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Money

The www.FedPrimeRate.com Personal Finance Blog and Magazine

Sunday, April 15, 2018

New Fraud Targets Tax Professionals

New Fraud Targets Tax Professionals; segment by the outstanding folks at Nightly Business Report:




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For more on tax fraud / scams, check out the 2018 IRS Dirty Dozen.


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Sunday, April 08, 2018

Credit Karma Free Identity Monitoring: Data Breach Update

Credit Karma Free Identity Monitoring: Data Breach Update
Credit Karma Free Identity Monitoring
Credit Karma introduced recently its free identity monitoring service.  Here's what my first report looks like:

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You've Been In 5 Breaches:

We checked our database of 4.7 billion publicly breached accounts and your email address showed up in 5 data breaches. That means your online accounts and personal info may be compromised.

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FORBES

In February 2014, the Forbes website succumbed to an attack that leaked over 1 million user accounts. The attack was attributed to the Syrian Electronic Army, allegedly as retribution for a perceived "Hate of Syria". The attack not only leaked user credentials, but also resulted in the posting of fake news stories to forbes.com.

Exposed Info:
  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
  • User website URLs
  • Usernames
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GAWKER

In December 2010, Gawker was attacked by the hacker collective "Gnosis" in retaliation for what was reported to be a feud between Gawker and 4Chan. Information about Gawkers 1.3M users was published along with the data from Gawker's other web presences including Gizmodo and Lifehacker. Due to the prevalence of password reuse, many victims of the breach then had their Twitter accounts compromised to send Acai berry spam.

Exposed Info:
  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
  • Usernames
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LINKEDIN


In May 2016, LinkedIn had 164 million email addresses and passwords exposed. Originally hacked in 2012, the data remained out of sight until being offered for sale on a dark market site 4 years later. The passwords in the breach were stored as SHA1 hashes without salt, the vast majority of which were quickly cracked in the days following the release of the data.

Exposed Info:
  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
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I don't even remember the last time I visited the 3 websites listed in this report, so I'm not worried.  I change all my passwords often.

The utility of these reports is obvious, so I'm giving this free service a big thumbs-up.


MAY 29, 2018 UPDATE: COMBOLISTS

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EXPLOIT.IN

This breach isn’t from one site — it’s a combolist. Basically, someone put together info from individual data breaches and then shared that combined list publicly or on the dark web. Criminals use passwords from combolists to try to gain access to your other accounts. That’s why you should never re-use passwords, especially in places with sensitive personal or financial info (like your banking app, health insurance site, tax software, email account, etc.)

Exposed Info:
  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
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COMBOLIST OF 1.4 BILLION CREDENTIALS

This breach isn’t from one site — it’s a combolist. Basically, someone put together info from individual data breaches and then shared that combined list publicly or on the dark web. Criminals use passwords from combolists to try to gain access to your other accounts. That’s why you should never re-use passwords, especially in places with sensitive personal or financial info (like your banking app, health insurance site, tax software, email account, etc.)

Exposed Info:
  • Email addresses
  • Passwords
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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Hackers Can Use Your Mobile Phone Number to Steal Your Identity

How hackers can use your mobile phone number to steal your identity:



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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Identity Theft: How it Affected my Family, and How we Stopped it from Happening Again

Identity TheftYou've probably heard about identity theft, and the ways that the unscrupulous can use our personal information . It wasn't an issue for our family, because we thought we were being careful with our personally identifiable information. I guess we weren't being careful enough, though, because someone used my husband's name, birth date and Social Security number to open a PayPal Buyer Credit account. He was unaware until he started receiving collection notices in the mail.

If you haven't heard of it, PayPal Buyer Credit enables a PayPal account holder to buy now, and make monthly payments. I found out these facts about the service:

  • PayPal Buyer Credit is a credit line charging a variable APR. (Equal to prime rate plus 15.5%, but not less than 20.8%.)
  • If you make a late payment, a fee of $15-$35 applies. That can get expensive, fast.
  • You will receive a paper statement in the mail, and the grace period to pay charges can be up to 26 days.
  • You can only pay your Buyer Credit bill by check, or through linking your bank account.
  • Once you enroll in the program, it will become your default funding source, if you don't have a PayPal balance or a linked bank account.
  • PayPal and Buyer Credit are two separate programs. That means if you close your PayPal account, your Buyer Credit account is still open.

He received his first collection notice back in March of last year. According to the statement, he owed over $1500. Strange, since he had never heard of PayPal Buyer Credit, and had certainly never opened an account with them. He immediately called the toll-free number on the Buyer Credit website, and after waiting what seemed like an hour, he finally got through to a real person. He was told that interest and finance charges had been accruing on the account for six months. My husband told the company that he was not the one who had opened the account, and was told that without solid proof of that fact, he'd still be responsible for the entire amount owed.

He didn't know how someone had gained access to his personal information. We always shred all our bank statements, credit card offers, and any other such mail. I guess some enterprising soul with a lot of time on their hands went through our trash, or intercepted some of our mail when it was still in the mailbox. It's also entirely possible that a keylogger or Trojan on our home PC could have allowed a criminal access to that information. He's still trying to clear his name, and clear the blemish from his credit report. Here are some steps that we have taken to clear up this fiasco:

  • We've documented all communication and actions with the company that's trying to collect debts that we don't owe.
  • We limit further disclosure of personal information. He told the bank, credit card companies, and any other entity that he does business with that he wants to "opt out" of programs that share personal info.
  • I changed all our online account passwords.
  • We've updated the virus definition files of our virus software, and we are in the process of scanning all our computers and external hard drives.
  • He filed a police report concerning the incident.

After about six months of wrangling, he finally got the mess sorted out. PayPal Buyer Credit finally understood that he in fact did not authorize the charges made under his name, so they closed the fraudulent account and absolved him of any responsibility for the money owed. The entire situation left him mistrustful and frustrated, and I don't blame him at all. It's all too easy for someone to steal another person's identity, but extremely hard for the victim to clear their good name. Unfortunately, identity theft victims are usually "guilty until proven innocent".

I convinced him to sign up for LifeLock identity theft protection service, and it has been very effective. The company placed fraud alerts on his credit reports, which are renewed every ninety days. They also requested that his name be removed from lists for pre-approved credit card offers. He hasn't received one since! This service is well worth the price, and my husband and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

There's nothing like the sinking feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach when you realize that your identity has been stolen, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But, in case it ever happens to you, the tips I've outlined here can help reclaim your identity.

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Saturday, August 23, 2008

When A Family Member Commits Identity Theft

I applied for and received my first credit card in college. I had no credit history, so I had a clean slate to start with. Soon after, pre-approved credit card offers started arriving at my apartment and my parent's house. The temptation was too much for my mom. She applied for and received two credit cards in my name. I first suspected that something was up when an envelope addressed to me arrived in the mail, but she refused to let me see it. Even though I had a nagging suspicion and a bad feeling, I chose to ignore them. She was my mom, after all. I didn't think she would ever do anything malicious to me.

After I graduated, I noticed statements arriving at the house for credit cards I didn't have. I opened one and discovered it had a $6000 balance. I didn't want to say anything, and I didn't. I still wanted to believe that my mom would never do anything to hurt me, but eventually, I did ask when the balance continued rising. She told me she was building my credit for me. I was young and had no practical knowledge about finances, so I accepted her excuse, even though the idea still felt wrong.

About five years later, my mom quit her job to open an antique store. She needed money to purchase inventory, rent a building and pay start-up fees. She borrowed against her retirement fund, and when that was tapped out, she cashed checks from credit card companies. I should rephrase that: she cashed checks from my credit card companies. I remained blissfully unaware until I noticed my statements no longer arrived in the mail, and when I called the bank, my balance had doubled. My mom tearfully admitted she had made charges on my card. She promised to pay me back and never do it again. I believed her until my balanced tripled and then finally maxed out. My mother never gave me any money towards her charges, even when confronted. I paid off the balance over the course of five years, totally unaware of the total impact my mom had made on my credit.

