Petaluma, CA - Local aspiring entrepreneur, Dave Todson, was watching TV one late night when he saw a potential business opportunity.  He saw a commercial for LifeLock, that company where the CEO is constantly giving out his social security number.  Dave did a bit a research and learned that the CEO has a shady past but is now raking in the bucks by selling for $120 per year a service that you can perform yourself.

Dave then devised his own strategy for major success.  He got his family to invest $6000 in his business idea.  He then formed “BankLock”, a service aimed at protecting your bank account.  He then rented a moving truck and launched his advertising campaign. 

Needless to say, this story is farcical.  This company is bred on fear and is offering an expensive service that does little actual work.  In fact, the CEO was a victim of identity theft recently for $500.  The thief used his social security number at a check cashing place.  They don’t require a credit check, thus avoiding his “service”.   

Effective Oct. 31, 2007, all three major credit bureaus will offer credit freezes to any individual who requests one.

A credit freeze, in effect, places an electronic padlock on your credit report.  No one can review your credit report until you remove the padlock.  A credit freeze eliminates identity theft at its source—the ability of a criminal to obtain credit fraudulently.

Read more about this new tool here
http://nestmannblog.sovereignsociety.com/2007/10/freeze-out-iden.html

Be safe,
Ray

Sorry about the eye-catching headline, but this is an easy tool to help you react to potential identity theft.

Don’t photocopy your ass literally, but do consider taking five minutes at work one day and photocopy your wallet’s contents.

Simply take every piece of plastic and copy both sides. that way, should there ever be a lost credit card or god forbid, a lost wallet, you have records of every card, card number and support number in one place. It’s a huge time-saver and could be the difference in repairing $400 of lost credit as opposed to $1000s.

Be safe,
Ray

Sorry, I didn’t intend to write an article today (or this early), but I just got another “cute” email from a family member. I think this one had funny pictures of wood or ugly babies or an internet hug or something I couldn’t get through the day without. They feel like it would be appreciated by me so I don’t yell at them.

What they didn’t do: Make my day

What they did do: They just gave my name to spammer

What do I mean? Well, good email collectors (by good, I mean bad guys who are good at what they do) create these “viral” emails and send them to a seed list. then, like the old Prell commercial, they tell two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on. The next thing you know, there is a email out there with hundreds and hundreds of very valid email addresses, including mine (yet I’ve done nothing to put my info out there except given family members my info). These emails are incredibly valuable tools to true spammers (not just annoying ones, but often dangerous ones)

So what can you do? I suggest three things to help you in this battle:

1. Forward this URL to anyone in your life who sends you these emails. It’s tough to say STOP, but this article might shine some light on these emails for them. It’s a very polite way to say STOP….please!
2. If you feel that you absolutely must send one of these emails, send it to yourself and blind CC the people you want to send it to. This let’s you share email without compromising your friends.
3. Lastly and most importantly, forward this email to 10 friends in the next 10 minutes and receive good luck for a year

Be safe,
Ray