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Time To Deck The Halls….With Fraud Awareness!

Lets examine 5 strategies which can help guard against holiday fraud this season.

The so-called Super Committee (Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction) just announced that they are unable to agree on the terms of a mandatory $1.2 trillion-dollar deficit reduction  plan. Are you wondering how their failure could possibly affect your gift-giving this year?

The stalemate in Washington, DC may put a damper on our already fragile economy, so protecting your hard earned assets and reputation are worthy goals this holiday season. This is also the time of year when record numbers of consumers  prepare to snag Black Friday and other seasonal shopping deals in malls and online.

With much at stake and our resources stretched like never before, fraudsters are licking their chops as they await the hoards of often distracted and rarely cautious holiday deal-snatchers. The shopping, shipping and selection alone are enough to entice even the most frugal and inexperienced buyers this time of year.

So with shopping in sight and awareness in mind, lets examine 5 strategies that can help you Deter, Detect and Defend against fraudsters lurking behind the holiday tree. Continue Reading…

November 22, 2011 in Data security, Financial Crime, Fraud, Identity Theft, Protect Your Credit, Scams & Phishing

8 Lessons From An Epic Identity Theft Bust

What is being called one of the largest identity theft busts of its type in U.S. history was announced today by police in New York.

The investigation code named “Operation Swiper”  unfolded like an international spy novel and involved thieves fluent in Russian, Mandarin and Arabic. The thieves had ties to organized crime syndicates in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Authorities indicted 111 people from five criminal enterprises in Queens, New York. At the time of this writing, 86 of the 111 people indicted are in custody, with the remaining 25 suspects still at large.

This massive operation is believed to have netted the criminals $13 million over a 16-month period of time. Continue Reading…

October 7, 2011 in Data security, Financial Crime, Identity Theft

Who Can You Trust In A Digital World?

Who do you trust to guard your treasure?

Whether we realize it or not, we make personal trust decisions every day. Our choices can and often do come back to bite us in the….. pocketbook.

We don’t always stop to acknowledge that the choices we make and the partners we choose are often really just surrogate security guards who we assume or presume will keep a close watch over our personal financial backside.

Remember the days when you could fall asleep at night without worrying whether the doors were all locked? Chances are, the older we are, the more we long for those days when our stuff was safe sitting on a park bench while we fed the ducks. Those days are gone.

I’ve been overwhelmed lately with the growing realization that I am totally dependent upon others for the safety and security of most of my material possessions. I suppose that’s why my prayer life improved as my family grew. I began to realize that I really don’t have eyes in the back of my head. Continue Reading…

August 16, 2011 in Data security, Identity Theft, Phishing