Credit Card Frauds!

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URL:http://mosnews.com/photos/22/1722_400x300.jpg

Owning at least one Credit card has become a trend to people these days. So how does actually credit cards link to one of the internet frauds? Well in this 21st century everyone wants things to be done as simple as possible and hassle free. To attract more users and make life more simpler for these credit card users banks have come up with many ways that customer can own a credit card and use one. Banks have made it very simple where from the procedures of filling up the application form, to purchase online items to settling credit card payment all online. It sounds so simple and totally modernized but stop just right there! People don’t see the big picture of it and the risk it brings to the applicants and the users. By applying online hackers and scamers can hack through accounts and obtain all your personal information, from you contact details, passwords to bank account numbers. And after this you can imagine want worst things can be done. All this have turned into a white collar crime where these scammers are not actually targeting the technology but the users through this technology.

To avoid fear and to build trust in the public banks are working hard to provide the best security bridge for customers, by equipping themselves with more secure anti-fraud codes and devices. According to David Chan, MasterCard’s International vice-president for operations and advanced payment products although Malaysia usage via electronic payment is still low however it is a ‘fast mover’ when responding to online fraud.

Reference:Malaysia ahead in fighting online credit card fraud, NetBuilder, 26 June,2006

URL:http://www.netbuilder.com.my/html/modules/news/article.php?storyid=20,

Here are few simple tips and guidelines one follow to combat credit card frauds:-

• Keep on eye on your credit card.
• Be careful to whom to give out your credit card to.
• Never respond to emails that requires you to give out your credit card info via email
• Never provide your credit information on a web site is not a secure site.
• Shred all credit card applications you received.
• Open credit card bills promptly and make sure there are no bogus charges.
• Don't write your PIN number on your credit card

Reference: Credit card fraud:21 tips to protect yourself, ScamBusters.org
URL: http://www.scambusters.org/CreditCardFraud.html

Avoid being of the victim. If you sense certain information is not right don’t go against your heart make everything clear before using it.

Always use common sense it is the best rule of thumb!

Cheers!
Tenesha :)

Identity Theft

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Image taken from: http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/identity-theft_03.jpg

Day by day, from newspaper, radio station, news in the television and sometimes even magazine do often reminds their audience to be more careful and conscious about the fraud problems happening around. Therefore there are often that we could hear and see people talking about identity theft but how many people knows that it is a term used that is to refer to fraud? Seldom people take caution of this word but I would like to say that this word is even more obvious and more frequent shown in all those media lately as when economy is bad people then to use more such ways to swindle people to gain more money and however those people that got con is those people that somehow too greedy as they expect better and higher return after contributing or given a certain payment. Identity theft is a crime in which an imposter obtains key pieces of personal information, such as Social Security or driver's license numbers, in order to impersonate someone else.
(URL: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci801871,00.html 2009)

The information can be used to get goods, credit, and services in the name of the victim, or to offer the thief with false identification. Moreover to running up debt, an imposter might give fake identification to police to create a criminal record or as well leave an outstanding arrest warrants for someone whose identity has been stolen. According to the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center and other related sources, identity theft can be sub-divided into many different categories for example like business/commercial identity theft which is using another's business name to obtain credit, where else criminal identity theft is by posing as another when apprehended for a crime, financial identity theft in using another identity to obtain goods and services, identity cloning In using another's information to assume his or her identity in daily life and last but not lease the medical identity theft in using another's information to obtain medical care or drugs.

Below are the example cases that happen and is the true story.

Business/commercial identity theft

The California Department of Justice recently announced the arrest of Orange County travel agent Ralph Rendon. “The suspect allegedly ripped off dozens of senior citizens who wanted to travel to Cuba for religious and cultural purposes,” says California Attorney General Jerry Brown. The scam targeted Jewish and Greek Orthodox seniors trying to congregate with people of their own faith on the Caribbean island. After the 34 victims forked out five-figure deposits, Rendon announced their trips were being blocked by the Treasury Department and refused to refund their money. According to investigators, he used the money to lease a brand new Mercedes, pay his rent and hire a divorce attorney.

References: Travel scams to avoid (Seniors, Beware), New Straits Times Press Malaysia, [Online], Retrieved on 27 January 2010
URL: http://travel.nst.com.my/Current_News/TravelTimes/article/TravelTips/20080922175726/Article/index_html

Criminal identity theft
A case on points is the case of Edward Enderton an American Ivy League graduate who was sentence to a 4 years jail term for stealing identities and living in a lavish live at other people's expense, of course.

