rooms. Never use it when shopping online, and never use it to register at any website. "If you have ever done business online," says John Hambrick, an FBI supervisory special agent with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, "you have to expect that your e-mail address will be compromised; there is [then] the potential for that account to be stolen or sold."

So do what the G-man does: Establish a separate e-mail account—free on MSN's Hotmail, Yahoo!'s Mail or Google's Gmail—and use it specifically and exclusively for online purchases. The Hambrick trick should make your private accounts less vulnerable.

How to Protect Yourself
When choosing a free e-mail address for online shopping, some people opt for a pseudonym or non-identifier. As long as you have valid payment information, most retailers won't care whether or not it matches your real name. But which free service is best? "Currently, Gmail probably gets the edge," says Dr. Tygar. "It is excellent at detecting spam and phishing, though Hotmail and Yahoo are improving quickly."

Watch Your E's for Cues
Be wary of any incoming e-mails, to any of your accounts, from unrecognized names—especially strange-sounding ones. Spammers often send e-mails using first names only, misspelled ones, or the simply absurd.

If you read just the names and subject lines of incoming messages, you can often tell they're counterfeit because they are riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. Of course, sophisticated phishers now take the time to proofread their messages.

How to Protect Yourself
Assuming you don't really know Dai, Petter Parrker, or Hudson Fabergé, why bother opening e-mail from them? At the very least, strangely titled or misspelled e-mails are likely to be spam pitches. Yet the mere fact of clicking such an e-mail open can alert the sender that your e-mail address is active—and therefore ripe for attack or sale. Worse, opening unknown e-mail may automatically admit spyware or viruses into your computer.

Look for Signs of Security
The real dangers in online identity theft typically result from two scams:

Phishing
Fraudulent bulk e-mail messages guide naïve users to legitimate-looking but fake websites—where they are prompted to reveal personal information such as account numbers or passwords. Phishing attempts are such dead-on mimics—hard for even Internet security experts to detect—that scrutinizing the Web address itself may be the best way to spot them. Most banks can offer customers additional information on how to avoid phishing.

Pharming
The domain name server is tampered with to reroute legitimate website traffic to a bogus site. (You have no clue you've arrived at a sham site because its URL appears to be correct in the Web address field.) Pharming scams are more difficult to detect. One clue is to look for valid certificates of authority, such as a locked padlock icon or the VeriSign indicator that matches the site's name.

How to Protect Yourself
Assume that most e-mails requesting sensitive information are bogus; the keepers of your credit-card and bank-account numbers never request e-mail "updates" of your customer information. If they do, they'll provide a phone number that can be easily cross-checked.

Even if such a number is provided, look up the company's number independently, then call it yourself. "Verification" numbers given by phishers and pharmers will simply be answered by a party to the scheme. Except for a few isolated incidences, such as FAFSA forms to apply for student aid, it's the rare government agency that will ask you to supply your Social Security number via e-mail. If you receive an e-mail that requests your SSN and claims to originate inside a government agency, don't respond until you have called that agency directly and received both verbal and written confirmation that the e-mail is authentic.

Trash Files on Old Computers
If you're buying a new computer and plan to discard or donate your old one, consider this: As many as 150 million computers are trashed each year, often without having their hard drives erased. You might as well do the identity thief's job for him. Scammers routinely retrieve old machines from curbside trash or buy them for less than $50 at thrift stores, salvage yards or auctions. In one experiment, MIT students retrieved sensitive information from up to half of the discarded computers they tested.

How to Protect Yourself
Deleted files are easily retrievable by anyone with a larcenous streak and a modicum of tech savvy. To wipe your hard drive clean for good, purchase special hard drive shredding software from a computer supply store. Better yet, physically remove—or have a techie friend do it for you—the hard drive from inside the machine, then use a hammer to destroy it. Or, if you prefer, simply contact a local shredding agency and have them shred the hard drive for you.

Password Dos and Don'ts
Need another reason to guard your computer passwords? It's possible they could be cracked by eagle-eared identity thieves using a high-tech microphone that detects sound through glass.

To keep your passwords unknown—and unknowable—follow these pointers:

Do combine parts of two unusual unrelated words, such as gastrocumulus or cytoplasticity. The longer and stranger the better.

