Randy Vezina asked:


As a member of the U.S. Military and away from your usual posting, you should consider placing an “Active Duty Alert” on your credit report.  This alert will help to minimize your risk of identity theft while your deployed.  A persons credit report contains the most vital personal information, including your home address, how you pay your bills, whether you have been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy.  It is routine for banks, insurers, employers, utility companies and businesses to use the information in your credit report to evaluate your application for a mortgage, credit card, car loan, cell phone and much more.  With you away, perhaps on the other side of the world, identity thieves have a perfect opportunity to use your personal information to open new accounts in your name.  The thieves will most probably not pay the bills and the delinquent accounts show up in your personal credit report. 

 

Fraudulent and inaccurate information may affect your ability to get a loan, rental housing, car insurance or credit card when you return to the U.S. or long after your return.  This is why we suggest you place an active duty alert because according to the Federal Trade Commission, the alert requires creditors and businesses to verify your identity before issuing credit or opening an account in your name.  The active duty alert makes it much more difficult for the identity thief to use your personal information in an illegal way.  The active duty alert will last for one year unless you ask to have it removed sooner.  If your deployment exceeds one year you may place another alert.

 

Amendments to the Fair Crediting Reporting Act allow you to place the active duty alert.  To place the alert or remove it, just call the toll free number of one of the nationwide consumer reporting companies, and they are Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union.  These reporting companies will ask for meaningful proof of identity and could include your Social Security number, your name, address and other identifying information.



Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; quifax dot com

Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); experian dot com

TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; transunion dot com



 

 

You only need to contact one of the above companies to place your alert because the company you call is required to contact the other two.  The other two will now place their own alerts on their version of your credit report.  Contact information could change before your alert expires and then you would have to update it.  When the active duty alert is in place, your name gets removed from the nationwide consumer reporting companies’ marketing lists for pre-screened or preapproved offers of credit and insurance, for two years. 

You may ask to have your name placed on the lists, if you want, before deployment.  Please realize that your friends and family know for quite some time that your going to be deployed and one of them could, without knowing it, say something that gets back to an identity thief.  Imagine what the thief could do with your identity while you’re gone for an entire year.  Protect your identity, because identity theft is real and growing in America.

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works

 



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Puripong Koomsin asked:


LifeLock is a personal identity and fraud protection company founded in 2005. LifeLock is based in Tempe, Arizona. It is now serving tens of thousands of customers in different states of the union, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. LIfeLock is backed up by Bessemer Venture Partners and is in partnership with Better Business Bureau and TrustE. Their services include helping customers putting fraud alerts at credit bureaus and claiming damages in the incident of identity theft.

Fred Thompson, former US Senator and a 2008 Presidential candidate taped a radio spot for LifeLock as a part of his ABC contract. In these commercials, he describes a story of military heroism in Iraq. Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh and Paul Harvey have all been celebrity spokesperson for Lifelock

LifeLock’s current CEO, Todd Davis has gained popularity when he prominently displays his Social Security Number in an advertisement as a proof that the system works in protecting him from Identity Theft.

Identity Theft and Identity Fraud Explained. The threats pose by identity theft and identity fraud is what gave birth to LifeLock. But what is identity theft and identity fraud? These are terms used in referring to all types of criminal activities wherein someone wrongfully get hold and uses somebody else’s personal data for fraud and deception usually done for economic gains. Unlike you fingerprints that are exclusive to you and cannot be given to someone else for use, personal information such as you Social Security Number, credit card and bank account details, or even your telephone number can be used by another person to personally profit at your cost. The fraud or deception can range from acquiring a credit card, renting an apartment, or setting up a telephone account in your name. A victim’s losses can range from financial out-of-the-pocket losses to criminal charges in worst cases.

Regrettably these crimes can be committed unnoticed. The victim will just be shocked when they review their credit reports stating unauthorized charges often involving big amounts of money. There are many different ways on how personal data lands in the hands of criminals. Some of them are:

(1) Trash. Bills, pre-approved credit card and bank statements are all full of necessary information to steal a person’s identity.

(2) Skimming. This uses a special storage device use to steal numbers of credit and debit cards while doing a transaction.

(3) Phishing. This is an internet base stealing usually in the form of pop ups often asking for personal and financial information.

(4) Stealing. Thieves can obtain your personal data even prior to you dumping them in your trash cans, they steal them right out of your mailboxes. Stealing purses and wallets are like gold mining for identity thieves.

(5) Pretexting. In this, somebody poses as someone representing a telephone company or other organizations coaxing for information out of unsuspecting subjects.

