Consumerist
it slices, it dices
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ask the consumerists
What Do You Do When Your Hotmail Gets Hijacked?
Richard says his wife's Hotmail account was hacked, and now she can't get into her email or fix the problem via Microsoft's customers service online or over the phone. He writes: More » -
fail
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
CBS 5 exposed a "gaping hole" in the code of California's state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users' resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL. More » -
identity theft
Here's Your Post-ID Theft Checklist
Personal finance blogger Carrie... On the Cheap put together a checklist of things you should do once you've found out your identity has been stolen. More » -
identity theft
Protect That Identity With A (Free?) Paper Shredder
In honor of National Protect Your Identity Week, personal finance blogger Stephanie at Poorer Than You has cobbled together a guide on how to shred your documents if you're too cheap to go out and buy a paper-shredder. More » -
security defects
Thief Runs Up $10,000 Credit Card Bill Using Only Name, Address, Social, DOB
John says that his wife's identity was stolen two weeks ago and since TransUnion shows your full credit card numbers on your credit report, the thief was able to run up a $10,000 credit card bill in his wife's name. More » -
resources
University Launches Free Financial Education Website
We love free, and we love attempts to make people savvier about personal finance, so we really like this new personal finance website from the University of Idaho. It's got all the basics covered, and there are things like checklists and downloadable worksheets so you can practice what they're preaching. Some of the information is geared specifically to Idaho residents, but for the most part this is useful content that anyone can take advantage of.
Idaho Personal Finance [University of Idaho Extension via Idaho Business Review]
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phishing
FBI Charges 100 People In Phishing Investigation
Since 2007, the FBI and authorities in Egypt have been running an investigation they've called "Operation Phish Phry," sigh, and this week it paid off with 53 charges against U.S. defendants and 47 against people in Egypt. Three of the 53 in the U.S. have been arrested, and the FBI are looking for the other 50. To prove you're not one of the remaining 50, please send the FBI your login credentials to your bank. Ha ha, we kid. More » -
identity theft
Grab Your Old Statements, We're Going To The Shred-A-Thon!
Tucson, Arizona is hosting a community shred-a-thon in October, where private citizens can show up with boxes of sensitive data and have it shredded for free. Back in July, the Wall Street Journal looked at the growing trend of community shredding events as an example of how regular people are taking action to prevent identity theft. More » -
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true dumb crime
Advice: Don't Try To Open A JC Penney Account With The Person You're ID Thefting
Did you hear about the identity thief in Seattle who tried to open a JC Penney credit card account with one of the very women whose identity she had stolen? More » -
advice
5 Ways To Prevent Identity Theft
If you're still not shredding, locking, and canceling, maybe a giant graphic will get the point across. Follow these five tips and you'll be well on your way to securing your side of things when it comes to ID theft.
Hoping retailers secure their side of things is another matter, but that's why step 5 of this chart is "monitor your credit report."
"5 Easy Steps To Preventing Identity Theft" [Visual Economics]
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spy on yourself
Seven Free Sites To Track Your Personal Information
The Consumer Reports Money Adviser has compiled a great list of sites that store your personal information and will provide free copies of their reports to you if you ask. More » -
credit cards
ID Theft Ringleader Pleads Guilty
Albert Gonzalez, a 28-year-old from Miami who was arrested last year and charged with leading "a worldwide ring that stole more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers from major retail chains," plead guilty today as part of a plea bargain. He faces up to 25 years in prison. More » -
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credit cards
Skimmers Rig Door Instead Of ATM
Last week, a customer in Long Beach, New York, discovered a skimmer attached to the outside of a local ATM branch instead of on specific machines. We've talked a lot about being wary of any suspicious add-ons at the ATM, but in this case the criminals were collecting card info as people swiped to enter the building—although they still had pinhole cameras set up to record PINs next to each keypad. More »
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state government
Identity Theft Ring Targets Governors Of States At End Of Alphabet
While he governor of California is autographing cars as part of his state's massive garage sale, his colleagues in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state are receiving mysterious HP and Compaq laptops in the mail, and are possible victims of identity theft. More » -
privacy
Use ID Guard Stamp To (Sort Of) Block Personal Info
We're not sure how effective a stamp would be to truly block out personal info on your mail—cross-cut shredding is always better—but at the very least this would be a fun thing to do while sorting your mail. Maybe it would be good if you're one of those people who hates throwing out old magazines with your address info printed on the covers.
"ID Guard Stamp Obfuscates Your Personal Info" [Oh Gizmo!]
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negligence
Ameriprise Website Riddled With Security Vulnerabilities For At Least Five Months
[Note: The original headline for this post mistakenly identified Ameritrade as the subject of the post. It is actually Ameriprise Financial. I deeply regret the error.] Since March of this year, security expert Russ McRee of HolisticInfoSec.org has sent 6 messages to Ameriprise Financial warning them of easily exploitable security holes on their website. They ignored every request, while at the same time reassuring customers that "No one without the proper web browser configuration can view or modify information contained on our systems." More » -
identity theft
Sprint, AT&T Won't Tell Identity Theft Victim Where Thief Resides
Fearing his identity would be stolen, Mike put out a fraud alert on his credit report to insure he'd be contacted whenever new credit applications went out under his name. The move paid off because someone snagged his social security number and tried to open accounts with AT&T and Sprint. More »
