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To catch a thief
Sep. 7th, 2008 07:31 pmI watched MSNBC's "To Catch an ID Thief" a while ago, and while the year-long investigative report uncovered just how twisted and international identity theft can be, it wasn't conclusive-- no one got "caught" or "busted," and the real person(s) behind the mass of thefts (Wendy Kenyon) never got unmasked or brought to justice, either.
Fact is, with the ability to make up any name and grab any picture from the Internet, anyone can be anyone else. Knowing that any one of millions of people could pretend to be anyone else, and that they can be anywhere in the world, and the likelihood of being extradited and prosecuted is less than 1%, the fault can't lie entirely with them.
Fact is, people are stupid. It's a sad and unfortunate truth. But it's not a bad thing to want to help others, to help them NOT get caught in "international crime rings" and have to put up with all the stress and time lost associated with identity theft. I know because I've been there.
Sure, I didn't go through as much as some of the people featured on the show, but that could mean either I got lucky (my hacker wasn't as "smart" as some of the scam artists in Nigeria and Benin) or I was smarter. I don't mean to sound egotistical, but unlike them, I would never wire thousands of dollars to someone I'd never met, believe their story about being in a car accident and need money for a hand operation, or ship packages for thousands of dollars in fees to a place in Africa. Why doesn't ANY of that sound suspicious? How can someone hear all that and not have bells and whistles and alarms going off in their brain?
That's what baffles me the most, I guess.
See, I have people that I trust-- people I know in real life, that I've met, and that I think have earned my trust. There are also people online --people I've never met in real life-- that I trust, but it's a different kind of relationship there, and a different kind of trust earned. It's true that if any of them said they were in trouble and needed help, I would want to in a New York minute, but I'd want to do it in a way that I can trust-- not wiring money and not knowing where it's going, who's getting it, or what it's getting used for.
It's also surprising that people with relatively comfortable lives buy into this kind of scam, too. Whether it's single guys or guys with marriage issues, they believe that some beautiful porn-esque model has her own business that involves shipping pricey electronics to Africa? And luv luv luvs them sooooo much? Seriously, wake up and smell the manure, folks. There's nothing honest, pitiful, or reasonable about ANY of that. Women buy into it too, thinking some nice, handsome guy needs their help-- and they give their time, money, good name, credit, and who knows what else without ever bothering to MEET the damn guy. I see that as the height of gullibility. Don't buy into B.S. like this, guys AND girls.
More stuff you can do to protect yourself:
* Don't use the same password for every account you have. It should be obvious why. If you use the same account for your email that you do for your Amazon.com account, which has your credit card saved on it, and someone gets into your email account because your password was made up of words that can be found in a dictionary, with no symbols and numbers that are in a row (for example 'dogcat456'), you're more or less screwed. If you do use the same password anywhere, make it no more than 5 times, and NEVER for the same category of accounts, especially if those accounts are emails and/or sites that have bank or credit information on it (e.g. PayPal, bank accounts, shopping sites). So you can use the same password for fanfic sites, but not for email accounts, if you have more than one.
* You should change up your username, too, even if you keep some parts the same. For example, I'm the_sweet here, the-sweet on DeviantART, Azurite in a lot of places... and I have tons of other usernames elsewhere.
* It also helps to have multiple email addresses too-- not just to sort out email you want from spam, but also to vary up what information is where. Any important accounts (e.g. bank accounts, PayPal, etc.) should always have "Additional Email Addresses" on file, because should someone manage to hack into your account, you want to be notified of any changes.
* Check any accounts that have money attached to them (again, bank accounts, PayPal, shopping sites) regularly to make sure there are no suspicious charges. Even if you have complex passwords, only copy-paste them rather than type them, regularly change your usernames and/or passwords, STILL check the account. You never know when information can accidentally slip through the cracks, as a result of using a public computer, spyware, or even someone you think you can trust (e.g. a sales clerk, a server at a restaurant, etc.) CHECK REGULARLY. Cheesy as it sounds, balance your checkbook, too. Account for every transaction so that when something fishy DOES come up, you can recognize it immediately. Not all fraudulent charges are made for hundreds or thousands of dollars-- hackers and scammers may do a "test run" of a card to see if it's any good. And make sure to call your bank, PayPal, and/or your credit card company if you see something strange. "Better safe than sorry." I know some people think caution can be a pain in the ass, but if it ends up saving you thousands of dollars and days of time, isn't it worth it? Also make sure to get your annual free credit report to make sure nothing's slipped your notice.
