Identity Theft Alert

The other day, I received an email and text from a friend of mine with the following message:

Guys, I found out that my yahoo email address was hacked and now being used by someone pretending to be me. I can’t log in anymore and that person sends emails to people in my directory telling them I badly needed money and I’m in Nigeria.

When I received her message, I was really worried. For some time now, I’ve heard stories about hacked paypal accounts, hacked ebay accounts, hacked email accounts and even hacked blogs! I was disturbed by those stories but now, I’m really afraid. It happened to a friend of mine so I feel that the reality of identity thefts are closing in.

Not to mention cyber identity thefts are not the only problem, crimes in the real world regarding these kind of thefts are also becoming rampant. Just in our company, a number of people were charged by their credit cards for using it to shop and even withdraw cash advances. Apparently, their cards were either stolen or were not even received by the rightful owners when sent by the credit card companies. There were also problems with cellphone bills, long-distance charges and just recently, I’ve heard stories about receiving loan and amortization notices by people who were not aware that such loans existed!

It is indeed clear that we have an escalating problem on identity theft so let me share with you some tips on how to avoid being a victim of one:

Enroll in programs from LoudSiren in partnership with Debix that offers reliable and secured identity theft solutions.

Bring only important I.D. cards when needed. Secure your passport, security cards, and such at home to prevent more damages to your accounts or identity if ever snatching or hold-up will occur.

Do not keep your passwords, account numbers or such in your cellphones or planners that you bring with you outside of your home. Do not also disclose such information with other people unless very necessary.

When going out, carry only few credit cards and ATM. Check occasionally if you still have them. Also, sign immediately after receipt credit cards and ATM so thefts would have a hard time forgering your signature.

Be careful of disposing receipts and other documents containing your account numbers and other relevant information. Who know, it may be picked by someone who may use it for ill purposes.

In case of loses or thefts, immediately call your bank or credit card company to inform them about it so they would block any transactions using your cards. Record or document your conversation with them so if they still charge you of expenditures during the stage of loss, you can fight them back.

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Today’s world offers less assurance to us and it’s up to us to protect ourselves from negative elements of our society. Remember the cliche: “It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

#1 by jp on January 22nd, 2008

oy melinda, ganun pala yon. i received that same email too at kala ko spam lang. meaning nahack din yung account nya. oh my.

if i havent known that person siguro maniniwala ako. but since the email message not fitting sa personality nung kakilala ko, kaya dedma lang.

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#2 by mhel on January 23rd, 2008

ah.. nagbabalik ang friend ko…

opo ganon po un. grabe noh! kala ko nga rin joke tapos nagtext sha smen na d n nga sha makalogin sa account nya. kakatakot. sana wag mahack accounts natin!