Online Security Toolkit - Stop Identity Theft & Other Internet
Threats
*
"IF YOU'RE NOT FOLLOWING THESE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS ONLINE, YOU'RE
FREAKIN' CRAZY. YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST POST PERSONAL INFORMATION LIKE
YOUR PASSWORDS AND PRIVATE FILES PUBLICLY TO SAVE SCAMMERS SOME TIME."
FORTUNATELY, PROTECTING YOURSELF ISN'T AS
COMPLICATED AS YOU MIGHT THINK...
From the desk of: Paul Wilcox
DEAR FELLOW INTERNET USER,
The internet has made our lives easier in many ways. It's never been
easier to find information and keep in contact with people as it is
today.
But do you know who else's lives it's made easier?
The scammers, identity thieves and other criminals who make their
living preying on innocent web surfers like you and I.
Sadly, along with its convenience, the internet brings the potential
for problems like identity theft, financial scams and hackers taking
over your home computer for their own nefarious purposes!
Let me share a story with you...
HOW IDENTITY THEFT CAN RUIN YOUR CREDIT, YOUR REPUTATION AND YOUR
LIFE
Karen is a 42 year-old single mom with two kids. She works part-time
at a second job as a waitress to help save enough money for her kids'
education.
Several months ago, Janice was hired at the restaurant. She and
Karen really hit it off and became friends.
Little did Karen know that Janice was actually setting her up to
steal her identity.
Over the course of several weeks, Janice subtly learned things from
Karen, such as where she banked, where she worked at her main job and
other personal information.
At the same time, she had installed what is known as a "key logger"
on Karen's laptop computer, which she would bring to work sometimes to
finish projects for her other job on her break. From then on, the key
logger recorded all of Karen's banking passwords, email and website
logins - basically every single thing she typed on her laptop - and
sent them all straight back to Janice.
By the time several months had passed, Janice was able to steal
Karen's identity, which allowed her to open a bank account in Karen's
name along with a mortgage and several credit cards.
After racking up the bills and ruining Karen's credit rating, Janice
left town and was never seen again.
Of course Janice was not really "Janice" so there was no way to
track her down.
Karen is trying to sort out all the problems caused by this identity
theft to this day.
And identity theft is just one of the potential problems you face
when you're online.
Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself
