Scams & Alerts
NEW- The California Department of Health Care Services breached the privacy of 49,352 people.
NEW- Be wary of those pesky promotional Pop-Ups that appear on “legitimate” web sites, they may have financial strings attached that could cost you.
Burglars Search Facebook, Myspace, Twiter for Targets.
Burglars, identity thieves and predators search social networking sites to learn about persons interests, location in and out of their home.
Retail Merchants should secure prepaid Gift Cards like any other type of currency.
Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke was victim of ID theft ring.
Consolidated complaint against Lifelock combines 13 lawsuits. The lawsuit claims the company defrauds customers by offering services it cannot legally perform and by advertising a $1 million guarantee that is virtually worthless.
Russian hackers used Social Networking sites to steal the identities from U.S. citizens and used them to attack Georgian government web sites during last years war between the two countries.
FICO suit against Experian and TransUnion to go forward.
Massive cyber attack affects the Federal Trade Commission and other government web sites. North Korea suspected.
Your place and date of birth can be used by criminals to predict your Social Security Number.
Ruling - Lifelock Violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act
A U.S. District Judge has ordered LifeLock Inc. to stop contacting Experian to place fraud alerts on behalf of its customers.
Text Message Scams "Smishing"
Many citizens of Utah have recently received a text message on their cellular phone, supposedly from their credit card/debit card company directing them to contact a telephone number to re-activate their card due to an account or security issue. The Utah Attorney General’s Office has received multiple reports of different variations of this scheme known as "Smishing". These attacks against US financial institutions and consumers continue to rise at an alarming rate. No Utah Credit Union or Bank is immune to these attacks, and all cellular phone owners are potential targets to the thieves looking to profit from well intentioned credit/debit card customers.
Smishing operates like phishing by persuading consumers to divulge their credit card number, expiration date, Card Verification Value Code (CVV/CVC), and other personally identifiable information, claiming their account was suspended, deactivated, or terminated. Recipients are directed to contact their bank via a telephone number provided in the Text Message. Upon calling the telephone number, the recipient is greeted with "Welcome to the bank of ……" and then requested to enter their card number in order to resolve a pending security issue. A cedit union or bank will NEVER request this information from a customer via cellular phone, text message, email, or any other form of communication.
If you have a question concerning your account or credit/debit card, you should contact your credit union or bank using a telephone number obtained independently, such as from your statement, a telephone book, or other independent means.
Work at Home Scams
During tough economic times, many unemployed are looking at offers to work at home to earn extra money. If you are looking into a work from home offer, be sure to first carefully research the company before accepting a job. This is especially the case if a company requests that you deposit money orders into your bank account and then return the company some or the entire principal amount via wire transfer using Western Union. The job offer might actually be an Advanced Fee Scam.
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Bank of NY Mellon data breach affect 12.5 million
The NY Bank of Mellon reported that a security breach is much larger than previoulsy reported, affecting about 12.5 million, up from 4.5 million.
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Largest Credit Card Fraud prosecuted by Justice Dep.
Anheuser Bush Data Breach
Anheuser Busch notified the Utah Attorney General’s Office about a recent burglary of a laptop computer that contained personal identifying information on 191 Utah residents. The burglary occurred at an Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. office in Sunset Hills, Missouri, sometime between the evening of June 6, 2008 and the morning of June 9, 2008.
Resources
Utah Division of Securities Alerts
Anti-Phishing Working Group
Microsoft Recognize Phishing Scams
