This person tells them that if they pay right now over the phone they can avoid a court case, a large late fee, or even time in jail.  If the person hesitates or says they are not going to pay over the phone they are threatened with an arrest warrant.  By this time the person who answered the phone is scared and is not thinking.  They do not realize that there was no photograph because there was no camera to result in an overdue bill.  This scammer who called you has not ability to fine you, arrest you or take you to court.

One of the reasons that you are scared is that the person on the phone has identified themselves as an officer of the law and maybe even gave you a fake identification number.  The scammer or identity thief is hoping that you are going to be too lazy to do any fact checking and is working on you being surprised.  Being so scared that you might have to go to jail if you do not pay this overdue fine you ignore a few signs that would normally tell you that the phone call and the person making the call is anything but legitimate.

When the fraudulent cop finally convinces you to go ahead and pay the fine they will then ask for information about your credit card plus the security code on your card.  Warning bells should be going off when the person on the other end of the line starts to ask for your billing address, Social Security number, and date of birth.  If you were thinking straight you would realize that they should have all that information already, especially if they had you a picture of your license plate.

By the time you realize that this was a scam your credit cards have already had large charges on them and your identity has been stolen.

Here is an in depth look at the top scams of 2011 according to the Better Business Bureau.

• Job scams—every year the BBB sees many working from home and secret shopper scams but they cannot only kill your hopes of making money but also steal your personal information.  The websites, online applications, and scam emails look professional but how they get your personal information is to as you to fill out a report to check your credit or else a form to direct deposit your money to provide some bank information.  These forms are just a way for the identity thief to capture your sensitive personal information that can be used like your bank account number, Social Security numbers, etc.
• Lottery and sweepstakes scams–the top scam was the email that stated it was from the founder of Facebook telling you that you had won one million dollars from Facebook.
• Social media scams—the top scam appealed to a person’s curiosity and sounded like it was sent from your friend.  You get a link to a viral video that claims it is going show you something interesting like Osama bin Laden’s grisly death and it looks as if it has been shared with you by your friend.  You are told your flash driver needs to be upgraded before you can see the video.  When the link to do that is clicked, you are actually downloading a file that contains a virus or worm.  This worm will log into your account on the social media site that will send the same to your friend plus it looks for your personal information.
• Home improvement scams—these types of scams are usually at the beginning of the scam complaints received by the BBB.  Often your home is left looking worse than before the so-called home improvement is finished.  What happens is someone knocks at your door claiming that they spotted something that needs to be done on your home, like you have shingles on your roof that are missing, and they offer to give you a deal on fixing it.
• Check cashing scams—to pull off this type of scam, the scammers will often use Western Union and Craigslist, two legitimate companies.  If you have something for sale on Craigslist, the potential buyer will contact you and then sends you more than what you asked.  They will tell you to put the check in your account and wire them the amount over the asking price back to them via Western Union.  The money you wired back is gone immediately but it takes a few days for the check to clear, which it does not.  It bounces so you lose that money, the bounce or overdraft fee, the money you sent the scammer and the fee for Western Union to send it.
• Phishing scams—the top Phishing scam was one that was disguised as an communication from the National Automated Clearing House Association. This is the association that takes care of the transfers of all the electronic transactions made online yearly.  The email will state that one of your transactions was not processed and you need to click the link in the email. If you click on it, you may download malware that will infiltrate your computer or send you to a false site to verify your account information, which it steals.
• Identity theft scams—the top scam in this category has become so big that hotels have warning signs.  What happens is that in the during the night you get a call from the clerk at the front desk  saying that they wrote down the number wrong because it will not go through or else their computer crashed and they need your credit card number again so they can take care of the problem.  What they are hoping is that the guest will be half asleep and unable to think straight to realize the phone call is not the front desk but from a person using an outside phone that knows the numbers connected directly to the rooms.  The sleepy guest gives out their credit card number and in the morning your credit card was used for a large shopping spree.
• Financial scams—many people today are looking for help to avoid foreclosure or help to get debt free making them easy prey for scammers.  There are many legitimate mortgage relief programs and government help websites but scammers make websites that are like these legitimate ones.  Many of these scammer websites will ask for a fee upfront to help you out which would really be free from legitimate websites, leaving you more in debt.
• Sales scams—these types of scams are very old but still popular.  With the invention of the internet, it has given scammers and identity thief’s new ways to scam people.  One top scam is the penny auctions because it appears that you get something tangible like computers, televisions, or cameras below retail price and all you have to do is pay a little fee for each bid.  Not all of these sites are scams but some of them are being investigated because they may be online gambling sites, which is illegal.
• Scam of the year—the malicious email that claims to be from the BBB.  When you click on the link in the email it releases a malicious virus.  This virus can steal passwords, banking information, and other personal information that is needed for cyber theft.

