Posts under ‘Types of Identity Theft’

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Truth in Caller ID Act” on Wednesday.  The new bill will ban any misleading or inaccurate caller ID information on any voice communications service, including VoIP.
Also known as “Caller ID Spoofing,” the practice involves using various types of software to insert a false name and number on call [...]

The Better Business Bureau has come up with 10 ways to help consumers protect themselves from the growing problem of identity theft:
1. Don’t fall for phishing e-mails.
Phishing is when con artists use e-mail or phone calls to pose as a trustworthy organization in order to coerce sensitive information from victims. Phishing e-mails can look legitimate [...]

More than 7,000 Vanderbilt University students could be at risk of identity theft after a professor’s computer was stolen.
The computer contained the names and social security numbers.
University officials have informed students about the incident that happened in February.  All individuals have been offered 12-months of credit monitoring.
Vanderbilt University also advised professors to delete all personal [...]

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and FBI Prosecutors have charge three identity thieves after a three year investigation.  The three men are accused of stealing over $2 million dollars by installing skimming devices on gas station pumps that harvested credit card access codes.
The men pleaded not guilty Monday in Los Angeles to two dozen charges of [...]

According to a new survey from The Ponemon Institute, about 5.8% of American adults have been victims of medical identity theft. The average cost per victim is an alarming is $20,160.
According to the survey, 29% of victims of medical ID theft discovered the problem a year after the incident, and 21% said it took two [...]

The Chattanooga-based health insurer said the number of affected customers with potentially compromised identification and health information has more than doubled from the 220,133 persons already notified about the identity threat.
An additional 301,628 current and former members of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will be receiving letters alerting them that their personal information was included on [...]

Lincoln National has begun notifying 1.2 million customers of a possible data breach, according to a letter posted to the New Hampshire Department of Justice’s Web site. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority was given a username and password combination that let anyone access Lincoln’s portfolio information system.
“This username and password had been shared among certain [...]

The FBI and Better Business Bureau Wednesday put out a warning to exercise caution before donating to organizations claiming to be charities that will send financial assistance to Haiti.
“Apply a critical eye,” said the FBI in a statement, and do “due diligence before responding to those requests.”
“Be cautious about online giving, especially in response to [...]

The Better Business Bureau released a list of last years top consumer scams:

Acai Supplements and other “free” trial offers - Ads offering trial offers for teeth whiteners, acai anti-aging pills, and other miracle supplements blanketed the Internet, including trusted Web sites of national news organizations. The marketing campaigns often falsely claimed an endorsement by celebrities [...]

The Wall Street Journal has said that the FBI is probing a computer security breach targeting Citigroup. The breach has resulted in the theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers believed to be a Russian cyber gang.
Citigroup has denied this has happened, stating “any allegation that the FBI is working on a case [...]