Do mix capital and lowercase characters, as well as symbols and numbers, in the middle of the password: f2reeDoMeYe#wTness, not freedomeyewitness.

Do use words from a foreign language in combo with an English word. Many hackers try to crack passwords with common words, or with those pooled from the dictionary database of a single language.

Don't use anything that can be easily guessed by neighbors, co-workers or strangers who get their hands on your wallet—a nickname, child's name, pet's name, or your favorite sports team or hobby.

Don't use slightly different versions of the same password on different websites, such as ABCebay, ABCmortgage or and ABCvisa.

Don't pair a common word or your name with a different character at the beginning or end, such as $user or johnsmith7.

Don't use the same password from one application to another. "It's fine to have a simple, short password on a news website," says Dr. Tygar. "But use a different, longer, more complicated password on a site with sensitive information."

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Put An End To Junk Mail and Telemarketers

Each year, more than 3 million Americans discover that credit accounts have been falsely opened in their name; of these, at least 400,000 can blame the crime on stolen mail. Fraud expert Sid Kirchheimer says that in the space of an hour you can deter both direct mailers and telemarketers. To decline vulnerable mailings (such as credit card applications) and put an end to most unwanted phone calls, contact the following:

Just Say No

• Credit Bureaus Opt-Out Line
  Call 888-567-8688 (888-5-OPT-OUT) from your home telephone (so it can be checked against an address database) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com to stop preapproved credit card and insurance offers from reaching you by mail or phone.
• Do Not Call List
  If you haven't done so already, by all means, register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission. Once you have registered your telephone numbers at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 888-382-1222, most telemarketers are barred from calling you.
• List Brokers
  Pooling information gleaned from phone books, public records and other sources, these companies prepare and sell mailing lists to businesses. To remove yourself from all of their lists, you'll have to contact each one individually. (Preprinted mailing labels to ease the task are available at www.fightidentity theft.com/junkmail_labels.html.) Details on reaching the four largest list brokers appear below.
• Direct Marketing Association
  The DMA is a trade group whose 5,200 member companies use the telephone, mail and the Internet to pitch their products directly to consumers, bypassing such intermediaries as traditional bricks-and-mortar retail outlets. The DMA offers half a dozen ways for you to opt out of receiving solicitations from its members.

Don't Snub Those Stuffers
The opt-out contacts listed above primarily deal with unsolicited mail and telephone calls from companies you have nothing to do with. But what about stopping the spread of your personal information from companies with which you already do business?

How to Protect Yourself
Once a year, financial institutions are required to inform their customers how they use their personal information, and what opt-out rights those customers have.

These notices sometimes provide a mailing address (or, more rarely, a phone number or a website address) that permits customers to stop their financial institutions from sharing their personal information with unaffiliated third parties. This is that rare offer you truly should not refuse: Taking them up on it may halt junk mail that originates from totally unsuspected sources. Even if you don't take this step, you can always stop the spread of your personal information the good old-fashioned way: Contact your bank, credit-card issuer or insurer and inform them you are opting out of sharing.

Waive That Warranty Card
When you buy a new toaster, it's easy to get burned long before the bread pops up. The source? The warranty card included in the packaging.

"Warranty cards are primarily used by the product's manufacturer to profile you," explains California identity theft attorney Mari Frank. "They will then sell that information to others, who in turn send you mailings for their own products and services. That's why warranty cards so often ask you for your household income, how many kids you have, what your hobbies and interests are."

How to Protect Yourself
Provided you keep the receipt, a product is under warranty for the designated period whether you return the warranty card or not. If you unwisely choose to "register" your purchase with the manufacturer, submit the warranty card bearing nothing more than your name, address and date of purchase. (If required, enclose a copy of your receipt.) In the same mailing, specify that your personal information is not to be distributed to others.

