06
May 2013

Dining Out and Identity Theft: Restaurant Credit Card Scams

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Eating out can be a great experience. You can bond with friends and family over a table overflowing with delectable dishes. Best of all, you get to have a wonderful meal without the hassle of having to clean up afterwards. Unfortunately, eating at a restaurant can also become a gateway to credit card fraud.

In late 2011, 28 people were indicted in an identity theft case that victimized customers of some of New York’s top steak houses. The thieves were waiters who used small skimming devices or scanners to copy customers’ credit card data. They then turned the data over to their bosses, who in turn created fake credit cards.

People were then sent out to rack up big charges on the credit cards, sometimes as much as $35,000 on each card. The restaurant credit card scams the crime ring perpetrated cost their victims in the range of $600,000 to millions of dollars.

credit card scannerCases like this aren’t isolated incidents. Hackers have apparently long been targeting restaurants and similar businesses for harvesting customer identities. In 2011, data security firm Trustwave’s SpiderLabs unit conducted an investigation into a number of data breaches. The firm found that more than 85 percent of the breaches they analyzed came from the food and beverage, retail, and hospitality industries.

SpiderLabs also found that in 75 percent of the cases they reviewed, hackers targeted point-of-sale or POS systems. Those little card scanners with the keypad where you type in your PIN? Those are part of a restaurant or retail shop’s POS system. Once they’ve gained access to the POS system, the hackers are then free to do what they want with the data stored on it. This, of course, includes confidential customer credit card information.

Credit fraud in restaurant franchises such as Subway has an even higher chance of happening. Franchises most often use a single POS system, so once the system in one store gets compromised it becomes easier to replicate the attack in other locations.

Customers have no control over whether or not a business will fall victim to a data breach. The protection of such sensitive data in the restaurant falls on the business’ shoulders. The good news is that there are a multitude of data security software and services available to these establishments. The bad news? Most businesses have weak data security. The SpiderLabs report found that hackers spent an average of 173.5 days inside a system before they were detected. That’s almost half a year; more than enough time to compromise a vast amount of customer data.

A system-wide data breach may be out of your control, but there are still some steps you can take to minimize the chances of your credit card information falling into the wrong hands. Here are a few key tips to prevent credit card fraud in a restaurant.

  • Never let your credit card out of your sight. When the time to pay for the bill comes, ask your waiter if the restaurant has a portable credit card scanner. This way, your credit card stays with you while your bill is rung up. Make sure that the scanner they are using is the one provided by the store, as well. An unscrupulous individual can carry their own handheld scanner to read the info on your card’s magnetic stripe. If they don’t, ask to accompany the waiter to wherever the scanner is located.
  • Don’t leave your receipts behind. Some restaurants’ POS systems don’t mask your credit card’s number and expiration dates on their receipts. If your receipt doesn’t have masked numbers, it can become a huge security risk if an identity thief gets hold of it.
  • Consider signing up for a credit monitoring service. It’s an after-the-fact alarm system, but it can still help you minimize the financial damage if your identity ever gets compromised.

As is always the case with identity theft, the chances of it happening to you can be reduced through constant vigilance. Just always remember to keep an eye on your credit card and your receipts to keep your delightfully exquisite epicurean experiences from turning into identity theft-fueled nightmares.

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Joy M is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances. Follow her and know the best ways to prevent identity theft and how to monitor your credit against data breaches.

Categories: Identity Theft Tags: , ,
29
Apr 2013

How Does Lifelock Work And How Can They Protect You

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Over the past few months I’ve covered several different articles about Lifelock from a complete review, to whether it was worth it, to a complete cost breakdown and how to get it cheaper.  However, in this article I’m going to cover another big concerning question about the product and that is How Does Lifelock Work?

One of the big misconceptions with this product is that it is no better than your average and ordinary credit monitoring service when in fact they are very different from each other.

To understand this better I’m going to show you exactly how Lifelock works and how it differs from your normal credit monitoring services.

How Does Lifelock Work

Register and Complete Your Profile.  When you sign up for Lifelock Ultimate the first thing you need to do is complete a profile.  Your profile is everything they will need to monitor and protect you from identity theft.  Below is a list of all the things you need to add to your profile.

