Stolen Lives By Russ Banham
An e-mail informed me that my AOL account was about to be terminated, and, to retain it and my favorable pricing plan, I would need to fill out a new registration form immediately. I downloaded the form and casually entered my name, Social Security number, date of birth. mother's maiden name, address, driver's license number, credit card number and, wait a second, checking account number? Huh? Is this a scam? Something in the back of my mind said STOP. Call AOL on the phone, ... I did and was told that the URGENT e-mail was part of a massive fraud. I was one of thousands that day receiving the official looking missive, replete with AOL logo and trademark. Had I submitted the form, my personal information? my very identity?would have been stolen, bartered, sold and appropriated by who knows how many criminals. The costs to me financially and emotionally would have been staggering. I deleted the e-mail. Phew! |
| Everyone, Email is becoming a common way to gain access to your personal identity information. We want to alert you of some of the scams.
The scammers send an email that looks like it comes from a website where you might have a membership or some personal information stored --- AOL, PayPal, Ebay, Western Union, Amazon, or Yahoo, for example. You're advised that you need to update your information or risk losing your account. Sometimes they claim their records were corrupted and they must update them. If you click the link it takes you to a phony website that looks very much like the real one. They usually contain a form for you to fill in your credit or financial information without having to go through the normal log in and security measures. DO NOT FILL IT OUT AND DO NOT SUBMIT IT.
If it IS a legitimate request, you can type the website's domain name in your browser rather than clicking the link. You should also be able to send them a confirming email or call them to verify. Use only the contact information from their website -- the one you typed in yourself.
Protecting you 24/7, Richard Berkeley |
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