Identity Theft Scams - Don't Be Phooled Again

Everyone is aware of the issues surrounding credit card fraud. With advances in consumer available technology and software these types of identity theft scams continue to exceed everyone’s limit of expectations. As for those types you may not be aware of:

• Talented writers newly trying to find acclaim can fall prey to literary scams or poetry scams. Do not pay for services related to getting your writing work published, prepared for introduction to a publisher or an agency fee. None of these are truthful or real costs in the legal literary world.

• Never respond to a letter, email, phone call or faxed notice that you have won anything in a lottery you never entered. Lottery scams show no traceable route to the sender. Legitimate lottery winners are supplied with detailed contact information beginning with a toll free number to call.

• Everyone gets chain mail promising to bring you love or other secret wishes if you immediately forward the message to 10 friends. Chain mail can contain links for tracking and harvesting your email address for identity scam mailing lists. Other forms of email scams contain message aimed at scaring you into sending someone your personal information. They could appear to come from the FBI, the IRS or other areas of the government who would never approach you via your email. Do not respond to either of these types of email.

• Answering the telephone to find a official sounding person demanding to know why you did not appear for jury duty could throw anyone off base. Jury duty scams crafted by gifted con artists are devised to take your attention off their attempt to get your personal information. No one would ever forget they were summoned for jury duty!

• While everyone seeks a way to add extra income or find an answer to escalating job scarcity the number of work at home scams continue to grow. There are many fully legitimate and legal avenues to working independently from home. It will take you weeks of research to sniff them out among those who hope to gain from your desperate needs. Never fall for the envelope stuffing scam. Why would you need to submit a resume to do a job that even a mentally challenged person could competently handle?

• Coldhearted though it may seem, there are incidents of missing person scams. Anyone with a missing loved one, be it child, spouse or other relative are also at risk of falling for a form of identity fraud. One man lost $20,000 while frantically trying to find his wife and children.

• Beware of customer service employment ads offering huge hourly rates working as an independent contractor while selling a product. These are known as vector marketing scams.

• If you haven’t run across the free vacation scam, you have not been reading your spam and junk mail. Free vacations are a believable occurrence if you recently entered a contest or drawing. If not, don’t be phooled by this form of identity theft scam before reading up on the outcome of claiming this prize.