FREE EBOOK
Valid Email Required to receive free eBookSecurity Tips
Caller ID Spoofing Scams
Caller ID Spoofing Becoming Illegal
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert AP reports using false caller ID with the intent of tricking people into revealing personal information or otherwise causing harm would become illegal under legislation that passed the House Wednesday. The legislation would only outlaw the use of spoofing technology when the intent is to deceive and harm the recipient of the call. Legitimate uses of the technology, such as a domestic abuse shelter changing…
Watch Out For Caller ID Spoofing
Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to display a number on the recipient’s caller ID display which is not that of the actual originating caller. Similar to e-mail spoofing which can make it appear that a message came from any e-mail address the sender chooses, caller ID spoofing can make a call appear to have come from any phone number. Most people trust caller ID and are unaware of caller ID spoofing. This is…
Caller ID: Tool for Scammers
Most of us tend to trust the person on the other end of the telephone more than we trust an email in our inbox. However telephone scams continue to plague people and successfully empty the victims bank accounts. Caller ID spoofing occurs when your phone rings and your caller ID displays a name and number that seem legitimate, but are, in fact, spoofed. The caller has masked his or her true name and number. Most people aren’t aware of caller ID s…
Tax Related Identity Theft Scams Up 300%
9. That’s nearly 300 percent. Thieves may steal victims’ refunds, trick them into disclosing Social Security or credit card numbers, or even pose as the IRS. Below is more information for those common and lesser-known tax scams to watch out for. Employment Identity Theft Scams: If you ever receive documentation in the mail indicating earned income that you are not aware of, it may mean that someone else has used your Social Security numbe…
Top 5 Scams to Watch Out For
#1 Nigerian Scams: According to a Dutch study, victims of advanced-fee scams, which are also known as 419 scams or Nigerian scams, lost more than $9 billion in 2009, almost 50% more than the previous year. (This PDF contains the statistics from the study.) While these types of scams are generally understood to be Nigerian in nature and origin, and are in fact named after the 419 Nigerian code that made them illegal, advanced-fee scams were launc…
SWATting, Using Technology To Hurt
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert Swatting is making prank calls to emergency services. In the field of information security, swatting is an attempt to trick an emergency service (such as a 911 operator) to dispatch an emergency response team, generally a SWAT team. SWAT is (Special Weapons and Tactics). Caller ID spoofing technologies are used to send law officers on bogus calls along with, social engineering, and phone phreaking technique…
Beware Of 10 Tax-time Scams
We are approaching tax time. Scammers are ramped up and looking for your money. Learn these tax season scam tips and watch your back. 1. Text messaging scams or smishing a.k.a Phexting. Like phishing but texting. Criminal hackers have access to technology that generates cell phone numbers and access to mass text messaging services. They send texts that install keyloggers or direct you to websites that steal your data. 2. Tax preparer scams. Repo…
The Twelve Scams of Christmas," or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt IV of IV
Robert Siciliano identity theft expert Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of this holiday season. According to Consumer Reports’ 2009 State of the Net Survey…
THIEVES INITIATE NEW IDENTITY THEFT SCAMS IN TIME FOR TAX SEASON
uni-ball® teams with Identity Theft Resource Center and Identity Theft Expert Robert Siciliano to Warn Consumers of Latest Scams and Offer Anti-Theft Solutions Oak Brook , Ill. – March 4, 2009 – Tax time scams are at an all-time high, according to Robert Siciliano, well-known identity and security theft expert and author of the book “The Safety Minute: How to Take Control of Personal Security and Prevent Fraud.” As economic pressure…
Summer Heat: On-line Dating Scams PT II
After my recent post Summer Heat: On-line Dating Scams a reader responded with the following: “I just had a similar experience that you described in your blog “Summer Heat: On-line Dating Scams”. I had joined Plenty of Fish and upgraded my profile to have more exposure. I received an email from “exquisitedaddy” a few weeks ago. We started sending emails back and forth. Then he asked me to IM on Yahoo Messenger. His IM email address w…
419 Scams Double, Over $9 Billion in Profits
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert A recent study by Dutch investigation firm Ultrascan shows we are half as smart (or twice as dumb) as we were in 2008 as advanced fee scams doubled in losses to over $9 billion. 419 Advance Fee Fraud Statistics 2009 (PDF) It is believed that while the scams are known to be Nigerian in nature, coined after the 419 Nigerian code making them illegal, scams were launched from 69 other countries in 2009. T…
Identity Theft Tax Time Scams
Identity Theft Speaker Expert Robert Siciliano We are approaching tax time. Scammers are ramped up and looking for your money. Learn these tips and watch your back. Protect and prevent Identity Theft. 1. Text messaging scams or Phexting Like phishing but texting); Criminal hackers have access to technology that generates cell phone numbers and access to mass text messaging services. They send texts that install keyloggers or direct you to websit…
Online Auto Sales Often Involve Scary Scams
Online auction and classifieds websites are unwittingly participating in car sale scams. Ads gain credibility by appearing on eBay, Craigslist, and other online automobile sales websites, but some are either completely phony or have been copied and pasted from other websites. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received nearly 14,000 complaints from 2008 through 2010, from consumers who have been victimized, or at least targeted, by these…
Approaching Holidays Bring “12 Scams of Christmas”
Whether you like it or not, whether you’re ready or not, the Christmas machine has arrived—well before Thanksgiving—at least as far as stores and advertisers are concerned. And there’s no question that scammers, identity thieves, and criminal hackers have already begun setting traps for holiday shoppers. So whether they’re using PCs, Macs, or mobile devices, consumers should be looking out for “The 12 Scams of Christmas”: the dozen most dangerou…
The Twelve Scams of Christmas," or Popular Online Attacks This Holiday Season Pt I of IV
Robert Siciliano identity theft expert Cybercriminals Take Advantage of the Holiday Season, Aiming to Steal Consumers’ Money, Identities and Financial Information As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee, Inc. revealed the “Twelve Scams of Christmas” – the twelve most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of this holiday season. According to Consumer Reports’ 2009 State of the Net Survey,…
Cyber-Scrooges Set in Motion the 12 Scams of Holidays
…t shopping via our mobile devices. The scary part is that 88% of us would be willing to trade personal information in order to receive a great offer—something that could cause us to fall into scammers’ traps. Here are the “12 Scams of the Holidays,” the dozen most dangerous online scams to watch out for this holiday season, revealed today by McAfee. To make sure your holidays are not stolen by the Grinch, here are some tips on how to protect you…
Telemarketing Scams Target the Elderly
We hear it over and over how the elderly are often targeted by scammers. Elderly are simply “elders” and no smarter or dumber than anyone else. If anything, they are wiser. However, as we age we often get feeble, weaker in the mind. That slightly weaker state of mind is when the scammer strikes. You one day may be part of a telemarketing scam. The psychology behind the success of these scams might have to do with the nature of the scam. Often th…