What Everyone Should Know About Reducing the Risk of Identity Theft

Identity theft commonly begins with the loss or theft of a wallet or purse. But there are many or high-tech and low-tech ways criminals can get their hands on your personal and financial information in order to commit identity theft. When someone uses your name or personal information, such as your credit card number, driver's license number, Social Security number, telephone number, or other account numbers, without your permission, you become a victim of identity theft.

Thieves steal your personal information and use it to open credit accounts, bank accounts, telephone service accounts, and make major purchases in your name. These criminals use your sensitive information to take over existing accounts, or open new accounts. Their criminal activities can result in damage to your credit rating and denials to credit and job offers.

Protecting Your Identity While there are no guarantees that your identity will never be stolen or compromised, there are several steps you can take to minimize the risks. Here are a few of them:

* Before you discard your personal information that you no longer need, such as credit card receipts, billing statements, and pre-approved credit card offers, shred them using, at best, a diagonal-cut shredder.

* Create unique passwords and personal identification numbers (PINS) and avoid using easily available information such as mother's maiden name, date of birth, or last four digits of your Social Security number.

* Do not give your Social Security number to people or companies that you do not know.

* Guard your mail from theft. Promptly remove your incoming mail from your mailbox and place outgoing mail in locked collection boxes at your local Post Office.

* As an extra measure of security, install a lock on your mailbox, even if mail theft is not an identified problem in your neighborhood.

* Before disclosing personal information, even to people you know where you shop or do business, insist on knowing the reason(s) your personal information is required and how it will be used.

Low-Tech Rip-offs: Thieves can do much damage with what they remove from your mailbox.

Criminals are increasingly creative in the methods they use to get their hands or eyes on your personal information, and ultimately, your money. Here are some of the low-tech techniques they employ:

* Dumpster Diving, one of the easiest ways for them to appropriate your personal information.

* Mail Theft from unsecured residential mailboxes. According to statistics, mail theft most often takes place at unprotected and easily accessible mailboxes in public places.

* Shoulder surfing takes place when a thief watches or listens literally over your shoulder as you enter your PIN into an ATM machine. They may even follow you home or your place of work to gather additional information about you.

High-Tech Techniques: Data transferred across the Internet can be intercepted during its journey.

* Phishing and Pharming: While phishing is a scam in which consumers are tricked into entering their personal information via a bogus email and website form, pharming occurs where hackers steal personal information from numerous people simultaneously through something known as "domain spoofing". They take over a DNS server and redirect user information to a new website that they use to gather, collect, "pharm" illegal information.

* Skimming: Thieves quickly and temporarily steal a credit card and run it through a skimmer, a credit card reader that has been reprogrammed to steal information off the card.

Fight Back: Reduce the Risks

Make education about the scams, schemes, and frauds criminal use to steal your identity your priority in view of the rising occurrence of this multi-million-dollar-problem. With education comes prevention. Here are some prevention tips to help reduce the risks:

* Safeguard your personal information. Never take simple things for granted.

* Carry with your only the information you need. Always keep your personal information and documents in a safe and secured place of your choosing.

* Order and review a copy of your credit report at least once a year.

* Shred documents containing your sensitive information before discarding them.

For extensive information about ways to protect your identity, visit "Protecting Your Identity" at http://www.ProtectingYourIdentity.blogspot.com/.

Known as The Master Blog Builder, Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, helps small business owners and non-profit organizations improve their customer relationship marketing. Often he comes across cases that are red flags calling identity thieves to come in. Hence, he started the "Protecting Your Identity" blog. Contact him at http://www.MasterBlogBuilder.com/ for more information

Criminal Identity Theft - Don't Let Your Good Name End up in a Criminal Database!

Criminal Identity Theft - don't think it can't happen to you! Stolen identities have ended up in criminal databases. Learn how to protect yourself, and not become a victim.

You're driving on road one night, then you notice there's a police cruiser following close behind you. You figure the cop just wants to pass you, so you move over one lane, except he moves over too and stays on your tail, then you see the flashing red & blue lights then "Woooop!!! wooooop!!!" You must be wondering why you were pulled over. You weren't speeding nor breaking any traffic laws and your tag is not expired. Maybe it's just a burned out taillight. "Sir may I see your driver's license and registration please." Then comes the shocker! "SIR... step out of the vehicle." You get patted down for weapons, drugs, etc.. "You're under arrest for outstanding warrants." On go the handcuffs "Zzzzkkkkkk! Zzzzkkkkkk!" "You have the right to remain silent..." By now, you must be thinking "OH S---!!!". "I've never been arrested in my life!" After you've been booked at the county jail, strip searched, fingerprinted, and maybe spent the weekend in the slammer, you go before the judge only to find out you're free to go, all charges dropped because it turns out you're not the person they were looking for.