  • Credit Cards
  • Drivers License
  • Insurance Card
  • Bank Accounts
  • Home Address
  • Email Address
  • Phone Numbers
  • Maiden Name

Monitor For Alerts. Once you’ve completed your profile Lifelock will monitor all of these areas for any changes or suspicious activity.  They do this by monitoring several databases with your given profile to see if anyone is misusing your information.

Here are several things that Lifelock monitors when it comes to your identity.

  • Checking and Savings.  If anyone tries to open a new savings account in your name and you will be notified immediately.
  • Account Takeovers. If someone tries to change the name on one of your accounts you will be notified.  You wouldn’t believe how easy this if for people to do.
  • Apply For Credit.  If someone tries to apply for credit under your name you will receive an alert automatically.
  • Name & Address.  If someone messes with your name and address or applies your name to an account but puts a different address down you will be notified.
  • Court Records.  If someone happens to tamper with court records to have you falsly accused of a crime you didn’t commit it will alert you.
  • Online Networks.  Lifelock will also monitor your online presence as well to see if people are misusing your personal information.
  • Payday Loans. Finally, another area they monitor is Payday Loans.  These can be some of the easiest loans for criminals to get and Lifelock will alert you if someone has used your information.

Alerts. From here once Lifelock  notices any sort of weird activity they will notify you by email, phone, or even text if you prefer and in most cases they will use all 3 if they have to.

Once you receive an alert you need to notify Lifelock immediately whether this is a threat or not.  For example, when I recently moved from my rental house to my new house I received an alert that my address had changed. In this case nothing was wrong but if their had been I would have notified Lifelock immediately.

Lifelock Versus Credit Monitoring

Now that we have a basic understanding of how Lifelock works I want to point out some big differences between this program and credit monitoring.  To start I actually signed up for a free credit monitoring service through Credit Karma, and the differences between the two programs were huge.

First off, Credit Karma sent me only one notification for as long as I’ve had it.  With Lifelock I received tons of alerts from credit applications, to sexual predator notifications, to address changes.

Secondly, Lifelock monitors far more than just your credit report.  They monitor, your address, your credit cards, your bank accounts, phone numbers, email, online networks, bank accounts, payday loans, and your court records.

Plus to boot they also show you your credit score, credit reports,  inform you of any sexual predators in your area and even order you new credit cards and insurance card if your wallet happen to get stolen.

When it comes down to it credit monitoring services are only looking at your credit report, while Lifelock is looking at the entire profile.

How It’s Working So Far

To date I’ve received a total of 8 alerts so far and it’s working great.  Luckily, none of them have been serious so far, however the latest statistics show that almost everyone will experience an identity theft some point in their lives.

If you don’t believe me just look at these stories I came across on you tube of people who had their identity stolen.  Identity theft isn’t going away, in fact it is only getting worse so take some time sign up now and get a 30-Day Free Trial + 10% Off Your Final Purchase of LifeLock ULTIMATE

Categories: Identity Theft Tags: ,
03
Apr 2013

3 Travel Scams To Avoid While Traveling Abroad

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“We are offering you a 3 night and 4 day holiday package in Switzerland selected through a lucky draw.”

“You are selected for a free credit card designed especially for shopping anywhere in our country.”

“Sir, may I take your credit card information for security reasons in our hotel.”

travel scamsIt is not hard to comprehend what these lines signify. These are some of the very popular baits and travel scams used to trap foreign tourists in almost every part of the world. You must keep one point very clear in the mind while travelling abroad that what sounds reasonable works perfectly well as bait too.

The scam list is endless. You may not be able to contemplate that what is good or bad given the mind-boggling circumstances in a foreign land. The main reasons that account for these scams are language constraints, cultural differences, unfamiliar territory, and different currencies.

However, well informed tourists rarely fall in the trap of these kinds of scammers. The prerequisite to avoiding these frauds is to extract as much information as possible. Another intelligent tactic is to read about the culture and history of a particular country that you intend to visit.

