Not too long ago I wrote post about Phishing in the Caribbean, and how that there are Signs of Phishing in Dominica.
For those of you reading this post for the first time, and have no idea what phishing is – basically, phishing is a scheme used by internet fraudster in the attempt to tick bank and credit card customers to innocently reveal their security detail so that they can gain access to the individual accounts.
The Caribbean is rapidly becoming the new phishing destination, due to the fact that most of the law enforcement agencies around the Caribbean are new to these types of internet crimes.
So how does one protect against Internet fraud and phishing?
The first and last rule is to educate yourself as to the risks; ignorance is no defense as the Judge would say. Fraudsters are becoming more and more sophisticated and so you must keep abreast of the risks and different techniques being employed.
There are some simple rules you should always remember:
- The bank will never ask you for your PIN, password, catch-phrase or anything like that.
- Never disclose your password or PIN to anyone.
- Always type in the address of your bank’s or credit card company’s website.
- Use a secure password: not your date of birth, vehicle registration, telephone number or anything associated with you that someone might easily guess.
- Use different passwords for different secure sites.
- Check your bank and credit card statements immediately.
- Always know where your passport, drivers licence and social security card is, and report them lost/stolen once you’re satisfied you cannot find them.
- Properly destroy old utility bills, bank statements and any mail which is of a sensitive nature that may contain your name and address, or that could be used as identification to open an account or gain credit.
- Keep your important documents in a secure place and keep records of your credit card number, as well as the number to report them lost/stolen. Remember you wouldn’t have the card!
This is not an in-depth list, but should serve to bring security and the ricks of fraud home to those who never gave it a second thought. There hundreds of different measures which can be taken to improve computer security and how to protect your private information, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.
Basically, be aware and educate yourself, get training; it costs money sure, think of it this way – a car sticker , which reads “If you think Education is expensive, try ignorance.â€
If you’re interested to know more about online crimes (phishing), I encourage to look-up the term in Google, there you will find hundreds of websites with updated information on online crimes and identity theft. Please don’t be one of the many who say “I had no idea†or “If only I did know…â€
This is a very interesting article about how we can protect ourselves against internet fraud. We have a lot to learn about managing this kind of situations.
Has Your Office Encountered The Online Yellow Pages Scam!
Phony directories or yellow page scams usually target small to medium sized businesses. The scam manifests itself in the form of solicitors calling businesses and seeking to verify the company’s name and physical location, and allegedly calling to “renew” or “re-enroll” an existing yellow pages listing or advertisement.
Many companies are misled into accepting the alleged “renewals.” The illegitimate directory provider immediately sends an invoice for this service, usually in the amounts between $500 and $900 dollars, and threatens businesses with collections or credit report damage should they dispute the charges or decline to pay.
Don’t be taken into this scam this is theft and its illegal!
This scam does get worse. Lets say you do pay one of these companies either using your credit card or by cheque, little do you know they reprocess your card a year later because they have all the info on file not only that but then they turn around and sell your company profile to another telemarketing office with your credit card information for a generous profit. They will even be bold enough to send you a final invoice to close off the account just around the time your getting your new credit card (as all cards are renewed after a few years)
If you’ve paid by cheque, what happens is a shocking discovery. Not only do they take your checking information, they get authorization to withdraw from the account many months later and send you a notice claiming they’ve taken fees for online services.
There are limits on how far telemarketers can go, that is why we provide information on how to put an end to telemarketer calls and more efficiently, how to correspond with them about your account and/or to dispute a collection action and can teach you what are your rights in terms of privacy.
You can find out more information on our website: http://www.spgconsultants.com
By informing each other, we protect each other