Is this a case of mistaken identity, or more likely, a case of STOLEN IDENTITY, or criminal identity fraud. The most common scenario is during a traffic citation or misdemeanor arrest, the imposter fraudulently provides to an officer-of-the-law somebody else's identification, usually always that of a friend or relative, then skip town and simply not pay the fine or fail to make the required court appearance. Unlike financial identity theft, the victim is usually always known to the imposter. The judge will then issue a warrant for his arrest. In many cases, the imposter either stole or fraudulently acquired a phony driver's license or other ID, or simply "borrowed" the victim's name as an alias. The impostor is most often wanted on outstanding warrants for failure to appear. The victim is usually arrested during a routine traffic stop. This type of identity theft commonly occurs where the age and physical appearance of the two are similar. Police are tending to be much more cautious today in order to avoid false arrest lawsuits, but the system has a long way to go. Fortunately, unlike financial, criminal identity fraud is relatively rare.

In a few cases serious offenses such as DUI and felonies were committed in the victim's name and the person's name ends up in the criminal database system. The victim might in for a real shock when he is told he cannot buy a gun because he failed the instant background check, or is one day called into his boss's office, to be informed he is being fired because a criminal record showed up in a routine employee background check. In the end you probably wished this imposter were caught in Saudi Arabia where he would be sentenced to 100 lashes in the public square.

Unfortunately, the criminal justice system does not yet have a decent contingency plan in place to clear an innocent person's name. The burdon of clearing one's name lies mostly with the accused, sometimes with steep attorney's fees.

Procedures to clear your name from criminal databases varies according to state, or even individual counties. Some states already have special procedures in place for victims of criminal identity theft. Ask your state Attorney General's office.

If wrongful criminal offenses are linked to your name, first contact the original arresting police/sheriff's department who originally arrested the impostor, or else the court who issued the arrest warrant and file an impersonation report with them, and confirm your identity. Ask the police department to take your fingerprints, photograph you, and make official copies of your photo IDs, I.e.: driver's license, passport, etc.. To claim your innocence, ask the police to compare your fingerprints and photos with the imposter's.

Maintain a detailed log of all your phone conversions, paperwork, email messages, contacts, etc.. Keep a detailed record of all your expenses incurred. When writing the authorities you should always use certified mail with return receipt. Email is generally not considered secure for sending confidential private information, so it's not recommended if you can avoid it. The rule is never send out something via email that would not want to share with the public. Changing your social security number is rarely recommended as that usually causes more problems than it solves.

If the arrest warrant is from another state or county, ask your local police dept. to forward your impersonation report to the agency of the jurisdiction where the arrest warrant, traffic citation, or criminal conviction originated.

The police/sheriff's dept should recall any arrest warrants and issue you a clearance letter or certificate of release in the event you were arrested and booked. It's essential to keep this document with you at all times in case you might be falsely arrested again. Have official copies made at the courthouse, in case it gets lost. Ask the agency to file the record of the follow-up investigation establishing your innocence at the D.A's office and/or the court in the jurisdiction where the crime occurred. This will result in an amended complaint. Unfortunately once your name ends up in a criminal database, it's difficult to get it completely removed. Ask that the key name or primary name be changed from yours to the imposter's name, or else to "John Doe" if the imposter's true identity is unknown, with your name noted as an alias.

You will also want to clear your name within the court records. Determine which state law(s) will help you with this and how. If your state has no formal procedure for clearing your record, contact the D.A.'s office in the county where the case was originally prosecuted. Ask the D.A.'s office for the appropriate court records needed to clear your name. Unfortunately in some situations, you may have no choice but to hire an attorney to help you clear your good name. You may want to ask your state DMV if your driver's license was used by the imposter. Ask them to flag your files for possible fraud.

Overall, your best defense is prevention. Pick your friends carefully, and safeguard your drivers license, passports or other forms of ID.

Fred Appleyard Jr. - Visit http://www.beyourowndetective.com to learn more about identity fraud and private investigation. Get the latest tools to help you conduct your investigations.