To help you out with the most common scams, below is a detailed list with solutions on how to avoid them:

1.) Credit Card Scam During Stay at a Hotel

The most common travel scam that foreign tourists face is receiving a call in the middle of their sleep, late at night, from the hotel’s reception desk demanding credit card information due to faulty registration. The alarm bell in the mind should ring as soon as this kind of call is received by a tourist. First, hotels never bother their esteemed guests in the middle of the night unless it is in a case of an emergency or some mishap. Second, they discuss such matters personally with the guest even if the situation is critical. The best ways to avoid this common fraud is given below:

  •  Never make a hotel reservation with tourist agents stationed outside airports or railway stations offering unsolicited help.
  •  Always book a hotel by directly contacting the concerned authority or through a reputable travel agency.
  •  Don’t give out any credit card or personal information in case you receive such calls. Hang up by saying that you will contact the reception desk in the morning regarding this issue.
  •  Last but not the least; report the issue to the concerned management and demand action regarding the same.

2.) Flat Tire Fraud and Robbery

There will be instances when a local driver informs you about a flat-tire and asks you to pull over for a replacement. This scam has two versions. First, the tire is actually punctured. Second, the tire is not at all punctured. In the first case, you must remember that the person offering help could have himself created the situation to cause the problem.

And in the second case, you must have encountered a scammer who is trying to bluff by lying about a particular situation. You should keep the following points in mind to avoid such scams:

  •  Never accept unsolicited help from a fellow motorist. Keep a list of the phone numbers of legitimate authorities handy to call them in case of an emergency. In most of the countries, it is advised that you should only ask the local police for roadside help.
  •  Inspect your car or motorbike for any possible mischief before leaving the hotel.
  •  In case you are trapped in the middle of the road with a scammer holding a gun or a knife, don’t try to resist them. Stolen stuff can be recovered by lodging a complaint afterwards.
  •  Always grab an authorized and licensed taxi from a recommended taxi stand outside your hotel. Check the number plate for identification of a legitimate taxi driver according to the local laws and regulations.

3.) Fake Police or Police Uniform Con

The most intimidating experience in one’s life comes when one is approached by a police officer in a foreign country. Police officers are hard to avoid. Therefore, you must stay attentive at all times whether these people in the uniform are real or fake. They approach mostly in a group of two and ask the tourist to handover the credit card and PIN number for cross-checking the traveler identity.

In the meantime, other the officer will search the car for valuables that can be easily robbed. The main reason behind this scam is the vulnerability of the uninformed traveler towards official looking badges and identity cards.  Avoiding scams of this type are possible by clearly understanding the following measures:

  • First and foremost; legal police officers never ask for credit card or PIN information.
  •  If you are forced to pull over, never hand over your personal cards or documents before verifying the identity of the officer with a local police station. Simply call the nearest police station and verify the name or badge number.
  • Gather valuable information regarding the legitimate uniform of the local police. Also collect information regarding their vehicles.


Kevin Watts is the the creator of Graduatingfromdebt.com a site dedicated to help people, as well myself get out of debt, gain financial freedom and ultimately make money work for you

Categories: Identity Theft
01
Apr 2013

22 DIY Ways To Help Prevent Data Theft

By 9 Comments

In order to prevent data theft, a credit card account holder has to take measures to protect against data breach. The basics of identity theft prevention are actually pretty simple and doable. In this article, we show you 22 practical ways.

A data breach is the last thing anyone needs. Because identity theft risks include spiraling into bad credit, that should be a higher motivation to prevent data theft.

Here are 22 DIY Ways To Help Prevent Data Theft:

1. Keep mail out of reach of thieves.

2. Install a CCTV camera near your mailbox.

3. Gather your mail as soon as you get home.

4. Install a mailbox slot on your door, so that the mail hits the floor directly behind the door instead.

5. Shred your documents before you throw them away.

6. Make sure you keep important documents, especially your Social Security Card, in a safe place. A growing number of reports indicated that the worst ID theft criminals are actually the victim’s own relatives and even the significant other.

7. Don’t share your identity data, such as your SSN or date of birth, online.

8. Limit your Facebook and other social networking connections to people you actually know.

9. Be wary when doing online dating.

10. Don’t invite people back to your place when meeting up for the first few dates. Date and dine out in public places until you establish trust.

