The reason that some people fall for these fraudulent email scams is that the identity thieves will copy the banners and company logos of the actual company they are claiming to represent.  They may use a scam that claims these particular companies’ security procedures have changed or that they need to either validate or update your credit card or bank account information.  In the email there will usually be a link for you to click on to take you to the company website.

If you do click on the link you are taken to a website that looks like the company that they are pretending to be and once they get your information they will use it to get credit or to make purchases of services or products.
Here are some identity theft protection tips to help you from becoming a victim of such a scam:

• If you get any type of unsolicited email, phone call, or fax do not give out any personal financial information.
• If you get an email telling you that you have to validate or update your personal financial information and warns of severe consequences if you do not, contact the company they are claiming to represent first via a website that you know is legitimate or a valid phone number.
• Make sure you check your bank account and credit card statements each time you get them for any unauthorized transactions and report anything immediately that is not correct.
• Before you submit any personal financial information online look for the key or padlock icon at the bottom of your internet browser.  Some even use the “https” to show that any information you submit is secure during the transmission.  If you do not see any of these, do use the site to transmit any personal financial information.

Following these simple tips will help to keep you from becoming a victim of email scams and identity theft.

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.
Once the item is sold, you take your fees which can be as much as twenty five percent or a set price plus the fee e-Bay charges from the amount the prospective buyer has sent you for the item.  In your description of the product you have also listed when they item will be sent out.

Within a few days or weeks after the item is suppose to be shipped out, you get a notice that your PayPal account is put on temporary hold until they get the shipping information such as a tracking number so they can make sure that the item has been shipped.  When you contact the person who is suppose to ship out the item, you do not get a reply even after several attempts to contact them.

By this time you know it is a scam and you are left with refunding the money the customer sent you in good faith for an item that never really existed or the worst you may actually be a victim of identity theft.  Your good name with e-Bay has been tainted, your PayPal account may be closed down for fraudulent activity, and you are out a lot of money.

Financial Organizations

The first, and most important, rule to remember is that these types of organizations will not contact you by email if they need to discuss financial matters.  You may get an e-mail asking you to apply for a loan with a certain financial institution, or use a certain investment firm, but the actual legitimate business is stone done in person, on the phone, and fax.  Never respond to an e=mail from a financial institution with an e-mail containing personal information.

Phone

Do not give your credit card number or personal information over the phone.  The only exceptions to the rule are if the call is originated by you, you know the person on the other end, and you feel safe giving this information over the phone.  If you are not certain then ask for a number for you to call them back.  Before you call the number they gave you, call the business they say they represent and ask if that person works for them, and if necessary tell the business why you are asking.  If they say yes, they do work there make sure that you feel confident that your information is going where it should go to.  If the person does not work there, you have a phone number to give to the local law enforcement force to track down the criminal.

Do not let someone repeat your credit card number over the phone because you never know who might be standing by the person and listening to the person repeat it back to you.  If they say that they need to make sure that they have it correct, tell them that you will repeat the number to them twice to make sure it is correct.

MAIL

Drop your mail, if possible, in the post office box instead of putting it in your mail box.  By putting it in your mail box, you not only take a chance of it getting lost in the carrier’s car but people who make it a habit of stealing  people’s identity love to try and see if there are bill payments or credit card payments out of the mail box.  If you are paying by check, these identity thieves not only have your credit card number but your checking account number.

Often times, you are told to pay nothing, until you receive the goods. Meanwhile, the scammer uses your name and a credit card number belonging to someone else, to buy the item at a totally legitimate website.

Once you’re notified the item’s been shipped, you’ll either transfer payment directly to the scammer, or authorize your credit card to be billed. But what you’ll not know is that the scammer has now framed you – while he gets away scot free with all of your money, he’s made sure you’ll be in receipt of merchandise that’s been stolen.

Another identity theft scam that you need to be wary of is this – someone you’ve never heard of before will get in touch with you via email, claiming to be from PayPal, Ebay, your credit card company or your internet service provider.

The scammer will send you an email stating that your account details need verifying, and give you various reasons why you need to do so. For example, they’d either claim that their database has crashed, or their files were hacked into, or that someone has attempted to steal your personal details……so they’d like to verify your information to protect your account.

Next, the thief uses the information you supply to ‘verify’ your account and run up fraudulent charges that could prove to be very costly for you.

So keep in mind never to give out your private information to companies that already have it. If you receive a suspicious email, first contact the company mentioned in it for verification purposes, before giving out confidential details about yourself.

Now, in order to avoid falling victim to identity theft scams, you’ll need to educate yourself on how you can protect yourself from it:

1. Regularly check your credit reports from all of the 3 major credit bureaus to see if everything is accurate. In case you come across any errors, dispute it immediately. This way, you’ll be protected against an identity theft scam.
2. Never give out your personal info to people via email, on the internet or over the phone. Many identity thieves will claim to be from the police, your local bank or even from the government.
3. Do not use common numbers such as the last 4 digits of your SSN (social security number) for your ATM password.
4. Do not give out your SSN unless it’s necessary. Your financial institution, employer and doctor all need it for identification purposes and for tax reporting. If anybody else requests your social security number, be on alert and always ask them why they need it.
5. Check all of your bills every month and go over them carefully, because identity thieves can steal your credit card statements.

Finally, for full protection against identity theft scams, make sure you keep all of your personal information as private as possible.

Identity thieves steal your personal data because they want people to think they’re you.

They want to use your good reputation to buy expensive things on credit and get themselves out of trouble when they get arrested.

Creditors will give them credit because you have a good credit rating and lots of assets.  The police will let them off because you don’t have a criminal record (yet).

The personal data they need varies.  It includes your name, address, phone number, SSN, email address, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and any passwords or pin numbers.  They don’t need it all, but the more they have, the less difficulty they’ll find impersonating you.

They have many different ways to gather this data.  Lew Reed — see his excellent presentation on identity theft at http://www.myidfix.com/whatidtheft_files/frame.htm – notes that there are low tech and high tech ways to get this information.

Some low tech ways to get your information include stealing your mail, changing your address so your mail gets delivered to the criminals, and digging through your garbage.  People also sometimes watch you enter your PIN number at the ATM machine, and then steal your purse or wallet to take out money later.

Some high tech ways are phishing and hacking.  Sometimes people will send you emails pretending to be your bank or Paypal or Amazon or some other Internet company that you have a business relationship with.  They will tell you to log in to your account, and then send you to a fake page.  You’ll try to log in and they’ll collect your user name and password.  Later they’ll go to your bank’s real webpage, log in as you, and steal all your money.

Other people try to go in the back door instead of the front door.  Rather than trying to get your user name or password, they’ll try to hack into a company’s database and gain access to all of their customers’ information.

Sometimes these people work for the companies.  They use their access to download the database to one of their own computers.  Other times, the hackers aren’t affiliated with.  Identity theft insurance is very important for everyone.