The Business of Identity Theft

Q: I use PayPal to accept credit cards for my online collectibles business. I recently received an email that my PayPal account was going to expire in five days if I didn't click a link in the email and give them my PayPal account information. Being naturally paranoid I decided not to give this information and I'm happy to say that my PayPal account did not expire. Was this a scam? -- Brenda A.

A: Be thankful that your paranoia kicked in, Brenda, because you were about to fall victim to the scam of the week, this one aimed at the 35 million merchants and individuals who use Paypal.com as their online payment processor.

The email you received was not from PayPal, but from an Internet bad guy behind a forged email address using the PayPal.com domain. You should understand that no reputable online company will ever ask you to provide your account information. Think about it. They already have this information. Why would they ask you to provide it.

Since I use PayPal for several of my online ventures, I, too, received the email in question. The email first seeks to instill fear in you by saying that your PayPal account will be closed if you do not provide personal information. You are then directed to open an attached executable file and enter your PayPal account information and other personal information that PayPal doesn't even require, including your social security number, checking and savings account information, driver's license number, and other personal information that can be used to clean out your PayPal account and perhaps even steal your identity.

If you're not familiar with PayPal, it is a hugely successful, web-based company (purchased by eBay in 2002) that many online retailers and eBay sellers use to accept electronic payments for everything from newsletter subscriptions to consulting services to just about any product for sale on eBay.

The allure of PayPal is that it does not require the seller to have a bank merchant account through which to process credit cards. Anyone with a verifiable email address and bank account can use PayPal and the service can be implemented almost immediately after registering.

When someone places an order on a website that uses PayPal for online payments, that customer is directed to PayPal.com to complete the payment process using a credit card or electronic check. The merchant can transfer the money collected in his PayPal account to his checking account any time he likes. Since many larger merchants make this transfer just once a week or so, their PayPal accounts are ripe for the picking from those who have the cunning and lack of ethics required to gain access.

The shear number of PayPal customers is one reason it has become a popular target of scam artists trying to steal personal information from individuals and businesses alike.

Identify theft is on the rise. Thanks to the Internet stealing someone's identity has never been easier. At any given moment, there are any number of Internet thieves using all manner of high tech wizardry to steal personal and business information from unsuspecting souls, and many times they can gain access to this information simply by asking the person to provide it through fraudulent means.

The PayPal scam is just the latest in a long line of sophisticated attempts to steal personal information through online means, Amazon, eBay, Dell Computer, and many others have been the brunt of many such scams in recent years.

Identity theft is what's known as a knowledge crime, which means that the criminal doesn't have to break into your house to rob you blind. If you have a bank account and a social security number, you are susceptible to identity theft.

While most people are familiar with identity theft, most business men and women never think about it happening to them, at least on a professional level. Consider this: if a criminal can learn your business checking account number or the number of your company credit card, they can steal far more from your business than if they had simply knocked down the door and carted off your desk.

The Internet aside, most business and personal identity theft is still the result of stolen wallets and dumpster diving. You should guard your business records closely and be very careful what you throw away. Stop and think for a moment what a criminal might find in the dumpster behind your office.

There's a good chance that dumpster has, at various times, contained scraps of paper with your social security number, driver's license number, credit card number, old ATM cards, telephone calling cards, and other pieces of vital business information like bank statements, invoices, and purchase orders. A dumpster-diving thief could literally rob your business blind in a matter of hours.

Here are a few ways to protect yourself from business and personal identity theft.

* Never give out your first name, last name, business name, email address, account passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information, PIN number, social security number, or driver's license number.

* Change your online account passwords every 30 days. Believe it or not, a hacker who steals your personal information can guess your online account passwords in about two minutes. If your Charles Schwab online account password is your birthday or the name of your first born or family pet, count on a hacker cracking that code faster than you can say 'Bill Gates.'

* Never provide personal information in response to an email or telephone call. Just because someone calls and says they are from Dunn & Bradstreet and need to confirm your business information does not mean they are really from Dunn & Bradstreet.

* Never give your business credit card number over the phone to place an order with someone who has called you unsolicited. If you are interested in what they are selling get their number, check out their company, then call them back to place the order.

If you think that you have become the victim of identity theft or think someone is trying to steal your identity or personal information you should report them immediately to the Federal Trade Commission. You will find more information on their website at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/. For more information on what to do if identity theft happens to you visit http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm.

So, if you ever receive an email from PayPal, Amazon, eBay, or any other ecommerce website asking you to update your account information by email you can pretty much bet the farm that it is a scam.

In business, as in life, a little paranoia is a good thing.

Tim is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim Knox is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online

organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay

entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

Identity Theft And Pharming - A New Twist On An Old Theme

Identity theft is big business and, like it or not, the likelihood that you will become a victim is increasing. As the Internet and its popularity have grown, the number of unscrupulous operators out there has grown as well. There are so many scams and attack methods out there it is difficult to keep up with them.

One of the identity thief's more productive techniques is phishing. A phishing scam is one where an email message contains a link to a web site that asks for personal information. The scam uses social engineering to trick people to go to a web site they would not normally visit. A common scam is one in which an email that looks like it has come from a bank or credit card company asks you to "click on this link" to update your user information. There is generally a part of the email that tries to convey a sense of urgency to get you to "do it now". When you click on the link you are actually forwarded to a thief's web site that is designed to look like your bank or credit card company's web site. You are then asked to provide information, such as user id, password, and other identifying information. Identity thieves use this information to open or use credit accounts and steal money from unsuspecting consumers.

Phishing attacks are relatively easy the spot and avoid. Never follow links in email messages unless you know the link is valid. Compare the actual link address with the text you see. If you are expecting to go to PayPal.com, make sure the link really takes you there. You can view the hyperlink before you click on it buy pointing your mouse cursor at the link. Most email clients and web browsers will show you what the actual address is before you click on it. If the address doesn't match the web site address you expected to see, don't click on the link. Likewise, NEVER provide any personal information from an unsolicited source. You will also see the address you are visiting in your web browser's address bar. Make sure you are visiting the site you expect.

There is a new trend in identity theft, called pharming. Well, it is actually a fairly old type of attack put to a new and alarming use. The basic attack generally relies on DNS poisoning or domain spoofing. The difference between phishing and pharming is that while phishing targets individuals, pharming targets large groups of people. Before we get into a discussion of a pharming attack, let's look at a short primer on how Internet addresses work.

Anytime you type in an address in your web browser, such as http://www.somecompany.com, your computer needs to find the Internet Protocol (IP) address before sending any information. There are two main methods for finding IP addresses for web site addresses. The legacy method consists of a file, called the 'hosts' file, that lists all of the host names you may want to visit, along with their IP addresses. The other method is to send a name resolution request to a Dynamic Name Server (DNS). The DNS server looks up the address in its database and returns the corresponding IP address. Once your computer looks up the IP address for http://www.somecompany.com, it then uses the IP address for all further communication.

A pharming attack is one where the host file or DNS entry is modified to send users to a counterfeit web site. The slightly simpler of the two attacks is the host file modification. This can be accomplished with a virus or worm. It is generally harder to compromise DNS servers. With the phishing attack, a careful view of your web browser's address bar will show that you are visiting a site you did not expect. Pharming attacks are more difficult to detect since your web browser tells you that you are at the right site even when you really aren't.

The effect of a pharming attack is that all users who want to go to a particular site end up being redirected to a thief's site. While this might sound similar to a phishing attack, it can be much worse. There is no indication to the end user that a redirect has occurred. The web browser still shows the original web address. This behavior makes pharming attacks more difficult to detect. Also, if the thief is able to change DNS entries on a commonly used DNS server, all users who request IP addresses from the compromised server will be sent to the counterfeit site.

So, how do you protect yourself from a pharming attack? Much of the work in stopping pharming attacks is up to the DNS administrators. They will be responsible for ensuring any DNS entry changes are authentic. But, there are some steps you can take. Following these guidelines will reduce your chances of becoming a pharming victim:

Install and update a good anti-virus program. Since many attacks start as malicious software, protecting your system from viruses and other malicious software will go a long way toward stopping an attack before any information is changed.

Protect your 'hosts' file. On Windows operating systems, the hosts file resides at: (assuming C:Windows is where your OS installed) C:Windowssystem32driversetchosts. On Unix systems, it resides at /etc/hosts. You can manually check your hosts file to ensure no unusual entries have been put there or you can install software shields that watch the hosts file for you (along with anti-virus software).

Know the sites you visit and carefully protect any information you give out. Never divulge any information for any reason unless you are absolutely certain the information is necessary and you are providing it to the correct organization. If your bank web site, or any other web site, asks you to provide confidential information, call their customer service department to get confirmation that the information is needed. Don't call the number on the web site (it may be compromised). Look up the number in the phone book or use directory assistance.

