Identity theft - one of the most overhyped fears of our time

A leading identity theft expert used the credit industry?s annual conference to show that the government has massively over-hyped public fear of the extent of identity fraud to sell its Identity Cards Bill.

He also urged the credit industry not to join the bandwagon by selling over-priced prevention products to over-anxious consumers, and to help combat the crime by supporting victims more readily.

Barry Stamp, Joint Managing Director of
checkmyfile.com, presented to leading credit industry figures at the Institute of Credit Management?s National Conference.

He showed how the government?s estimated figure of ?1.72bn worth of losses to the UK economy, caused by identity fraud, has been massively over-inflated. In particular, these include the costs of security checks for routine government functions and losses that reasonably cannot be included within the general understanding of identity fraud.

This has whipped up public fear and in doing so is likely to obtain wider public support for the introduction of identity cards.

?The largest single component of the government?s ?1.72bn estimate is ?504.8m worth of losses relating to plastic card fraud, taken from the figures reported in April 2005 by APACS. Closer examination of the APACS figures show that losses from identity fraud account for just over 7% of overall card fraud, so the true losses are only ?36.9m. This example is one of many that clearly illustrates how the government has used a creative approach to the definition of what is and is not included within identity theft losses,? said Stamp.

?Going on to include the ?62.8m cost of the measures to counter identity fraud when processing passport applications, and another ?34.8m for things like unpaid fines where the offender doesn?t turn up at court are further examples of how the definition has been stretched?.

?In reality, identity fraud is a fast growing crime, but losses in the UK are probably running closer to ?150m at the moment?.

Stamp warned: ?While the risk is real, and consumers need to increase their awareness, there really is no excuse for the government to strike fear of falling victim to identity theft into consumers for political advantage. If the credit industry exploits that fear to promote over-priced identity theft protection products to replace waning income streams from payment protection insurance, then that would be totally unacceptable.?

?If the problem is as large as it is claimed to be, then I would very much like to know why Police resources have not been strengthened to combat the crime. Of the many hundreds of cases of identity theft that checkmyfile.com has reported to the Police, not one has been pursued to court action.?

?Any consideration of the effectiveness of identity cards should also bear in mind the state of some of our existing national databases.? says Stamp. ?In the UK, our government just isn?t very good at collecting personal data or maintaining it, so what reasonable person might assume that the National Identity Register might be any different? In the UK we don?t even have a central point of reference to check whether cards or any other identification documents are lost or stolen, as exists in other countries, nor have I seen any plans to build one.?

Stamp, author of ?Identity Theft, Prevention and Victim Assistance?, and whose company checkmyfile.com provides consumers with access to a wide range of databases, and supplies identity restoration services to a leading insurance company, urged credit managers who attended the ICM National Conference to follow the lead of some lenders who offer free identity theft prevention advice and to work together to combat the crime.

Philip King, the newly appointed Director General of the ICM, fully supports such an industry initiative. He said: ?Credit managers working together have shown in the past that losses from criminal actions, such as mortgage fraud, can be prevented by sharing intelligence. Identity theft presents a very similar challenge to our industry and we now need to focus on addressing the issue professionally?.

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
Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker
http://www.prosperityandprofit.com
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
http://www.timknox.com

Preventing Online Identity Theft

Identity theft is one of the most common criminal acts in society today. Criminals will use your personal information such as banking accounts and passwords, to pretend that they are you. They may take out credit cards in your name, mortgages, or even worse. The internet has opened up a whole world of possibilities for these criminals, and the threat is very real. There are things that you can do to help prevent such a crime. It costs very little to protect your information, and it is money well spent.

The following is a list of tips to help you protect yourself from identity theft. Search around for the best price on these services, to make the most out of your money.

1. Monitor your credit report often. The U.S. government suggests that you check your credit report yearly to prevent identity theft. Every person is entitled to one free credit report a year though www.annualcreditreport.com. I would suggest checking your credit report several times a year for the highest level of protection. Look for unexplained charges or activity on your report. You can often sign up for a credit monitoring service for a few dollars a month. They will watch your credit report for you, for signs of foul play. For a good deal, look for a credit monitoring service, you should be able to get a good discount on various services online.

2. Bank with a credible bank. Stick with a financial institution that is well known. No only will they offer you the highest level of protection, but they often have the best interest rate deals around. Get your credit cards through reputable companies as well. Be weary of small companies, with little credentials.

3. Dont give out your personal information to anyone. A good financial situation will never ask for your login information or passwords. Be weary of anyone that asks you for your mothers maiden name. This is one of the most common items used for identity theft. Use your birthplace or pets name whenever possible. It will be harder to steal your information.

Protecting yourself online doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg. By looking for deals and promotions at coupon websites, you can save a great deal on the services that you need. I would recommend using the free credit report option, coupled with a credit monitoring service for the best protection. The earlier you catch criminal activity, the less damage they are able to do.

Melanie Breeze, avid online shopper and user of http://www.CouponChief.comis always shopping around for the best deals. You can find credit company coupons including more discounts available for web services at CouponChief, all in one location. Finding a coupon before any online purchase helps you get that extra discount!


Simple Search Engine Optimizationsteve loszewskiSearch Engine Optimization Made Simple
Very few topics have inspired as many tangents, as much false information . . . incurred as much abuse as search engine optimization. With the few shreds of information search engines reveal about their actual methodologies, optimizers struggle to get that extra edge over the competition, armed with esoteric theories of keyword density, precise meta-tag length, optimal internal linking, and just about any other detail that a search engine might happen to factor into its rankings. Before you find yourself scrambling to create ten more content-less pages to avert that worst than death curse of decreased PageRank, try to take a look at the big picture. Barring design factors that may not be search engine friendly, a strong foundation based on four factors will give your site good success. These factors are the holy grail of optimization:

1. Get relevant links to your site anchored to keyword rich text.
2. Write focused body text that targets specific keyphrases or that is focused on a specific topic (This occurs naturally when someone is communicating useful information. This can be a problem because a lot of businesses dont have anything useful to say. Be detailed. Be helpful. This can naturally accomplish what automatic text generators try to accomplish through keyword density and keyword proximity calculations).
3. Write concise titles focused on useful keyphrases.
4. Be patient. You may not be using the best strategies, but youre using strategies that work over time. Continue to get links and create more content.

Find the Words
Before you can write good, keyphrase-focused body text or titles, you need to find the phrases users search. For good keyword suggestion tools, search Google with (surprise, surprise) keyword suggestion tool. Digitalpoint.com has an excellent tool that compares Wordtracker and Overture keyword results. Judge from the search volume how competitive each word is (not even close to the best method, but itll have to due). Be specific. Pick words with large search volume and search with geographic terms if you serve only a specific area. From the list of keyphrases, start thinking about the topics youll want to target. Find a few phrases for each page in your site. Remember to focus on phrases and not separate words make sure these phrases appear in your body text.

Titles
HTML titles go between the title tags in your sites code. Write short titles that use one or two keyphrases. Dont use the name of your company unless you are trying to brand the name. Include location if you target certain areas, and make sure your pages repeat this location information in the text. Your body text should be written to fit the phrases in your title.

Body Text and Navigation
Be specific about what you are talking about. In your navigation dont use generic linking text like home or about us. Use specific phrases. Instead of home use the name or category of your main service/product, and make it obvious from the context that this is your main page. Instead of about us use a phrase like A (main product/service) Company. This communicates more information to the user and includes a keyphrase. Where appropriate, make the same type of substitutions in the body text. Use variations of nouns and verbs, including plurals and different conjugations.
If you can, use the heading tags (h1, h2, etc.) to write text titles. Try to communicate as much as you can in text search engines dont see the text in images, or fancy media like Flash. Alt tags are useful, but search engines dont put as much weight on them as visible text. In general, whatever has a greater chance to be seen by the user is going to get greater weight from the search engines (Except for those things produced by JavaScript, or Flash, or written into an image use common sense).

