phishing trip

Phishing: the act of trying to illegally obtain sensitive personal information, including usernames, passwords, and credit-card numbers, by pretending to be from a reputable organization.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group published a report in February 2007. These are the statistics listed in the report:

23,610 unique phishing reports were received
16,463 unique phishing sites were received
135 brands were hijacked by phishing campaigns

The United hosted the most phishing websites, followed by China, the Republic of Korea, and France.

identity theft preventative measures

According to Carol Lewis of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, it is important to monitor your annual credit report.

• Call (877) 332-8228 or go to annualcreditreport.com
• In Massachusetts each resident is entitled to one free credit report every year and people should take advantage of that, Lewis said, to make sure their credit hasn't been damaged by hackers.

According to identity theft sleuth Ken Dunham of Verisign, consumers can protect themselves by:

• Do not implicitly trust any media you get over the Internet--in other words, don't hand out your credit- or personal information to just an pop-up ad or random e-mail that is sent to you.
• Follow basic best practices. Everyone should have an anti-virus program and firewall on their computers. Why? Because these things are free and can act as a stymie to some of the phishing e-mails that can reach you.
• Be aware: you're on the Internet already, so click over to the news and check for current scams, and stay in touch with what is going on in the world.

identity stolen?

A short list of things to do, according to Nolo.com, if you discover your identity has been stolen:

• Make an identity theft affidavit. The FTC has an official identity theft affidavit. You can download the affidavit at consumer.gov/idtheft. Make plenty of copies for yourself.
• Contact the police.
• Cancel your credit cards, ATM cards, and phone cards.
• Call the credit bureaus. Ask them to issue a fraud alert and attach a statement to your report. Get copies of your credit report from each of the bureaus. You can ask that the reports be free of charge because you believe they contain inaccurate information due to fraud.
• Report stolen checks. Contact your bank and the following agencies: Certegy, (800) 437-5120; TeleCheck, (800) 710-9898; TeleCheck (merchant services), (800) 366-1054.
• Review your Social Security earnings statement. Look for evidence that your Social Security number has been used fraudulently. Get a copy of your Social Security Earnings and Benefit Statement and look for earnings for jobs you've never had.
• If someone is using your driver's license number fraudulently, obtain a new number. Your should be prepared to show proof of theft and damage.
• Take control. Do not waste time waiting for someone else to help you. Do not pay bills you are not responsible for. Be persistent with police, credit bureaus, credit card companies, and banks. Continue to call and write letters. Keep track of your efforts to stop the theft and reverse the damage.