Boo! Are you scared? You should be, you see I'm a ghost and everyday I tap in to the
information cyber world. And everyday I have access to you. Worse yet I could be you.
According to the secret service approximatly one half a billion dollars is lost every
year to identity theft online. What people don't seem to realize is that the internet
world is just like any other community. so it's safe to assume the cyberworld would act
as any natural community would with entrapranaurs, vast corperations, little guys
selling warez, doctors visiting patients in their cyber offices, church organazations,
and cyber crime as well as cyber criminals.With so many new users signing on everyday the
cyber world has become a tourast trap so to speak where nameless faceless conartists work
the crowds. Ghosts.Anybody can fall victem to a ghost. Nobody is really truely safe
because our personal information is distrubted like candy on halloween. We use our
social security numbers as identification numbers Credit card num
bers are printed on every receipt. And our liscense number is used on a daily basis.
Despite this there are ways to prevent yourself from falling victem to identity theft.
you see a criminal likes easy prey. They don't want to have to work for it. It's like
locking your car at the mall, sure someone might break in anyway, but chance are if your
doors are lock the will probably move on to another car. First off... Never give your
credit card number online out unless you are positive that the company you are dealing
with is legitimate and reputable. If you aren't sure call the better burough of
business. Never give out your social security number unless you absolutly have to, the
only times you are legally obligated to give out your social security number is when you
are requesting government aid of some kind or for employment reasons. Also I have
information packets that I will hand out reguarding a company that for a small cost has
information about everybody. The packets have detailed informatio
on how to have your name and your family members names removed from their data base
system.Now you might be thinking " Granted I can see why you wouldn't want to give out
your credit card numbers but What could actually be done with my social security number?"
Everything. This is your most vital information. Say I were a cybercriminal. Say I
came across your social security number while perusing the school database. With your
social security number I can obtain information about you through the school by oh
requesting a transcript for instance. Later I could sign on to my annonomous account and
fill out an application for american express and maybe a master card and oh I could use a
new beeper to, this one is shot.By changing your adress to a PO box or an abandoned
apartment box. I could pick up my new cards and legitamatly become you. I could also
take it another step and request a new birth certificate, because It's not at all
dificult to find out where you were born because the service I mentioned e
rlier has all of this information for me. I can even get a photo license with your
information. Scared yet?So I charge you thousands of dollars and you don't even know it
until you try to take out a loan for your daughters new car. Granted in most cases you
might not have to pay for the monitary damage directly but it will take you years to fix
your credit. This is identity theft.. As I said earlier anybody can become a victem.
But now you ave vital information that could prevent you from becoming one. So Never
give out your information unless you have absolutly have to. Do yourself a favor and do
your transactions in person. The information cyberworld is a wonderful place to visit,
but just like in tiajauna don't let the little mexican guy sell you a gold necklace for
$80 bucks and don't fall pray to the ghosts.
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