There are ads on the internet and some work at home sites advertising for people to sell items on e-Bay.  Some may be legitimate but most of them are scams.  Why do these people need you to sell for them on e-Bay and pay you a fee when they could do it themselves and keep all the profit from the sale?  The reason is that this person does not really have anything to sell except for a scam.

When you look at these ads, they want you to not only have an open e-Bay account but also a PayPal account without any limitations.  Some even put in their advertisements that they are looking for hard working, honest people.  When you answer their ad they will send you the information of what they want you to see, how much you get to keep as a fee which may include the amount that e-Bay charges you for listing the items.

They will then send you the information about the item that you are to advertise for sale, a picture or two of the item, how and where they want it listed on e-Bay and their PayPal address to send the money to.  Once you have it all set up on e-Bay you have to send the link to the person you are selling the item for so they can make sure that it is done correctly.
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Identity theft is a very lucrative crime and the thieves can make money by using the information themselves or can sell it on the black market.  Either way, the identity thief makes money and out identity has been stolen.  On the internet in cyber world identity theft can happen in many ways.  The front runner in cyber world identity theft is Phishing.  This is a way of trying to gain access to private information.  They are especially trying to get Social Security numbers, usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers.  This type of scam is happening all over the world and is very common in East Asian and African countries. When it happens overseas, it is sometimes difficult, maybe even impossible to track down and prosecute the thieves.  Most of the Phishing scams are operated via the email.

Identity theft scams can also happen over the phone and one of the more popular ones that are happening right now is called the jury duty scam.  The identity thief will call someone randomly and tell them that they missed jury duty, and there is a possibility that a warrant will be issued for their arrest because of it.  They then tell this person that they can fix it and have the warrant dismissed if they will provide them with some information such as the person’s Social Security number.  All they want is that Social Security number.

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This is a new type of fraud that continues to plague the public and refers to financial identity theft in which the identity thief takes the victim’s personal identifying information and uses it to create new accounts.  These new accounts are used by the identity thief to get services and products.  What is often used to commit new account fraud is stolen Social Security numbers.

When the identity thief makes a new account using the stolen Social Security number they will usually give a different mailing address.  This way the victim of identity theft does not receive the bills and they may remain unaware of these new accounts.  The victims usually find out about these accounts when a creditor calls and wants to know when a payment is going to be made on this account.

There are many variations to this type of fraud which include:

• Utility fraud—new utility accounts are open such as gas, electricity, and phone in the victim’s name.  This is about twenty percent of new account fraud incidents.
• Loan Fraud—to pull off this type of new account fraud the identity thief needs the victims Social Security number.  This is about ten percent of new account fraud incidents.
• Credit card fraud—this type of new account fraud is the most lucrative and prevalent type.  This is about half of all the identity theft cases and new account fraud cases.  Identity thieves love credit cards for the simple reason is that they are the easiest accounts to open plus they can be quickly be made into cash.

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One of the latest scams that the public has to worry about is the credit card telephone scam.  This scam works by receiving a phone call from a person who claims they work for your credit card company who then proceeds to ask you to confirm the number on your credit card, the security code on the back, or the answer to your security question.  When the identity thief gets this information, after ending the call, takes this information and either makes a new account in your name or makes changes on your account.  If the identity thief cannot get you by phone, they may leave a call back number on your caller ID box, or send you an email.

To avoid becoming a victim of this newest scam, if you receive a call like this, ask why they need this information and even when you get the answer to this question, do not give them the information they ask for.  Even if you see the credit card company name on the caller ID, just remember that these identity thieves can rig it so the company name does show up on your caller ID.

The only time you should give out any personal information online is when you initiate the phone call by calling the company’s actual number, which can usually be found on the back of their credit card statement.

If you should accidentally fall for this scam and give out personal information, for identity theft protection make sure that you call your credit card company immediately.  The credit card company may deactivate your current card and reissue you another card to prevent fraudulent charges from happening with the credit card that was compromised.
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If you are a victim of identity theft filing an Identity Theft Report is essential to making sure that you have the most legal options available as you work to remove the unauthorized purchases from your account and restore your credit.  The credit reporting companies and the businesses involved with the identity theft need certain details to be able to verify that you have been a victim of identity theft and an Identity Theft Report provides those details.  A printed copy of your Identity Theft Report should be kept on hand throughout the process of straightening your credit out; usually credit card companies and the credit reporting agencies will one to have a copy on file for your record.

Filing an Identity Theft Report ensures that the credit reporting companies permanently block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report.  This is the strongest action that you can take to help protect your credit record and your credit score.  Also filing an Identity Theft Report with the police makes sure that the debts do not reappear on your credit report at some later date.  One of the biggest hassles that can result from identity theft are debt collection agencies contacting you to try to collect debts for purchases that you never made and filing an Identity Theft Report puts an end to that as well.

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