Fraud, Internet Fraud, Credit Card Fraud
ABOUT THAT WORD YOU SEE "TRUSTED"
Getting information from people is the best way to break security.
What is a "Social Engineer, Con Artist" and "Grifter"?
- ABOUT CREDIT CARD FRAUD
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- RESOURCES
- Bad GuysTRUSTe
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ABOUT CREDIT CARD FRAUD
The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them, if someone takes your check book they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name but your bank will know how you sign your checks. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address, if you do not have a PO Box use your work address. Never have your SSN# printed on your checks you can add it if it is necessary but have it printed and anyone can get it. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.
Keep the photocopy in a safe place. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).
Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. Applications for credit can be made over the internet in your name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
The Internet Fraud Watch
maintains a website on which registered users can leave comments about e-commerce transactions and other related issues. The site, which is operated by the National Consumer League, has links to United States Federal Government consumer related departments, selected state government and state private agency consumer issue websites, as well as links to a few Canadian, a few international and a few organization websites. There is a feature article and an archive of past articles on consumer fraud issues.
The National Consumers League 1-800-876-7060
the oldest nonprofit consumer organization in the United States, has set up a special National Fraud Information Center on the Internet for online users to get advice and to report rip-offs.
SCARY STATISTICS ON ONLINE CREDIT CARD FRAUD - MUST READ
From NetHappenings Mailing List
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetHappenings.html
Top 10 list of Consumer Fraud Complaints for 2003. The FTC recently announced it's new 2003 report. Online auctions are the worst.
buySAFE recently launched with an entirely unique solution that eliminates online transaction risk for buyers. buySAFE.com, in partnership with The Hartford Financial Services Group, uses surety bonds to completely guarantee a merchant's performance in an online transaction, thus eliminating all online auction fraud and seller default risks for buyers. Surety bonds, having been in use for thousands of years, is a simple, three-party agreement between a buyer, a seller and a surety company.
Can You Trust TRUSTe?
Would you think that a program that hides misleadingly named entries in inappropriate areas of the registry is trustworthy? Me neither, but TRUSTe does. TRUSTe is a nonprofit organization set up to help Internet users determine who is worthy of their trust, in commerce or other areas on the Web. The company sells a number of seals that you might see when interacting with Web sites. These seals are meant to show that the site adheres to TRUSTe's standards for Web privacy, e-mail privacy and other such concerns. TRUSTe has long had a reputation for not aggressively enforcing its own standards. Its business model, even as a nonprofit, created a conflict of interest in that it gets its income from the companies it is certifying. A recent episode shows that the problems continue. Back in August, Ben Edelman (now a professor at Harvard Business School) reported on misleading and undesirable behaviors in the PC software used by Coupons Inc. As Edelman noted, Coupons software allows you to print out coupons that you may bring to normal brick-and-mortar retailers, but they were requiring that the printing be done through custom software that included an ActiveX control. Edelman also noted that the software was using files and registry entries with names that were misleading and that were stored in improper locations, such as the \windows directory. Many appeared to be named to give an observer the idea they were part of Windows. Some of them were not removed after the uninstaller was run. <snip>
Verisign Certificates Can't Be Trusted
THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS A FRAUD
The United States Is In Deep Doodoo!
United States Congressional Record - March 17, 1993 - Vol. #33, page H-1303 - Speaker- Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House: "Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise." READ "Creature from Jeykill Island - A second look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin
Telemarketing Fraud 2007
infoUSA, one of the largest compilers of consumer information. InfoUSA sold his name, and data on scores of other elderly Americans, to known lawbreakers, regulators say. InfoUSA advertised lists of “Elderly Opportunity Seekers,” 3.3 million older people “looking for ways to make money,” and “Suffering Seniors,” 4.7 million people with cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. “Oldies but Goodies” contained 500,000 gamblers over 55 years old, for 8.5 cents apiece. One list said: “These people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change.” InfoUSA sold to known criminals!
TV Commercials for Invention Promotion
They are all frauds, and they are skinning people, especially retirees, for typically 10 to 50 thousand dollars. The worst case I have seen topped $400,000! This industry is collectively scamming people for over $500 million a year. The hot spots of this kind of fraud are Pittsburg, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, and Kansas City.
