Identity Theft

Identity Theft – 10 Tips For Pickpocket Protection

Never keep your passport in your purse, or on your person. Store it in a safe in your hotel Keep a backup credit card and enough cash for a taxi ride to the airport and 1 days worth of food with your passport

Do not leave your purse, wallet, jacket, or other personal items unattended. This includes not asking your friend to "watch my stuff." Pick pockets and purse snatchers are clever; in a busy location such as a club or restaurant, they will work together with someone to distract your friend even more easily than they could distract you.

If a stranger approaches you for any reason, pay attention. This includes employees during those fun bar games that they play. Thieves are aware of the routines in these places, and take advantage of every opportunity.

If someone bumps into you, always protect your wallet or purse. Check to make sure everything is still there, even if seems like a small, casual bump.

If your pockets have zippers or buttons, use them.

Put your wallet in your front pocket. Front pockets are usually deeper , angled, which makes it more difficult to remove items. For men, I recommend the small credit card wallet / money clip combination from Tumi.

Women should not carry their wallet in their purse. Ideally, find a solution that allows you to put your wallet in a front pocket.

Cargo pants pockets are very safe.

Do not assume any person is not a thief, regardless of age or gender.

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Identity Theft – How To Protect Your Myspace Profile

Myspace.com, probably the most well known social networking site, and most popular among children and teens, has attracted scam artists, hackers, and identity thieves. From malicious worms that hijack your computer and expose your personal files, to profile hackers who use your profile to bulletin spam, Myspace is ripe with opportunities for hackers to take advantage of unsuspecting or uninformed users.

As of today, May 18th, 2008, a Google search on Myspace Security turns up 4.75 million results, of which the top 10 are about security breaches.

And, just so you know, I am not trying to deter you or your children from using Myspace; I would just like to ensure you do it from a position of knowledge and security.

Protecting You Profile From Intruders

There are several configuration settings now available from Myspace which can protect you and your profile. Below we’ll show you a picture of each of the settings pages and below each picture an explanation of each.

At the end of this post, there is also a video which explains each of my recommended settings.

Privacy Options

The most effective is the settings Profile Viewable By. In the past, Myspace only allowed children 13 years old and younger to use this setting, however it is now enabled for everybody. The settings “my friends only” is the most secure, but does not guarantee your information will remain private. Currently, there is bug in this setting which allows people to view all of your Myspace photos.

As a general rule of thumb when it comes to Myspace and your photos: If you wouldn’t want your mom to see it, don’t put it on Myspace. Also, even if you’re careful, I would recommend un-checking the box for allow my photos to be shared / emailed. The only reason to have this box checked is if you were a band or other business doing promotions or marketing.

Better Use Of Myspace Spam Filters

Using the spam filters provide some of the best identity protection available on myspace. For maximum security and ease of setup, just slide to bar to “high” and save all changes. For those of you who won’t more details, here they are:

• 
• Messages
  • Allow Non-friends to send me messages: Disabling this feature is great for securing your profile, but inhibits the ability for you to make new friends, or for your friends to make contact with you on myspace. For most people, disabling anyone from sending you a message is overkill
  • Require CAPTCHA [?] for non-friends to send me messages: It’s very likely that if you’ve signed up for an account on just about any website in the past year that you have seen CAPTCHA in action. CAPTCHA requires users to type in a word or two which is scrambled up in order to verify that they are human. This system will prevent malicious hackers from using programs called bots or other malware from sending you unwanted messages.
• Friend Requests
  • Require last name or email address: This is a great feature for protecting your profile while allowing people you know to find you (or your kids). They must type in your email address or your last name in order to send you the request.
  • IF you enabled require last name or email address (which I highly recommend), there is no need to require captcha
  • Regarding banks,filmmakers, and comedians… Unless you have a career in one of these areas, or have a deep interest in local and upcoming talent, you should uncheck these boxes.
• Event Invitations
  • Set this to “Allow only my friends and:” and uncheck all of the other boxes
• IM Inivitations
  • Myspace isn’t the best instant messaging platform, either for robustness of features or security. I would disable this and use an IM client such as Windows Live Messenger.

Application Privacy

Another great general rule of thumb for protecting your identity on the internet… Never, under any circumstances trust anything written by a 3rd party. In this case, many of these applications are written by third party developers.  You have no control over what information they have access to, nor do you have control over what gets published straight to the internet. Select the option button “do not share data” and uncheck”allow applications to send me messages and comments.”

Video – How To Protect Your Myspace Profile from Identity Theft

Resources

Protecting Your Identity On Facebook

References

http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2007/02/myspace_should_add_e.html

http://www.misunderestimation.com/index.php/2006/12/27/more-trouble-for-myspace-identity-theft/trackback/

http://securitywatch.eweek.com/exploits_and_attacks/myspace_profile_fake_microft_patch_malware_cocktail.html#trackback

http://securitywatch.eweek.com/google/flash_phishing_myspace_passwords_and_hacking_pdfs.html#trackback

http://www.misunderestimation.com/index.php/2006/12/04/myspace-security-alert-a-new-worm/trackback/

http://www.shankrila.com/tech-stuff/myspace-private-profiles-arent-that-private/trackback/

http://cybernetnews.com/2008/01/18/prevent-someone-from-viewing-private-myspace-pictures/trackback/

http://www.masey.com.au/blog/index.php/2006/11/protect-yourself-against-myspace-profile-hacking/trackback/

http://blog.spywareguide.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/178

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Identity Theft – Protecting Your Identity On Facebook

Social Networks Expose Too Much Personal Information By Default…

Protecting yourself from fraud and identity theft doesn’t have to be monotonous. It simply takes active thought about protecting sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

With the ever growing popularity of social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and even file sharing sites such as Youtube, and Flickr, it amazes me to see the information people are making available to the public.

