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.

Yes, the dead.  This does not mean that they go to the cemetery and take names off the headstones and apply for a driver’s license and Social Security card in a deceased person’s name that has been dead for many years.  No, they do it with a more modern twist.  The identity thieves scour the newspapers to see who has died and makes a list of them and their address.  They then go over to the home and grab any mail that is still in the mail box that no one has gotten around to getting or else they go through the garbage.  They are looking for any type of credit card receipts, utility bills, credit card statements, etc.  This may take several days or even up to a month to get these types of things.

Many times the relatives of the one who just died is still traumatized by the death and do not think about stopping the mail, picking it up, or even contacting the credit card companies and asking them to stop sending out the statement or closing the accounts because of death.

Another way that identity thieves can exploit a deceased person is to look for homes that are being put on the market because the person died and the relatives need to sell the house.  Again, they are still getting over the death and do not think about any mail, bills, invoices, etc lying around the house that would be ideal for an identity thief to use.

The identity thief makes an appointment to look at the house and when they are looking the house over they are looking for anything that they can use to steal that person’s identity and take all of their money.  These identity thieves may work alone or with a partner.  According to statistics approximately thirty percent of identity thefts happen by stealing a deceased person’s identity.  Although you may be grieving you still need to remember that an identity thief does not know the person and is not grieving but just looking for information to steal.

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 these computerized medical records are not designed and applied appropriately, it can lead to adverse consequences.  Some of the complications can range from quirky systems, medication dosing errors can happen if the technology does not communicate with a rival company’s version, computer crashes, delays in needed treatment, or overlooking signs of a fatal illness.  Due to medical errors in hospitals, there are an estimated forty-four thousand to ninety-eight thousand patient deaths a year.

Yes, hospitals have improved safety by going electronic but there is not much evidence that such improvements are being made on the heath care system as a whole.  President Obama’s administration wants most of the doctors and hospitals to switch to computerized records by the year 2015.  For the purchase of the new systems that will be needed, they are investing as much as twenty-seven billion dollars over ten years as incentive payments for them to do so.

One way that an employed person can become a victim of identity theft is if a person who has access to personnel information gets fired and then in retaliation they steal personal information.  They may not do anything with it or they might sell the information to criminals who in turn resell it to illegal aliens.  They may even use it to apply for government benefits.  It is also not unusual for a scammer to put in an ad for a job that does not exist in hopes of enticing the unemployed to apply for the job and be able to obtain their personal information for the fake application.

There are identity theft protection ways that you can protect yourself from these types of scams whether you are unemployed or employed.  Here are some of the ways you can protect yourself.

• There is one scam that a job seeker is asked to provide their social security number before an interview.  The reason for this request is that they want to do a preliminary background check before the interview.  Make sure if that happens that you say no.  It is illegal for an employer to do a background check until after the interview.
• If a potential employer asks for bank or credit account information so they can do a credit check do not give it because if they want to do a credit check they can do it with just your address, name and social security number.
• Pay close attention when you are applying for a job online because a lot of communication will pass between you and potential employers because this is the time that the identity thieves are trying to steal your personal information.  Make sure that you pay attention to the email addresses of anyone you are communicating with and make sure that the email address comes from a company and not a personal email which is a good way to tell you are being scammed.