Preventing Identity Theft for Dummies or DigiMarketing

Preventing Identity Theft for Dummies

Author: Michael Arata

• Twenty-seven million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years and the total cost of identity theft approaches $48 billion per year (total costs to businesses are $43 billion and the direct cost to consumers is $5 billion)

• These staggering statistics have prompted security consultant Michael Arata to provide readers with the resources they need to guard themselves against identity theft

• In this valuable book, Arata offers easy-to-follow, straightforward advice on understanding identity theft, minimizing risk, maintaining vigilance, choosing who to share personal information with, selecting hard-to-guess PINs, determining victimization, reviewing a credit report, charting a course of action, resolving credit problems, reclaiming good credit, and much more

• Explains how to recover successfully if identity theft does occur

• Author Michael Arata, CISSP, CPP, CFE, ACLM, is a veteran of the security industry with more than fifteen years of experience

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	1
	How This Book Is Organized	1
	Icons Used in This Book	2
	Where to Go from Here	2
Part I	Getting the Scoop on Identity Theft	3
Chapter 1	Who's Stealing What...and What You Can Do About It	5
	Taking a Look at the Fastest Growing Crime	5
	Who it affects	7
	How it happens	7
	Knowing What Information Is Vulnerable	8
	It comes in the mail	10
	What you throw away can hurt you	11
	The Role of Technology in Identity Theft	12
	Encryption	13
	Authentication	15
	Safeguarding Your Information in Everyday Ways	16
	Finding Your Allies	17
	Getting Back Your Identity and Your Good Reputation	19
Chapter 2	Keeping Tabs on Your Personal Information	23
	Discovering Where Your Personal Information Hides	23
	The important info on the documents you receive	24
	Finding your information online	27
	Accounts you have online	29
	Checks, receipts, and other paper you generate	29
	Government documents	30
	Keeping Your Information Safe but Available	31
	Software to help keep your information safe	32
	Tips to keep your information safe	32
	Accessing your information	33
	Knowing When to Hold 'Em, When to Fold 'Em, and When to Shred 'Em	34
	What to keep	34
	Best practices for destroying what you don't keep	37
Chapter 3	Mike's Anti-Identity-Theft Crash Course	39
	Tips for Preventing Identity Theft	39
	Buy and use a shredder	42
	Order and review your credit report	42
	Guard your personal information	43
	Opting out of pre-approved credit card offers	44
	Opting out of other mailing lists	45
	Government Laws to Protect You	46
	Steps to Take If You Are a Victim	48
	Reporting the crime to law enforcement	49
	Other essential actions you must take	50
Part II	Determining Whether You're a Victim	51
Chapter 4	Smelling a Rat: Recognizing When You Are a Victim	53
	Suspecting a Thief at Your Mailbox	53
	Recognizing When Something Is Wrong, and What You Can Do About It	54
	Denied credit for a large purchase	56
	Receiving credit card bills from cards you didn't apply for	57
	Receiving calls from bill collectors for stuff you did not buy	58
	Receiving bills for unknown purchases	59
	Large unknown purchases on your credit card bills	60
	Suddenly...several unknown charges on each month's bill	62
Chapter 5	Homing In on Bank Statements	65
	Checking Your Bank Statement Religiously	65
	Identifying an Unwelcome Doppelganger	67
	Withdrawals you didn't make	67
	Checks you did not write	68
	Finding bizarre bank account balances	69
	Reviewing Investment Account Statements	70
Chapter 6	Interpreting Your Credit Report	73
	What Is a Credit Report?	73
	Obtaining Your Credit Report	75
	Reviewing the Telltale Information on Your Credit Report	79
	The personal profile section	80
	The account history section	81
	The credit summary section	82
	The public records section	82
	The credit inquiries section	84
	The account history section	85
	Your credit score	85
	Sudden unknown credit score change	87
	Looking for consistency	88
	Pulling it together	89
	Disputing Your Credit Report	89
Part III	Staying Ahead of Identity Theft	93
Chapter 7	Watching What You Set on the Curb	95
	Protecting Your Mail	95
	Watching What You Throw Away	97
	Monthly credit card statements	98
	Monthly checking account statements	99
	Utility bills	100
	Cell phone bills	100
	Cancelled checks	101
	Expired driver's licenses	101
Chapter 8	Practicing Discretion in Public Places	103
	Carrying Minimal Personal Information	103
	Do not carry your Social Security Card	104
	Memorize your bank ATM PIN	104
	Carry one credit card	105
	Carry personal checks only when necessary	106
	The Walls Have Ears and Eyes	107
	Shoulder surfing	107
	Be careful about what you say	108
	Keeping Track of Important Things	109
	Checking Credit Card Receipts	109
	Losing your wallet or purse	110
Chapter 9	Staying Safe Online and on the Phone	113
	Ordering Stuff by Phone	113
	Ordering Stuff Online	115
	Check Your Monthly Card Statement for Surprises	117
	Beware of Scams to Get Personal Information	118
	Who is calling?	118
	Phishing out a thief	118
	We're from the government	119
	Why financial information?	121
	Bank examiner scam	121
Part IV	Taking Back Your Good Name	125
Chapter 10	Joining Forces in the Identity Theft Battle	127
	Filling Out the Initial Reports	127
	Placing a fraud alert on your credit report	128
	Reporting the crime to law enforcement	128
	Completing an ID theft affidavit	129
	Taking Care of Compromised Accounts: The First Steps	132
	Call your credit card company	133
	Call your bank	134
	Asking for fraud dispute forms	135
	Getting Straight with the Government	136
	Filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission	136
	What to do if your SSN has been used to get a job	139
Chapter 11	Closing Compromised Accounts	143
	Closing Out Bank Accounts	143
	When your ATM card goes missing	144
	Reporting to check-verification companies	145
	Covering checks that you've already written	146
	Closing Credit Accounts	147
Chapter 12	Opening New Accounts	149
	Opening New Bank Accounts	149
	Maintaining good records	150
	Using a new PIN	151
	Opening New Credit Accounts	152
Part V	The Part of Tens	153
Chapter 13	Ten Tips to Make Reclaiming Your Identity Go More Smoothly	155
	Follow a Checklist	155
	Keep a Journal	156
	Complete a Fraud Affidavit	156
	Record All Correspondence with Creditors	157
	Follow-up	157
	Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Report	158
	File a Police Report	159
	Dispute Charges You Didn't Make	160
	Report Your Stolen Checks to One of the Check Verification Companies	160
	Close Compromised Accounts	161
Chapter 14	Ten Handy Resources	163
	Web Sites	163
	Major Credit Card Issuers	164
	Credit Report Services	166
	Registration Services	167
	Major Banking Institutions	168
Chapter 15	Ten Common Scams and How to Avoid Them	169
	Phishing	169
	The Bank Examiner Scam	171
	The Doctored ATM	171
	Phone Fraud	172
	Card Verification	173
	You Won the Lottery!	174
	Bogus Charities	174
	Bogus Invoices	175
	Phony Brokerage Firms	176
	Temporary Suspension of Your Account	177
	Index	179