It’s clear to me that many people leave their information exposed on these websites because they are not aware of how easily the information becomes accessible to just about everyone on the internet. I also believe that most people are not aware that the need to take a few minutes to protect their identity on these websites, and have no idea that there are privacy settings available that can protect their identity while still growing their social networks.

Today I am going to start with Facebook. Facebook.com is quickly becoming the number 1 social networking website on the internet. Unfortunately, with this popularity comes a few bad seeds looking to take advantage of people who leave their personal information unprotected. Following the simple steps outline in this article and video will still allow for your Facebook network to grow, while protecting you from scam artists, unsavory marketers, and identity thieves.

Protecting Your Facebook Profile

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Recommended Facebook Privacy Settings:

Settings

Profile

Profile – only friends

Basic info – only friends

Personal info – my networks and friends

Status updates – my networks and friends

Photos tagged – my newtworks and friends

Videos tagged – my networks and friends

Friends – “”

Wall – “”

Education – only friends

Work info – only friends

Or customize and use only me (when you want a network to see you, but not others)

You can block certain people as well

IM screen name – friends

Mobile phone – specfic friends

Land phone – specific friends

Current address – noone

Website – network and friends

Email – only friends

Search

Search visibility (within fb) – choose

Public listing – keep the data out of search engines (uncheck)

How can people contact you. Uncheck your friend list

News and mini Feed

Uncheck relationship status

Remove add a friend

Applications

What others users can see via the facebook platform

Click do not share any information

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How To Report Identity Theft

 8 Step Identity Theft Reporting Process:

1. Step 1 – Report any crime that occurs, including theft of your wallet, purse, or mail to your local police department.
2. Step 2 – After filing the report, be certain to get a copy, as you will need it when filing with the credit bureaus to prove theft occurred. If your local police department is having difficulty filing a report, ask them to file a "Miscellaneous Incident" report. If your local police office is unable to do this, contact your state police agency.
3. Contact your local Attorney General’s office to make a complaint.
4. Report credit card theft immediately. Many credit card companies have websites where you can report theft. They also have online statements which make it very easy to monitor for improper use.

   Also, request that your credit card company and banks stop sending your paper statements. By using electronic statemets, you will reduce the risk of having your mail stolen.

5. Close the credit card accounts you know a thieft has attempted to misuse, and close all credit card accounts opened without your consent. File fraud alerts with your credit card companies as well.

    

   There are two types of fraud alerts you can file with your credit card agency, an “initial” alert and an “extended” alert. An initial alert will stay on your credit report for 90 days. This alert prevents creditors from opening new accounts without first contacting you or verifying the person opening the account is you. 
    
   You can file an initial alert even if you are not certain you are a victim of an identity theft, just to make sure nothing happens to your credit. When you place this alert, you are able to get a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. An extended alert is one that stays on your credit report for up to 7 years. This is a good alert to place if you are severely victimized by an identity thief. 
    
   You will need to provide the consumer-reporting agency with a formal identity theft record or Affidavit and a copy of your police report. When you file an extended alert, you can request two credit reports from each of the three main agencies within a one year time frame. Credit reporting agencies will also remove your name from pre-screened credit offers for a minimum of five years to prevent anyone else from attempting to secure credit in your name. When you decide you want these alerts and restrictions removed from your credit, you will need to prove to the consumer-reporting agency your identity. This may involve submitting your social security number to them, your name and other personal information requested by the reporting agency. 
    
   Know that placing an alert on your credit will cause you some delays when you do try to secure credit for your own purposes in the future. A business will for example, have to contact you personally to verify you are whom you say you are before they issue you credit. One way to help reduce delays is by providing the credit agencies with your cell number, so they can contact you direct. 
    
6.  File a dispute against unauthorized accounts or charges incurred under your name. You may do this using a form called an "ID Theft Affidavit" which you can download here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/affidavit.pdf
    
7. Call the FTC and file a formal complaint. The phone number is 1-877-ID-THEFT
    
8. Retain all copies of your reports so you may use them to prove your innocence in cases where it comes into question. This is particularly important in the case where someone who steals your identity commits a crime, or when you apply for a new job. You should inform potentional employers of your identity theft, and you can use the reports as proof. You can also use your reports to prevent debt collection agencies from tyring to collect debets that you did not incur. 

Conclusion

I hope you find the information in this guide valuable. If you have any questions about identity theft, please feel free to email me. My contact information is below. 

Warm Regards,
Steve Warshaw
steve@topinternetguides.com

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Identity Theft Restoration

Has your identity been stolen?

The first thing you need to do is verify you’re actually a victom of identity theft. If you’re not sure, check out our article “How Do I know If My Identity Has Been Stolen” for steps you can take to verify you’re identity has been comprimised.
 

Steps To Take If Your Identity has Been Stolen

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