Who'll Stop the Mail?
The U.S. Postal Service delivers—but don't expect it to deliver you from the mountains of junk mail it dumps on your doorstep. Direct marketing mailings—which have increased by some 5 billion pieces since the National Do Not Call Registry went into effect in October 2003—generate billions of dollars in revenue for the USPS. Maybe that's why some seemingly obvious steps for refusing these mailings don't really work. For instance:

Just Say No

• Writing "return to sender" or "refused" on the envelopes of unsolicited letters and placing them in your outgoing mail will not remove you from the sender's distribution list. The USPS does not forward third-class bulk mail; postal regulations require that it be thrown away instead.
• Placing unsolicited mail in a return envelope with postage due is another futile attempt to stop future mailings. In all likelihood, the USPS will simply return the envelope to you for the correct postage. If you omit your return address and the Post Office is unable to return it to the sender, the envelope will go to the USPS's mail recovery center.

Box Junk Mail: None for Me, Thanks!
Perhaps hoping to upgrade its image as the nation's leading source of shredder fodder, the Direct Marketing Association has graciously devised all manner of means by which you can just say no. Try one of these:

Stop Receiving Mailings
Go to www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist and complete the online opt-out form. Then click the Register Online button. This is the fastest way of adding your name and address to the DMA's Mail Preference Service (essentially a "do-not-mail" list), but it costs $5, payable by credit card.

If you don't want to go online, send a postcard or letter including your name, address and signature (and a request to opt out) to:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, New York 10512

This option is also free of charge, but it is the slowest: A minimum of two months will be required before your name and address have been added to the MPS opt-out list.

Stop Telephone Solicitations
Visit www.dmaconsumers.org/
cgi/offtelephone and complete the opt-out form you will find there. Here again there is a $5 charge to register online, or you can print out the form and mail it in at no charge. You can also send a letter or postcard with your name, address, telephone number (with area code), and signature to:

Telephone Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 1559
Carmel, New York 105120

Reduce E-Mail Solicitations
Visit www.dmaconsumers.org/consumers/
optoutform_emps.shtml. To confirm your submission, the Direct Marketing Association will send an acknowledgment to each address you submit (up to three); you must reply to each one within 30 days in order for your registration to take effect.

Remove the Names of Deceased Loved Ones
Visit www.preference.the-dma.org/cgi/ddnc.php and complete the form you find there. There is a $1 charge to verify your credit card information.

The "A List" for Getting Delisted
They don't exactly make it easy for you, but if you send a written request to each list broker below, your tide of junk mail should eventually ebb.

Dun & Bradstreet
Customer Service
899 Eaton Avenue
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18025

R. L. Polk & Co./Name Deletion File
List Compilation Development
26955 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, Michigan 48034-4716

Database America
Compilation Department
470 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff, New Jersey 07677

Acxiom U.S.
Consumer Advocate Hotline
Phone: 877-774-2094
www.acxiom.com/us

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'Lonely Hearts’ Scam - Are You At Risk?

Most people worry over the risk of becoming victim of such crimes such as burglary or mugging but they don’t expect their money to be stolen through other forms of crime. This is despite more and more publicity over identity theft and other fraudulent crimes.

By making themselves aware of these crimes, the public can prevent them before they occur instead of becoming part of the crime statistics. Every year fraud costs the UK around £20 billion, with £3 billion of it being lost through Internet scams.

One of the latest scams is called the ‘lonely hearts’ scam. This scam affects online users who use chatrooms or dating websites for online relationships. The way it works is the fraudster befriends the victim over a period of time by feigning interest in them. All the time however, they are really interested in how rich their victim is, or how much access they have to credit.

After they have gained the victim’s confidence, the fraudster dupes them into taking out a personal loan or handing over life savings. There is always a ‘hardluck story’, usually a claim that this new friend desperately needs money for an operation or for travel expenses to escape an opressive regime.

Typically this type of fraud involves a man or woman from another country who builds a relationship over time through email and phone calls. The relationship can last for months with the fraudster requesting to borrow money slowly over the time period, or they could suddenly come up with an emergency where they need the funds.

Although you may feel that you would never fall for something so obvious as this scam, it happens to people every day. The internet has a way of breaking down barriers between people, and the victims afterwards report that they genuinely thought they had found love or at least a real friend. When speaking with others who live in much poorer circumstances guilt over their better lifestyle is often all that is needed for the victim to borrow money to help out their new ‘friend’.
Unfortunately fraud has caused many people to become wary of others’ intentions, but with the amount of fraud that is occurring people do need to be more cautious.

