This morning on the way to work, I was listening to the Todd and Jayde morning show. One of members of the show, Annie, talked about how she believes that she was a victim of debit card skimming at a gas station. The result was that someone tried to steal $500 from her account and she couldn't access any of her accounts online until the bank finishes investigating her case. Listening to the story, I had to look into the issue further myself and my conclusion is that you should NEVER use your debit card at a gas station. Do it the old fashioned way if you want that cash price, you have to use real cash over the debit card. Here's why.
7 Things To Do Right Now Because Your Personal Data Is Under Attack
With the popularity of social media and increased time spent online, many of us have willingly sacrificed our privacy in order to keep in frequent contact with friends — sharing photos and details about where we ate dinner last night. However, it is the growth in our online shopping habits and preference to use plastic over cash that have increased our vulnerability to identity theft.
5 Tips to Keep Thieves Out of Your Bank and Brokerage Accounts
Today, data breaches at major retailers like Target have made cybercrime front page news. It is unsettling because nobody knows when or what will happen once the personal information of tens of millions falls into the wrong hands. With ubiquitous computing, you cannot let your guard down for even a moment, especially when hackers are increasingly targeting bank and brokerage accounts. According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network, illegal wire transfers are outpacing cases of identity theft. In fact, wire-fraud cases in the securities industry are up tenfold over the past decade.
5 simple steps to protect yourself from the Target data breach
This past month has been an unwelcome reminder that identity theft is on the rise. Target and Neiman Marcus are the two high profile retailers whose networks were breached over the holiday season; however at least three other well-known smaller US retailers were breached. Target has already reported that 70 million to 110 million of its customers had their information stolen including credit card numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers and PIN numbers. That is a staggering figure as that represents a third of all American adults on the low end, and is nearly three times as great as the company's original estimate at the high end. Fraud experts said that information stolen from Target's systems quickly flooded the black market.
According to Javelin Strategy, 1 in 4 data breach notification recipients became a victim of identity fraud in 2012. This isn't good news for those affected by the holiday data breaches. Therefore, it is imperative to be proactive to protect yourself. You don't want to spend hours, weeks or even months trying to resolve problems.