See also: Die Volkswirtschaft der Klimaveränderung: Die Strenge Rezension

DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing

Author: Ian Fenwick

“We are all DigiMarketers now" - or we should be.  The authors have for the first time provided a lucid, hype-free, business-based and practical guide to the new age of marketing: it is a kind of digital Baedeker, which should be on every businessman's book-shelf. —Miles Young, Chairman,   Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific

The digital frontier is now the center of our universe. As Kent Wertime and Ian Fenwick show, marketers must seize this digital opportunity to accelerate their market growth. —John A. Quelch, Senior Associate Dean and Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Too many advertisers are stuck in the primordial soup when it comes to their digital marketing strategy.  However, they need to evolve fast if they are to survive in a multi-channel landscape. This timely book acts like an Origin of the Species, steering hesitant brand owners through the complexities of the digital ecosystem. An impressive blend of academic theory, professional insight and practical advice. —Paul Kemp-Robertson,   Co-founder & Editorial Director, Contagious

DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Marketing & Digital Media is a clear call for companies to evolve their marketing practice. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking a roadmap to the future of business.—Dipak C. Jain, Dean,   Kellogg School of Management

The rise of conversational media new forms of distribution – from blogs tomobile platforms – challenge traditional approaches to marketing, and require every business to have a transition plan. Kent Wertime and Ian Fenwick have written a book that is required reading for any marketers interested in successfully making that transition. —John Battelle,  CEO and Founder, Federated Media Publishing and Author, The Search

Kent Wertime and Ian Fenwick have written the definitive guide to marketing in the digital age. But Digimarketing does more than educate marketing professionals. It describes the new media landscape brilliantly, making it an essential read for anyone who hopes to understand the most important technological revolution of the past fifty years. I wore out three yellow highlighters before realizing that every sentence and every paragraph is worth committing to memory. —Norman Pearlstine,   Former Editor-in-Chief, Time Inc. and  Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal,  Senior Advisor, Telecommunications & Media, The Carlyle Group