If you had a magic 8-Ball when you were a kid, you could ask it anything and you’d get such answers as, “It is certain,” “Most likely,” “Signs point to yes,” and “My sources say no.”
As children, somehow we believed those answers. We thought that magically, that 8-Ball knew just the right answer we wanted or needed to hear. We were amazed when the answer fit whatever our question was. It must have been magic.
But if you use that same 8-Ball to predict what will happen in the world of identity theft, you might not like what appears in that little window. Identity thieves are constantly changing their methods in order to keep up with changing attitudes and technology. But the one thing they count on is that people think it will never happen to them.
This kind of attitude gives these thieves just the opening they are looking for – it exposes consumer weaknesses, and scammers will take advantage of that apathy.
According to recent statistics, there are some trends in identity theft that will continue to grow and will be prevalent in 2011.
• Check fraud, based on synthesized checks will grow if the economy fails to improve. These specially-forged checks bear the name and address of a real person or company, but have fake account and routing numbers. Merchants often accept these checks.
• Small and medium sized organizations, like businesses, schools and governments, will be prime targets for criminals because of their healthy bottom lines and, all too often, minimal security against hacking.
• Social engineering, or deceptive attempts to obtain money from people, will increase. Criminals use third-party games and applications found on Facebook to accomplish this.
• Even though consumers and business owners are becoming more aware, and defenses against cybercrime and hacking are improving, criminals are developing more and better ways to hack into retail networks and network servers, and there will be more skimming of payment cards at points of sale and at automated teller machines.
Learn how to protect yourself. Never click on e-mail links without verification, particularly if they are unsolicited. Phishing e-mail is a top method used by scammers. Conduct financial transactions online only on secured sites with URLs that begin with “https” instead of “http.” Limit the amount of information you share online, particularly on social media sites.
Shred or burn documents that contain your personal information before disposal. Tearing them up isn’t sufficient. When asked for your personal information, be sure you know why it is needed and how it will be handled after receipt before you disclose it.
And sign up with LifeLock. LifeLock can provide protection for your personal information by monitoring for your info online, and scanning for any threat to it. This is done 24/7. LifeLock also quickly responds if there is ever a threat found, and will assist you in squelching any attempt at identity theft.
LifeLock offers more than just credit monitoring. It offers peace of mind. You can’t monitor your information every minute of every day – but LifeLock can.
Call them today. Receive 30 days free and get a 10 percent discount on enrollment with the LifeLock Promo Code “Defense.”
