ID Identity Theft Scams
http://creditfederal.com/article/articles/517/1/ID-Identity-Theft-Scams
By CreditFederal.com - A good or bad credit personal loan, auto and mortgage financing, and credit card resource.
Published on 07/11/2008
The federal government; IRS, warns tax payers of 700 attempted incidents of identity theft (ID theft) or phishing mainly about the free government money tax rebates. Learn how this type of fraud can hurt you, and how to protect yourself and how to report it.
ID Identity Theft Scams, Phishing and Fraud
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning taxpayers of a rash of identity theft ID scams in which thieves try to steal personal information by promising tax benefits or threatening penalties through phishing tactics.
The tax agency reported nearly 700 attempted incidents of identity theft, or phishing, in the past two months alone. It said it has received some 1,600 reports so far this year.
The most common scams involve emails concerning tax refunds for this year's free government money, economic stimulus payments, in which the sender misinforms the recipients that they must supply personal information to receive payments.
The IRS; or any federal government branch, does not normally send email to taxpayers and does not request security related personal information such as account personal identification numbers; PINs, from taxpayers.
Another fraud attempt involves sending people faxes which say the IRS is updating files and recipients who supply requested information will receive nominal tax refunds while those who don't complete the form risk additional taxes.
Businesses have also received emails asking them to click on a link to download an IRS report on the company. When the link is clicked, "malware" (virus software) is downloaded that can hijack the victim's computer hard drive to give the scammer remote access to the computer.
Tips to Prevent Identity Theft
Fight Identity Theft
Report ID Theft, Fraud and Scams
How can Identity Theft hurt me?
Some people don't worry about identity theft, because they don't understand how it can hurt them and their credit. They think that since they didn't run up the bills or credit card charges, they don't have to worry that someone else did using their name. Some; particularly bad credit people, think that identity thieves can't hurt their credit report score since they already have a bad score. Some think that since they don't need any new credit cards or loans, again there's no way for an identity thief to hurt them.
Wrong... All Wrong
How can an identity thief hurt people who already have bad credit? Even if you already have bad credit, there's more to worry about than merely your score. Your current creditors; your mortgage lender, credit card issuer, auto finance company, etc, actively monitor your credit report for changes in activity as well as your score. Hence, if an identity thief worsens your score, your creditors and lenders may increase the interest rate they charge you. This is done quite frequently by credit card issuers (read your credit card fine print). Your creditor/lender sees the activity and views you as a high risk and raises your interest rates. That's how an identity thief can hurt bad credit people.
How can an identity thief hurt people who don't use credit? Even if you don't use credit at all and even if you're not worried about your score, an identity thief can still do damage in other ways. Some employers use credit reports as a measure of trustworthiness and stability when considering promoting; and hiring, an employee. Life insurance companies also use credit reports to judge the value of a person and whether that person would be a high risk.
As you can see, even if you don't care that a fraudster is abusing your identity and running up debt in your name, and even if you don't care about your credit score or don't use credit at all and never plan to, identity theft can still do major damage to you.
The tax agency reported nearly 700 attempted incidents of identity theft, or phishing, in the past two months alone. It said it has received some 1,600 reports so far this year.
The most common scams involve emails concerning tax refunds for this year's free government money, economic stimulus payments, in which the sender misinforms the recipients that they must supply personal information to receive payments.
The IRS; or any federal government branch, does not normally send email to taxpayers and does not request security related personal information such as account personal identification numbers; PINs, from taxpayers.
Another fraud attempt involves sending people faxes which say the IRS is updating files and recipients who supply requested information will receive nominal tax refunds while those who don't complete the form risk additional taxes.
Businesses have also received emails asking them to click on a link to download an IRS report on the company. When the link is clicked, "malware" (virus software) is downloaded that can hijack the victim's computer hard drive to give the scammer remote access to the computer.
Tips to Prevent Identity Theft
Fight Identity Theft
Report ID Theft, Fraud and Scams
How can Identity Theft hurt me?
Some people don't worry about identity theft, because they don't understand how it can hurt them and their credit. They think that since they didn't run up the bills or credit card charges, they don't have to worry that someone else did using their name. Some; particularly bad credit people, think that identity thieves can't hurt their credit report score since they already have a bad score. Some think that since they don't need any new credit cards or loans, again there's no way for an identity thief to hurt them.
Wrong... All Wrong
How can an identity thief hurt people who already have bad credit? Even if you already have bad credit, there's more to worry about than merely your score. Your current creditors; your mortgage lender, credit card issuer, auto finance company, etc, actively monitor your credit report for changes in activity as well as your score. Hence, if an identity thief worsens your score, your creditors and lenders may increase the interest rate they charge you. This is done quite frequently by credit card issuers (read your credit card fine print). Your creditor/lender sees the activity and views you as a high risk and raises your interest rates. That's how an identity thief can hurt bad credit people.
How can an identity thief hurt people who don't use credit? Even if you don't use credit at all and even if you're not worried about your score, an identity thief can still do damage in other ways. Some employers use credit reports as a measure of trustworthiness and stability when considering promoting; and hiring, an employee. Life insurance companies also use credit reports to judge the value of a person and whether that person would be a high risk.
As you can see, even if you don't care that a fraudster is abusing your identity and running up debt in your name, and even if you don't care about your credit score or don't use credit at all and never plan to, identity theft can still do major damage to you.