ID Theft A Spreading Pandemic

Transcription

1

2 2 ID Theft A Spreading Pandemic You ve seen and heard about it. You wonder why people s identities get stolen. Yet, it happens to millions of Americans every year, and tens of millions of people around the world. You ask yourself: Why did they let that happen? Why aren t people more careful? The reality is: identity thieves are getting better, bolder and more determined than ever. These determined, persistent criminals can misuse a wide range of personally identifying information such as your name, address, birthdate, social security number, credit or debit card numbers, your office ID tag, login credentials, your finger/ thumbprint, or other financial or corporate account information. For identity thieves, this information is as good as gold. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says that the following six methods are the ones most commonly used by criminals to steal your identity. 2 Especially at night, look carefully to see if there are additional or unusual looking add-ons to the scan device. 3. Phishing. If it s too good to be true, it is. s inviting you to <Click> for prizes are all too common. Banks and financial institutions or companies like ebay and PayPal can be spoofed, and s are sent to trick you into revealing your personal information. 3 that one doesn t show up on time, be suspicious. Go online or call the company in question immediately. 5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. Pickpockets galore! They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records or bribe employees who have access. 5 Be especially careful on crowded streets, malls and while traveling. The confusion at security checkpoints is also a prime breeding ground for thieves Dumpster Diving. They rummage through your trash looking for bills or other papers with your personal information on it. Yes, it s legal! That was one method the FBI used to catch the CIA mole, Aldrich Ames. Use a shredder for all papers you dispose of as well as those invitations for credit, mortgages and other financial incentives. 2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card. This is becoming exceedingly common at gas stations and ATM machines not located at banks. A legitimate company will never ask for personal information in an . Contact them by a phone number you know to be real for confirmation. 4. Changing Your Address. Sometimes, they will divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form. Subtle and effective. 4 Check your online bank statements often. (Many people do this daily.) Check the transactions and your contact details. If you still receive paper statements and you notice 6. Pretexting. The telephone is the weapon of choice. They will call you, make up some story, often with them claiming you are already a victim, using that false pretense to obtain your personal information. The tricks you see in the movies and on TV shows actually work. (See an example on page 4.) 6 Always be suspicious. Ask who they are, details on their company, get a phone number and then do a little research to find the real phone number of the company in question. Most of the time, it s a simple scam and this technique can stop them in their tracks!

3 Giving Your Identity Away For Free! Who would be that careless? Hundreds of thousands of people do it every single day and they aren t even aware of it. It s called Social Media. Social Media has become the most popular method of communicating with friends, family and colleagues across the globe. We speak to hundreds or thousands of people using sites like Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Huge audiences follow Bloggers and the microbloggers on Twitter. We share video and pictures on Picassa, Flickr, Vimeo and YouTube. More than a billion people use Facebook alone. The societal pressure to share information is becoming greater than ever before. And the identity thieves count on it. Think: do you really need to be posting home addresses, detailed school data, mother s maiden names and other personal information that can help criminals steal your identity or target your children? Why are you publishing your DOB (birthday) and where you were born? What about your vacation and travel plans? Does it really make sense to announce in public that your home will be empty for two weeks while you are on a cruise to the Caribbean or on a business trip to London? That s a virtual invitation to identity thieves because they know you are willing to share almost anything. Did you know that unless you know how to set your smartphone or digital camera configuration files, many of your photos might be geo-tagged with the GPS coordinates of where they were taken? Posting pictures of your children could then give details of their exact location. Do you want that information accessible to anyone on the internet? Does this mean we are all doomed because we use social media? What can you do to improve your social networking security posture and keep identity thieves from identifying you as an easy victim? All it takes is a bit of common sense to avoid a personal nightmare. First, learn how to use the privacy settings on all social media sites you use, so you don t share personal information with everyone on the internet. Set up small groups; perhaps Family, Really close friends, Acquaintances and Everyone else. Only share personal details with those you trust and who will not share that information with everyone else in their groups. Maybe they are not as security aware as you are! Second, learn how to turn off geo-tagging on all of your digital cameras. Why should you tell the world where you live, where your kids go to school and other personal habits that could make stealing your identity easier? If you are a microblogger and want to take pics of restaurants, vacation sites, etc. for your followers/readers, only turn on geo-tagging for those purposes. Otherwise, leave it off. 3 Third, do not friend everyone just because you can or you feel obligated to do so. Online predators use social media to identify and target potential victims. You are not that much more popular because you have hundreds of Facebook friends, versus a few dozen good friends. Finally, don t talk too much about your work life online. The more you tell, the easier it is for a skilled identity thief to use social engineering and pretexting to take your life away from you. Social media is fun, can be very productive and it s easy to minimize the risks. Your awareness and sharing your knowledge with colleagues, friends and family will help all of you to deter online adversaries. Reporting Identity Theft (Notice that this is a real Federal Trade Commission web site, and it uses HTTPS the secure version of HTTP so the data you enter is secure.)