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Single Adult's Life Savings - Targets Of Dating Fraudsters

A new type of fraudster is sapping many single adult’s life savings, and even driving them into insolvency. These insidious fraudsters hit their victims from dating sites. They earn their victim’s confidence and learn whether they own a nice house, discover their mortgage level and whether they have a savings account.

A growing number of adults are victims of seemingly ‘caring’ people whose acting skills are so good that they quickly gain access to the victim’s accounts. Reports are surfacing where con artists have stolen as much as £70,000, but usually target smaller amounts.

There are two types of con artists who use these scams. The first type of fraudster often has a heart rending story; perhaps involving medical bills that cannot be met. They ask for financial help. Or perhaps they have a business idea which is a ’surefire winner’. Each time the victim lends money to the fraudster – sometimes clearing their savings accounts, sometimes taking out personal loans to raise the cash. But once the money is handed over, the fraudster is never seen again.

The second type of fraudster dates the victim and then quickly moves in. They set up house and open joint accounts. The fraudster can usually apply for a loan or open joint accounts on the victim’s credit rating. After a while they empty the victim’s accounts take gifts and disappear.

The first type of fraudsters are usually located in foreign countries, making it impossible to press charges. For the second type, they could be masquerading under a false name, or a foreigner who expects money for a visa and airfare to the UK.

There are many different types of scams that separate UK adults from their money. Many victims of fraud are left with no money, no way to repay their mortgages, and with only one option: insolvency.

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Online Lottery Can Wreck You For Life

There are many stories of lottery winners who win money, only to be left in poverty a few years, or even months, after they collect their earnings. But, now, there is a more insidious lottery scam that is taking people’s life savings.

This lottery hits most people from their e-mail address. This scam does not originate in Nigeria, but in London. Once the recipient responds to the e-mail, the fraudsters talk of the money they already won, but there is always an administration fee.

The ‘real’ lotteries do not have fees. They also do not award prizes to people who did not buy a ticket, or fill in a registration form.

Many households in the UK are desperate enough to gamble on the slight chance that the lottery is for real. Unfortunately, victims do not speak up from embarrassment.

The administration fee is rarely charged by the company, but by a ‘government levy’ or a legal fee needed to claim the money.

The scam set up is very advanced. The fraudsters put people in touch with a London-based Lawyer who will help you. Many people take out a personal loan or borrow the money on their credit card.

He will arrange the government levy, and uses the same terms as the fraudsters. He will attach his fee to the top of the government and legal fees.

Near the end, the fraudsters walk away with £3,500 that the consumer has begged or borrowed. This type of scam traps the elderly, and the poor, who have not had financial training. They borrow money in the hopes of eliminating their debts.

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Dont Get Caught-Up In The Soaring ID Theft

ID fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and are starting to use other avenues to steal from consumers. There has been an increasing amount of mobile phone fraud, current account hijacking, and car leasing and cloned car number plate fraud throughout Britain.

Credit card and loan frauds are now the most popular forms of ID theft, where fraudsters gain information from one person to carry out as many fraudulent activities as they can before the fraud is discovered.

The fraudsters create credit card accounts and run up huge bills which will never be paid. They take out personal loans which get defaulted on, leaving the victim with a bad credit rating.

The average amount an individual is defrauded is currently £6,000. Many consumers are not aware that identity fraud has taken place in a number of different ways and are still not protecting themselves and practicing good methods of identity protection.

Most consumers do not know what to look out for to discover whether they have fallen victim of an identity theft crime.

Identity theft can happen in a number of different ways and only just a few personal details are needed to commit a crime.

Often these personal details can be obtained through phone calls, phising, mail interception and other methods. The personal information gained through the methods can then be used for fraudulent purposes such as account takeovers as well as taking out mobile phone contracts.

Over the last year there has been over a 300% increase in the number of serious fraud cases. Fraudulent cases that included the take over of a current account were up by 24% in the first three months of this year with mobile phone contract crime up by 22%.

