Category:

Fraud & Security

Identifying fraud and scams before they happen is your best protection against fraud and identity theft. Get the facts about identity theft, online fraud and common scams. Fraud & Security

Financial scams targeting seniors have become so prevalent that they’re now considered “the crime of the 21st century.” Why? Because seniors are thought to have a significant amount of money sitting in their accounts.

Financial scams also often go unreported or can be difficult to prosecute, so they’re considered a “low-risk” crime. However, they’re devastating to many older adults and can leave them in a very vulnerable position with little time to recoup their losses.

It’s not just wealthy seniors who are targeted. Low-income older adults are also at risk of financial abuse. And it’s not always strangers who perpetrate these crimes. Over 90% of all reported elder abuse is committed by an older person’s own family members, most often their adult children, followed by grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and others.

The mission of Senior.com is to provide an environment where our members and visitors can communicate with family and friends, research information relevant to their daily lives, share stories and experiences and purchase products and services safely. The vision of our website is to reflect the interests and lifestyle of our unique audience. In addition to catering to our members, Senior.com provides important information that can be helpful to family members and caregivers. We strive to anticipate the needs and desires of our audience in order to provide a comprehensive portal for people ages 50 and above.

This makes Senior.com a great place for advertisers seeking to reach and influence this target audience. Don’t miss your opportunity to present your brand, products or services at the fingertips for this powerful market. Thank you for visiting senior.com

Fraud & Security

Jailhouse call: Scam preys on father’s love

by Rod Spurgeon April 9, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

A man received a phone call recently from someone claiming to be his daughter. The woman said she was in a Las Vegas jail and needed his help to get out. Her voice sounded genuine to the concerned father, and he wanted to do what he could to help her in her time of need. What he didn’t know was that this was an elaborate ploy by scammers to steal his hard-earned cash. Here’s what happened next and how you can avoid becoming a victim. Jailhouse call: Scam preys on father’s love
Desperate to get out of jail, the daughter told her father that her lawyer was going to call him with more details on what to do next. Shortly after that, the lawyer called and told the loving dad that he needed $15,000 to get his daughter out of jail and clear her driving record. Rather than wire cash, the lawyer asked the father to purchase gift cards from a particular retailer.
The worried father prepared to do as instructed, but at the last minute, decided to call his daughter’s office see if she’d answer. When she answered the phone, the father realized he was the target of an elaborate two-person scam.
Two hours later, the lawyer called asking for the gift card information. The father told the lawyer that he spoke with his daughter at work and knew the call was a scam. Without another word, the scammer hung up the phone and never called back.
In this scam, the caller had basic information about the target. The scammer knew the target’s name, the name of his daughter, and the target’s phone number. Using this information, the scammer manufactured a scenario that would instill enough fear and concern in the target to force him to take immediate action.
Emotion is a powerful motivator, often causing some to act quickly without carefully evaluating a situation. In the scenario above, the father paused to assess the predicament before giving the lawyer $15,000. That assessment saved the dad a considerable sum.
If you find yourself the subject of a similar phone call, take the time to carefully evaluate the legitimacy of the situation. At the very least, call the person who needs help using contact information you already have. Don’t use alternative contact information provided by the caller. It could be false.
You might ask how the caller had information about the father to begin the scam. That’s a good question, and the answer is – the availability of such information is more abundant than ever.
A technically-minded scammer can dig up basic information on potential targets by running a search online. There are many websites that aggregate such information for a variety of purposes. Skilled scammers can harness the power of this modern, easily accessible data to arm themselves with valuable ammunition in their scams. It takes a criminal more time to obtain such information and implement these scams, but the effectiveness of targeted attacks results in higher returns because they’re more personal in nature.
Always take the time you need to carefully evaluate a caller’s story before acting. It could save you a large amount of cash and considerable anguish. Jailhouse call: Scam preys on father’s love

Jailhouse call: Scam preys on father’s love

April 9, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

Protecting Credit Cards from Identity Theft

by Jeff Dailey March 26, 2017

written by Jeff Dailey

The convenience of modern digital commerce comes with an unfortunate side effect: it makes identity theft more convenient as well. The 2017 Identity Fraud Study, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, found that $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million U.S. consumers in 2016, compared with $15.3 billion and 13.1 million victims a year earlier. In the past six years identity thieves have stolen over $107 billion. Protecting Credit Cards from Identity Theft

