Tag Archives: Identity Theft

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

ATM Viruses Are Out to Steal Your Cash

Leave a comment

By Credit.com

Filed under: , ,

Eliot J. Schechter/ Bloomberg News

By Credit.com Staff

These days, consumers are often on the lookout for identity theft scams that may end up compromising many aspects of their finances, but now criminals are doing even more to rip them off, including targeting their banks with malicious software.

A new type of malware that targets point-of-sale systems and ATM card readers known as “Dump Memory Grabber” scans those devices for payment card data and is beginning to infect a large number of the nation’s largest banks, according to a report from SecurityWeek. The list of victims of this new software already includes Chase, Capital One, and Citibank, as well as Union Bank of California. In addition, it seems possible that store-branded credit cards may have also been compromised, because a video of the malware in action, which was posted to a Russian hacker forum, showed a number of Nordstrom’s cards potentially having been exposed.

The malware itself collects data stored in a card reader’s log files, filters the data quickly for credit card information, and then compiles all of it to a simple text file, the report said. That file can in turn be set to download straight to a hacker’s server, or even be sent via email.

Sponsored Linksadsonar_placementId=1505951;adsonar_pid=1990767;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=242;adsonar_zh=252;adsonar_jv=’ads.tw.adsonar.com’;

Information gathered about the creator of the Dump Memory Grabber malware seems to indicate that he is well-known in the Russian hacking community and has been involved with a large cybercriminal collective – potentially as its administrator – that engages in this type of activity, as well as attacks against a number of well-known security entities, the report said. Further, at least several of the group’s members are also active in Anonymous, and most are younger than 23 years old.

This is certainly not the first type of malware targeted directly at point of sale card readers and ATMs in the last few months, as a program known as “Dexter” may have recently stolen as many as 80,000 credit card numbers from Subway restaurants in 2012, the report said. In all, 42 percent of Dexter infections worldwide were located in the U.S.

The best way consumers can make sure they are not affected by these scams is to pay with cash whenever possible, and also keep close tabs on their financial documents for any suspicious charges that they may not recognize. These may be a sign that an account has been compromised.

More from Credit.com:

%Gallery-184402%

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | <a target=_blank href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/01/atm-virus-cybercrime-identity-theft/#comments" title="View …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Supreme Court's John Roberts Has Credit Card Number Stolen

Leave a comment

By Matt Brownell

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Filed under: , , , ,

Mark Wilson, Getty Images

No one is safe from identity theft — not even John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

On the morning that the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments about gay marriage, Roberts was overheard telling a barista at his local Starbucks that he would have to pay cash for his coffee, as his credit card information had been stolen. The Associated Press spoke to a Supreme Court spokesperson, who confirmed that someone got hold of one of the Chief Justice‘s credit card account numbers. Apparently that meant that Roberts had to use cash while he waited for a new card from the bank.

Supreme Court Justices: They’re just like us!

Roberts isn’t the first high-profile Washington figure to become the victim of identity theft lately — earlier this month, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the director of the FBI all had their credit reports stolen and posted to a Russian website. Celebrities including Beyonce Knowles were also affected.

If the director of the FBI and the most powerful judge in the country can be impacted by identity theft, how are ordinary citizens supposed to keep their finances safe?

Short of shunning all credit cards and living a cash-only existence, you’re always going to be at some risk for identity theft. We’re not sure how Roberts lost his credit card number, but it could have happened anywhere. Maybe an online retailer where he’d used the card suffered a data breach that we don’t know about. It’s also possible he handed his card to a waiter at a restaurant, who then secretly swiped it in a portable card reader. From there, it would be a simple matter of “cloning” the card for use in stores, or simply using the number to make an online purchase.

In other words, you don’t have to be an idiot to get your credit card number stolen. The circumstances are frequently outside your control.

The good news is that Roberts (and most victims of credit-card theft) can usually nip it in the bud without any financial loss. Federal law caps losses due to credit card fraud at $50, and most credit cards go a step further and offer zero liability on fraudulent purchases. That’s contingent on you spotting the fraudulent charge in a timely manner and alerting the bank, so we might recommend setting up alerts on your credit card to let you know about possible fraudulent transactions; at the very least, you should carefully read your statement every month.