Build Links
It is remarkably easy to get your site indexed by the search engines just submit to some of the many free directories. To find some of these directories search for free directory list in Google. Be careful to read submission guidelines, and be very careful about what you submit to large directories like DMOZ. Generally, titles should not be a list of keywords. Most directories only want your homepage and the official title (somewhat ambiguous term) of your site with a short description. Descriptions should be factual, and they should be written in complete sentences or meaningful phrases. Some optimization companies will rip you off by charging you money to submit your site to the major search engines this is a waste of time. Start building links, and the search engines will find your site naturally, submitting makes no difference in your rankings.
It is important to get links from sites that are related to yours. Write webmasters requesting a link, find niche sites that offer free submissions, write articles for sites that allow you to put down a signature link, or post comments in forums that allow you to put down your signature.
If you exchange links, be careful who you trade with. Get listed wherever you want without fear of penalty from the search engines, but be careful who you link to. Your site can get penalized for linking into bad neighborhoods spamming the search engines.

It Never Ends
Expand your site and continue to tell people about its content. Its an ongoing process. The older your site gets, the more credibility it can gain with the search engines. Keep your content fresh. Check the search engines to see what they have indexed (search site:www.domain.com). Be patient and keep up with search engine changes.

Steve Loszewski contracts out to Pure Visibility (http://www.purevisibility.com) for search engine marketing services.


Associated Myths in MLMJoseph ThenThe MLM business is so popular among people that some of them are totally ignorant about the fact that it takes hard work and days of sweat to make it big. There are number of myths associated with MLM business. Whether a person is a fresher or an expert, anyone hardly knows about MLM business in depth. Some of the associated myths are:

Online MLM business makes lots of money in just one month

This is the most destructive myth among the lot of many such myths. People think it is the fastest method of getting rich. They pool in some money from here and there and invest them in MLM business. After a series of failures they realize that it's not just the money that is lost but time too. Only the established and experienced people earn about $ 1000 in a month or so. All those who start from the grass root level can never earn this much initially.

Companies lure by giving attractive ads

When some companies big promises it simply means that if you follow them you get ruined or the company gets ruined in a couple of years or so. Imagine you had made some residual income and lost it after a short span of time. How would you feel? A genuine business should multiply its own money and not divide it with time. Try to stay away from such lucrative but destructive ads. Don't believe them unless you find them out yourself. It can be fatal.

The more sales you make the more you generate money for yourself

The fact is totally opposite of what people think and say. Too many people come together and help each other but in the end make too little sales in MLM business. Distributors make money initially, sometimes quickly, by recruiting family members and friends etc to form a big downline. They get hefty commissions in return, that is how they make quick money. Gradually, all of them start losing all their money; simply because they couldn't mange to sell the product and all there effort and money go in vain. The bottom line is that you make money by enhancing your downline and not by making sales. Sales are the rare possibilities in MLM business.

You are the first member of the company's family tree and you construct the organization downwards

People jump and grab the opportunity thinking that they are going to be the director or the head of all the people they bring in to form a downline. They carry this attitude to work too and suffer all the more. Only with the passage of time do they realize that they are at the lowest level and there is no one actually superior or inferior to them. Ultimately they find out that there is actually no one in the organization. They begin and end at the same level. The factor or the attitude that works in MLM business is that everybody is at the same level. All of them should help each other and contribute their share of hard work to build the company.

In building a home based online MLM business, initially your work would demand you to bring in few but efficient people and provide them all the motivation and aid so that they make sales. Once the team is established and a helping attitude takes firm hold in the team, half the battle is won. To further build your organization just put in your heart and soul to it, nurture it, and let it grow naturally. Then there's no looking back. You would definitely make a mark.

Joseph Then operates Sign ups company that helps thousands of online MLM marketers increase their downline for the past 5 years. They have served over 3,000 customers. You can visit the site at http://www.trafficforless.com


Getting started with RSSJorge GonzalezRSS is probably the biggest and latest buzzword among the techies, just after blogs. But what is RSS anyway and how can you start taking advantage of it?

RSS is a format to provide headlines and summaries of information in a simple and standardized way.
Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for websites.

RSS is great for users because it saves users from having to repeatedly visit favorite websites to check for new content or be notified of updates via email.
It can give a glimpse of a site's latest concrete contents (no design) in a second.

RSS is also great for site owners because:
- The summaries of their content can be republished all over the web, which gets new links and visits to the site.
- They get more returning visitors, since users can suscribe to the feed to keep up with the site's updates.
- More profits: RSS feeds can contain ads, such as Google Adsense.

RSS feeds can be used for:
- Blogs entries
- Forum entries
- Articles
- News
- Events
- Latest products / discounts / specials
- Music (podcasting)

There are several ways to read an RSS feed:
- Using your browser or even notepad --since it's just an XML file (formatted flat text).
- Using a standalone desktop aggregator --such as FeedDemon, SharpReader, RssReader, and others.
- Using your e-mail client --NewsGator Email Edition plugs into Outlook Express, Eudora, Entourage, Apple Mail, or other POP3 e-mail clients and lets you receive RSS feeds right in your e-mail window. The same company's Outlook Edition integrates RSS with Microsoft Outlook. And Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client comes with RSS-reading capabilities built in.
- Using your mobile device --using a service such as FeedBeep, NewsGator Mobile Edition, Yahoo Mobile, or Elfinland.

To create an RSS for your own site, there is the option to create it by hand, or using a software like FeedForAll, or an online service like RSS creator (http://www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/perl/makerss.pl).

Finally, to search for established RSS feeds you can use our very own RSS search engine (http://www.yourfeeds.com), and to quickly submit your RSS feed to several directories, you can use our RSS submit tool (http://www.yourfeeds.com/Submit-RSS.aspx).

Jorge Gonzalez is one of the creators of the YourFeeds.com RSS search engine: http://www.yourfeeds.com


Benefits of Integrating Online Chat Software with CRMBruce ZhangCustomer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy and processes used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. CRM applications are traditionally developed as client-server software. The proliferation of the Internet and the Web has fueled the rapid growth of Web-based CRM or online CRM applications. Web CRM systems are widely deployed for Web based call center, contact management, trouble ticket, personal information manager and scheduling. As more and more corporations use chat software to provide quality customer support, many CRM vendors have built chat functionality into new generation of Web-based CRM systems.

The first generation of text-based online chat software was developed years before the World Wide Web (WWW) gained its popularity. The new generation of Web-based chat software is much more user-friendly and is powered with audio and video chat.


There're many benefits to integrate chat software into CRM systems.

1. Many customers have experience in using chat software

New technology is often challenged by user acceptance. Fortunately, online chat has been widely accepted by average Internet users. It is estimated that tens of million of Internet users login to online chat rooms regularly. In free adult chat rooms or free teen chat rooms people talk about anything under the sun - love, pets, music and games.


2. One customer service representative is able to support multiple customers at the same time.

It is common to wait 30 minutes or even more before a customer can talk to a support representative. With chat software, customers have a better chance of instant access to a service representative. One support team member may be able to chat with a few customers at the same time.


3. Chat software can automatically log a support chat session

Call center software is capable of recording support conversations. However, it requires extra cost to convert audio recordings to digital information that a computer can understand and extract valuable information from. Chat software, on the other hand, can be easily configured to automatically log a support chat session.

Bruce Zhang writes about Internet technology and online culture. chatjungle.com is a good place to experience free adult chat rooms http://www.chatjungle.com/adult-chat.htmlor free teen chat rooms http://www.chatjungle.com/teen-chat.html