Beware these Phishing Scams

Marte Cliff — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:04:58 +0000

Because you read messages like this one, you’re probably the kind of person who is way too savvy to fall for any scams, but since you probably have friends and relatives who are new to internet use, maybe you can alert them.

One new one is hitting the airwaves now in response to Tax Day. Now that most people have filed their 1040′s, the phishermen are out in full force, pretending to be the IRS. They’re writing people to let them know there’s some little thing that needs to be corrected or verified on their income tax return – and either directing them to send info by return email or go to a website and enter information.

And… as a nation of citizens scared spitless of the IRS, people are responding out of fear and handing over the personal information that can let a crook assume their identities with no trouble at all.

Just tell your friends and family this one fact: The IRS does not communicate via e-mail. If they want to talk to you, they’ll write you a letter and send it by the U.S. Postal Service. Any e-mail you get that says it’s from them should be forwarded to phishing@irs.gov

If someone tells you they’ve responded to an e-mail from the IRS, or if they find something suspicious on a credit report, tell them they need to report identity theft immediately. My article at: www.allcreditscoresnow.com explains what to do if you’ve become a victim. Identity theft is big business in this country right now, so it pays to be vigilant. If the economy worsens, the problem will no doubt grow.

So be careful…

A new scam that I hadn’t seen before landed in my in-box tonight. It’s a notice that I have a job offer from UNICEF! Now hopefully everyone would know that was bogus. UNICEF doesn’t just pick people at random and offer them work. And if you scan the message and see poor grammar combined with a reply e-mail address at @yahoo.comm you’d know instantly that it was a phishing letter.

But if some people weren’t responding to these messages, no one would be sending them, so…

A third one is not a phishing scam, but an attempt to extort money. And this one may come via telephone or postal mail. It’s an attempt by unscrupulous collection agencies to get you to pay money you don’t owe.

I was reminded of it tonight when I read a tweet on Twitter – someone had gotten a phone call from a collection agency demanding payment to a health club that had billed him fraudulently 9 years ago.

Anyway, what they’re doing is either trying to collect from families of the deceased or trying to collect on old accounts that were discharged in bankruptcy or written off after a dispute. This one can cause you trouble because it can affect your credit scores.

I wrote a whole article on it a while back – you can find it here: www.allcreditscoresnow.com

UPDATE ON STINKY MARKETING

Remember the guy who wrote and gave me heck because I hadn’t responded to his letter? He’s written me about 4 times since I told you about it, and he’s sounding crankier all the time. Before long he’s going to be cursing me…

Why Have I Posted a “Free Credit Report” Ad?

Marte Cliff — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:27:45 +0000

Not long ago I was hired to write some articles about credit, so I did some reading, and what I learned convinced me that we should ALL be watching our credit reports.

One reason, of course, is to know our scores and work to keep them high. It helps with insurance premiums and gets us lower interest rates no matter what we need to do with credit. But the second reason could be more important.

Seeing your credit report will alert you to:

Mistakes – if you do any typing, you know how easy it is to make an entry error, and just one digit off on a social security number could put someone else’s information on your credit report.
Identity theft - this is the big one. And you’re in a high danger zone if your credit is good.

My in-box carries up to a dozen “phishing” letters every day – some of them look like official correspondence from banks and credit cards. And answering one of them would give my financial information to a thief.

But that’s not the only way they get information. These guys are smart and determined (why is intelligence so often a trait of criminals?) They have dozens of ways to get information, including hacking into major databases across the country and around the world.

The bottom line: The reading I did convinced me that this is important. So I now have a site where I’m posting articles and sharing what I’ve learned about protecting yourself and recognizing the red flags of identity theft, and soon I’ll have more articles outlining what to do if you’ve become a victim.

You’ll also find other articles related to credit reporting, FICO scores, etc. I hope you’ll come and visit and learn all you can about this, because watching your credit report really could make a difference in your life.

Yours for prosperity,

Marte

Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing... » identity theft

Beware these Phishing Scams

Why Have I Posted a “Free Credit Report” Ad?