Identity thieves are constantly dreaming up new ways to con you into sharing your personal information via the telephone or
email. The best advice that can be provided to you is to always be on guard when asked for your driver's license, your social
security number, your date of birth, your credit card number or any other identifiable information. The more cautious you are
about who you choose to do business with and who you are willing to share information with, the less likely you are to be
victimized. There are many unsuspecting individuals who are too easily convinced to open their wallet or expose their information
to strangers. This means that simple questioning of a third party by you of the legitimacy of an offer or the validity of the need for
your personal information may help you avert an identity theft disaster.

Following are some of the typical telephone scams to be on the lookout for:

Pay-Per-Call Services:
A typical telephone scam involves the use of bogus collect calls. The victim accepts what he or she believes to be a legitimate collect call, but rather than an actual call from a friend or relative, the victim gets a recorded message soliciting for a so-called charity or offering some kind of service. In reality, the victim has been connected to a pay-per-call service and is charged excessive rates for information that wasn't requested.

Low Rate Credit Card Offers:
Someone calls your home offering a low credit card rate. The caller says that in order to offer the lower rate, they will need to verify the customer's current credit card account number and account information. Securing the customer's credit card account number will allow the scammer to make purchases with the card.
Using a Phone in Public Areas Take care when making telephone calls in public places such as airports, train stations, and public phone booths. Skilled identity thieves can look over your shoulder to see and record the account number and PIN number that you dial. Once these numbers are acquired, calls can be made on your account, or the numbers can be sold.

Credit Card Protection Offers:
This type of scam serves as a reminder to never give out personal information unless you have placed the call. In this scam, a caller -- who identifies him/herself as a representative of the consumer's credit card company - offers a new credit card protection service (presumably to help protect you from Identity Theft!) The catch is that you'll need to provide all of your credit card account information in order to get the service.

Investment Scams:
The phone rings and on the other end is someone claiming to represent an investment firm. They ask if you're interested in the stock market and go on to say that they have an exciting tip for you. The surgical tubing market is big right now they say. And for only $100 you can cash in on the investment of the moment. An investment of only $100 can return hundreds of dollars, but you have to act now; all they need is your credit card number to get started.

Advanced Fee Loans:
In this telephone scam, someone calls claiming to represent an organization (such as a bank or other financial institution) that offers low rate loans. The caller suggests to the victim that their offices are in various U.S. States. The catch is that an advanced fee is required to receive the low rate loan. Once the advanced fee is paid, the actual loan is never paid out to the consumer.

War Related Charities:
The Better Business Bureau web site warns consumers to be wary of appeals that are long on emotion and short on what the war related charity will be doing to assist the U.S. troops, their families, or relief needs in the country of the conflict. If you're suspicious, check out the charity with the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance web site to find out if a national charity meets the 20 voluntary Alliance charity standards, or with the local Better Business Bureau web site if the inquiry is about a local charity.

Fake Job Offers:
You see an advertisement in the newspaper or online for a great job. You call the number provided and learn that to apply you need to send in a resume that includes personal information such as your social security number.

Following are just a few of the typical email scams to be watchful of:

Donations:
Emails that tug on your heartstrings with a story of a malnourished or sick child that needs your help and requests that you send in a donation. The money ends up not being used for any charitable purpose and the sender of the email cannot be Page 1 located. Always verify that the request is coming from a trusted source, typically a non-profit organization or other organization regulated by the government.

Redirects/Viruses:
Seemingly harmless emails that lure you into either (a) entering a web site that requires information such as your name, email address or telephone number before allowing entrance or (b) unleashes a virus that searches your hard drive for personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers, account numbers, etc. See Security Software Suggestions for more information about viruses.

Opt Out:
Unsolicited emails that provide you with a link to request that your email address be removed from their direct marketing list, but the act of opting out of the list only verifies to the sender that your email address is legitimate which ensures more unsolicited email in the future.

Fake Offers:
Emails that provide offers of products or services that seem too good to be true and request your name and credit card information or sometimes even a personal check to pay for a non-legitimate purchase.

Impersonation:
Emails that purport to be from a valid company you have done business with that request your information for seemingly legitimate purposes. Recent examples are emails that purport to be from a company's customer service department that request each user's password because of a server crash or emails from a company's billing department requesting the recipient's credit card number because of a computer database problem. These scam artists use the ability to modify the “From” field of an email to trick you into believing in the sender's authority and validity of the purpose of the email. A typical scam of this type occurs as follows: you receive an official-looking e-mail stating that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) account information needs to be updated or that the credit card you signed up with is invalid or expired and the information needs to be re-entered to keep your account active. Before responding to such a request, check with your ISP via telephone to make sure they sent the email.

Petitions:
Emails that request your name and address be added to the bottom of an email strand for the purpose of signing a petition regarding a particular cause. The addresses are then only used for marketing purposes without your consent.

Pyramids:
Emails that masquerade as legitimate opportunities to earn money via illegal pyramid schemes. A pyramid scheme is an organization in which the members obtain their monetary benefits from recruiting of new members to the organization, but not on selling any goods or services. The members typically have to pay a fee to join, but never recoup any rewards.

Online Donations:
Before deciding to contribute online, find out as much as you can about the charity and be aware of certain red flags. For example, after clicking on the link to “donate” pay special attention to the charity's URL. Be wary if the URL has changed, is hidden, or is not familiar to you. Keep in mind that some charities imitate the name and style of a well-known organization in order to confuse people.

Bogus Order Confirmation:
In this scam, you receive an email that says something to the effect of, “This is to confirm your order. You order will be shipped next week, and the cost for your item will appear on your next VISA bill. If you have any questions about this order please call (809) XXX-XXXX.” But you have not placed an order with this company so you call the number provided to remove the charge from your card. The call you've made is actually to a pay-per-call service and you will be charged an exorbitant amount for the call, and you may be asked to confirm your credit card number in the process. However,the purpose of the scam is to make money from the phone call.