Every year investigations by the Better Business Bureau uncover many scams.  The scams range from schemes that have been around for many years new gimmicks.   Many of the older scams are just recycled with different words or current issues are used to make them some newer. The top scam of the year, according to the Better Business Bureau, was a Phishing email claiming it was from them.  It was about a complaint, which could download malicious software.  This malicious software could mine financial accounts.

Here is an in depth look at the top scams of 2011 according to the Better Business Bureau.

Job scams—every year the BBB sees many working from home and secret shopper scams but they cannot only kill your hopes of making money but also steal your personal information.  The websites, online applications, and scam emails look professional but how they get your personal information is to as you to fill out a report to check your credit or else a form to direct deposit your money to provide some bank information.  These forms are just a way for the identity thief to capture your sensitive personal information that can be used like your bank account number, Social Security numbers, etc.
Lottery and sweepstakes scams–the top scam was the email that stated it was from the founder of Facebook telling you that you had won one million dollars from Facebook.
Social media scams—the top scam appealed to a person’s curiosity and sounded like it was sent from your friend.  You get a link to a viral video that claims it is going show you something interesting like Osama bin Laden’s grisly death and it looks as if it has been shared with you by your friend.  You are told your flash driver needs to be upgraded before you can see the video.  When the link to do that is clicked, you are actually downloading a file that contains a virus or worm.  This worm will log into your account on the social media site that will send the same to your friend plus it looks for your personal information.
Home improvement scams—these types of scams are usually at the beginning of the scam complaints received by the BBB.  Often your home is left looking worse than before the so-called home improvement is finished.  What happens is someone knocks at your door claiming that they spotted something that needs to be done on your home, like you have shingles on your roof that are missing, and they offer to give you a deal on fixing it.
Check cashing scams—to pull off this type of scam, the scammers will often use Western Union and Craigslist, two legitimate companies.  If you have something for sale on Craigslist, the potential buyer will contact you and then sends you more than what you asked.  They will tell you to put the check in your account and wire them the amount over the asking price back to them via Western Union.  The money you wired back is gone immediately but it takes a few days for the check to clear, which it does not.  It bounces so you lose that money, the bounce or overdraft fee, the money you sent the scammer and the fee for Western Union to send it.
Phishing scams—the top Phishing scam was one that was disguised as an communication from the National Automated Clearing House Association. This is the association that takes care of the transfers of all the electronic transactions made online yearly.  The email will state that one of your transactions was not processed and you need to click the link in the email. If you click on it, you may download malware that will infiltrate your computer or send you to a false site to verify your account information, which it steals.
Identity theft scams—the top scam in this category has become so big that hotels have warning signs.  What happens is that in the during the night you get a call from the clerk at the front desk  saying that they wrote down the number wrong because it will not go through or else their computer crashed and they need your credit card number again so they can take care of the problem.  What they are hoping is that the guest will be half asleep and unable to think straight to realize the phone call is not the front desk but from a person using an outside phone that knows the numbers connected directly to the rooms.  The sleepy guest gives out their credit card number and in the morning your credit card was used for a large shopping spree.
Financial scams—many people today are looking for help to avoid foreclosure or help to get debt free making them easy prey for scammers.  There are many legitimate mortgage relief programs and government help websites but scammers make websites that are like these legitimate ones.  Many of these scammer websites will ask for a fee upfront to help you out which would really be free from legitimate websites, leaving you more in debt.
Sales scams—these types of scams are very old but still popular.  With the invention of the internet, it has given scammers and identity thief’s new ways to scam people.  One top scam is the penny auctions because it appears that you get something tangible like computers, televisions, or cameras below retail price and all you have to do is pay a little fee for each bid.  Not all of these sites are scams but some of them are being investigated because they may be online gambling sites, which is illegal.
Scam of the year—the malicious email that claims to be from the BBB.  When you click on the link in the email it releases a malicious virus.  This virus can steal passwords, banking information, and other personal information that is needed for cyber theft.

If you decide to freeze your credit repot these creditors and lenders cannot check your credit score or report unless you give the credit bureau a password.  Since most places will require a credit check before they will give a person a loan an application for credit will most likely denied if they do not have the correct password to check your credit score.  You can freeze your credit report with all 3 major credit bureaus.

If you already have credit with a company they can access your credit score and report without the password.  In addition, there are certain government entities and law enforcement agencies that can access your credit score and report.  Your credit score is not affected by the credit freeze.

Here are some reasons that you might want to freeze your credit report.

• If you have been a victim of identity theft
• If your credit card number has been stolen
• If your mail has been stolen or tampered with
• If you want to protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft
• If you have subscribed to a credit monitoring service

In all but nine states there are laws requiring credit bureaus to allow security freezes on credit report.  In the nine states where there are not laws requiring this, the credit bureaus voluntarily allows you to freeze your credit report.  In many states the freezing of your credit report will remain in effect until you take it off but in some states it will expire after seven years.

The fees to put a freeze on your credit report, remove the freeze, replace your PIN. Or temporarily lift the freeze can range from five to twenty dollars.  There is no fee to freeze your credit report if you have been a victim of identity theft.  You do have to contact each credit bureau individually to put the credit freeze on your credit report.

You should always know who you are buying from and if it is a store that you have not shopped at before make sure that you take some time to research the store to see what other customers have to say about their experience shopping at this store.  You can even call the number for customer service and ask about their guarantees and policies.  If you cannot find a phone number send them an email and ask them these questions and any others you might have before you buy anything from them.

Make sure that the store’s website is encrypted so any personal and financial information is secure before it is sent over the internet.  One way to make sure that the site is encrypted is to make sure that the website address begins with “https” and not “http” before you hit the send button.  The “S” on the end of “http” means that the site is secure and it is safe to send your personal and financial information.
You should also review the store’s policies about returning things purchased from the store and make sure that the store’s commitment to customer service is what you would expect if you shopped at a brick and mortar store.  You also need to make sure that your computer security is current and not out of date.  You should be using a comprehensive anti virus software to make sure that it will help to prevent fraud, identity theft, and viruses.  You should also check for any updates on a regular basis and if possible enroll with a identity theft protection companies such as Lifelock.

If you have any doubts about the store, their security, their policies, and their guarantees, do not order from the and check out another store.  A good warning sign that this site may not be legitimate is the lack of contact information.  Also deals that sound too good to be true may also be a sign that the company might not be on the up and up.  In this situation it might be better to find another store.

You should also make sure that you review your credit card statement each month when it comes in to see if there are any discrepancies.

Make sure that you get your credit card back quickly from the sales clerk or the waiter.  At some bars if you are running a tab the bartender will want you to give them your credit card to keep at the register so you will not stiff the establishment of money.  Do not do this because if the credit card sits at the register or bar it not only get lost or if you have a little too much to drink you may forget to pick it up.  In addition, it might get skimmed or an employee or someone else sitting at the bar that can see the card might take a picture of it with a cell phone camera.

You should also be looking for security cameras because PCI data security standards has a requirement that makes sure merchants who process credit cards in person have to have security cameras trained on the areas of credit card processing but unfortunately many of them do not.  Another area that you should be concerned about is tip fraud which means that whenever you add a service tip onto your card you are risking a tip fraud.

Tip fraud is a scam in which a service employee alters the tip amount when they enter the final bill at the cash register. Even if you are one of those people who go over their statements are not going to notice an extra dollar tip so to avoid this scam leave the tip in cash.

Do watch out for skimming on PIN and ATM entry terminals because they are just as vulnerable as the registers in the stores.  This is especially true of ATM entry terminals that are not monitored by merchants. Identity theft protection is what everybody needs in safeguarding their identities and credit.