In the end, the fraud affects you and your creditors and card issuers directly, but your stolen card information can generate multiple transactions before you even see a dime of losses. Identity thieves can choose to sell your credit card information to others instead of using it for their own purposes.
If your credit card information is stolen as part of a large breach, it’s more likely that your identity and information will be sold at least once as part of a package deal. Along the path to fraudulent purchases your card will be valued based on such factors as whether it is proven to be active (typically with small purchases that may go unnoticed) and whether other information is included — such as passwords, Social Security numbers, and birthdates that make it easier to open new lines of credit in your name.
Once your card information ends up in the hands of the final “user,” the fraudulent action can take many forms. The thief may make a duplicate card, choose to open up fraudulent accounts in your name, or simply use your existing card to buy items that can be resold for cash. Common purchases include expensive items such as jewelry or high-end electronics that are lucrative to resell, gift cards that may be easily cashed in with retailers, online shopping sprees — even items that would be considered “costs of doing business” such as website and server expenses.
You probably do not care much about which thieves (or how many) take advantage of your stolen information or how they monetize it; you just want to minimize the damage and prevent further losses. That requires a mix of corrective and preventative action.
If thieves have already made fraudulent purchases on your account or opened new accounts in your name, you must take immediate action. Call your card issuer immediately to have your current account closed and a new card reissued, and file the police reports and other paperwork necessary for your fraud protection.
Use the MoneyTips credit monitoring service to check your credit report for any fraudulent accounts that have been opened in your name, and contact the credit issuer(s) to close any accounts. Apply either a fraud alert (requiring creditors to verify your identity before issuing new credit) or a credit freeze (blocking most access to your credit report) to lessen the chances of more fraudulent accounts being opened in your name.
If you have not had any problems with stolen credit cards or identity theft, count your blessings — and take preventative action to keep your good fortune intact. Use strong passwords and do not repeat passwords for each site. Make sure that online purchases are made through legitimate and secure websites, and do not give your credit card information over non-secure public computers or unsecured wireless systems. Check your credit card statement regularly for any fraudulent purchases, no matter how small.
Still unsettled about identity theft? Consider using services that monitor your account activity and alert you to unusual activity.
Take proper actions to protect your credit, and hopefully you will never have to find out firsthand what happens when your credit is compromised — and if you do end up with compromised credit, know what actions to take to limit the damage. Make sure that thieves get the lowest return possible on their efforts.
If you would like to prevent identity theft, check out our credit monitoring service.
-MoneyTips

Protecting Credit Cards from Identity Theft

March 26, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors

by Rod Spurgeon March 17, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

Most people wouldn’t want to become friends with someone who is trying to rip them off. Yet, every day, people hand over their hard-earned money to strangers who’ve become good friends – within the timespan of a single telephone call. How is this possible? Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors
Some criminals use aggressive, threatening tactics to steal money from victims over the phone. It’s easy to identify these scoundrels as enemies, people who want to cause financial harm to other people. But what about someone who calls pretending to be a friend? Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors
Friendly scammers are more diabolical than aggressive ones. Hothead bullies usually take what they can and move on to other targets. “Friendly” scammers want to make long-term relationships with potential targets, stealing money over and over again from the same source. Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors
To misquote a famous movie, “These are not the friends you’re looking for.”
Scammers know the value of friendship. People generally trust friends more than strangers and are more willing to take actions suggested by friends. Scammers want to be your friend because they know they’ll have a greater chance at convincing you to give them your money if they’re successful.
These frenemies will tell you that the money you send them will help you get what you want. Whether the promised benefit will help you, family members, or a charity, they’ll latch on to any reason why you might need the benefit they’re offering and exploit that reason to the fullest extent possible.
A scammer will never be your friend, no matter what that person might tell you.
Frenemy scammers typically use the promise of a prize to lure money out of a target. Any person who calls with the promise of incredible lottery winnings, amazing raffle prizes, or free trips, and asks for money to receive that prize, is a scammer. You didn’t win a thing, but you can lose everything if you believe the scammer.
A person who sends money to these friends to receive something of substantial value will never receive that value. The “winner” will receive additional requests for cash for as long as he or she can send more money. Even when a victim runs out of money, the helpful friend requesting money will convince a person to take out loans on personal property or sell assets such as vehicles and coin collections to send in more cash.
NEVER send cash, money orders, checks, cash cards, or wire transfers to anyone to receive a prize. Ever.
A friendly scammer doesn’t care if you’re rich, poor, or somewhere in between. He doesn’t care if you need the money you have to pay for critical medical expenses or essential living costs. The friendly scammer on the other end of the telephone, a person you’ve never met, will take every dollar he can get from you, even if puts your life in jeopardy.
Always hang up on a stranger who offers an incredible windfall, pretends to be a helpful friend, and asks for money in return. This person is a scammer who wants to steal your cash, and he isn’t the kind of friend you want or need to have in your life.
Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors

Friendly Scammers Preying on Seniors

March 17, 2017 0 comment

Smart Ride: Go Anywhere with a Phone Call

Fraud & Security

New Scam: Can you Hear Me?

by Rod Spurgeon March 11, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

In the latest ploy by scammers to steal your hard-earned cash, criminals use the lure of a free vacation to convince targets to hand over their credit card information. What these thieves also obtain is involuntary permission to charge expensive trip features on these credit cards by convincing people to answer “yes” to the question, “Can you hear me okay?” New Scam: Can you Hear Me?
In this scam, a robocall (automated dialing system that plays a pre-recorded message) calls a target to pitch the free vacation. Here’s how an actual call begins: New Scam: Can you Hear Me?
“Hello, this is Josh from customer service. Can you hear me okay?” New Scam: Can you Hear Me?
Pause for several seconds. New Scam: Can you Hear Me?
“Great. You have been preselected for an all-expenses paid vacation which includes tickets and…”
The robocall doesn’t sound automated at this point. It attempts to simulate a live person to get the target to respond to the question, “Can you hear me okay?” A person who hears this and doesn’t know the call is from a robocaller will usually respond by saying “yes” in response to the question. If the target responds to the question with a “yes,” the scammer has what he needs to authorize charges on a credit card the scammer hopes to obtain later in the call.
This call continued with the free trip offer and outlined the many benefits of this windfall. To secure the trip and pay for any incidentals that aren’t included in the free package, all a person has to do is offer a credit card number over the phone. The scammer promises that no charges will be applied to the card unless the person makes additional purchases on the trip. That promise couldn’t be further away from the truth.
If a person provides a credit card number to this scammer, the criminal will make expensive charges on the card associated with the “free” trip. When the victim receives a credit card statement that outlines these expenses charges he didn’t agree to, the person will naturally phone the “company” to complain. The scammer who responds will aggressively tell the target that he agreed to the charges during the call, and that they have his “yes” confirmation to approve the charges.
The “yes” confirmation of course came at the beginning of the call in response to the “Can you hear me okay?” question. That’s how devious these criminals can be in their efforts to steal your money.
You have to arm yourself with the knowledge to protect yourself from these deceitful criminals to avoid becoming a victim. Here’s how you can prevent this deceptive crook from stealing your cash: Can you Hear Me Scam

Never answer a phone call unless you know the identity of the caller. This will prevent most telephone scams from connecting with you.
If you answer the phone and the person doesn’t say the name of the company he or she is connected with, the person is probably a scammer. In the robocall above, Josh stated he is from “customer service.” What company is that? Customer service is usually the name of a department within a company, not the name of the company itself. Hang up the phone.
A business will never call random people with whom they have no established relationship to offer free vacation packages. If a person calls to offer anything for free, hang up immediately, especially if the caller doesn’t know your name. The person is using the pretense of offering something for free to try to take your money.

Nobody can stop these criminals from reaching out to you. Nobody is going to tell you when you’re under attack by one of these criminals. Nobody is going to stop you from giving the criminal what he or she wants. Only you can defend yourself when you come under fire by a criminal. Can you Hear Me Scam on Seniors
Always remain skeptical of anything that seems too good to be true and do your best to update your knowledge frequently with the latest tricks scammers might use to steal from you. Own your defense to stay safe from criminals.
For other tips on avoiding scams click here. New Scam: Can you Hear Me?

New Scam: Can you Hear Me?

New Scam: Can you Hear Me? New Scam: Can you Hear Me? New Scam: Can you Hear Me? New Scam: Can you Hear Me?
New Scam: Can you Hear Me?

