I am retired and I live in the Coachella Valley. I became a full-time resident about a year ago. I was born and raised in Connecticut and I had a 40 year career in electronics distribution, sales, marketing and executive management. About a year ago I started a home-based business as an Independent Associate for LegalShield. As part of our product portfolio we have a comprehensive identity theft protection program
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I started blogging about identity theft because some of my closest friends have been victims of it. As I started doing research I saw just how widespread and destructive it can be. So I started this blog with the hopes that eventually I will reach enough people and make them aware of the potential to have their identity stolen and give them some advice as to what they can do to protect themselves. I feel it is important for the readers of my blog to understand my motivation for publishing it. With that said here comes my 11th blog and I hope you will find it informative and useful.
AARP recently released a report titled
Caught In The Scammers Net.
The report tried to define the profile of a scam victim. The report found there are 15 online behaviors and life situations that dramatically increase your probability of online fraud and one in five American adults engage in at least seven of them.The report finds that it is not just risky online behavior putting you at risk. But anyone who is going thru a difficult life experience could be vulnerable to identity theft. Going through a difficult time makes you more vulnerable to fraud, just as a weakened immune system lowers resistance to disease, negative life events lowers resistance to fraud.
The AARP commissioned a survey of 11,000 adults in the United States and surveyed their online actions, behavior and the life experiences of both fraud victims and non victims. They have developed a detailed profile of those who are most vulnerable to Internet-based scams.
In the seven days prior to being surveyed respondents admitted to:
*clicking on pop-up advertisements: 26% of victims open the pop-up while non-victims opened at the rate of 10%.
*Opening emails from unknown sources: 27% victims compared to 17% of non victims.
*Downloading apps: 35% of victims versus 28% of non victims this is another way to install malware, to steal computer files, passwords and accounts.
* Selling products: 23% of victims versus 7% of non-victims are active on online auction sites. Scammers posing as buyers, paying with counterfeit checks.
* Purchasing a product through a money payment business: 47% of victims versus 30% of non victims use this service which becomes particularly risky when you link it to a checking or debit card account. If those systems are hacked or someone gets your payment transfer information, your bank account is now exposed to the scammer.
* Signing up for free trial offers: 18% of victims versus 8% of non victims engaged in these traps, which lock buyers into hard to cancel contracts and merchandise may not arrive until after the trial ends.
The key negative life experiences include:
* Feelings of isolation, reported by two of three victims, compared to a minority of non victims.
* Loss of job: 23% of victims versus 10% of non victims .
* Negative change in financial status: 44% of victims versus 23% of non victims.
* Being concerned about debt: 69% of victims versus 57% of non victims.
The survey asks questions about Internet safety, neither victims nor non victims scored particularly well.There were two questions in a specific areas where victims were significantly less likely to answer correctly.
* Unaware that banks do not send emails to customers asking them to click on a link to verify personal or account information. Two thirds of the victims compared to just 38% of non victims believe that banks do this as a common ruse used by scammers to download malware or collect details for likely identity theft.
* Unaware that a privacy policy does not mean that websites will not share information from users.50% of victims, compared to 40% of non victims, answered this correctly. However such information may be sold to either legitimate vendors or scammers posing as such and used to compile "sucker lists" to identify possible future victims
About the research
The report was commissioned by the AARP Fraud Watch Network as part of a national campaign to connect people with experts and law enforcement who could help them spot and avoid scams. Available free of charge to AARP members, non members and people of any age, the Fraud Watch Network provides:
* Watchdog alert emails that deliver breaking scam information,
* Prevention tips based on the latest information from experts,
* an interactive map with the latest law enforcement warnings from each state,
*a phone number people can call to talk to volunteers trained to help fraud victims, and access to a network of people who are sharing their experiences with scams so they can help others protect themselves.
The AARP is one of the most prestigious organizations in the United States, the fact that they taken the time and gone to much expense to do such an in-depth survey, shows how significant they believe that identity theft and fraud has become. They have made this available to members and nonmembers of any age. I therefore think it would be a very big mistake not to take advantage of the service they are offering you.
As I have mentioned before we have a website that is devoted to helping our seniors be more aware of the various identity theft scams and frauds that are being perpetrated against our senior citizens and we have a series of podcasts that deal with senior citizen identity theft.
Also for anyone who is interested in developing a website or having a website reviewed. Also how to use social media correctly for business or learn how to use SEO's to drive people to your websites. You should visit the website listed below and I think you'll find it most informative and educational.
In closing as I mentioned in the beginning of the blog it is important to me that these blogs that I have produced are meaningful , informative and helpful to those who read it. That is why I solicit your feedback in order to help me produce a high quality blog.
Thank you
Richard Bentley
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