Fraud Alerts. The goal of fraud alert is to confirm that the person doing the transaction or is even using your name is really you. With fraud alerts in place, they must verify identities before they can process requests like issuing new credit, arranging loans, increasing credit lines and creating new accounts for utilities.



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Jhoana Cooper asked:


Once you find out that your identity has been stolen and you have made all of the necessary phone calls to the bank and credit card companies, you then want to begin getting everything back on the right track, and build up your credit all over again.  Many people turn to credit monitoring services such as Equifax or Lifelock and from there they put their worries in the hands of the credit monitoring service.  Lifelock is an excellent company to work with and you can easily find a Lifelock coupon or some sort of Lifelock discount that will be offered to you for any new services that you may need.

Signing up with a credit monitoring service is going to be your best bet on maintaining your current credit score.  These reports give you an inside look on what your credit score is and what you need to do to fix it.  Even if you are not a victim of identity theft, you should still consider looking for a Lifelock discount to sign up with this company.  The fee that you pay for this service is a simple annual fee, but if you find some sort of Lifelock coupon then you would be in better shape for at least the next year.

The neat thing about using a credit monitoring service is the fact that you get excellent service and detailed reports from all aspects of the credit spectrum.  Even if you do use a Lifelock discount, you will still be receiving the same amount of service you would, if you did not use a Lifelock discount.  Finding the right deals to monitor and build your credit back up is very important, especially after an identity theft.  You may not have a lot of money in the first place because of what you are going through; therefore a Lifelock coupon can help you immensely!

If you are worried you might become a victim of identity theft, or if you are on the road to getting your credit score back to the way it used to be, you seriously need to consider a credit monitoring service such as Lifelock.  This service is excellent with help in rebuilding your credit, and using their offered Lifelock coupon is also going to help put your mind at ease, and keep a bit of much needed money in your wallet!



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Rick Churchill asked:


Identity theft has become a worldwide crisis, particularly in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission states that the crime of identity theft is rapidly growing and will affect thousands of people throughout the world and because the rate of conviction and prosecution of identify theft criminals is so small, this crime will just grow worse over time. If you are like the majority of people, then you may wonder exactly what identity theft is, how it can affect you, and what thieves may do with your information once they have it. The goal of this article is to examine the crime of identity theft and look at how it can affect the average person.

Essentially, identity theft is where a criminal gains access to your personal identification information, be it your Social Security number, credit card number, or bank account information. You may be amazed at what somebody can do once they have access to your personal identification history. Once a person with the available knowledge and lack of conscience has gained access to your Social Security number, address, phone number, and birth date they have an open ticket on accessing and abusing your credit. You may think that this cant happen to you but the Federal Trade Commission estimates that 9 million Americans will be affected by identity theft each year and unfortunately, you could be next on the list. If you become a victim of identity theft, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Victims of identity theft not only have to go through the difficult, time consuming, and self demeaning act of proving their innocence, but will also be required to engage in the process of restoring their credit and good name. The act of restoring your credit can take hundreds of hours spread out through a period of several years and can cost thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses for the victim. In addition to this fact, an identity theft victim can have their life put on hold while trying to restore their credit, making it difficult or impossible to secure home mortgages, automobile loans, and credit for other needed items. On rare occasions, an identity theft victim can actually be arrested for crimes that they did not commit. To make matters worse, someone who has fallen prey to identity theft may not even realize what has happened for months until they are contacted by debt collectors for bills that they did not incur. To make matters even worse, if an identity theft victim needs to seek another job, their now negative credit history may have a large impact in obtaining gainful employment.

Once a person understands what identity theft is and how it may affect them, they often wonder just what an identity theft thief will do with their information. The possibilities are virtually endless, with identity theft criminals using stolen personal identification to rent apartments, get credit cards, open telephone or utility accounts, and even open bank accounts, all in the victims name. While some identity theft criminals are simply people with bad credit themselves who may use your information for the purpose of obtaining credit and will actually pay the bills, many more will simply spend with no intention of ever paying back the debt and continue to do so until your credit and good name are completely destroyed. Some identity theft criminals have actually filed for bankruptcy using a victims social security number.

As seen by this article, identity theft can happen to anyone, and can often go unnoticed until the point where the victims credit history and good name has been completely destroyed. While recovering from identity theft can be a long and hard road to recovery, there are steps that someone can take to narrow the possibilities of becoming an identity theft victim. Anti identity theft programs such as LifeLock specialize in helping people protect their credit and personal identification information before they become an identity theft victim.