Child Identity Theft Prevention — DIY Tips For Your Child’s Identity Safety:

11. As much as possible, don’t reveal your child’s SSN to anyone else. While your child’s doctor and school may require your child’s SSN, work on requesting that you withhold your child’s.

12. Let school authorities know that you can only give out your child’s birthday and birth month, but not the year. This way, no would-be ID thief can look through your kid’s class birthday boards and get his details from there.

13. Keep your child’s SS Card in a safe place, like in a locked safe.

14. Don’t be tempted to use your child’s SS Number to take out loans and get yourself or your partner a lifeline for your own financial problems. You could compromise his credit history and credit report, and your child could be dealing with bad credit way before he even gets to use credit at all.

15. If you are going to undergo a divorce, keep your children’s SS Cards and Numbers safe from the former partner who wasn’t granted custody. There have been cases of parents who have abused their own children’s identity data, and these have usually been the parents who weren’t granted custody.

Identity Theft Prevention During Travel:

16. When you deposit your things in safety deposit boxes, don’t just deposit your jewelry and money. Also deposit your laptop, mobile phones, especially smartphones, and documents. This way, in case anyone breaks into your room, these are kept safe.

17. Whenever you target a foreign destination, always research the place before making up your mind on going. Some tourist hotspots are also hotspots for theft. So read up and research on how you can protect yourself best.

18. When out and about, don’t bring major valuables with you, especially those that contain data. Valuables that contain data include smartphones and credit cards. As much as possible, just bring cash. You’ll be surprised how much $100 (USD) could buy you in flea markets in some countries.

19. If you really need to use your credit card, bring something with enhanced ID theft protection, such as American Express.

Prevent Data Theft On Regular Days:

20. When riding the bus or subway, keep your things close to you. If you can clutch your bag to your chest, do so. One method of pick pocketing is through reaching into a victim’s bag and lifting wallets or smartphones out of it.

21. Just as we advised in the “Identity Theft Prevention During Travel” section, we also advise that you keep your wallets and smartphones in a bag instead of your jeans pockets. Be extra wary about keeping your valuables in the back pockets of your jeans, too. The back pockets are the easiest places to lift wallets from.

22. Credit monitoring is a good service to have at any given time. Whether you’re traveling or just living your life on the daily grind, credit monitoring gives you an extra layer of protection by catching transactions you could have missed.

In order to prevent data theft, a credit account user really has to be vigilant. Identity theft prevention could be simple, if you follow these practical tips. These anti-data breach moves are simple and doable, and you can definitely work them into your daily lifestyle.

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Amy Johnson is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances. Follow her and know more on how to prevent credit card fraud and how identity theft monitoring helps in preventing identity theft.

Categories: Identity Theft
09
Jan 2013

How Much Does Lifelock Cost – Why It’s Worth The Money

By 4 Comments

Recently I wrote an article titled Is Lifelock Worth It, and in that article talked about all the things I had learned from owning that product.  I also did a full on review of the product after signing up with it.  In those two articles I covered all the benefits, details, and what I even learned from owning the product after several months.  However in this article I’m going cover how much does Lifelock cost?

I’m also going to talk about the real question why people don’t buy identity theft protection and the one  thing that even stopped me from buying it, the cost. On top of that I’m not  only going to show you how much it will cost for you to buy Lifelock but your entire family including your children, and on top of that show how you can even save a few bucks in the process.

LifelockPicture (1)How Does Lifelock Cost?

So how much does Lifelock cost?  To start here is a simple break down of the cost to get Lifelock.

  • LifeLock ULTIMATE.  This the flagship product which includes all the bells an whistles and starts at $25 a month.
  • Lifelock Basic.  This is a more striped down version of the Ultimate product but still does a lot of the same job and starts at only $10 a month.
  • Lifelock For Children.  This a very basic version that monitors for any activity on your child’s name and social security number for $2.25 a month.

Promo Codes, Discounts, and Coupons Oh My!

Now you might be wondering what kind of discounts, promo codes, and coupons might be available to help you save a little money, and as long as I’ve had this product and been promoting it I’ve seen two basic types of promotions on this product.