Those credit cards she had taken out when I was in college returned to haunt me, and still haunt me, long after I thought they had been cancelled. After maxing out the credit limits, she defaulted on them. They were sent to collection agencies, and the collection agencies came after me.

I had become much more financially savvy, and after my mom had stolen checks and statements from me, I switched my mail to a post office box so she no longer had access to them. The first letter from a collection agency arrived at my box announcing I had 30 days to pay a balance of $7000 or I would be prosecuted. I pulled my credit report and did some research. Then I wrote a carefully worded letter based on ones I'd seen on the ID Theft Center website. That collection agency never contacted me again, and the collection account and all things associated with it were removed from my credit report. According to my credit report, another default card was still out, and I took action to get it removed as well. I wrote letters and disputed the account on the credit report. I wasn't so lucky this time.

Since I lived with my parents, the majority of my mail arrived there, including letters related to that other card. It had a massive balance, and with interest and past due charges, the bank wanted almost $30,000. I knew about the card, and I took as much action as I could without filing a police report.

I never saw letters from the creditors. My mom accepted the summons to appear in court. I never saw that either. I knew nothing about the extensive court proceedings, or my mom's involvement, until I stumbled upon some court records at work. I could only stare in disbelief, not really certain what to do. The court had tried and failed to contact me, and they were about to garnish my wages. I chose not to confront my mother. Instead, I called a legal assistance program offered by my employer. They put me in touch with an attorney who agreed to take on the case and find out what had happened. I was left with the unpleasant task of talking to my mother.

She couldn't understand how I had found out. She had gone to great lengths to keep me in the dark about the whole mess. She had intercepted all letters she could. She had spoken to the sheriff when he came to the house, assuring him I had nothing of value. She had appeared in court in my name, but the day the judgment was rendered she had been unable to appear because of a doctor's appointment. She tried to call the court, but they refused to cancel or move the court date. She swore she never thought the case would result in a judgment. She hired an attorney to try to clear up the situation. The best the attorney could offer was to have me sign over all of my assets and accounts to my mom so I truly owned nothing. At this point, I knew more about finances, and I had no intention of signing anything over to the woman who had created the entire mess. Instead, I took the case back to court.

My attorney gave me copies of the court records where my mom had signed my name. He recommended I find a new place to live, and he advised against signing anything over to my mother. I had never filed a police report, because I didn't want to send my mom to jail. The rest of my family urged me to settle the whole situation out of court, set up a payment plan and just pay off the balance. I had already paid off one balance, and I didn't intend to pay this one. My attorney wanted my mom to sign an affidavit admitting her guilt, but when I asked her she informed me that she did not want to be saddled with the $30,000 worth of debt. I let the case go to trial.

Part of the process involved filing a fraud report with the creditor. I listed my mom as the thief who stole my identity. The creditor withdrew the case and the judgment was thrown out, but it remains on my credit report. It will be there for another five years. It affects everything I try to do. When I bought my house, I had to provide copies of court records. I cannot get new credit cards, and any loans automatically have a higher interest rate. Even though the nightmare has passed, its effects have not.

Financial ghosts of the mess will probably stick around to haunt me for years to come. I have developed phobias related to debt and money. I feel guilty for spending money and worry constantly about debt, even though my monthly income is more than enough to live comfortably. I cannot trust my family's advice related to financial matters. When I look at my mom, I have a slow, seething anger towards her that I'm not sure will ever go away. I feel obligated to love her, when in reality I want nothing to do with her. I resisted turning the theft over to the police, but if this same situation were to happen again, I wouldn't hesitate. I wouldn't let family ties stand in the way of justice.

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