Not only is spam up, but just this past week has been a busy one for identity theft criminals. And if I was paranoid, I would think that there is a big old target painted on my back. Over the past week, Canadian Email Lists identity thieves have “pulled out all the stops” as I have encountered many of the scams, spams and hoaxes, both on the phone and in email that I try to warn others about.
The week begins with an email message from my bank warning me of text message scams that pretend to be from the bank. In this scam you are asked for your account number and pass code in order to verify your account and make sure that it has not been “compromised.” Funny thing is, if you respond you can be sure your account will be compromised just as soon as that text message hits the scam artist cell phone. How did this happen? A security breach (of unexplained origin) permitted the theft of many telephone numbers including cell phones. The bank warns that it would never contact clients via text message, and please do not respond to these messages. The moral to the story, banks are not safe from security breaches and do not be too trusting with your information. Next, my husband and I receive a letter from Wyndham Vacation resorts, regarding a recent stay in Florida. Their data systems were compromised and the credit card names and numbers of guests were stolen from the database. The letter warned guests of the breach and encouraged them to place credit freeze and/or fraud alerts on their credit reports and accounts. Moral to the story, it is important to follow the instructions regarding credit freeze and fraud alerts carefully; they may vary according to agency and state. It is also important to each month carefully review your charges and BBBORG dispute anything unusual. Amazingly enough I was also a lottery winner this week! I received notice of winning Five hundred thousand, Great Britain Pound Sterlings (£500,000.00) for the ANNUAL 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE. My email message informs me that random winners were chosen through access to email addresses of users of these services (MSN, Windows LIVE and Yahoo). To claim my lottery prize all I needed to do was submit the following information.
