Windows 7 How can we recognize and prevent identity Theft?

[superman111]

Hope this one is a very informative topic for a wide margin of people.
I came to know and interested on this topic after a social engineering manipulation on my wife's banking account. Like everybody we also get many prank calls and mails. One day somebody called her and asked for the pin number and banking details , to gain credibility they also told her account number and card number and convinced my wife. After gaining the trust, they told that they were updating their database and need to update her PIN. As She was very much convinced by the humble behavior of caller, She passed the information as they demanded. 3 hours later we got text message that around $8k was withdrawn from savings account We later contacted the bank and authorities on this matter the investigation is still going on.
later Computer technician removed some Trojans and popups from a system and installed an upgraded version of windows with security software. I welcome all kinds of comments and advice on the topic of identifying & Preventing such social engineering attacks.
I don't know whether I will get tips on this forum, I found this forum very much helpful for solving my computer related problems and that's why I am here to seek help from experts. How can we recognize and prevent identity Theft?

 

[Neemobeer]

I would say the number one thing you could do is sign up for a identity protection service like lifelock Identity Theft Protection - Avoid ID & Credit Fraud | LifeLock. Even if you were the most knowledge computer security expert you're still at risk if you give personal information to even reputable companies since they can be hacked into or social engineering attacks.

Some advice I would give and you really need to think about this EVERYTIME you interact with a person either face to face, on the phone, email and frankly any form of communication.

Social engineering in it's many forms is by far the easiest way to compromise someone. They will use

• Fear (ex: you get an email that your bank account will be permanently closed and all your money will be gone if you don't click some link)
• Trust (the bad guy can easily learn the lingo or a few pieces of information about the victim to make them seem trustworthy)
• Compassion (bad guy will pretend to be a fellow coworker and he's got a deadline and he really needs info X to finish and the victim may feel sorry for them and just give them the information)
• Authority (bad guy could pretend to be someone in a position of authority police, boss etc and the victim doesn't want to get in trouble so they just give up whatever info is requested) ties into Fear

WHEN IN DOUBT IF SOMETHING FEELS OFF DON"T DO IT.
For example if you get a weird email, don't reply or click any links look up the real site and contact them about the email or call them.
If someone calls you ask for their name and department and tell them you will call them back. Look up the real number and ask for the person.

 

[Neemobeer]

Perfect example of social engineering. These 419 scams Nigerian... they generally ask for info that would allow them to steal my identity.

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Take a look at this excellent video on Identity theft prevention and Scam prevention from APCUG (Association of Personal Computer Groups):


The fellow that did this video has a lot of new updated information on protecting yourself that I haven't seen available in the general media such as TV, newspapers, and radio.

Stay safe out there!
<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[superman111]

Perfect example of social engineering. These 419 scams Nigerian... they generally ask for info that would allow them to steal my identity.View attachment 33237

Thank you very much.

Yes you are correct I was researching on this topic and read a blog says that most of the banking frauds are operated from south African countries

 

[superman111]

Here is the big fish from big daddy Nigerian Letter or “419” Fraud — FBI.

 

[superman111]

Perfect example of social engineering. These 419 scams Nigerian... they generally ask for info that would allow them to steal my identity.View attachment 33237

I will let her see this picture and build awareness about these kind of scams.

 

[superman111]

is this kind of calls known as Vishing? I read a blog on this topic and they called it as vishing Vishing (Voice Phishing) Scam Announcement | NCI . it says that
[QUOTE=""If you think you have provided personal information to a visher, contact the organization involved right away. If you have provided some of your banking or credit card information, contact your bank or financial institution immediately and they will advise you on what you should do"".[/QUOTE] this is where we failed and lost that much amount. I know they were out there and still calling to get a victim

 

[superman111]

But I still don't know how they got the card details and other personal account information