March 11, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

How Identity Theft Affects Taxes

by Kimberly Johnson March 10, 2017

written by Kimberly Johnson

Precautions You Can Take Right Now

When your identity is stolen, you have so many potential issues to deal with — changing passwords, closing accounts, dealing with fraudulent charges, and placing fraud alerts with the credit bureaus — that you may forget about potential tax fraud. Armed with your personal information, identity thieves can file a fraudulent tax return in your name and receive a refund before you realize your information has been compromised. Sometimes taxpayers are unaware of the breach until they have problems filing their taxes. How Identity Theft Affects Taxes
What do you do if you fall victim to tax-related identity theft? Start by responding to any IRS notice as instructed. Your first hint that there is an issue could be a notice from the IRS asking you to verify your identity because of a suspicious tax return with your Social Security number. How Identity Theft Affects Taxes
Remember that almost all legitimate IRS contact will be through a letter in the mail. Since your information has already been compromised, you may receive threatening phone calls from scammers pretending to be IRS agents demanding immediate payments under threat of arrests or legal action. Do not fall for these scams.
If you find that you cannot file your taxes electronically because a return has already been filed in your name, you need to take immediate action. To avoid potential penalties, file your taxes using a traditional paper return and pay any taxes that you owe. At the same time, file an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit (Form 14039). You can include the affidavit with the paper return or follow the form’s instructions to send it separately by mail or fax. Only file Form 14039 if your e-filing is rejected because a fraudulent duplicate was filed or if your Social Security number has been stolen and the IRS has notified you that you may be a victim of tax-related ID theft. How Identity Theft Affects Taxes
Once you are a confirmed victim of ID theft, you may be issued a separate and unique six-digit number known as an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN). To ensure the integrity of your return, the IRS will send you a letter each year containing a new IP PIN. How Identity Theft Affects Taxes
By taking common-sense steps, you can reduce the likelihood that you will fall victim to tax-related ID theft. Protecting your Social Security number is the first step. Never carry your Social Security card with you; keep it in a secure place in your home. Be cautious in providing your Social Security number, and only supply it when absolutely necessary.
Protect your digital information with the same diligence. Make sure that all of your computers and mobile devices are protected with sufficient anti-virus and anti-spamming software. Use sufficiently complex passwords and change them regularly, do not use the same password for multiple accounts, and do not undercut your security by writing down all the passwords in a readily accessible area. Only transfer information using secure methods — avoid unsecure Wi-Fi connections or hot spots.
These steps can help protect your personal information and foil potential tax fraud. For further suggestions on protective measures, see IRS Publication 4524, “Security Awareness for Taxpayers“.
You can also do your part to reduce tax fraud by reporting any suspicious tax-related activity to the IRS, even if you are not directly affected. For instructions on reporting tax fraud, follow this chart on the IRS Website.
The IRS halted 1.4 million fraudulent returns in progress in 2015, saving $8.7 billion — but they can’t do it alone. It takes a collaborative effort from everyone involved to beat tax fraud related to identity theft, including you.
If you would like to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft, check out our credit monitoring service.

March 10, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump

by Rod Spurgeon February 19, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

A rash of thefts at gas stations has spread across the nation in recent months. The station’s themselves, however, are not the targets of these bold acts. Instead, brazen thieves are targeting women standing alone at the pump. Will you be next? Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump
Here’s how this sneaky scheme unfolds: Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump
Criminals will monitor drivers entering gas stations. When they spot a woman driving alone, they watch to see if she takes her purse with her when she exits the vehicle. If not, they look carefully to see if she locks her car doors. Should the doors remain unlocked while the driver begins refueling her vehicle, a criminal will use the distraction to enter her vehicle from the other side.
A purse thief stays low to the ground to avoid detection, opens the car door just enough to gain access to the vehicle’s interior, and then carefully extracts the purse left inside. Once a thief has the purse, the criminal immediately hops into a nearby vehicle, possibly with a getaway driver, and leaves the station. By the time the owner of the purse discovers that it’s missing, the criminal that stole it is long gone.
Don’t give these thieves the chance to steal what’s yours.
Keep your car doors locked at all times, whether you’re inside or outside of the vehicle. It doesn’t matter if you’ll be away from your car for only a few moments or if you’ll be a short distance away. If you give thieves the chance to steal from you, for however long that opportunity exists, they’ll take advantage of it.
It might be more convenient to leave a car door unlocked for a short time for a variety of reasons, but thieves take notice of these windows of opportunity. Even if you don’t believe you’re at risk, a thief might know otherwise. You likely won’t discover you’ve been targeted by thieves until it’s too late.
One of best ways to defeat a criminal intent on covertly stealing valuables from your vehicle is to prevent easy access to them.
Locking your doors is a simple act. It takes only a second, but it creates a barrier that will shut down a thief looking for an easy target. The convenience of leaving a door unlocked, for however long you might leave it unlocked, can be costly. Don’t let that convenience turn into a substantial loss.
Always lock your car doors. It will help keep your valuables where they belong – in your possession.
Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump

Thieves Targeting Women at the Gas Pump

February 19, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity

by Rod Spurgeon February 15, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

Fake apps are in every app store. These forgeries are near mirror images of popular apps and often have similar logos, color schemes, and names as the apps they’re trying to mimic. If you inadvertently download one onto your device, your personal information could be at risk. Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity
What’s the harm in downloading a fake app? Fake apps can bombard downloaders with an avalanche of ads, more so than the real apps. Fake apps can gain access to personal information from a downloader’s device, including contact lists, photos, videos, and any websites a person visits or apps a person has on a personal device. Fake apps can also use the downloader’s device to engage in other tasks, find a person using the phone’s GPS (global positioning system) location, or even record real-time audio and video of a person. The harm a fake app can cause is very real. Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity
Do you know how a fake app company will use your information? Do you know how long that information will be stored on the company’s server or if the company will sell it to others who will pay for the chance to get access to your data? No, and these scammers will make as much profit from your resources as possible, even if it causes your information to fall into hands of those who engage in criminal activities.
While it’s true that some producers of real apps may also collect your data and gain access to the same information from your personal device as fake apps, genuine apps are less likely to allow that information to fall into the hands of criminals. The reputations of these companies are on the line, and although real app producers want to increase revenue, they also want to continue operating long into the future.
Fake app producers can close up shop and move on to another app scheme if app stores or authorities force an old scheme to close operations. While no company can guarantee that your information will avoid falling into the wrong hands in the event of a cyber intrusion or insider theft, real app producers are more likely to take high-level security precautions to safeguard your information than fake app companies.
Before downloading an app from any app store, make sure it’s the genuine article. If the name of the app is dissimilar to the real app in any way, don’t download it. The fake app could use part of the real app name or add other words to the real app name to convince people to download it. If you want to download the “Ultra Cool Music” app and you find an “Ultra Music” app in the app store, it might not be the real thing. The same goes for an app titled “Awesome Music from Ultra Cool Music.” Neither app is likely to be the real thing, and you should avoid downloading either of them.
A fake app could also have a nearly identical logo or color scheme to the real app. If you’re not sure about the authenticity of the logo, go to the website of the company you’re interested in and review its logo there. If it’s not immediately identifiable, run a web search for its app and compare the look of what you find to the app you want to download. If it isn’t the same, you’ve found a fake app. Avoid downloading it.
If you’re still not sure if the app you want to download is the real thing, look at the number of downloads or reviews. Popular social media, music, or movies on demand apps will have a large number of downloads and reviews, numbering in the 10s of thousands, 100s of thousands or more. Fake apps won’t have anywhere near these number of downloads or reviews. If you find an app for a popular social media site, but the app only has 20, 100, or even 1,000 downloads, it isn’t the real thing. Avoid downloading it. The process isn’t as easy when dealing with less popular applications.
Less popular apps may only have 1,000 downloads or reviews, but they could be the real things. Check to see what others have said about the apps before downloading them by running a search for the apps in your favorite search engine. In the “Awesome Music from Ultra Cool Music” example above, type that exact app name into your search engine. If people use words such as “scam” or “fake” to describe the app, you’re better off avoiding it. Never use reviews for the app in the app store itself to determine if it’s the real thing. The fake app might have the means to generate fake reviews, and anything you read could be a complete fabrication.
Always stay on your guard when shopping for apps and use your best judgment to determine if any app you want to download is safe. It will help prevent personal information stored or accessed on your device from falling into a criminal’s hands.
Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity

Preventing Fake Apps from Stealing your Identity

February 15, 2017 0 comment

Fraud & Security

Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails

by Rod Spurgeon February 9, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

How text message authentication can fail, and what to do about it

During a dinner at a local restaurant, Phil and his date Aggie share a delightful evening together. When they finished their meals, Phil removed his black cloth napkin from his lap and set it on the table next to his plate. Shortly after that, he paid the bill and left the restaurant with Aggie. Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails
At an adjacent table, Dominic casually watched other diners in the restaurant, including Phil and Aggie. When he spotted Phil drop the napkin on top of a black smartphone, Dominic focused his laser-sharp senses on Phil’s next moves. As Phil left the restaurant, and before the restaurant staff could clear the dinnerware, Dominic casually moved to the table abandoned by Phil and borrowed the salt, while subtly slipping the phone into his coat pocket.
Dominic returned to his table and perused Phil’s lock screen. He saw a picture of the man with his date standing on a beach somewhere on a bright, sunny day. Scrolling across the image was the message “Email me if you find this phone” followed by an email address. Dominic smiled at the message and retrieved his phone from his pocket.
The career criminal opened his web browser and navigated to Phil’s email hosting provider. He entered Phil’s email address and a wrong password, which prompted the message, “Can’t access your account?” to appear on the screen. Dominic followed the instructions to reset the email account password, and within a few seconds, a message scrolled across the screen of Phil’s phone with a recovery code. Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails
After Dominic entered the code into his phone, he was able to change the password to Phil’s email account and gain access to everything inside it. Since Phil used the same login name and password for many of his online accounts, Dominic could identify the social media, financial and other accounts Phil used through his emails and gained access to those accounts as well.
Criminals will look for every opportunity to steal everything they can from you whenever possible. In the scenario above, Phil used his cell phone number as a password recovery option for his email address. When Dominic gained access to Phil’s phone and email address, he used the information to order the email provider to send a recovery code to Phil’s phone. Dominic was able to read the message containing the code since Phil allowed new messages to appear on his lock screen. Phil’s use of the same password for multiple accounts gave Dominic easy access to Phil’s bank, shopping, and social media accounts, allowing the criminal to easily raid their contents. Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails
If there is a vulnerability in your phone security, a criminal will find it. Don’t give them the chance to make your life miserable.
Take the following steps to make sure a criminal can’t use your phone to gain access to your personal information:

Add a passcode to your phone to prevent an unauthorized user from gaining access to its contents.

Turn off new message alerts on your lock screen.

Use a secondary email address as an email account password recovery option.

Make each password to every online account you own unique. Never use the same password twice.

If you don’t have a “lost phone” notification message on your lock screen, see if your cell phone offers the option and install it. Add the message, “If found, please call (telephone number).” If you don’t own the offered telephone number, ask another person for permission to use his or her number for the recovery option.
Following the steps above to secure your accounts might increase the time it takes you to access new messages, but it will make it far more difficult for a criminal to gain access to your data.
Your account security is in your hands. Make that security as strong as possible to avoid getting hacked.
Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails
Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails
Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails

Scam Alert: When Text Message Authentication Fails

February 9, 2017 0 comment

4 Reasons Your Wi-Fi is Slower Than It Should Be

Fraud & Security

Has Your Computer been Hacked?

by Rod Spurgeon January 31, 2017

written by Rod Spurgeon

A quick way to find out if a criminal breached your account security. Has Your Computer been Hacked?

Cyber criminals have hacked some of the most well-known, powerful companies in the world. When they do, they gain access to tightly-kept secrets, valuable proprietary data, and perhaps most damaging of all, your personal information. When such as breach occurs, will you know about it? Has Your Computer been Hacked?
It may take a considerable period before a company realizes that an intruder has compromised its systems. When the business finally discovers the hack, its reputation is on the line. Before an organization reveals to the world that such a breach occurred, and risk losing clients who might reevaluate their business relationships with the firm, the company concentrates on damage control. Only after it deals with the situation, and crafts a satisfactory public relations response, will it reveal the existence and extent of the damage.

Will you know if a criminal compromised your account even after a company discloses the breach?

You have to protect yourself when dealing with your personal online account information. Change your passwords periodically. Make passwords difficult to guess by using a string of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Never use the same password for multiple accounts. Ever. And finally, check periodically to see if a criminal has gained access to your accounts. Has Your Computer been Hacked?
A good resource to see if a criminal has stolen your account information is: https://haveibeenpwned.com/. This website allows individuals to type in their email addresses or usernames to see if they have been included in publically released information resulting from an illegal cyber breach. Have I been Hacked?
If you discover that a criminal has compromised your account, change the password to that account immediately. Be sure to change the answers to any password recovery questions that may be associated with the account as well. Have I been Hacked?
While you might not be able to stop a criminal from hacking the database of a company you do business with, you can take the steps above to limit the useful shelf life of that information and compartmentalize the damage criminals can do with it.
Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked?Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked? Has Your Computer been Hacked?

Has Your Computer been Hacked?

January 31, 2017 0 comment

Newer Posts

Older Posts