Online Identity Theft Protection



             


Friday, March 28, 2008

Reviews of Identity Theft

Abroad the Internet is countless of stories directly from victims harmed from identity theft. Millions of other stories are never told. After hearing, one review I learnt that what I have said all along is proving truer than ever and that is the law works for the perpetrators of crimes and work against the victims. One review peeked my interest when the person stated "Laws are not only there to give" the thieves "more power" while weakening the victim, the law is also protecting the thieves more so than they will protect the victims. Thus, during Criminal Law Studies and from experience, including frequent visits to the courtrooms, I notice that the criminals had more rights and protection than most victims did.

One review was disturbing, since the persons Mortgage lender gave out personal information unauthorized, thus the person suffered anguish and had no idea what steps to take to protect them self. Most times the law will work overtime if a person has a 'high-profile' to find the perpetrator, however if a person does not have upper class respect in society the law often slacks in their efforts to apprehend the predator. This is silly on their part, since the thief has the ability to steal their identity possibly, thus they are only slacking, making room for the criminal to gain control of another identity. Thus, who is the blame for identity theft...I promise you it is not the victims,' in most instances, rather it is the financial processing machines and technical makers, the law, technology enhancement providers, but mostly the blame is on the thief him self.

I am not here to promote anyone's business; however, I found a source throughout my history that proved valuable overtime. Thus, the service costs $25 per month, or at least it did and this service will connect you with lawyers in your area that can help you out if you fall victim of identity theft. Pre-Paid Legal Aid offers services and recently has opened up new services to help people fight identity theft. If you are a victim, it might be worth looking into. From first hand experience the service works fast and sufficient, unfortunately, the areas I live in, most lawyers are not worth mentioning. Countless of people in this area have complained regarding various lawyers, thus never think that a lawyer will work for you to get your identity cleared. Always assume... (This is what creditors and millions of others do worldwide) give the world a dose of their own medicine that the lawyer is not your best friend.

When a person becomes victim of identity theft, the whole world will seem like your enemy. You may feel that you can trust no one; however, someone if you have the needle is buried in the haystack that has a shred of humane left in this system. Therefore, you should never stop fighting for your life back if someone has stolen your identity.

It is important to put on the 'suit of armor' and protect your self with all your might. Putting on the suit of armor means, you are willing to walk the extra mile to get back what is rightfully yours. If the authorities or other qualified sources to fight identity theft do not listen, use your assertive tools to make them listen to what you have to say. NEVER become violent or aggressive when fighting for your identity, since people reject this reaction.

If no one listens, write letters to your state reps, governor, President, and other political leaders letting them know what you have done, what you are going through and what results you are getting.

I reported my local police department and then talked to the chief of police. He told me, "always start at the bottom in the department and work to the top before contacting state reps.: I told him, "I start at the top and then work down to you." I got results immediately.

Therefore, forget what people tell you when they are working for a company where you are filing a complaint, if that person is telling you there is nothing they can do to help, or we will get back to you. Do NOT accept that response; rather tell them politely and assertively that you want to speak with someone over their heads.

Tony Robinson is an International Author, Webmaster and Security Guru. Check out his Identity Theft Protection Tips at http://www.officialidentitytheft.com/

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

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

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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Identity Theft - Your Prevention Guide

Identity theft occurs when someone illegally obtains your personal information (social security number, credit card numbers or some other personal information) and uses that information to apply for loans or credit cards under your name or to make unauthorized purchases or gain access to your financial accounts. It is extremely prevalent these days, but there are steps you can take which will reduce the chances of you becoming a victim of identity theft.

1. NEVER give out personal information (date of birth, social security number, credit card numbers) over the phone, by email or on the internet unless you initiated the contact and know whom you're dealing with. If your social security number is requested, ask if another form of ID could be substituted in its place.

2. ALWAYS shred papers that have your personal information on them before throwing them away. Papers that should be shredded include credit card receipts, checks, bank statements, credit card statements, expired credit cards and pre-approved credit card offers. Cross-cut shredders are great for this purpose.

3. Keep accurate and current records of all your credit cards and who you should contact in case they are lost or stolen. You may want to take copies of your credit cards and write the customer service number on the copy. If you are not currently using some of your credit cards, you should keep them securely locked away. Other things to keep in a secure location include: unused checks, your social security card, bank statements and credit card statements.

4. ALWAYS make sure you get your copy of a credit card receipt when making a purchase. Check to make sure your credit card was returned to you as well.

5. Check your credit reports annually. There are three credit reporting agencies; Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Every year, you are allowed one free credit report from each of these credit reporting agencies. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to order your free credit reports, ordering one from a different agency every 4 months.

6. ALWAYS make sure there are no "shoulder surfers" around when you are keying in your PIN number at an ATM or store. Be careful that no one overhears you when giving out your credit card number or personal information over the phone.

7. When purchasing on the internet, always make sure the site you're using is secure. You know you're on a secure site if the web address changes from http:// to https:// when you click on "buy" or "add to cart." You will also note a lock or key symbol in the lower corner of the web page.

8. On your own computer, use a firewall and virus protection. Use passwords that include letters, numbers and symbols to make them more difficult to break. Never use PIN numbers that are obvious, such as your birth date, street number, phone number, the last four digits of your social security number or any consecutive numbers. Memorize your PIN number-do not write it down. If your mother's maiden name is requested for security purposes, use a password instead-one you will remember.

9. NEVER respond to emailed requests from banks or creditors to update your information. You should always call the institution directly or go to their website (do NOT use the website the email directs you to) to update your information. Rarely do banks or other institutions request such information by email, and it is a simple task for someone to create a website that looks just like your bank's or creditor's.

10. If you receive lots of pre-approved credit card offers in the mail, call (888) 5OPT OUT to have your name removed from the marketing lists sold by the major credit bureaus.

11. Drop off outgoing mail at your post office or collection box rather than leaving it in your mailbox for pick up.

12. Have new checks mailed to your bank and pick them up there.

13. Place passwords on your bank accounts, brokerage accounts and credit card accounts for protection. Once again, use a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.

14. Consider an ID theft insurance policy.

15. Register with Equifax Credit Watch?. Equifax Credit Watch? makes monitoring your report easy by automatically alerting you within 24 hours of key changes in your Equifax Credit Report? - like when someone tries to get credit in your name or there are sudden changes in your credit card balances. - so you can act before serious damage is done. Debbie Pettitt teaches you all about identity theft: what it is, how it occurs and what to do if you are a victim at http://understandingidentitytheft.com. If you need help straightening out your credit report, learn all about it at http://yourcreditscoreranking.com.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2007

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
 

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