StopScum

Identity Theft Warnings For The Holidays

Tips for the brick-and-mortar-world: Don't flash/display those large stacks of $100 dollar bills in the mall. Criminals are watching and carrying that kind of cash makes you a target. Ladies should wrap their purse around their neck and place it in front of them. Guys should insure that your wallet is in your front pocket where a pick pocket criminal will have a harder time. If your traveling to a foreign land, a money belt which is strapped to your body and under your clothes is a valuable measure of protection. If you are taking your car into your local dealer/garage for service, insure that you remove sensitive documents and valuables. Don't store holiday packages inside your car where a criminal can see them. Place them in your trunk.

Tips for the Internet: Don't shop at unfamiliar stores until you obtain references from your friends. All stores should use a secure page/padlock (https) when they ask for your data. If they don't, leave and never return. If you venture into ebay, please be very careful. Check the feedback on a seller, don't purchase from folks that lack adequate feedback, and if a sellers only means of paying is via Western Union, don't purchase or bid. Try a test email to the seller with questions before you purchase to measure their response time and the ability to answer questions. Use PayPal to pay, since it offers an additional measure of protection and bans a number of countries where crime is rampant.

Hurricane Fraud

These low life slime bags belong in federal prison for decades. U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force shortly after the storm hit to deter, investigate and prosecute disaster-related federal crimes such as charity fraud, identity theft and insurance fraud.

The brief story of a slime bag: "The Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted a Florida man late Monday afternoon for running an alleged Internet scam seeking to profit from Hurricane Katrina. Gary S. Kraser of Aventura, Fla., is charged with four counts of wire fraud for soliciting charitable donations supposedly intended for the humanitarian relief of Hurricane Katrina victims. According to the DoJ, Kraser falsely claimed that he was piloting flights to Louisiana to provide medical supplies to the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and to evacuate children and others in critical medical condition. Kraser further claimed that he had organized a group of Florida pilots to assist him in his supposed relief efforts. In all, the DoJ claims Kraser raised more than $40,000 through his Web site, AirKatrina.com."

Source: http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3553516

The DoJ warning page is located here and includes phone numbers. File your complaints on this site.

Email and the Holidays

Email traffic on the net always spikes during the holidays. Be very cautious about any "postcard/holiday card" sent to you via email. Insure that your machine is properly configured with a farewell, anti-virus software, and anti-spyware software. Don't forget to keep your updates and profiles current and run the Windows Update on a regular basis. Don't open attachments and ignore all attempts to entice you into clicking a link to update your PayPal profile and many others. Launch your browser and then type in the URL, as opposed to clicking a link inside a slimy email.