Identity Theft.

[Geel_jire]

A Sad yet funny story, about Identity theft

 

Jeremy Clarkson, host of the BBC show Top Gear, recently wrote an article for the U.K.'s Sunday Times in which he ridiculed the uproar that had occurred after the British government admitted to losing two compact discs containing the personal information on 25 million people. To prove his point that there was no risk of financial fraud for those consumers, he published his bank account details, and instructions on how to locate his address. Writing in the Times, he claimed that "All you'll be able to do with [the account numbers] is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I've never known such a [fuss] about nothing."

The following week, he changed his tune after learning that an identity thief with a sense of humor had used the details to create an automatic bank transfer to the charity Diabetes UK.

"I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my accoun

How serious are you about, protecting your personal information, what steps do you take ?

 

When people hear about Identity theft, they only think about someone hacking into their computer or stealing bank information.

 

I'm guessing 90% SOL users have a combination of Firewall, Ad ware blocker, Anti virus, spam blocker running on their computer.

 

but do you pay as much attention to all the service agreements and contracts you sign ? do you choose the small discount [insert Co. here] offers to share you're information with other Businesses.

 

Large organizations have incredible Data Mining capabilities. complete profiles can built upon a very small amount of information.

 

Are you as careful with personal info as you are with your online activities [bloggin,chatting,banking etc] ?

[Faheema.]

^ not too bothered really, read this on the paper today, lol now that is something

[Geel_jire]

^ maybe not ,but Awareness to online Privacy issues and what should and shouldn't be done has increased greatly the last few years.

 

these days novice computer users, will not open an email attachment from a sender they don't recognize.

 

But shouldn't the same awareness be practiced when dealing with government agencies, companies, employers.

 

I'm not paranoid but doesn't it make sense to be as careful if not more than when you're online.

[Cara.]

What bothers me is that there are pay incentives for credit card sales agents to open as many accounts as they can for customers. So if they receive an application they would rather process it than reject it. Once, this guy took one of those direct mail applications, tore it into twenty-eight pieces, taped it back together loosely and mailed it in. He got a credit card 2 weeks later.

 

And how do most people dispose of those applications?