If you see anything out of the ordinary, just call the number on the back of your card and the bank should quickly credit you the amount and send you the new card. Like …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Top 10 Consumer Complaints of 2012

Leave a comment

By Selena Maranjian

The top complaints in America

Filed under: , , , , ,

Alamy / AOL

If you’re fed up with hearing people complain, imagine being the Consumer Sentinel Network. This online database for law enforcement compiled and categorized more than 2 million complaints in 2012 — instances of fraud, scams, schemes, and violations consumers reported to everyone from the FTC to the Better Business Bureau to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

So which industries or groups of people cause us the most grief? Here are the CSN‘s findings for the top 10 complaint categories and the percentage of the total complaints that each represents:

1. Identity theft (18 percent)
2. Debt collection (10 percent)
3. Banks and lenders (6 percent)
4. Shop-at-home and catalog sales (6 percent)
5. Prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries (5 percent)
6. Impostor scams (4 percent)
7. Internet services (4 percent)
8. Auto-related complaints (4 percent)
9. Telephone and mobile services (4 percent)
10. Credit cards (3 percent)

Stolen identities
It makes sense that identity theft tops the list. Detecting, uncovering and correcting the fallout from identity theft is a long, labyrinthine process. Sure, it’s terrible if you lose, say, $500 or $1,000. But with identity theft, some people have not only lost a lot of money but have spent years trying to undo the damage done, encountering many frustrations along the way.

Most of us know to shred documents containing personal information before discarding them, and to be careful to whom we divulge personal information. It can be easy to imagine that identity theft won’t happen to us. But according to the CSN, nearly one-fifth of all complaints — a whopping 369,132 — were about identity theft.

Military variations
The distribution of complaints was different among military personnel than other Americans. For example, while their top two complaints were the same as the overall results, their No. 6 complaint category was mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management, while it was just 15th for the overall nation.

Foreclosures and debt problems have been major issues for many service members. That’s because they often receive orders to pick up and move to a new location and assignment, but with our economy struggling and home prices depressed, they can end up owing more than their homes are worth. Worse still, hundreds have had their homes illegally foreclosed upon by big banks — JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC), and Citigroup (C) — as has been reported by The New York Times. Military members should know that settlements have been struck with big banks to address these and other wrongs, and that entities such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are looking out for their interests.

Fraud
This wonderful digital age has ushered in new ways for scammers to scam us. The most common method …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Less Than One Quarter of Taxpayers Very Concerned about Identity Theft when Filing Returns

Leave a comment

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Less Than One Quarter of Taxpayers Very Concerned about Identity Theft when Filing Returns


LifeLock Study Shows Consumers Need Education on Identity Theft

TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Despite recent reports showing increases in identity theft, consumers’ knowledge on identity theft is not keeping pace with the crime. According to the new 2013 LifeLock Tax Fraud Survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of LifeLock in February, among 2,090 U.S. adults age 18 and older, less than one quarter (24 percent) of taxpayers selected the top 2 points of concern on a 5 point scale about identity theft when filing their returns. Additionally, 70 percent of Americans think it is possible for a fraudster to use their name and Social Security Number (SSN) to file a return before they do, blocking the actual taxpayer’s refund from the IRS. Yet despite this concern, 38% of those who have previous years’ returns saved on their computer do not have password protection for these files.

In February 2013 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released their annual “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book” that looked at consumer complaints from January 1 through December 21, 2012. Identity theft was the number one complaint category in the Consumer Sentinel Network, and of those more than 369,000 complaints, Government Documents and Benefits fraud accounted for 46% of all complaints. As noted by the FTC, identity theft related to Government Documents and Benefits includes Tax or Wage Related Fraud, accounting for 43% of the complaints.

“As a company that sees identity theft threats 24/7, we are concerned about the large disconnect between this growing threat and consumer education. This is really playing into the hands of identity thieves,” said LifeLock President Hilary Schneider.

The survey examined Americans’ identity fraud concerns and tax return filing behavior for tax season.

The 2013 LifeLock Tax Fraud Survey highlights include:

  • No Password = No Protection – Nearly three in ten (29 percent) Americans keep copies of previous years’ tax returns on their computer, but 38 percent of this group do not protect their returns with a password. This makes these returns more vulnerable to criminals through peer-to-peer file sharing programs or lost devices.