As more and more web sites start using digital certificates to authenticate their identities, you will begin to see more popup windows asking you to accept these certificates the first time you visit the web site. Always read the certificate details and ensure the web site really is the one you wanted to visit. If you are unsure, reject the certificate.

We will all hear more about pharming in the coming months. Its use is growing. This is just another opportunity to remind as many people as possible to be careful with the sites you visit and the information you give out. Protect your personal information. Not doing so can be very expensive.

Michael G. Solomon is a security speaker, consultant and author who specializes in assessing and fixing security vulnerabilities. Michael has written several security certification, security education, and project management books and offers more educational materials at http://www.thesecurityguy.net.

Identity Theft: The road back

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine mentioned that one of his co-workers recently recovered his stolen identity. I asked how long the process took. "Only two years" he replied. Compared to the six year nightmare suffered by one of my business associates, "only" maybe appropriate. However like most victims of identity theft, my friend's co-worker probably thought in terms of "when". As in, "When will I get my life back?"

Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a non profit consumer organization, reported that identity theft victims spend on average 175 hours trying to recover their identity, often over a period of years. Factor in out of pocket expenses which usually total, usually over $1,500 according to the Federal Trade Commission and recovery gets painfully magnified.

What are the steps to identity restoration? It starts with obtaining a police report. You're going to need it for contacting the many and I mean many different agencies and organizations, including the Social Security Administration, The Federal Trade Commission, all of your financial institutions, the 3 major credit bureaus, the Passport Office, The Department of Motor Vehicles, the Post Office, and other law enforcement agencies as well as the Medical Information Bureau, since identity thieves now target hospitals and doctor's offices. All of these places must be sent a fraud notification alert.

It is vital that you contact other law enforcement agencies. The databases of local and federal authorities must be searched to ensure no criminal activity exists on your identity.

Concerning your financial institutions, get them to cancel your credit cards and close your bank accounts. Find out from your bank about any suspicious activity, such as accounts tampered with or opened fraudulently. Reopen new bank accounts with password verification.

When contacting the credit bureaus make sure your credit report reflects the identity theft and gets flagged with a fraud alert. Dealing with all these organizations requires constant follow up. Make sure you keep a record of who you talk to along with the date, time and action taken. Many victims received assurances from the various bureaus and agencies that the matter would be resolved only to find the identity theft remained and that were still liable. If you do this yourself, be diligent. Constant follow up all the way to the end.

This also requires knowing your rights. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1992, you must be told not only what's in your file but if that information is being used against you. The Federal Trade Commission recently expanded the rights available to victims of identity theft including your right to get negative information due to fraud blocked from your records.

Stay Away from "credit repair "companies". No matter what they advertise, there's usually nothing they can do to help you with identity theft. Some of them even offer to help you
apply for credit under a new identity. Hello? When trying to eliminate fraud from your record you don't want to create more fraud!

Advise the utility companies. Many identity thieves open telephone accounts, purchase cable television or establish credit with the gas & electric companies. It's not just bank accounts and credit cards.

If necessary get counseling. Identity theft can be a shattering experience not just economically but emotionally. Many victims feel ashamed and humiliated. It's not their fault of course but the feelings remain. A network of support groups and counselors exists if you need it.

The road back from identity theft can take time, money, and cause much stress and pain . But with follow up, support and belief that the nightmare will end...the nightmare WILL end.

Don't go it alone. Get free information concerning identity theft protection, 24/7 monitoring and fast restoration.
Go to http://digbig.com/4cmcg now.

Daryl Campbell owns and operates WintheMarket.com a home based company that helps people build and protect their internet business.

 

Small Business Q & A: Don't Fall For The Latest Internet Identity Theft Scam

Q: I use PayPal to accept credit cards for my online collectibles business. I recently received an email that my PayPal account was going to expire in five days if I didn't click a link in the email and give them my PayPal account information. Being naturally paranoid I decided not to give this information and I'm happy to say that my PayPal account did not expire. Was this a scam? -- Brenda A.

A: Be thankful that your paranoia kicked in, Brenda, because you were about to fall victim to the scam of the week, this one aimed at the 35 million merchants and individuals who use Paypal.com as their online payment processor.

The email you received was not from PayPal, but from an Internet bad guy behind a forged email address using the PayPal.com domain. You should understand that no reputable online company will ever ask you to provide your account information. Think about it. They already have this information. Why would they ask you to provide it.

Since I use PayPal for several of my online ventures, I, too, received the email in question. The email first seeks to instill fear in you by saying that your PayPal account will be closed if you do not provide personal information. You are then directed to open an attached executable file and enter your PayPal account information and other personal information that PayPal doesn't even require, including your social security number, checking and savings account information, driver's license number, and other personal information that can be used to clean out your PayPal account and perhaps even steal your identity.

If you're not familiar with PayPal, it is a hugely successful, web-based company (purchased by eBay in 2002) that many online retailers and eBay sellers use to accept electronic payments for everything from newsletter subscriptions to consulting services to just about any product for sale on eBay.

The allure of PayPal is that it does not require the seller to have a bank merchant account through which to process credit cards. Anyone with a verifiable email address and bank account can use PayPal and the service can be implemented almost immediately after registering. When someone places an order on a website that uses PayPal for online payments, that customer is directed to PayPal.com to complete the payment process using a credit card or electronic check. The merchant can transfer the money collected in his PayPal account to his checking account any time he likes. Since many larger merchants make this transfer just once a week or so, their PayPal accounts are ripe for the picking from those who have the cunning and lack of ethics required to gain access.

The shear number of PayPal customers is one reason it has become a popular target of scam artists trying to steal personal information from individuals and businesses alike.

Identify theft is on the rise. Thanks to the Internet stealing someone's identity has never been easier. At any given moment, there are any number of Internet thieves using all manner of high tech wizardry to steal personal and business information from unsuspecting souls, and many times they can gain access to this information simply by asking the person to provide it through fraudulent means.

The PayPal scam is just the latest in a long line of sophisticated attempts to steal personal information through online means, Amazon, eBay, Dell Computer, and many others have been the brunt of many such scams in recent years.

Identity theft is what's known as "a knowledge crime," which means that the criminal doesn't have to break into your house to rob you blind. If you have a bank account and a social security number, you are susceptible to identity theft.

While most people are familiar with identity theft, most business men and women never think about it happening to them, at least on a professional level. Consider this: if a criminal can learn your business checking account number or the number of your company credit card, they can steal far more from your business than if they had simply knocked down the door and carted off your desk.

The Internet aside, most business and personal identity theft is still the result of stolen wallets and dumpster diving. You should guard your business records closely and be very careful what you throw away. Stop and think for a moment what a criminal might find in the dumpster behind your office.

There's a good chance that dumpster has, at various times, contained scraps of paper with your social security number, driver's license number, credit card number, old ATM cards, telephone calling cards, and other pieces of vital business information like bank statements, invoices, and purchase orders. A dumpster-diving thief could literally rob your business blind in a matter of hours.

Here are a few ways to protect yourself from business and personal identity theft.

Never give out your first name, last name, business name, email address, account passwords, credit card numbers, bank account information, PIN number, social security number, or driver's license number.

Change your online account passwords every 30 days. Believe it or not, a hacker who steals your personal information can guess your online account passwords in about two minutes. If your Charles Schwab online account password is your birthday or the name of your first born or family pet, count on a hacker cracking that code faster than you can say "Bill Gates."

Never provide personal information in response to an email or telephone call. Just because someone calls and says they are from Dunn & Bradstreet and need to confirm your business information does not mean they are really from Dunn & Bradstreet.

Never give your business credit card number over the phone to place an order with someone who has called you unsolicited. If you are interested in what they are selling get their number, check out their company, then call them back to place the order.

If you think that you have become the victim of identity theft or think someone is trying to steal your identity or personal information you should report them immediately to the Federal Trade Commission. You will find more information on their website at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/. For more information on what to do if identity theft happens to you visit http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm.

So, if you ever receive an email from PayPal, Amazon, eBay, or any other ecommerce website asking you to update your account information by email you can pretty much bet the farm that it is a scam.

Here's to your success.

Tim Knox, Founder
For more information on starting your own online business visit http://www.dropshipwholesale.net, the website for online entrepreneurs.

Tim Knox as the president and CEO of two successful technology companies: B2Secure Inc., a Web-based hiring management software company; and Digital Graphiti Inc., a software development company. Tim is also the founder of dropshipwholesale.net, an ebusiness dedicated to the success of online entrepreneurs. http://www.dropshipwholesale.net http://www.smallbusinessqa.com