  • 10% off and 30 Days Free – The first discount I’ve seen the most is 10% off which usually only applies to Lifelock Basic or Ultimate.  On top of that I’ve also seen them add 30 days free. With this  it would cut $2.50 of the cost of LifeLock ULTIMATE.
  • 15% off –  The second discount I see them offer but not nearly as much is the 15% off lifelock coupon.  With this coupon it would cut $3.75 off the cost of Lifelock Ultimate.

Finally, one last thing I should mention that I feel a lot people get confused is that the discount stays in effect for as long as you own the product.  So if you get the 10% or 15% discounts you will continue to get that each and every month until you discontinue the service.

Why I Didn’t Buy Lifelock At First

I guess the big reason I pulled away from buying Lifelock at first was I felt that it was just another expense that I didn’t need to deal with.  I thought their is no way someone could steel my identity.  I don’t give out my social security number, back account info, or even my date of birth, to anyone willingly.  Then one day that all changed for me.

My sister was checking out at Walmart as usual and noticed the person behind her was usually close.  A half hour later she received a call from her credit card company that someone had used her card to buy things that were very unusual.  On top of that these items were being bought from all over the world from Norway to Las Vegas which instantly threw a red flag with here credit card company.

Luckily for her the person was caught that stole her number in Walmart and all the transactions were reversed, but it could have been far worse.  For example, what if that person had been able to open a new card in her name, they could have gone undetected for months and she could have been stuck with the bill in the end.

After that indecent it opened my eyes to the fact that it doesn’t take much for someone to steel your identity and mess up your financial situation real fast.

How I Set Lifelock Up For My Family

Originally, when I signed up for Lifelock I had only planned for me to have the coverage.  Overtime though I received several notices of possible situations of someone trying to steal my identity.  This got me concerned, if this many attempts have been made on my identity, how many were their on my wife or kids?

When I started looking into Lifelocks cost just to add my kids it would be only $6.75 a month, a no brainier if you ask me.    On top of that if you’ve read my article on child identity theft, a child’s identity is actually very vulnerable and for just a few bucks a month I can protect them.

Now as far as the cost goes to add my wife to the plan you don’t need to have the Lifelock Ultimate in this case because I already have the majority of are accounts covered under my account so I signed her up for Lifelock Basic for $10 a month.

So in all I got Life Ultimate for me with a 10% discount promo code for $22.50, added my three kids for $6.75 a month, and my wife for $10 a month for a grand total of  $39.25 a month.  Not bad, and if you really wanted to save even more you could do a $10 a month plan on your spouse and you to save even more.

But I Can Get Credit Monitoring For Free

Now I know some people might be saying that they can get credit monitoring for free from their homeowners insurance policy, credit card companies, and places like Credit Karma, but the question is are they really that good?

Well let’s start with credit cards.  Most credit card companies do offer great protection against credit card fraud.  In fact I recently bought some stuff out of the norm with my credit cards and within 15 minutes they had me on the phone to confirm the transactions.

However, credit card companies are not out to protect your identity but rather someone misusing your card. If someone steals you identity and then proceeds to drain your bank accounts your credit card companies are not going to do anything to for-warn you of this.

Secondly, you have your homeowners insurance.  I’ve only recently heard of people using this as a means to protect your identity so I would be curious to see how much protection they really offer and what kind of monitoring they actually do because my guess is that they don’t, but rather may help in the event you want to file a claim.

Finally, you have Credit Karma.  When I first heard they were offering a free credit monitoring service I signed up for it even as a member of Lifelock just to compare the two services.  What I found out was that Credit Karma did not send out nearly as many alerts that Lifelock did and on top of that Credit Karma’s alert usually showed up a few days after I had already received an alert from Lifelock.  Now I’m not saying Credit Karma is a bad service by any means but if you are looking for a free service to get you by for the meantime it is a good alternative.

I should also mention that Credit Karma is only monitoring your credit whereas Lifelock is monitoring several different places from your credit report to payday loan stores, and everything else in between.

Is Lifelock Worth The Cost

In the end identity thieves will do anything to get a hold of your identity and more than likely at some point in your life your identity may be stolen, so take some time now to protect your identity before it falls in the wrong hands.

Sign up for LifeLock today and get your first 30 days FREE and save 15% off your final purchase! Expires April 15th.

 

Categories: Identity Theft Tags: , , , , ,
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