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Randy Vezina asked:


 

The term “bot” is for robot.  Not the kind of robot you have seen in movies and television shows (does anyone remember ‘Lost In Space’?) or the one at the car assembly plant.  Bots are now one of the most complex types of crimeware on the Internet and therefore a significant tool for identity theft.  Bots are a lot like worms and Trojans, except that they can perform a wide variety of automated tasks on behalf of their master who is usually located far, far away.

Bots can perform nasty tasks like sending spam that can blast a Web site right off the internet when the spam is part of a coordinated “denial of service” attack.  A bot infected computer does the work for its master and that machine is known as a “zombie”.  Bots can enter your computer in several ways.  They are able to search the internet for vulnerable and un-protected (Nawaz, please link to Symantec) computers and inject the infection.  After infecting the machine they immediately report back to their master.

The bots objective now is to stay hidden until their master awakens them and assigns a task.  Bots are so silent that the victim does not know of their existence until the Internet Service Provider notifies you that your computer has been spamming other Internet users.  There are times when the bot will actually clean up an infected computer so that it will not get bumped off the victims machine by another identity thieves bot.  Bots can also infect by being downloaded by a Trojan, installed by a malicious Web site or emailed directly to you from an existing infected computer.

Bots never work alone because they are part of a network of infected computers called a “botnet”.  Botnets are created by identity thieves/attackers who repeatedly infect victim’s computers using one or several of the techniques already mentioned.  Each zombie machine is controlled by a master computer called the command and control server.  The cybercriminals/identity thieves manage their botnets and instruct their army of zombie computers from their command and control centre.  Typically, a botnet is composed of a large number of victimized machines that stretch across the entire planet, from China to the U.S.  Some botnets have a few hundred or few thousand computers; others have tens and even hundreds of thousands of zombies at their command.

 

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



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Randy Vezina asked:


 

No one person can say for sure how large a role bots play in cybercrime today.  Cybercrime will, at some point, make use of a botnet to do everything from spamming to hosting fraudulent Web sites.  Internet security software giant Symantec has protected people from bots for a lot of years and has tracked the evolution of bots from basic threats to highly complicated crimeware.  For at least a few years Symantec has seen a frightening increase in the amount of bots attacking the Internet by way of automatic assaults in search of new victims.

Symantec documented almost 9,000 different variations of the three prevailing bots - Spybot, Gaobot and Randex in the first half of 2005 alone!  This means that there are at least 50 new criminally motivated bots a day searching the Internet for unprotected computers and peoples identities.

The new bots are basically members of an existing ‘family’ of bot software and therefore they are not entirely new.  The identity thieves and other criminals make minor changes in an attempt to sneak past security software, trick a user with a new tactic or capitalize on a newly discovered vulnerability.  Bots and botnets are the “Swiss army knives” of cybercrime, in that they are used for a multiple of purposes.  Bots are a part of almost every kind of popular cybercrime today.  The botnet owners lease out their sinister networks for a fee to the identity thieves and other criminals or use the bots themselves so that they can steal un-protected identities and commit many other types of crime.

Bots are most often part of an identity theft by not only infecting the computer to be used as a “zombie” later but also stealing personal information from an unknowing victim and sending it back to the identity thief.  Below, we want to show you a bot that works for identity thieves on the black-market.  This particular bot was designed for an online forum for identity thieves to assist in basic identity theft tasks, such as finding out whether stolen credit cards are valid, the credit card limits and additional information like the CVV2 code and expiration date.

The following are examples of a bot performing ordinary tasks for different identity thieves:

  !cclimit   4854xxxxxxxxxxxx

 redeyezz   I found limit for your visa

(4854xxxxxxxxxxxx) :   7,535  $

This first example is an identity thief with the name “redeyezz” , asking the bot what the limit is of a presumably stolen credit card by using the command “!cclimit” and the credit card number.

  !chk    4158xxxxxxxxxxxx  xx0x

Vietnamhack  4158xxxxxxxxxxxx  :   xx0x (Valid cc)

  !chk  6011xxxxxxxxxxxx xx0x

  jyde  6011xxxxxxxxxxxx  :  xx0x  (You’re Card is Declined)

This second example shows two identity thieves checking the validity of 2 different credit cards, where one is still valid and the other got declined because it is no longer valid.

 

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



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Matt Collins asked:


With identity theft becoming more and more a growing threat for Americans on a daily basis, the identity theft protection business, which was virtually nonexistent 10 years ago, has become a booming industry today. One of the newest companies to enter the arena is a company called LifeLock. The company claims to have the most advanced identity theft protection system available in the market today. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into exactly how the the company’s system works and how it compares to other identity theft products available in the market.

The LifeLock system does basically three things that appear to be different from other identity theft protection services. First, it places a fraud alert on your credit files from the three major credit bureaus. A fraud alert basically requires any creditor using that credit file to grant new credit or an extension of credit in your name must contact you by telephone (using the phone number specified in the fraud alert) or take other reasonable measures to verify your identity and confirm that the credit application is not the result of a stolen identity. These fraud alerts are only active for 90 days and then must be renewed, and LlifeLock takes care of this automatically. Second, they will perform the necessary processes to request removal of your name from junk mail lists. Finally, they will go through the necessary procedures to get you removed from pre-approved credit offer lists, which reduces the risk of someone trying to use pre-approved credit card junk mail to steal your identity. Their claim is that you should see a substantial reduction in pre-approved credit card offers and other junk mail with 2 months of your enrollment.

The main difference between the LifeLock protection system and other identity protection services is in their proactive approach to actually preventing the theft from occurring. This is different from most of the protection services available, some of which act as more of an insurance policy to reimburse you for financial losses that you incur after the fact. Other identity protection services actually monitor your credit report. These credit monitoring services will alert you in the event some sort of change or inquiry to your credit report has occurred. Often these two services are combined to offer what appears on the surface to be a more comprehensive protection package. But the reality is these services still only help you after your credit has been compromised.

Over the last three years (2003-2005) a total of 28.3 million individuals have been victims of identity theft. That’s 1 out of every 8 individuals in the United States. Many victims spend thousands and thousands of dollars in out of pocket expenses, spend hundreds of hours of time both at home and at work, and lose thousands of dollars in wages due to time spent away from work. Many suffer the affects for years after the theft occurred. Identity theft can have a devastating effect on a person’s life, both financially and emotionally.

The obvious key factor in protecting your identity is minimizing the lead time available to the thieves before detection. Most individuals who have had their identities stolen don’t realize it for many months, and typically only after substantial damage has been done to their credit and their finances. And even though credit monitoring services certainly can reduce this lead time, even a one or two day delay can often be enough time for a thief to do substantial financial and credit damage. This is where LifeLock appears to standout above the rest. The focus on upfront prevention versus after the fact monitoring and recovery can give you substantial peace of mind knowing that your credit and your good credit standing that you worked so hard for are secure.



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Randy Vezina asked:


Pickpockets earn good money selling your identity to an identity thief. There is no firearm or other weapon involved, so even if they do get caught, the jail time is minimal. Forget about getting your Social Security card, credit cards and identity back, they sell it. Your identity is worth a fair bit of change. The same way the jewel thief knows who the jewel fence is, the pickpocket knows who the identity thief fence is. You have your minor league pickpockets and your major league pickpockets. The minor leaguers are just low-skilled opportunists and look for people who are not protecting their wallets and identity.

They go to crowded malls and other public areas where college students like to study and they get up close, sit down and eventually reach into the students backpack. These opportunists also hang out at public beaches to find someone who is sleeping or go to the airport and look for someone waiting around with their luggage. Be careful in crowded commuter trains and subways because everybody is bumping into each other and it is not an un-expected thing to have someone else’s body up against yours. These thieves will carry a newspaper or jacket to hide their hands.

Pickpockets also work in teams where you have your “pick” and your “stall”. You are walking along and suddenly the stall stops and you bump into her, but the pick bumps into the back of you, apologizes in his usual convincing way and your wallet is gone. The pickpockets’ best friend is distraction because we humans usually focus on one thought or action, so if you give us something that is interesting we stop paying attention to our money and identity. These thieves will work in larger teams where two of them will start a fight and the others will prey on the inattentive crowd.

There are children pickpockets as well. One will walk up to you and show you his cute little toy or drawing while the others sneak up from behind and do what they do. Another excellent distraction is sex. A beautiful woman, maybe acting drunk, will walk up and affectionately touch you. Others will play on your good nature and accidentally drop their groceries or change and you respond by helping her while the other team member removes your identity. More dramatic is the team at the beach where one pretends to be drowning while the rest of the thieves help themselves to whatever is on the beach.

Picture yourself at that busy commuter train station or subway station and suddenly someone yells out “somebody just stole my wallet”. Everyone pat’s the area of their clothing where their wallet is and now the other team members know where your wallet and identity is. These heartless beings will also stake out the ATM machines and cash registers to find out where your wallet is. These thieves know not to look like a common criminal and will dress like businessmen, others will carry babies and some will act and dress like tourists. Tourists are a favorite target. Fanny packs, backpacks and purses are easy targets so protect your money and your identity. Perhaps consider buying a money belt. Carry your purse under your arm and don’t look confused or lost (even if you are) because these thieves love people like that.