Reference: Ivy League Graduate Sentenced to 4 years in prison for elaborate ID theft scheme, associated press [Online], Retrieved on 27 January 2010.
URL: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451944,00.html

Financial identity theft

I was a victim of such identity theft recently when my identity card and credit cards were exchanged with someone-else into my wallet to delay the detection of theft. I only realized the theft when I was contacted by the bank after having earlier approved three suspicious transactions involving large amounts. I wonder what the point of such verification when it should was had been carried out much earlier before allowing those transactions to be approved. As expected the bank insisted that I to be held responsible for the fraudulent transactions and demanded me to settle the outstanding balances.

Reference: Engkhim, Fraudulent Credit Card Transaction, Star Publication (M) Bhd [Online], Retrieved on 27 January 2010
URL: http://blog.thestar.com.my/default.asp?page=88&cat=6

Identity cloning

DANNY Jeynes has always wanted a BMW. Two months ago, he bought one. It should have been a happy time for 26-year-old Danny. Instead, he found himself caught up in a nightmare with police accusations of dangerous driving hanging over him. In fact, he was the victim of identity theft. But it was not his credit card that the thief had cloned. It was his car number plate.

Reference: Helen, The new car-cloning ID Fraud, This is money is part of Daily mail, The mail on sunday& Metro Media Group Associated Newspaper Limited 2010
URL: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-loans/id-fraud/article.html?in_article_id=410004&in_page_id=159

Medical identity theft

Brandon Reagin didn't realize someone had snatched his medical identity until his mother called to tell him he was the lead suspect in a car theft in South Carolina in 2005. The 22-year-old marine had lost his wallet more than a year earlier while celebrating with friends after completing boot camp at Parris Island, near Beaufort, S.C. After his training, he was posted to California. But in South Carolina, Reagin lived on, as an impostor used his military ID and driver's license to not only test-drive new cars and then steal them but also visit hospitals on several occasions to treat kidney stones and an injured hand, running up nearly $20,000 in medical charges. Reagin found out about the unpaid hospital bills when he asked for a credit report following the car theft. "It was horrible," he says. "And what made it worse is that no one really knew what to do when it first started happening."

Reference: Michelle Andrews, Medical Identity Theft Turns Patients Into Victims, U.S News & World Report, Retrieved on 27 January 2010.
URL: http://www.usnews.com/health/family-health/articles/2008/02/29/medical-identity-theft-turns-patients-into-victims.html

Therefore as the conclusion is it advisable that we should be more caution about the news around us as this is a way to prevent the bad incident repeat again. At least we are able to avoid the same method of identity theft that hits on us. Besides that many companies themselves are doing many prevention and protection for their customer to provide best services.

For example,

The Credit Monitoring Services (CMS) system monitors key changes in banking and business information, trade credit information as well as credit ratings of SMEs. These changes in data are then sent out as email alerts to SMEs who subscribe to the service. By alerting them, Lim says the CMS can prevent fraud and identity theft as well as any discrepancies or changes to their credit information. Identity theft occurs, for example, if an SME’s identity is used illegally to apply for credit, and changes to credit information occur when there is new loan applications, inquiries by financial institutions, and other credit guarantors and utilities related updates.

Reference: Daljit Dhesi, SME Credit Bureau to launcg country's first Credit Monitoring Services for SMEs, The Star Publication (M) Bhd, Retrieved on 27 January 2010
URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/16/business/5473636&sec=business

Due to the reason above is it better we do our own prevention than to wait others people to prevent it for us. At least we ourselves should do some effort to be more caution in any transactions.

Chiw

Poll Result is Out! (11-18/01/2010)

Link to us: http://snipr.com/u7gbg

Do you still remember the poll question last week? Will you go through an online dating service to find you a life partner? Why? This is the question for last week’s poll. There are altogether 3 options for the poll: ‘Yes. Why not!’; ‘Never! No matter how desperate I am!’; and ‘Maybe. But just for fun not looking for real life partner’. So, now, it’s the time to reveal the result!

There are 33 voters for the poll in 7 days. Unexpectedly, the votes are distributed close evenly among the 3 options. According to the chart on top, the higher vote which is 39% goes to the option 1- ‘Never! No matter how desperate I am!’ From the result obtained, we can tell that most of the people are skeptical to try online dating services. It is mainly because of too many dating scams out there that make them back off seeking help from those online dating services. Some even choose not to go through online dating service as they once became a dating scam victim. Some even think that it is unrealistic dating with someone through Internet.