4 4 Protecting Children from ID Theft In Olivia McNamara s freshman year at Vanderbilt University, she applied for her first credit card. She learned that her identity had apparently been stolen and she was in debt $1.5 million. The crime dated back to when she was 9. Her SSN was stolen and used to set up 42 false identities + 42 credit-type accounts; all of them were then maxed out and in default. She had no warning. A couple more true tales of child ID theft:»» An 11-year-old s SSN was stolen and used to buy a car and a house. $132K in default.»» An 8-year-old was told he owed almost $20K in defaulted loans. What steps can you take to minimize your children s exposure to ID theft? Limit what you say about your family on social media sites. Teach your children to never give out any personal information without your permission. Regularly monitor and discuss your children s activity on social media sites. Use separate Admin and User accounts on your home computer. Make sure you have a personal firewall installed on your home computers or networks. Make sure your antivirus software is updated regularly. Check your underage children s credit periodically, and teach your older children to do the same. It s free! consumer/credit/cre34.shtm Parents and Guardians: We all need to know and understand when it is necessary and appropriate to provide our own social security numbers as well as those of our children, and we should never hesitate to ask why it is needed. Protecting your own identity and that of your children is simply something only you can do through awareness, education and diligence. Hello? Hi, my name is Melissa, and I m from Verizon Fraud Detection. We have a potential problem, here. Uh ah ok what sort of problem? Let me just ask you. Have you been calling Egypt for the last six hours? What do you think our victim does wrong in this scenario? What would YOU do differently? Uh, no... I don t know anybody in Egypt Verizon takes fraud very seriously. We want to protect you in any way we can. There s been $2,000 worth of charges from your phone to Egypt. And you should know that you re responsible for the $2,000. It s not my charge!! and I don t have $2,000! What can you do? Thanks so much for your help! My social is Oh yes! Please help. My address is 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Victimville, Alabama. That s right. Next, for verification purposes I need the social security number you opened the account with, your account number and access PIN so I can credit you the $2000 right now. Well, I could help you get rid of the charge right now if I can just get into your account and verify some information. At Verizon we take your security and privacy very seriously. First I need to verify your billing, address. This is an example of PRE-TEXTING. Social engineers who use pre-texting, will exploit these and other human weaknesses to get what they want, which often includes information needed for identity theft.

5 5 Did You Know...? Identity Theft Edition 32% of victims take more than 6 months to resolve problems caused by ID theft. Average number of hours spent to resolve an ID theft case: % of victims know or have met the person who stole their identity. Households with incomes of more than $70,000 were twice as likely to experience identity theft than households with salaries under $50,000. THE MOST COMMON REPORTED PERPETRATOR OF A CHILD S ID THEFT WAS THAT CHILD S PARENT. Children are being targeted by ID theives 35 times more than adults. There are 75 million children under 18 in the US OUT OF THESE KIDS 2.5 MILLION DECEASED PEOPLE HAVE THEIR IDENTITIES STOLEN EVERY YEAR. MORE THAN 10% will be victims of ID theft. State with the highest per capita number of reported ID theft incidents: FLORIDA Identity Theft was the Number One complaint reported to the FTC for eleven years in a row. 1.6 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS HAVE HAD THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS COMPROMISED. HOW DO THE BAD GUYS STEAL IDENTITIES? OTHER METHODS OF STEALING IDENTITIES 43% from stolen wallets and paperwork 11% of information is stolen online 38% use stolen debit or credit card numbers 37% use stolen social security numbers Shoulder Surfing Watching login credentials over the victim s shoulder. Dumpster Diving Going through garbage for unshredded documents such as, bank statements and checks. Stealing Paper Mail Taking mail from the victim s mailbox. Lost IT Equipment Some people mistakenly store important & personal data on USB sticks, SD cards or unencrypted external drives. Coming Next Month: Social Engineering: The #1 Security Threat