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Protect Yourself From Identity Theft

Sid Kirchheimer

Fraud expert Sid Kirchheimer says the most basic ways to protect yourself from identity theft are well known: Check your credit history at least once a year with each of the major credit reporting bureaus. Shred with a cross-cut (or "confetti") shredder all incoming mail with any sensitive information: your name, address, account information, Social Security number and especially "convenience checks" and new credit card offers. Never carry your Social Security card or PIN codes in your wallet. Carefully read bank, credit card and even telephone statements each month. What else can you do to keep the identity wolves from your door?

Shield Your Fortune with a $2 Pen
All it takes to empty your bank account is a single signed check stolen from your unlocked mailbox and some acetone—the active ingredient in nail polish remover. (Conveniently for criminals, pure acetone is also available in the paint department of home improvement centers.)

Here's how the scam goes down: The crook steals mail likely to contain a signed check—envelopes addressed to the phone or electric company are easy pickings. He or she then removes your check, puts a piece of cellophane tape over the front and back of your signature, and places the check in a pan of acetone. This process—known as "check washing"—takes only about 30 minutes to rinse everything but the printer's ink from the check. Your tape-covered John Hancock and the printer-inked information, of course, remain intact. The check is then blow-dried and flattened in a book, the tape is carefully peeled away and voilà—a blank check signed by you, replete with your name, address and bank account information.

How to Protect Yourself
Buy yourself a safe pen. One type of ink—the kind in gel pens manufactured by Uni-Ball—resists acetone or other chemicals used in check washing.

Write Four Digits for More Protection
Even when you fill them out with a wash-proof pen, your outbound checks may offer identity thieves another bit of primo booty: your complete account numbers for credit cards, mortgages or other loans, which are routinely written (at the payee's insistence) on signed checks.

How to Protect Yourself
Rather than obediently scribbling your entire account number on signed checks—often on the Memo or For line—list only certain digits, such as the last four numbers of your credit card account. Or write down no integers at all. Firms routinely ask you to note your entire account number, but there is no need to comply.

Keep 'Em Guessing with New Checks
If your current checks display your first name, order new ones showing only your initials. That's the advice of Mari J. Frank, a California attorney who became an identity-theft protection lawyer after being victimized herself. "That way, the fraudster won't know how you sign your name," notes Mari.

How to Protect Yourself
To further guard your privacy, keep phone numbers off your checks. If you must list one, make it your work number, not your home phone. Another good move: Get a Post Office Box number and use it (rather than a street address) as your mail-delivery point. Of course, never display on any check your Social Security or driver's license number. To prevent new checks from being stolen from your incoming mail, specify that the delivery be sent not to your home but to your bank (for later pickup there).

Finally, seek out check styles that offer security features, such as a special substrate that stains during check washing attempts.

Say Cheese
Stealing your identity isn't hard, but stealing your face is. Take advantage, therefore, of an option offered by certain credit card companies and retail stores that sponsor their own plastic: Your photo can be affixed to your credit card.

Avoid Casual Clues
You welcome trouble into your life when you use your birth date or your mother's maiden name as your clue password or PIN for bank and credit card accounts. Savvy identity thieves are adept at obtaining this information. They simply ferret out birth certificates and other public records online, then use the significant dates they find there to guess passwords until they succeed in cracking your account.

How to Protect Yourself
If a company asks for your maiden name or your mother's maiden name, reply that you want to use an alternative password to that. Alternatively, fabricate a maiden name or pick a bogus birthday—one that you can easily remember, of course.

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eBay's Online-Shopping Safety Tips

Love to buy and sell on eBay? Don't fall victim to an Internet scam. Follow eBay's top five online safety tips for a safe, satisfying shopping experience.

Get to know your seller. Contact and communicate with them and research their reputation by checking their feedback rating.

Pay safely. Pay with a fast, easy and secure payment method such as PayPal. Do not pay with cash or instant money transfer services. These methods are banned on eBay because they are unsafe.

Never click on a link or reply to emails that ask for personal information. eBay and PayPal will never ask you for your account or credit card details, username or password in any communications.

Download the eBay Toolbar with account guard. This will protect you against clicking onto fake eBay and PayPal websites.

Educate yourself before trading on the Internet. Check out the eBay Security and Resolution Center for the latest tips and advice about how to avoid common buying mistakes that increase the risk of a bad buying experience.

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