BBB names top 10 scams of 2011
The Better Business Bureau investigates thousands of scams every year — from the latest gimmicks to schemes as old as the hills. This year, the BBB divided scams into nine major categories and picked...
View ArticleSharing Passwords Is Romantic, But Not Without Risk
In a new expression of intimacy, young people increasingly exchange passwords to various online sites, email and instant message accounts, Facebook pages, even sometimes bank accounts.
View ArticleIdentity theft, phishing top IRS's "dirty dozen" tax scams
Identity theft and phishing top the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) list of "dirty dozen" scams, which tend to peak this time of year as millions of Americans gear up to file their tax returns.
View ArticleRise in identity fraud tied to smartphone use
Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010, according to a report released on Wednesday by the research firm Javelin Strategy & Research.
View ArticleFTC: ID Theft Again Tops Consumer Concerns
Identity theft was the top complaint filed by U.S. residents to the Federal Trade Commission in 2011, with Internet-related fraud also a top concern, the agency said Tuesday.
View ArticleIdentity Theft A Growing Concern For Businesses
You've heard of identity theft — someone using a person's credit information or a Social Security number for ill-gotten gains. Well, experts say similar crimes are also affecting businesses. Business...
View ArticleFor identity theft victims, paying taxes is a nightmare
The IRS has acknowledged that identity theft tax fraud — stealing someone’s Social Security number to file a fake tax return and collect a bogus refund — is one of the most complex issues it deals with.
View ArticleWhy ID Thieves Love Social Media
About 12 million Americans got hit by identity fraud in 2011, a 13% increase from a year earlier, thanks to consumers' growing use of social-media websites and smartphones, plus a sharp jump in...
View ArticleCan you put a price on kids' ID?
According to the Federal Trade Commission, there is a market for this: 19,000 child identity theft complaints were reported in 2009, the most recent data available, up 217% since 2003. What's more, a...
View ArticleBogus 'smishing' messages tell lies
Click on the link and you’ll wind up on a site that asks for your name, email, birthday and cell phone number. Don’t do it! There is no iPhone5. This is just a devious attempt to snag your personal...
View ArticleIdentity Theft, Fastest Growing Crime in America
The Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft has been the NUMBER ONE consumer complaint for TWELVE consecutive years. The WI DATCP has now added it their list as the source of the fastest...
View ArticleIdentity theft involving children is a growing crime
ID theft is a growing crime, especially involving children. In the past five years, the Utah Attorney General’s online Identity Theft Reporting Information System has received more than 3,000 reports...
View ArticleFlaw in popular mobile apps exposes users to identity theft
A security flaw that exposes iOS and possibly Android smartphone users to identity theft has been discovered in mobile apps for Facebook, Dropbox, and LinkedIn. Smartphone owners would be well served...
View ArticleID thieves target the young
Preventing an adult’s identity from being stolen is often hard enough, but what about detecting when a child’s ID has been pilfered? In terms of finances, young children are typically blank slates,...
View ArticleTax Refunds Delayed By Rising Identity Theft
Identity thieves are increasingly filing false tax returns to get their hands on refund money. It's not only costing the government billions in stolen refund money — it's slowing down legitimate...
View ArticleGrave Robbing: 2.5 Million Dead People Get Their Identities Stolen Every Year
Being a victim of identity theft is always a frustrating ordeal, but millions of Americans have to face an even more troubling scenario: Finding out that a criminal has applied for credit in the name...
View ArticleUsed Hard Drives Are Gold Mines for Identity Theft
With the amount of personal data many people keep on external hard drives and USB sticks, one would hope they'd take care to wipe these crucial devices clean before donating or selling them. According...
View Article5 things you need to know about identity theft
So what should you know to protect yourself? CBS News business and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis shared the five things you need to know about identity theft on “CBS This Morning.”
View ArticleIdentity Theft: 'Kids Don't Know They're Victims'
According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. Many identity theft victims are children and, because children don't usually have reason to...
View ArticleIdentity-Theft Victims Given Short Shrift by IRS
Both officials called tax-related identity theft a growing problem. According to IRS statistics presented by Tigta, over 640,000 taxpayers were affected by it in 2011, more than double the 271,000...
View ArticleCyber crooks' latest target: Frequent flyer miles
Travelers should be wary with upcoming vacation plans about what experts say is the latest twist in identity theft scams - stealing your frequent flyer miles. Membership numbers and passwords must be...
View ArticleYour Deceased Relative Could be a Victim of Identity Theft
Your lost loved one’s financial identity could come back to life in a most unsettling way – 2.5 million deceased Americans' identities are misused every year, according to ID Analytics, an ID theft...
View Article5 ways criminals use Facebook
Cyber crimes have been occurring for some time, but the presence of social media has made many crimes much easier to commit. In social networks people make “friends” without knowing the person and make...
View ArticleNJ Lawmakers hope to stop ID theft via copiers
A bill aimed at preventing identity theft through digital copy machines used in banks, doctor's offices and other businesses is headed to the New Jersey Senate. The measure requires hard drives of...
View ArticleHackers Not Attracted to Small Businesses? False
Small business owners may think the size of their company precludes them from being targets of identity theft, not realizing they are more at risk than the larger companies.
