Tuesday, November 25, 2003
MSN Money - 10 ways to stop identity theft cold - Financial privacy
10 tips to prevent identity theft
Identity thieves rob more than 500,000 Americans every year. These steps will help you reduce your risk of identity theft.
1. Guard that Social Security number
The most important step is to guard your Social Security number -- it is the key to your credit report and banking accounts and is the prime target of criminals. Do not print your Social Security number on your checks. After applying for a loan, credit card, rental or anything else that requires a credit report, request that your Social Security number on the application be truncated or completely obliterated and your original credit report be shredded before your eyes or returned to you once a decision has been made. A lender or rental manager needs to retain only your name and credit score to justify a decision.
2. Monitor your credit report
Credit reports can alert you to activity in your financial records. A monitoring service, such as Privacy Guard, will notify you whenever someone applies for credit in your name or checks your credit history. You then can be proactive; call the person and ask, "Why are you checking my credit?" It might be a landlord or employer; it might be legitimate.
3. Buy a shredder and use it
Indentity thieves may use your garbage to obtain personal information. Shred all old bank and credit statements, as well as "junk mail" credit-card offers, before trashing them. Use a crosscut shredder -- they cost more than regular shredders but are superior.
4. Remove your name from marketing lists
The three credit-reporting bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- all maintain marketing lists that may contain your information. Contact the agencies to remove your name from the lists. You also should add your name to the name-deletion lists of the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and Telephone Preference Service used by banks and other marketers. Removing your name from these lists reduces the number of pre-approved credit offers you receive.
5. Watch what you carry in your wallet
Do not keep your Social Security card in your wallet or carry extra credit cards or other important identity documents except when needed. These documents can give thieves ready access to your accounts.
6. Keep duplicate records
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Copy both sides of your license and credit cards so you have all the account numbers, expiration dates and phone numbers if your wallet or purse is stolen.
7. Mail payments from a safe location
Do not mail bill payments and checks from home. They can be stolen from your mailbox and washed clean in chemicals. Take them to the post office.
8. Monitor your Social Security activity
Order your Social Security Earnings and Benefits statement once a year to check for fraud.
9. Monitor your credit-card activity
Carefully examine your credit-card statements for fraudulent charges before paying them. If you don't need or use department-store or bank-issued credit cards, close the accounts.
10. Know who you are talking to
Never give your credit-card number or personal information over the phone unless you have initiated the call and trust that business.
10 tips to prevent identity theft
Identity thieves rob more than 500,000 Americans every year. These steps will help you reduce your risk of identity theft.
1. Guard that Social Security number
The most important step is to guard your Social Security number -- it is the key to your credit report and banking accounts and is the prime target of criminals. Do not print your Social Security number on your checks. After applying for a loan, credit card, rental or anything else that requires a credit report, request that your Social Security number on the application be truncated or completely obliterated and your original credit report be shredded before your eyes or returned to you once a decision has been made. A lender or rental manager needs to retain only your name and credit score to justify a decision.
2. Monitor your credit report
Credit reports can alert you to activity in your financial records. A monitoring service, such as Privacy Guard, will notify you whenever someone applies for credit in your name or checks your credit history. You then can be proactive; call the person and ask, "Why are you checking my credit?" It might be a landlord or employer; it might be legitimate.
3. Buy a shredder and use it
Indentity thieves may use your garbage to obtain personal information. Shred all old bank and credit statements, as well as "junk mail" credit-card offers, before trashing them. Use a crosscut shredder -- they cost more than regular shredders but are superior.
4. Remove your name from marketing lists
The three credit-reporting bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- all maintain marketing lists that may contain your information. Contact the agencies to remove your name from the lists. You also should add your name to the name-deletion lists of the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service and Telephone Preference Service used by banks and other marketers. Removing your name from these lists reduces the number of pre-approved credit offers you receive.
5. Watch what you carry in your wallet
Do not keep your Social Security card in your wallet or carry extra credit cards or other important identity documents except when needed. These documents can give thieves ready access to your accounts.
6. Keep duplicate records
Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Copy both sides of your license and credit cards so you have all the account numbers, expiration dates and phone numbers if your wallet or purse is stolen.
7. Mail payments from a safe location
Do not mail bill payments and checks from home. They can be stolen from your mailbox and washed clean in chemicals. Take them to the post office.
8. Monitor your Social Security activity
Order your Social Security Earnings and Benefits statement once a year to check for fraud.
9. Monitor your credit-card activity
Carefully examine your credit-card statements for fraudulent charges before paying them. If you don't need or use department-store or bank-issued credit cards, close the accounts.
10. Know who you are talking to
Never give your credit-card number or personal information over the phone unless you have initiated the call and trust that business.
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posted by Brian & Brian at 7:37 AM
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
New ad frontier: Cell phones
Imagine how domain registration started...then take a look at this article. And, with the same idea of domain registration, there will be need to be searching done to find these codes to register for specials (just like the net). So, are we going to be search engine cell phone marketers? Take a look at the article to see more...
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — They’re not supposed to call or send a fax to your home. E-mail may soon be off limits, too. So, spurned marketers are now training their sights on cell phones. But they won’t call you. They’re betting you’ll call them to participate in sweepstakes, get coupons or answer surveys.
THEY’VE STRUCK a deal with the nation’s 12 largest providers of wireless phone service to set up a five-digit call-in system. Consumers dial a “short code” promoted by the company on its products and advertisements to get the company to send them back a text message that appears on their cell-phone screens.
More than 150 companies have applied to register short codes — numbers from 20000 to 99999 — in the two weeks they’ve been available.
Consumer advocates fear that once a customer uses a code to snag a coupon, that cell-phone number could go on a list and be sold to telemarketers, making the cell phone just another target for junk solicitations.
There are no “white pages” with cell-phone numbers so they have remained relatively free of come-ons. Because most users pay extra to send and receive text messages, unwanted promotions could be not only annoying, but also costly.
Many of the companies that have registered for short codes so far have pledged not to share cell phone numbers with others or use them to market products unrelated to the original promotion.
Procter & Gamble Co. is using 3-2-7-3-2 — DARE2 — to promote its Clairol Herbal Essences hair-color products. The Weather Channel has registered to secure 4CAST, STORM and RADAR for on-demand weather updates. Coca-Cola Co. already is inviting people to call COKE for a shot at winning prizes. (It set up its four-digit code before the five-digit standard was established.)
Click the link on top to see the rest of the article...
Imagine how domain registration started...then take a look at this article. And, with the same idea of domain registration, there will be need to be searching done to find these codes to register for specials (just like the net). So, are we going to be search engine cell phone marketers? Take a look at the article to see more...
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — They’re not supposed to call or send a fax to your home. E-mail may soon be off limits, too. So, spurned marketers are now training their sights on cell phones. But they won’t call you. They’re betting you’ll call them to participate in sweepstakes, get coupons or answer surveys.
THEY’VE STRUCK a deal with the nation’s 12 largest providers of wireless phone service to set up a five-digit call-in system. Consumers dial a “short code” promoted by the company on its products and advertisements to get the company to send them back a text message that appears on their cell-phone screens.
More than 150 companies have applied to register short codes — numbers from 20000 to 99999 — in the two weeks they’ve been available.
Consumer advocates fear that once a customer uses a code to snag a coupon, that cell-phone number could go on a list and be sold to telemarketers, making the cell phone just another target for junk solicitations.
There are no “white pages” with cell-phone numbers so they have remained relatively free of come-ons. Because most users pay extra to send and receive text messages, unwanted promotions could be not only annoying, but also costly.
Many of the companies that have registered for short codes so far have pledged not to share cell phone numbers with others or use them to market products unrelated to the original promotion.
Procter & Gamble Co. is using 3-2-7-3-2 — DARE2 — to promote its Clairol Herbal Essences hair-color products. The Weather Channel has registered to secure 4CAST, STORM and RADAR for on-demand weather updates. Coca-Cola Co. already is inviting people to call COKE for a shot at winning prizes. (It set up its four-digit code before the five-digit standard was established.)
Click the link on top to see the rest of the article...
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posted by Brian & Brian at 6:24 PM
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