I am the founder of a number of inventor organizations, one of which InventorEd.org is the leader in fighting invention promotion fraud. We have infiltrated a number of the most deserving companies and we have
been collecting data on both the companies and the sales and management staff. We find that people working for one company often show up at another
company or even start their own companies. A number of promoters have used SLAPP to silence their victims.
We routinely supply data to media and law enforcement agencies. We have been the instigator of a number of enforcement actions involving invention promoters whose conduct has been especially egregious.
Anti-Phishing
Phishing attacks use 'spoofed' e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, social security numbers, etc. Report Phishes
Officials again warn of money-transfer Nigeria scam:
Federal and state agencies are combining to try to stop the regular and e-mail messages. Most come from Nigeria.The Secret Service e-mail address for forwarding the messages is 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov; its fax number is 202-406-5031.
Those who have lost money to the fraud should call the local Philadelphhia Secret Service at 215-861-3300.
In essence, the message asks recipients to help transfer a large sum of money out of Nigeria in return for a big share of it. Those gullible enough to respond often end up sending their money to the people running the confidence game or their accomplices in the United States. People who have received such messages, both through conventional mail and e-mail, have been forwarding them, at the rate of 10,000 a month, to the U.S. Secret Service's financial crimes division, which heads an international task force on the activity, said Steve Saunders, assistant to the special agent in charge in Philadelphia . Americans are cheated out of an estimated $100 million a year this way, officials said. Hundreds of millions of dollars are stolen worldwide this way. An American is among 15 foreign businessmen who have been lured to Nigeria and murdered after responding to the scam, officials said. Some have been held captive in attempts to pry more money out of them.
Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
Who to contact about credit card Fraud
Internet Fraud Complaint Center (run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center)
CREDIT CARD HOW CAN YOU TELL IF THE SITE IS SECURE
Bell Labs cryptologist sees digital signature flaw, fix
People For Internet Responsibility Statement on Electronic Signatures and Documents know about newly-enabled e-frauds!
The Esign effect Before the virtual ink of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (Esign) could dry, a slew of companies began bombarding corporate customers with new ways to use the much-hyped technology. And the fervor sparked by the law may leave many enterprises, start-ups, and digital exchanges wondering how, whether, and when to begin pulling digital signature use into corporate operations.
National Fraud Information Center
The Internet Fraud Complaint Center 775-295-1818
The task force is charged with investigating and arresting those who use computer technology to commit fraud, steal identities, invade private records, conduct industrial espionage, engage in information warfare, traffic in child pornography. online investment schemes to auction fraud. The Nevada Cyber Crime Task Force has a new home in its hunt for hackers and cyber criminals.Located in North Las Vegas near the task force's old lab site that was housed in the Energy Department complex at 232 Energy Way includes forensic laboratories, training and includes on-site evidence vaults, FBI Special Agent Alan Peters said. The multi-agency task force got its first true base of operations in December 2001, after the group was created by an act of the 1999 Legislature to investigate the growing number of computer-related crimes. The FBI, the task force also includes Metro, North Las Vegas and Henderson Police, the Nevada Department of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Service inspectors and the attorney general's office. The task force uses special tools, such as Encase -- a computer program that unlocks deleted and hidden files from computer hard drives -- to find clues cyber criminals have left behind, Peters said. The task force also has a facility in Reno at the Washoe County sheriff's office to help combat the growing numbers of cyber crimes. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, recorded 75,063 cyber crime complaints in 2002, including auction fraud, credit card fraud, child pornography and computer intrusions among other offenses. The number of complaints rose from 49,957 in 2001. Those wishing to report a cyber crime can contact the task force at 775-295-1818, or can file a complaint with the Internet Fraud Complaint Center online (www.ifccfbi.gov).
When to make the cybersecurity call
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0331/web-cyber-04-02-03.asp
Government and industry will establish formal practices and guidelines for private sector organizations to report cybersecurity incidents to government officials, according to Howard Schmidt, acting chairman of the President's Cybersecurity Board. Many incidents, such as the compromise of the Internet root servers, go unreported, since there exists no formal process for handling such incidents. The National Communications System, formerly of the Defense Information Systems Agency, now at Homeland Security, already helps industry report Internet infrastructure incidents.
GET YOUR FREE CREDIT CARD REPORT
National Consumers League's National Fraud Information Center
To Call From Canada or the United States, including Puerto Rico, use the toll free number, 1-800-876-7060.
To call from other countries, dial your international access code
+ 1-202-331-8590
Online Complaint Form