The option that has a second higher vote which has 32% is ‘Maybe. But only for fun not looking for real partner!’ These 32% of voters are those who will try online dating service out of curiosity. They are often not committed in the relationship. This is what we usually call them as “game players’ where they have multiple online partners.

Lastly, the option ‘Yes! Why Not!’ There is only 29% of voters that are willing to try online dating service. These are the people that believe in online dating services and they have seen successful couples from online dating service by themselves. So, they are willing to try online dating service to get their life partner.

If you have missed the poll last week, don’t worry! Here, we have another new poll question waiting for your vote! See you in the next poll result! At the meantime, check out our new posts in I-Fraud Monster! Enjoy~

^^ErIcA^^

Investment Scheme Fraud- It is Too Good To Be True?

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Work like a mad but still earn the same amount of money? What is the easy way to make your money grow faster? Instead of working to earn money and do saving, most of the people will think of doing INVESTMENT where they ‘make the money works'. Nowadays, investors can even invest their money and properties online. It is far more convenient. There are plenty of investment schemes available such as the Get Rich Schemes or what Malaysians used to call it as Skim Cepat Kaya. However, not all online investment schemes are reliable. Some are SCAMS instead of schemes. Those cunning scammers out there in the web are scheming to come out with wonderful investment ‘schemes’ to trap the investors. There are many types of online investment scams and the popular ones are like Ponzi Scheme and Pyramid Scheme.

Image taken from: http://silvertailsystems.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/free-money.jpg

Do you remember the cartoon "Tom&Jerry"? Lets take it as a parable...

Tom, the cat >>> the scammer

Jerry, the mouse >>> the investors (potential victim)

Mouse trap >>> the online investment scam

Cheese >>> the bogus investment promises

>>>: represents

Most of the online investment scams are like mouse traps. The scammer’s alluring bogus investment promises that promise a double or triple return of money is like a tempting cheese on the mouse trap waiting for Jerry (investors) to get trapped. However, not all investors are like the smart Jerry who is able to escape with the cheese (money). So, how to invest safely in the cyberspace? Here are some Don’t and Never in investing online:

1. Never believe in those investment schemes that look too good to be true!

“Experience a HIGH return with NO risk investment scheme in XXX Company!!” Is the headline appeal to you and make you feel like invest in XXX Company immediately? THINK TWICE!! Always ask yourself a question whenever you feel like invest in the online investment scheme or company: “Is that too good to be true?”

2. Don’t simply trust and act on the advices or testimonies of an anonymous person that hides his/her true identity in the online bulletin boards.
Online bulletin board is an electronic message center where most of them serve as specific interest groups. They allow you to dial in with a modem; review messages left by others, and leave your own message if you want. (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/bulletin_board_system_BBS.html,2002) Nowadays, online bulletin board not only becomes a popular forum that allows interactions and sharing information among investors, it also becomes a place for scammers to hunt for their ‘preys’. As the online bulletin board allows people to leave message freely, hence, the scammers will act as though they are one of the experienced investors trying to give false testimony about how good a particular company is. Some even avoid revealing their identities. Most of the time, they are one of those insiders of the company itself.

3. Don’t ever think that all the online investment newsletters are trusty.
Is online investment newsletter more reliable than the online bulletin board? You might think that the information provided in the newsletter must be valid and credible as it is written by those professionals or experts in investment. Plus, there are facts together with researches. Even so, it’s a ‘no no’ to think in this way. Some of the online investment newsletter writers are paid by those companies to promote or so called ‘hard sell’ their investment schemes and companies. Well, it is legal to do so. However, it becomes illegal when the writers failed to reveal or lie on the amount of payments they receive from their employer (the particular company) and providing forge research. Those online investment newsletters might seem to have neutral views and information with the support of researches, yet, have you ever thought of those researches are merely false statements? Here, to find out more on tips of checking out newsletter.

4. Don’t forget to check and make sure that the person or the scheme that you intend to invest on is registered with your state securities agency.
From there you can be clear that with whom and in what you actually invest on. Then, only that you are able to make a wise decision on your investment.

Reference: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision official website, Internet Fraud: How to Avoid Internet Investment Scams [Online], Retrieved 20th January 2010.

URL: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm

Lastly, never let your greed overpower your sense!

^^ErIcA^^