    • …read more
    Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

LifeLock Names Key Executives to Further the Fight against Identity Theft

Leave a comment

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

LifeLock Names Key Executives to Further the Fight against Identity Theft

TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– LifeLock (NYS: LOCK) , an industry leader in proactive identity theft protection, has made two additions to the leadership team with the announcement of Steve Seoane as Chief Product Officer and Miles Mahoney as Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Alliances. Seoane joins LifeLock from ID Analytics, a LifeLock subsidiary where he was the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Solutions. Mahoney comes to LifeLock from Altair Engineering where he served as President.

“Steve and Miles have deep knowledge of scaling successful technology businesses and I am delighted to have them join the LifeLock Leadership Team,” said LifeLock President, Hilary Schneider. “Steve has strong insight into the data, analytics and science that enable LifeLock to offer unique products with proactive protection to consumers and enterprises. Miles has differentiated experience in building successful partner sales and alliance organizations that enable absolute focus on partner needs – both at top global technology companies and entrepreneurial environments.”

In the role of Chief Product Officer, Seoane will drive improvements to existing offerings and bring new products to market that address the growing problem of protecting and validating identity for members and enterprises. Seoane’s career includes years of experience in building and using scores and analytic products to address the fraud, authentication, compliance and credit risk needs for many companies. Prior to his role at ID Analytics, Seoane served in executive positions with LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Capital One’s Hispanic Line of business. He has extensive experience working with credit bureau data and non-traditional public record data. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the United States Naval Academy and his Master’s Degree from the University of Maryland.

As the Senior Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Alliances, Mahoney will spearhead LifeLock initiatives to partner with enterprises in providing identity theft solutions to their customers. Mahoney has a proven track record of building successful global sales and alliance organizations predicated on laser focus on the enterprises’ needs and the ability to deliver solutions that drive business results. He has previously held executive roles with SAS Institute, Crystal Decisions, Business Objects and Day Corporation. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Finance from Montana State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Management from Pepperdine University.


About LifeLock

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Identity Thieves Are After Your Children

Leave a comment

By Michele Lerner

Kids are targeted for identity theft

Filed under: , , , ,

As if parents didn’t have enough on their minds, now they have to worry about making sure their offspring aren’t in the crosshairs of financial scammers. According to AllClear ID, an identity-theft protection company, children are 35 times more likely than adults to be identity theft victims.

It’s hard to nail down exactly how pervasive the crime really is.

Erik Larson, president and founder of NextAdvisor.com, a company that analyzes identity-theft protection products, says between 2.5 percent and 10 percent of Americans under age 18 have had their identity stolen.

And according to a recent report by AllClear based on a survey of 27,000 financial records between September 2010 and December 2011, nearly 11 percent of kids had their personal information stolen. “The reason the data on this is incomplete is that people often don’t know an identity theft has taken place,” says Larson. “They don’t realize it for years sometimes.”

The way most young people find out they have been victimized is that they turn 18 and apply for their first job, first credit card, or a student loan and discover they already have bad credit.

“In the Boston area, a 17-year-old applied for a job and the employer pulled his credit,” says Larson. “It turned out someone had used his Social Security number and bought a $47,000 houseboat and then defaulted on the loan. The boat had been purchased when he was just 7 years old.”

A Different Sort of Crime Family

Larson says that 27 percent of all identity theft victims know their perpetrator: someone in their family, a co-worker, or a friend. That number may be higher for child victims.

“It happens unfortunately far too often that a parent, stepparent, uncle, or, almost worst of all, a foster parent will steal a Social Security number from a child to open new credit card accounts or to establish a new utility company account,” says Larson. “Foster kids are particularly vulnerable because they’re in and out of many homes.”

In one case in New Jersey, a mother stole the Social Security numbers of each of her five children to open credit card accounts and then didn’t pay the bills, says Larson. Someone who knew her tipped off the police and she was arrested for fraud.

Even if you catch the family member, there may be more damage to come.

Larson says that sometimes a Social Security number will be sold to a network of criminals and new problems can crop up over the years, including even a criminal record associated with your child’s identity.

According to AllClear, one victim’s Social Security number had been used to open more than 40 accounts, in which more than $1 million had been fraudulently charged.

Cleaning Up …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

Don't Be Dumb About Smartphone Privacy

Leave a comment

By Caroline Mayer, Contributor

If you’ve got a smartphone, it’s probably become so indispensable that you’d be lost without it (often literally, thanks to its mapping and location apps). “It’s your whole life in a small device,” says Eduard Goodman, the Phoenix-based chief privacy officer for the blog Identity Theft 911. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest