Attention grabbing survey sites could set the stage for ID theft

There are a number of sites that quiz you about yourself and then tell you something about yourself in return. Our site does that as well. We ask you information about your personal daily habits and use proprietary algorithms backed by research to gage your risk for ID theft with an output that is in an easy to understand ID Risk Level. No ads, no personal information requested, not even email.

Someone emailed me recently asking about other sites that have quizzes and pointed out a few in particular and asked me how safe they are even if just for fun.

Some sites, by piquing your interest in certain, even silly subjects, are looking for something. There are a number of sites that purport being able to tell you when you are going to die! Wonderful, that information will certainly come in handy. It makes my retirement investment planning so much easier.

Well, you’re not gullible, but you went there for fun, as a joke, just to see, etc. All in good fun as long as you are not giving them any personal information.

So what could a site like this really be after? Mainly ad revenue. By getting thousands of people to go through the site and take the “date of your death survey”, they land you in a seemingly never ending, page after page of offers for everything from free laptops to a cruise around the world to magazines and so on. The catch is you have to get past saying no to these or fill out a few with your personal information like name, address, phone number, email etc. and what seems to be fairly harmless information. Only, once you go past the myriad of ads asking you to fill in information will you get your “calculated” date with the grim reaper.

So I tried it at a site this person asked me about. I answered the few simple questions and then waited for my results, it had to be calculated, apparently they have a long connection to go through and the grim reaper’s WiFi was down. In the meantime, they graciously had me take review some of their fine offers and click “no” if not interested. I counted 97 (yes, I counted because I assumed it was going to be big) offers that I said “no” to and still was not given my much awaited date with death. I even filled in a few with some random misinformation thinking if they got me on one maybe they would cough up that date! Nothing. I literally gave up as it was appearing to be more and more of a perpetual scam. I guess I’ll need to keep my retirement plans in place for now.

Seriously though, what was really happening was a massive operation to get you to provide just the basics of personal information. Now the company that runs the site may only be a conduit and collecting ad dollars from the marketing agency who is the real culprit in this operation. Fill one out correctly with real information and you have just asked to receive a minimum of 100,000 emails with other exciting offers include. Hey, you asked!

That information may possibly be used by them directly for ID theft, Spamming, phishing, etc. They may sell it to others who will use it unscrupulously. Worse yet, you will be put on a sucker list. This is a list created about people who willingly provide information thinking they are going to win a prize. AKA in their business “a sucker”. ID thieves love suckers. They know they are the easiest of easy targets. The people who think they will really get something for nothing, the same people who ultimately will give the thieves the keys to their identity in much the same way. The thieves already know you are an optimists, and play that hand against you to the fullest.

So the next time you go to a site and think you are providing information that is harmless, looking for that humorous “date of your death” you may find out a new date, when your identity was stolen.

Apple Online Lawsuit Brings to Light Another Threat of Identity Theft

A recent lawsuit alleges Apple Store is not in compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act, thereby making it easier for identity thieves to gather more personal information on consumers.

All businesses need to heed this as an example of things to come and protect their clients' personal information in any way that they can after a class action lawsuit, case number 07-22040, was brought against Apple Store online last week in Florida Federal Court alleging that the stores violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA is a federal law designed to help ensure that consumer reporting agencies act fairly, impartially, and with respect for the consumer's right to privacy when preparing consumer reports on individuals.

In 2003, an amendment was added that states, "No person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the transaction of businesses shall print more than the last five digits of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt provided to the card holder at the point of sale or transaction."

It was this amendment that Apple Store online was violating. Apple Store was apparently printing credit card expiration dates on the receipts, in addition to the other personal information. Companies were given a three-year grace period to comply with the law and the cost is so miniscule to make the change that most have made the change well in advance of the deadline. Apple Store, as of last week, was still not in compliance.

Identity thieves are getting smarter and smarter. Consumers must stay one step ahead and protect themselves from the financial devastation of identity theft. Consumers expect businesses to uphold the law and do what they can to protect personal information they acquire.

While no proof of a specific identity theft has stemmed from Apple Store's non-compliance, it is a recipe for disaster that reminds consumers to take every precaution when making an online purchase or any purchase with a credit card. The federal government has made efforts to protect citizens from identity theft but consumers must be on the offense and take matters into their own hands.

Place yourself in a situation to protect your personal information from theft and learn to practice fire prevention versus firefighting.

Burden of Proof with Identity Theft

Victims of identity theft often feel victimized twice when identity theft happens to them.

We are all familiar with our legal system where the burden of proof is up to the prosecution for the people and you are innocent until proven guilty.

But with identity theft you are guilty or liable until you prove your innocence.

It doesn’t really seem to make sense but if you look at the logic, it does make sense. Although it puts the victim in a difficult, tedious, and time consuming position of defending themselves while all the while feeling violated because they are a victim.

Our financial system is set up and regulated by the federal government to provide easy and convenient transactions to keep the economy moving along without interruption. You can thank federal laws that limit your exposure to credit card fraud. They enacted those laws long ago to make people feel comfortable with using credit cards when they were first introduced. If people felt liable they would have been reluctant to use the system. Now our economy is completely tied to credit.

Those laws are visible in other areas as well. Take check cashing scams for example. The thieves take advantage of federal laws that require funds for checks to be made available quickly again, to keep the flow of commerce moving. People get taken due the expediency that banks provide funds for check presented, but then find out weeks later that the check was returned as a fraudulent device. You become ultimately liable for any fraudulent check that you present for funds.

In both cases of checks or credit cards you were given the benefit of the transaction in real time while it may be quite some time before the bank or you determine fraud has occurred. In the case of credit card fraud you need to prove that you did not actually make the fraudulent charges and with a check the bank relies on you to know who you are conducting business with.

The banking system really is set to benefit you, so when something goes awry you need to prove you were not involved. Most people never consider that when they conduct transactions. Who is to say that you where not involved in a fraudulent transaction and were not colluding with the perpetrator from the start.

If you become a victim of identity theft, you are really a victim in the eyes of others only after you prove it, and that will never feel good.

P2P Networks Significantly Increase Risk of Identity Theft

Ask someone who has a child in middle school up through college what P2P is and chances are you’ll get a look of uncertainty. Chances are they will not know what you are talking about and if they do the details will be scant.

If they do know what P2P is, do they truly understand the dangers of it outside of the fact the kids are likely using it to obtain copyrighted material for free and most likely illegally. There are legal ways to use P2P networks for sharing photos and video clips and other homemade material, but it is used mainly for illegal downloading of copyrighted material without paying for it.

P2P is an abbreviation for Peer to Peer networking. How it works in simple terms, you expose folders on your PC to other peoples PC’s on a network, and you copy anything you find in their folder back to your PC, generally music files. But anything else in that folder is fair game to anyone on the network who wants to look at your PC. And depending on how the PC user allows others to view files, your entire hard drive could be read like an open book to anyone on the internet. Nothing scary there! You might just as well go post files of last years tax returns in a chatroom of identity thieves and set a timer to see how quick someone becomes you.

The network is set up by a third party service who just acts as a hub that all the users pass through to get to other PC’s on the network. They are everywhere and becoming harder to shut down due to ruling in court cases and the ability to operate in a manner that cannot be easily detected.

P2P has been around for a long time, remember the name Napster in the news a few years back? They brought P2P file sharing to the mainstream. The recording industry got them shut down because of the massive losses in music sales all blamed on illegal P2P usage.

So what has changed since then? P2P is growing among younger PC users and exposing their own or their parents personal information to identity thieves. The thieves scour P2P networks looking for personal information in folders that your 9th grader has exposed unknowingly.

According to a recent study released by Dartmouth business school researchers, P2P users have increased from 4 million in 2003 to approximately 10 million today.

So no surprise that along with it, identity theft has also been on the rise. It is an epidemic in this country. Is P2P responsible for that? It sure has added to the ease in which the thieves are obtaining information.

So now what? Any sensible adult who has any child engaged in P2P file sharing of any sort, particularly illegal music, should shut it down and close that door immediately. The lure of free (illegal) music for the kids will pale in comparison if you bank account get drained by an identity thief. There are plenty of safe and secure site to buy music from at extremely reasonable prices.

It is up to individuals to protect themselves and keep tabs on what is happening on the family PC. Go take a look before it’s too late.