Hope that helps!
Fact is, with the ability to make up any name and grab any picture from the Internet, anyone can be anyone else. Knowing that any one of millions of people could pretend to be anyone else, and that they can be anywhere in the world, and the likelihood of being extradited and prosecuted is less than 1%, the fault can't lie entirely with them.
Fact is, people are stupid. It's a sad and unfortunate truth. But it's not a bad thing to want to help others, to help them NOT get caught in "international crime rings" and have to put up with all the stress and time lost associated with identity theft. I know because I've been there.
Sure, I didn't go through as much as some of the people featured on the show, but that could mean either I got lucky (my hacker wasn't as "smart" as some of the scam artists in Nigeria and Benin) or I was smarter. I don't mean to sound egotistical, but unlike them, I would never wire thousands of dollars to someone I'd never met, believe their story about being in a car accident and need money for a hand operation, or ship packages for thousands of dollars in fees to a place in Africa. Why doesn't ANY of that sound suspicious? How can someone hear all that and not have bells and whistles and alarms going off in their brain?
That's what baffles me the most, I guess.
See, I have people that I trust-- people I know in real life, that I've met, and that I think have earned my trust. There are also people online --people I've never met in real life-- that I trust, but it's a different kind of relationship there, and a different kind of trust earned. It's true that if any of them said they were in trouble and needed help, I would want to in a New York minute, but I'd want to do it in a way that I can trust-- not wiring money and not knowing where it's going, who's getting it, or what it's getting used for.
It's also surprising that people with relatively comfortable lives buy into this kind of scam, too. Whether it's single guys or guys with marriage issues, they believe that some beautiful porn-esque model has her own business that involves shipping pricey electronics to Africa? And luv luv luvs them sooooo much? Seriously, wake up and smell the manure, folks. There's nothing honest, pitiful, or reasonable about ANY of that. Women buy into it too, thinking some nice, handsome guy needs their help-- and they give their time, money, good name, credit, and who knows what else without ever bothering to MEET the damn guy. I see that as the height of gullibility. Don't buy into B.S. like this, guys AND girls.
More stuff you can do to protect yourself:
* Don't use the same password for every account you have. It should be obvious why. If you use the same account for your email that you do for your Amazon.com account, which has your credit card saved on it, and someone gets into your email account because your password was made up of words that can be found in a dictionary, with no symbols and numbers that are in a row (for example 'dogcat456'), you're more or less screwed. If you do use the same password anywhere, make it no more than 5 times, and NEVER for the same category of accounts, especially if those accounts are emails and/or sites that have bank or credit information on it (e.g. PayPal, bank accounts, shopping sites). So you can use the same password for fanfic sites, but not for email accounts, if you have more than one.
* You should change up your username, too, even if you keep some parts the same. For example, I'm the_sweet here, the-sweet on DeviantART, Azurite in a lot of places... and I have tons of other usernames elsewhere.
* It also helps to have multiple email addresses too-- not just to sort out email you want from spam, but also to vary up what information is where. Any important accounts (e.g. bank accounts, PayPal, etc.) should always have "Additional Email Addresses" on file, because should someone manage to hack into your account, you want to be notified of any changes.
* Check any accounts that have money attached to them (again, bank accounts, PayPal, shopping sites) regularly to make sure there are no suspicious charges. Even if you have complex passwords, only copy-paste them rather than type them, regularly change your usernames and/or passwords, STILL check the account. You never know when information can accidentally slip through the cracks, as a result of using a public computer, spyware, or even someone you think you can trust (e.g. a sales clerk, a server at a restaurant, etc.) CHECK REGULARLY. Cheesy as it sounds, balance your checkbook, too. Account for every transaction so that when something fishy DOES come up, you can recognize it immediately. Not all fraudulent charges are made for hundreds or thousands of dollars-- hackers and scammers may do a "test run" of a card to see if it's any good. And make sure to call your bank, PayPal, and/or your credit card company if you see something strange. "Better safe than sorry." I know some people think caution can be a pain in the ass, but if it ends up saving you thousands of dollars and days of time, isn't it worth it? Also make sure to get your annual free credit report to make sure nothing's slipped your notice.
Hope that helps!
