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New scams using personal information?
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janice&fred
·More so for others than myself
Here's your chance for redemption. Where is that long driveway in my area with the guy that has a box of old watches?
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Walrus
·Here's your chance for redemption. Where is that long driveway in my area with the guy that has a box of old watches?
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imagwai
·Simply clicking a link can't do much harm, except confirm that you've read the email. It's what you do after that (e.g. running the download or blindly entering your password) that will truly decide your fate!
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janice&fred
·It has an 0 in it
Cheshire?
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RonJ
·About a year ago, I went through a complete nightmare of Identity Theft.
My personal information was sold through the dark web and I came under almost constant attack for about 8 weeks time.
Once they had my basic info, they ran a detailed search about me on InstantCheckmate.com which gave them all the details of my life so they could answer any identification question from any bank or credit card company. They knew my entire job history, every prior home or apartment, every loan record, every family member, etc. They also pretended to be me and ran a Free Credit Report about me on one of the credit bureaus. This gave them all of my current loan balances, names of credit cards, banking info, etc.
They tried fraudulent credit card charges, bank accounts, setting up new bank accounts, applying for lines of credit, etc.
Sometimes I found out about yet another attempt when new checks were mailed to my home address, etc.
I ended up freezing my credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).
I changed all the passwords to every website and set up 2FA (two-factor authoriation) every where I could.
There are two "keys to the kingdom" identity theft criminals want to know:
- your email id. If they can hack your password, then they can wait for a specific day and then change the password to lock you out of your own email account. Then, on every banking website and credit card website, they click on the "I forgot my password" link. This, of course, sends a special email to you with a link to reset the banking password. And, since they now control your email id, they control the processing of that link.
- your cell phone number. This is how they get around most 2FA safeguards. They clone your phone so that they can see a copy of your text messages. This gives them visibility of the 2FA numeric codes sent by the websites you've set up 2FA on. They can find out your cell phone number (and email id) usually through a google search about you. We tend to use our email id and cell phone number in several places on the web. You can do a google search for your email id or phone number and see all the places it shows up.
If you ever are faced with Identity Theft, I recommend the following:
- freeze your credit reports.
- set up a new secret email id that you only use on your banking and credit card websites.
- use a more advanced form of 2FA such as Google Authenticator. It is a time-based one-time password algorithm that runs as an app on your phone.
Sorry this post is kind of long but thought it might help some people.
My personal information was sold through the dark web and I came under almost constant attack for about 8 weeks time.
Once they had my basic info, they ran a detailed search about me on InstantCheckmate.com which gave them all the details of my life so they could answer any identification question from any bank or credit card company. They knew my entire job history, every prior home or apartment, every loan record, every family member, etc. They also pretended to be me and ran a Free Credit Report about me on one of the credit bureaus. This gave them all of my current loan balances, names of credit cards, banking info, etc.
They tried fraudulent credit card charges, bank accounts, setting up new bank accounts, applying for lines of credit, etc.
Sometimes I found out about yet another attempt when new checks were mailed to my home address, etc.
I ended up freezing my credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).
I changed all the passwords to every website and set up 2FA (two-factor authoriation) every where I could.
There are two "keys to the kingdom" identity theft criminals want to know:
- your email id. If they can hack your password, then they can wait for a specific day and then change the password to lock you out of your own email account. Then, on every banking website and credit card website, they click on the "I forgot my password" link. This, of course, sends a special email to you with a link to reset the banking password. And, since they now control your email id, they control the processing of that link.
- your cell phone number. This is how they get around most 2FA safeguards. They clone your phone so that they can see a copy of your text messages. This gives them visibility of the 2FA numeric codes sent by the websites you've set up 2FA on. They can find out your cell phone number (and email id) usually through a google search about you. We tend to use our email id and cell phone number in several places on the web. You can do a google search for your email id or phone number and see all the places it shows up.
If you ever are faced with Identity Theft, I recommend the following:
- freeze your credit reports.
- set up a new secret email id that you only use on your banking and credit card websites.
- use a more advanced form of 2FA such as Google Authenticator. It is a time-based one-time password algorithm that runs as an app on your phone.
Sorry this post is kind of long but thought it might help some people.
Edited:
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pdxleaf
·Shouldn't be too difficult to work out whether or not the link takes you to a genuine secure website owned by a real courier/mailing company or post office? You can do that without clicking on it too (just hover the mouse over the link and see where it will take you). If you don't trust your ability to tell the difference, then you really ought to pay for and install Malwarebytes or similar.
+1. it's a habit so needs training but it will become a habit. Hover over the senders address as well as any links to see where it came from. Paypal apple microsoft netflix banks etc don't include strings of numbers or individual's names in the address.
You will forget but if you practice then it will be infrequent and scare you when you do click on something absent mindedly.
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Walrus
·About a year ago, I went through a complete nightmare of Identity Theft.
My personal information was sold through the dark web and I came under almost constant attack for about 8 weeks time.
Once they had my basic info, they ran a detailed search about me on InstantCheckmate.com which gave them all the details of my life so they could answer any identification question from any bank or credit card company. They knew my entire job history, every prior home or apartment, every loan record, every family member, etc.
They tried fraudulent credit card charges, bank accounts, setting up new bank accounts, applying for lines of credit, etc.
Sometimes I found out about yet another attempt when new checks were mailed to my home address, etc.
