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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