Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott wants the public to be aware of scams with the 2019 Tax Season coming up. A scam that has been around for a while called Phishing can cause you to fight identity theft for years. Here is how Phishing works. Suppose you check your email one day and find a message from your bank. You've gotten e-mail from them before, but this one seems suspicious, especially since it threatens to close your account if you don't reply immediately. What do you do?
This message and others like it are examples of Phishing, a method of online identity theft. In addition to stealing personal and financial data, phishers can infect computers with viruses and convince people to participate unwittingly in money laundering.
Most people associate phishing with e-mail messages that spoof, or mimic, banks, credit card companies, or other business such as Amazon and eBay. These messages look authentic and attempt to get victims to reveal their personal information. But e-mail messages are only one small piece of a phishing scam.
From beginning to end, the process involves:
1. Planning. Phishers decide which business to target and determine how to get e-mail addresses for the customers of that business. They often use the same mass-mailing and address collection techniques as spammers.
2. Setup. Once they know which business to spoof and who their victims are, phishers create methods for delivering the message and collecting the data. Most often, this involves e-mail addresses and a Web page.
3. Attack. This is the step people are most familiar with -- the phisher sends a phony message that appears to be from a reputable source.
4. Collection. Phishers record the information victims enter into Web pages or popup windows.
5. Identity Theft and Fraud. The phishers use the information they've gathered to make illegal purchases or otherwise commit fraud. As many as a fourth of the victims never fully recover.
If the phisher wants to coordinate another attack, he evaluates the successes and failures of the completed scam and begins the cycle again.
Phishing scams take advantages of software and security weaknesses on both the client and server sides. But even the most high-tech phishing scams work like old-fashioned con jobs, in which a hustler convinces his mark that he is reliable and trustworthy. Next, we'll look at the steps phishers take to convince victims that their messages are legitimate.
Here are a few extra tips:
Trash
Your garbage can is the thieves’ goldmine. Think about all the things you throw away, receipts, bank statements, tax information, bills etc. All these contain important personal information that can be used by others. All it takes is just one letter with your name and another important personal information. Make sure to Shred sensitive material before you dispose of them.
Mail
Your mail is another goldmine for ID thieves. Stolen mail is one of the most popular methods of stealing identities; your mail contains all the personal information someone would need. All the marketing material you receive from companies and banks contains vital personal information. Most companies give you the option of receiving your mail online; view your banking and credit card statements online. You may choose this option to limit the amount of postal mail you receive. You might also want to consider having a postbox as they are often monitored and protected by the postal service. Put your mail on hold if you will be absent for a while. Do not just throw away marketing material, open and shred them first.
Skimming
Another very popular strategy employed by ID thieves is “card skimming.” Skimming is when your cards information is stolen by swiping your card through a magnetic card reader, which stores/downloads your card information. The thieves can then use this info to make purchases online or even load it on another card and use it in stores. Be careful when handing your card over to someone else to swipe, if you notice anything suspicious contact the authorities and your institution immediately. For example, if they swipe your card more than once or drop the card and pick it up you could potentially become a victim of ID fraud. Also, when using the PIN pad cover your PIN with your hand, even if you are using an ATM and nobody is around you. Always cover your PIN because a hidden camera could have been placed to obtain your PIN.
Wallet
One of the best ways to steal ID is by stealing a wallet. Think about all the things you have in your wallet like your license, health card, bankcards, credit cards, even pictures and Social Insurance Card? Imagine all the good things that one can do with all this info. Try to minimize what you carry in your wallet, don’t keep 3 different credit cards and two debit cards on you at all times. Never keep your PIN in your wallet.
What should be in our wallet?
1. Driver’s license or other form of government issued ID
2. Car registration and insurance if required by law (most people keep these in glovebox of the vehicle)
3. One or two credit/debit cards
4. Any other personal identification document you need on daily basis.
You should NOT keep the following in your wallet: Social Security Card, Passwords or PINs, excess credit cards or debit cards, Check stubs, and any other personal identification documents that you do not need on a daily basis.
These are just couple ways your ID can be stolen. There are numerous other methods such as hacking into government and/or corporation database, stealing info through employer and many others. Although you cannot stop this trend, nor can you be 100% safe against ID theft, you can try to prevent it and minimize the chances that your ID will be stolen.
If you believe you may be a victim of fraud or identity theft you can contact the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office at 918-485-3124.