I ended up freezing my credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).
I changed all the passwords to every website and set up 2FA (two-factor authoriation) every where I could.
There are two "keys to the kingdom" identity theft criminals want to know:
- your email id. If they can hack your password, then they can wait for a specific day and then change the password to lock you out of your own email account. Then, on every banking website and credit card website, they click on the "I forgot my password" link. This, of course, sends a special email to you with a link to reset the banking password. And, since they now control your email id, they control the processing of that link.
- your cell phone number. This is how they get around most 2FA safeguards. They clone your phone so that they can see a copy of your text messages. This gives them visibility of the 2FA numeric codes sent by the websites you've set up 2FA on. They can find out your cell phone number (and email id) usually through a google search about you. We tend to use it in several places on the web.
If you ever are faced with Identity Theft, I recommend the following:
- freeze your credit reports.
- set up a new secret email id that you only use on your banking and credit card websites.
- use a more advanced form of 2FA such as Google Authenticator. It is a time-based one-time password algorithm that runs as an app on your phone.
Sorry this post is kind of long but thought it might help some people.
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Syrte
·Simply clicking a link can't do much harm, except confirm that you've read the email. It's what you do after that (e.g. running the download or blindly entering your password) that will truly decide your fate!
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- 7,635
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- 21,906
Syrte
·About a year ago, I went through a complete nightmare of Identity Theft.
My personal information was sold through the dark web and I came under almost constant attack for about 8 weeks time.
Once they had my basic info, they ran a detailed search about me on InstantCheckmate.com which gave them all the details of my life so they could answer any identification question from any bank or credit card company. They knew my entire job history, every prior home or apartment, every loan record, every family member, etc. They also pretended to be me and ran a Free Credit Report about me on one of the credit bureaus. This gave them all of my current loan balances, names of credit cards, banking info, etc.
They tried fraudulent credit card charges, bank accounts, setting up new bank accounts, applying for lines of credit, etc.
Sometimes I found out about yet another attempt when new checks were mailed to my home address, etc.
I ended up freezing my credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax).
I changed all the passwords to every website and set up 2FA (two-factor authoriation) every where I could.
There are two "keys to the kingdom" identity theft criminals want to know:
- your email id. If they can hack your password, then they can wait for a specific day and then change the password to lock you out of your own email account. Then, on every banking website and credit card website, they click on the "I forgot my password" link. This, of course, sends a special email to you with a link to reset the banking password. And, since they now control your email id, they control the processing of that link.
- your cell phone number. This is how they get around most 2FA safeguards. They clone your phone so that they can see a copy of your text messages. This gives them visibility of the 2FA numeric codes sent by the websites you've set up 2FA on. They can find out your cell phone number (and email id) usually through a google search about you. We tend to use our email id and cell phone number in several places on the web. You can do a google search for your email id or phone number and see all the places it shows up.
If you ever are faced with Identity Theft, I recommend the following:
- freeze your credit reports.
- set up a new secret email id that you only use on your banking and credit card websites.
- use a more advanced form of 2FA such as Google Authenticator. It is a time-based one-time password algorithm that runs as an app on your phone.
Sorry this post is kind of long but thought it might help some people.
I don’t think in France where I live one can apply for credit lines or credit cards without providing proof of identity. But I have heard identity theft is on the rise nonetheless.
I use several email addresses and am usually very careful to separate banking email addresses and email addresses I use on various merchant websites.
But the info you’re providing gives helpful pointers on how to improve on those safety measures.
Do you know if they clone an old style phone that’s not a smart phone?
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thelinendial
·Many people use the same passwords across sites which is a gold mind for hackers.
Two tips to make this easy for yourself,
A) Use a password management program that will generate and safely store and auto-type your password for you. Many browsers have this built in. Make sure to turn on advanced password multi-factor authentication for your password management software.
B) Don't trust the password manager? Memorize a complex base password and then adjust it for every site using an algorithm based on something... here's an example,
Base Password (using sentence "I love the Beetles! replacing o and e for 0 and 3) = 1l0v3the3B33tl3s!😀
Then for omegaforums.net using an algorithm of last two letters +1 = n1l0v3the3B33tl3s!T😀
So you end up with a strong password that changes slightly across different websites. Now a hacker may figure this out, but more likely they'll move on to easier targets.
Two tips to make this easy for yourself,
A) Use a password management program that will generate and safely store and auto-type your password for you. Many browsers have this built in. Make sure to turn on advanced password multi-factor authentication for your password management software.
B) Don't trust the password manager? Memorize a complex base password and then adjust it for every site using an algorithm based on something... here's an example,
Base Password (using sentence "I love the Beetles! replacing o and e for 0 and 3) = 1l0v3the3B33tl3s!😀
Then for omegaforums.net using an algorithm of last two letters +1 = n1l0v3the3B33tl3s!T😀
So you end up with a strong password that changes slightly across different websites. Now a hacker may figure this out, but more likely they'll move on to easier targets.
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Alpha
··Kilt Owner, Beagle Parent, Omega CollectorWhat I find quite scary is that scammers find it easy to call you and i.d. shows the call is coming from your banks' number.
Answered once and quickly realised they were 'at it' and hung up and would now never answer a call supposedly coming from my bank.
Answered once and quickly realised they were 'at it' and hung up and would now never answer a call supposedly coming from my bank.
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