 

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



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Marvin Stewart asked:


Freebie sites, called Freesites by some, have become a popular, housewife-led industry for those looking for extra income. They represent a sure way for the average person to earn money online.

Freebie sites can provide guaranteed income with no risk or monetary investment required. Freebie sites are popular because one can earn money for free by completing offers to try products, or by getting others (Referrals) to try products.

There is no skill involved with sampling a product or service, or any other aspect of Freesites. Patience is the most important quality for success as one earns slowly. Freebie sites are purely for those looking for part-time income, $200 to $2K a month.

What Is a Freebie Site or Freesite?

Freebie sites describes websites where companies pay consumers to try their products or services. CashParrot is one of the author’s favorites. This incentive to be paid to try a product has led to the name, “incentivized” websites (”IFW”) in some circles.

The hundreds of Freebie sites (Freesites) constitute an industry where one is paid to 1) try products for free, or 2) to get others to try products for free. Those interested in doing either traditionally meet-up at a forum like the Free Lunch Room where they agree to work together.

Business loves the industry because of the opportunity to place their product in a consumer’s hands at a greatly reduced marketing cost. In practice, companies pay money to a Freebie site like CashParrot for each potential customer the Freesite brings to the table. To get customers, the Freebie sites offer an incentive, ie., a cash prize, to those (called Sponsors) responsible for the Customer.

When a potential customer gets credit for agreeing to try a product, the company pays the Freebie site which in turns pays the Sponsor responsible for the customer (called a Referral). The Sponsor in turn pays the consumer who tried the product.

Freebies & The National TV/Radio Ad for Lifelock

A good example of Freebies in operation is the national commercial ran by Lifelock. An individual who wants to try Lifelock’s identity theft protection service can respond to a radio or tv ad. The cost to Lifelock to get that potential customer through a radio or TV ad is significant.

Let’s assume Lifelock decides to do some marketing through Freesites. The marketing cost is so drastically less that Livelock agrees to pay the Freebie site for every potential customer.

The net result is that same consumer who wants to try Livelock for 30 days will be paid when he tries Lifelock through a Freebie site instead of a radio or tv ad.

Freesites produce a ‘win-win-win-win’ for all involved:

* Lifelock got a potential customer at a drastically reduced cost . . . a win,

* A Freesite got paid for bringing a potential customer to Lifelock . . . a win,

* The Sponsor responsible for the potential customer got paid by the Freebie site for his efforts . . . a win, and

* The Customer who agreed to try Lifelock through a Freesite instead of the radio or tv ad got paid to do so . . . a win again!.

CONCLUSION

This author encourages individuals to use Freesites as a foundation in making money online. It is easy to see why Freebies are popular with housewives and those looking for extra income.



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Randy Vezina asked:


The identity thief or one of his/her crew will simply walk up to your home and steel your mail and they are hoping for bank statements, credit card statements, tax forms, pre-approved credit card offers, new checks and anything else that will allow them to steal your identity. And don’t expect them to be dressed in a manner that will give them away and make them stand out in your neighborhood. Please remember that they do not want to get caught and this is their livelihood.

Imagine what it means to an identity thief to get his/her hands on your pre-approved credit card offer or tax statement, that’s pure gold to them and these thieves are bold. They put some thought into their visit to your neighborhood, so be vigilant. If you live in a rural area it may be even easier because some rural residents can’t even see their mailbox from the house.

Perhaps its time to invest in a lockable mailbox, at least you will slow them down. You may want to consider opting into the paperless electronic billing and statements that banks, utility companies, credit card issuers and major businesses now offer.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service, and investigates cases of identity theft. The USPIS has primary jurisdiction in all matters infringing on the integrity of the U.S. mail. If an identity thief has stolen your mail to get new credit cards, bank or credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, or tax information, or obtained your personal information through fraud conducted by mail, report it to your nearest postal inspector. You can locate the nearest USPIS district office by phoning your local postal office, viewing the Blue Pages of your phone book or log on at www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect

Some other good tips are to pick-up your mail as soon as possible after delivery or ask a neighbor to retrieve it right after delivery. If you are going away from home then ask the same neighbor to hold your mail for you. You may want to contact your Postal Office and ask if they will put a temporary hold on your mail, until you arrive home from your holiday etc. You may also want to contact an agency that will remove you from all pre-approved/pre-screened credit mailing lists.

Do you want to learn about Identity Theft Prevention & Identity Theft Protection. Stop Identity Theft with LifeLock. LifeLock can guarantee identity theft never happens to you. To see how lifelock identity theft protection works



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