Identity Theft

Two Phone scams are using the element of surprise and almost forcing the scared to give up personal information. Both scams make you think that if you don't give them the information you will go to jail.

The first scam has been around for a little while. The caller tells you that you have missed your jury duty appointment. If you don't pay the fine now the court will have you arrested and put in jail. There is no jury duty summons or court. It's the element of surprise that gets people.

The second scam is new. Someone identifies themselves as a police officer and tell the person that they have a ticket for running a red light. The officer say's that the red light camera has the evidence. If you don't pay now you are subject to going to jail.

Both scams want a credit card number, name on card and even the security code. Then they ask for name, address and social security number. Taken by surprise most people don't verify the charges before giving out the information.

Questioning the caller by asking, what intersection, time of day, date etc. will probably get a quick hangup. Most of the information the caller is requesting is on file at the local police department anyway.

From all the information I have seen no bank, credit card company or government office will request this kind of information.

On the other hand, if you call a company they will want to verify your identity by asking questions. You called them and they want to make sure they are talking to the account holder before giving out information.

Be leery of any unsolicited phone calls requesting personal information. If by some chance you are interested in the offer, do some checking. I always say send me some information in the mail. If they can't do that then I hang up.

It is puzzling to me as to how much time someone spends trying to steal from the public. If they spent the same amount of time making something good, they could make honest money and not face going to jail.

There are a lot of people employed just to try to stop thieves from taking our money and identity. I guess that's what keeps the economy moving.

As a former mail carrier. Mail theft is very important to me. It doesn't take many smarts to open a mailbox and take the mail out. In some cases someone that has some smarts is calling the shots. They hire some dumb-dumb to heist the mail and bring it back to them. I'm sorry if I offended you, if you are one of those dumb-dumbs.

There are many things to learn about mail theft and identity theft to protect yourself. At http://mailboxdooralert.com/ you can sign up for notices for new pertinent blog posts. At the website you can see a neat way to protect yourself from mail theft. You can follow us without signing up @ http://mailboxdooralert.com/blog.

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