RFID ~ protect your data

I have the pleasure of calling fellow scam fighter Denise Richardson my friend, and she introduced me to a product that can help protect everyone, and I had to share it with you.

First off, do you know what a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag is?  A RFID tag holds your name, credit card number and anything else that your bank or credit card company decides to embed on it.

Now this is where I say "Why don't these people use their minds for good instead of evil" . . . I say this because there are also Radio Frequency Readers and Remote Frequency Readers that allow you to read, or skim, the information off of someone else's RFID tags without ever touching the card that those tags are embedded on!  Yes, someone actually went out and created a hand held device that you can use to collect the credit card information of other people . . . people sitting next to you on the bus, or walking down the street.

So, how do the REST of us protect ourselves from those that are using their minds for evil instead of good, or those that have purchased the products that these evil thinkers have created?  There are companies like Kena Kai and Magellan's that have wallets that actually block RFID reading products.  See . . . now THAT is someone using their minds for GOOD and not evil!

How did I find out about these wallets?  From Denise Richardson of GiveMeBackMyCredit.com  If you would like to read what Denise has to say about these products you can read her blog on the topic.

Click and Trick

Click and Trick schemes, also called "data pass", occur when a customer goes online to make a legitimate purchase and then agrees to a SECOND transaction without knowing it.  Because the customer does not need to enter their credit card information they may even believe they are accepting a free trial of a product or service and it is not until they see the charges on their credit card to they know that it was not really "free".

This is just another reason that we should all be careful of what we click on when we are online, and monitor our credit card statements closely to make sure no surprise charges show up.

Vishing

We have talked about Phishing in the past, which are those emails that you get that say they are from your bank or other company and want you to update your account information, then they ask you to click on a link within the email. Now we also have to watch out for this type of scam over the phone.

This type of scam is called "vishing", which is short for "voice phishing". There was an article on this the other day. Here is a quote from the article.

Sometimes vishing begins with a phone call, not an e-mail. And these calls are quite believable, because the caller already knows your credit card number. All you are asked to provide is the three-digit security code found on the back of the card. "It is becoming more difficult to distinguish phishing attempts from actual attempts to contact customers," Ron O'Brien, a security analyst with Sophos PLC, told the AP.

If you ever get a phone call from someone that wants personal information such as your bank account or credit card information, ask them what company they are with and for their first name and then HANG UP! After that, look up the phone number for that company on your own. If it is your bank or credit card company then that information should be on one of your statements from them. Call their customer service line. Since YOU are making the call to the number on your account statement then you KNOW that the person on the other end of the phone is really with that company. Tell them that you just got a call about a problem with your account, and they can verify if there REALLY is an issue with your account.

Be warned about Google Revolution!

Be warned about Google Revolution! This site is not affiliated with Google and is a big scam.

Because I am always looking for new innovative ideas and trends for our newsroom this one looked interesting. I read about how great Google Revolution was from a column on a large news website.

I visited the site recommended and the information they were offering looked like it might be worth the download charge of $1.88. This is when they got me.
I provided a credit card number for this charge at the end of June and thought everything was fine.

In August I started to receive charges from four web companies all related to Google Revolution.

I called Visa and they said there was nothing I could do about it and to call the companies involved.

I then called the companies listed on my bill and they all said I had agreed to these charges when I downloaded the $1.88 information.

During the call I could hear the background buzz from call operators explaining to others just as shocked as I was. It seemed like the four companies were all operating out of the same call centre.

Can you imagine the money they must be receiving from other innocent victims.

I thought I was pretty savvy about watching out for scams but this one got me good. Hopefully these charges of several hundreds of dollars will not appear on my credit card next month.

Lesson learned.

The above information is reposted with the permission of
Wendy Nordvik-Carr
http://www.linkedin.com/in/wendynordvikcarr

Follow Wendy on Twitter http://twitter.com/wendynordvikcar