View ArticleA New Crime Wave of Identity Theft: Is Your Child in Danger?
In the last three years, there have been 57,000 cases of child identity theft reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Criminals can hack home computers in search of tax forms with a child's Social...
View ArticleBeware Identity Theft While on Vacation
Vacationers often leave clues to their absence: having lights on all day and night, leaving their garbage cans out for extended periods or not stopping mail collection. Any of these can alert burglars...
View ArticleIRS struggles to keep up amid surge in tax fraud
The IRS identified roughly two million tax returns that were potentially fraudulent last year, a sharp increase that has the agency struggling to keep up. The agency's fraud detection system identified...
View ArticleFive-minute Facebook security checkup
In just a few minutes you can tweak the social network's default privacy settings to ensure you're sharing posts and photos only with the friends you intend to share them with.
View ArticleHow Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist...
View ArticleWhy passwords have never been weaker
The ancient art of password cracking has advanced further in the past five years than it did in the previous several decades combined. At the same time, the dangerous practice of password reuse has...
View ArticleFacebook Has Been Hacked. What Will You Do?
The hacking of Facebook accounts is a good reminder that all of us are vulnerable to account theft. Here are the steps to take if you think your Facebook account has been hacked.
View ArticleAvoiding the Pitfalls of Medical Insurance Fraud
If you've ever had your wallet stolen, you know the pain of losing cash and the annoyance of having to replace photos, frequent buyer and discount cards. The panic, however, really sets in when you...
View ArticleCracking Your PIN Code: Easy as 1-2-3-4
If you lost your ATM card on the street, how easy would it be for someone to correctly guess your PIN and proceed to clean out your savings account? Quite easy, according to data scientist Nick Berry,...
View ArticleMedicare won't issue new IDs to identity-theft victims
More than a quarter-million Medicare beneficiaries are potential victims of identity theft and hampered in getting health care benefits because the government won't issue new IDs, according to an...
View ArticleHacking Hotel Locks in Seconds With Cheap Tools
Tourists trust hotels for a safe nights sleep. See why hundreds of thousands of tourists are vulnerable to theft of the worse kind.
View ArticleNew ID theft scam: Luring people to fake IRS website
Identity theft scamsters are using the fake website to lure people into giving personal information that could be used to steal their money or identity. The pseudo site pretends to be IRS e-Services...
View ArticleWhy Data Theft Experts Recommend Paying in Cash
Using brash ingenuity, criminals out to steal your personal data are tampering with the checkout machines in department stores, supermarkets, gas stations and even your doctors' office. Their prime...
View ArticleKill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore
You have a secret that can ruin your life. It’s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters—maybe six of them if you’re careless, 16 if you’re cautious—that can reveal everything...
View ArticleMacy’s Parade stuffed with personal documents
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade viewers were surprised to find shredded police report information with addition to the normal parade confetti. Confetti collected by spectators near 65th Street and...
View ArticleBeware! It's Open Season for Identity Thieves
Whether a customer's shopping preferences run more toward Black Friday or Cyber Monday, one thing is for sure: the holidays are open season for identity thieves. While monitoring individual credit is...
View ArticleWhere Identity Thieves are Now Living
While you are out shopping, dining, traveling and celebrating this holiday season, you should keep this not-so-jolly fact in mind: there are thousands of your fellow Americans working to steal your...
View ArticleHow a Neighbor Stole Your Identity
In the latest missive of consumer-beware warnings comes this: The thief who stole your identity could live right next door ... or in your own home. Many of the more than 10,000 identity-fraud...
View ArticleHow a Neighbor Stole Your Identity
The boiler-room image of tech geeks pounding on keyboards and hanging out in chat rooms scouring for identities they can steal and capitalize on isn't the characterization of your average ID fraudster,...
View ArticleBanks crack down on cyber-based account takeovers
In the first half of 2012, just 9 percent of cyberattacks, involving Trojans, phishing and other electronic attacks, resulted in funds leaving banks, according to the survey of 95 financial...
View ArticleID Theft: 2013 Top Trends
2013 will also be a year when consumers and organizations face other challenges, such us addressing growing concerns surrounding medical ID theft, government ID theft and the links to financial fraud,...
View ArticleBeware of ID thieves filing your tax return
Identity theft is the type of crime that’s easy to dismiss. Until it happens to you. Just imagine, you have filed your tax return and are eagerly awaiting your refund. It’s money you desperately need...
View ArticleHow to Protect Your Bank Account When an Identity Thief Steals Your SSN
More than 9 million Americans have their identities stolen each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission, and with advancements in banking and web technology, those numbers are growing.
View ArticleIdentity Theft's Taxing New Trend: Scammers Are After Your Tax Refund
Along with the rapid rise in identity theft has come the explosion of a specialized and sophisticated form of theft: tax identity theft. During the 2011 tax processing year, roughly 940,000 tax returns...
View ArticleIRS Battling Rising Identity Theft
With the start of the tax filing season just around the corner, the IRS is on alert for rising cases of identity theft and tax fraud. Many taxpayers can become victims if they are not careful about...
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