I thought my luck was changing
for the better when someone told me that the Kenyan prince who had a
$47,000,000 check with my name on it was all a scam. I was told that was merely a rouse to gain
access to my identity, and no money was coming my way, even if I had paid the
required $20,000.
It seems this is a fairly popular
internet confidence game that preys on unsuspecting greedy people wanting to
make a quick buck.
So I decided to look into
identity theft and found some stuff that was pretty scary.
No site on the internet is safe,
according the “experts” who say, “No site on the internet is safe.”
All those websites that sell
products cannot be trusted because they could also be identity theft
operations.
Supposedly there are nefarious people
who spend hours creating duplicate websites that mimic real ones selling
everything from canes for the handicapped to steaming grill cleaners, and even
turbo chicken cookers. Oh, the humanity!
The new thing now is something
called “skimming” that involves modifying credit card readers at gas
stations. Ne’er-do-wells evidently place
devices into gas pumps that read your credit card information without your
knowledge. These secret replacement
readers are then retrieved days later with unsuspecting victim data that are
sold to the lazy thieves.
To prevent identity theft, those
previously-mentioned experts suggest changing your credit cards every two
weeks. They also recommend moving all
your money to a different bank on a ten-day rotation. And, to be safe, they strongly encourage you
to change your mother’s maiden name at least monthly.
Still, with all these safety
precautions, you may still find yourself subject to identity theft.
Using your credit cards at major
department and big box stores, especially The Home Depot and Target, have been
a challenge, too. Settlements in some of
those cases were over $19,000,000!
Yet, that’s little consolation
since someone else is now masquerading as you.
But don’t look to government –
local or otherwise – to provide much guidance on preventing and/or minimizing
identity theft.
Twenty or so years ago, local
police authorities strongly suggested people etch their Social Security numbers
on personal property to expedite recovery and identification of stolen items. After all, that number is unique to you. Many states used your Social Security Number
as your driver’s license number, a way to identify you by writing it on the
reverse side of checks you wrote. How
did that work out?
And, the federal guvment insisted
on digitizing all federal records, including those of employees. Retrieval of this vital information was
absolutely critical to keeping the federal records up-to-date, but completely
protected.
Completely protected until the
Chinese hacked them in 2015, that is. Only
22,000,000 were compromised, and the onus is now on those affected victims to
fend for themselves. Nice.
So much for keeping your Social
Security Number secret, and relying on Uncle Sam to watch out for the little
people – us.
It would seem only appropriate to
throw away your credit cards, stop banking, and begin living off the grid. I’ll keep doing what I am doing because I’m
nothing like the Unibomber.
