SCAM ALERT – AVOID TODAY’S PHISHING E-MAIL
The E-Mail to avoid is from Eric Morgan re: Your Messages. When you open it, he tells you that he is from FACEBOOK and you have unseen messages. There is a link to view them, a link to ask questions and he is even polite enough to give you a link to unsubscribe. By the way, links are words (in blue) to click on.
Pressing any off these links will download malware on your computer so DON’T. Also be aware that FACEBOOK doesn’t offer tech support.
HOW EQUIFAX DATA THEFT COULD AFFECT YOU OR YOUR KIDS WHEN BUYING A HOME
Home buyers and mortgage applicants tend to have significant information on file at the three credit bureaus and could run into complications soon or down the road.
Take this scenario: Say your Equifax file was looted but you’ve done little or nothing to detect fraudulent activity on one or more of your credit accounts. You sign a contract to buy a house, and you apply for a mortgage. The lender pulls your credit and confronts you with shocking news: Your FICO credit score is too low for you to qualify for the loan because you’ve been running up too much debt on one or more accounts. Your “utilization ratio” on your available credit is too high, and that has depressed your score. Or there’s a newly established account in your files that has put you deep in debt, even though you had nothing to do with it.
It turns out that financial thieves have been racking up thousands of dollars in debts at your expense, and now — smack in the middle of a major lifetime investment — you’re stuck with having to get the file corrected, which takes time and can be a pain. In the meantime, what happens to your purchase contract? Will the sellers bear with you, essentially putting off the transaction indefinitely and possibly blowing up their own plans to move into another house on a specific date? It could all get really messy.
Another scenario: Say your lender already has approved you for a mortgage or a home-equity loan. Before the scheduled closing, the loan officer does what has become standard practice in the mortgage industry in recent years — runs another credit check to make sure no new debts have been added since your application. But in the meantime, identity-theft criminals have created a new account or run up charges on one or more of your credit cards, knocking your debt-to-income ratio out of sight.
Today I received th following scam E-Mail from “PAYPAL regarding the fact that my credit card was about to expire and that I needed to contact them immediately to renew my card.
Several things alerted me to the fact that this was a scam. First, if my credit card was about to expire my credit card company would send me a new one well before that. Second the last four digits of the expiring card is not a card I use with Paypal. Finally, I am also sure that Paypal would never send this type of message.
Below is the E-Mail without images:
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Your card is about to expire |
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Dear Allan Pomerantz, We noticed your card ending in 9890 is about to expire. Please update your card expiration date and the card security code (CSC) as soon as possible so you can continue using it with PayPal. Be sure to activate your new card with your bank first. |
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If you haven’t received your new card yet, please save this email and click the button when you have your new card. If you’ve already updated your PayPal account with your new card information, please disregard this email.
And remember, you can always log in directly to PayPal to update your card information in the Profile or Settings areas.
Sincerely,
PayPal
WHAT TO DO ABOUT EQUIFAX HACK – UPDATED
I posted this column the day after the Equifax hack became public knowledge to help you deal with the breach as it affects you. While the advice below remains accurate, I have become aware of some issues for you to consider when deciding if it is right for you.
Here are the three updates:
This hack is a big deal despite Equifax’s ridiculous claim that their core database was not breached. The crooks have your social security number, address, driver’s license, and birth day. They don’t need anything else. They can open new accounts in your name and if they change the address you might never know they did so.
I have followed Equifax’s instructions so I can let you know what to do to receive a free year of identity theft protection and credit file monitoring product, called TrustedID Premier. Please note that EVERY Equifax customer is eligible for this service even if Equifax doesn’t know if you were hacked.
First, go to the website www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. You will need your social security number. After you enter your last name and last six digits of your SSN hit continue. That will take you to another site for enrollment. You will the receive an enrollment date and you will be told to return to the site www.equifaxsecurity2017.com ON THAT DATE to continue your enrollment. For security purposes, you will be asked to re-enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. To enroll in TrustedID Premier, you will be asked to provide additional information to verify your identity. You also will need to provide a valid email address in order to complete the process. Within a few days, you will receive an email with a link to activate TrustedID Premier. Please be sure to check your spam and junk folders if you do not receive your activation email within that time frame.
As a word of warning the scammers will be on this like a dog on a bone. So please be very wary of any E-Mails, texts, or phone calls you get from “Equifax.” ALWAYS call their 800 number to check.
Here are some other things you can do to help protect yourself:
Credit Freeze / Fraud Alert
This is the most important thing you can do. It will prevent anyone from opening credit in your name. The drawback is this includes you but you can easily turn it off temporarily with a phone call and your personal pin. There is usually a $10 charge to set it up and to suspend it but Equifax may suspend it. Even if they don’t it will be the best $10 you’ve ever spent.
The three credit bureaus and their phone numbers are:
Be Aware of Any Suspicious Activity on Your Accounts
These could be late payments on accounts you don’t have or changes to non-financial accounts.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT EQUIFAX HACK
This hack is a big deal despite Equifax’s ridiculous claim that their core database was not breached. The crooks have your social security number, address, drivers license, and birth day. They don’t need anything else. They can open new accounts in your name and if they change the address you might never know they did so.
I have followed Equifax’s instructions so I can let you know what to do to receive a free year of identity theft protection and credit file monitoring product, called TrustedID Premier. Please note that EVERY Equifax customer is eligible for this service even if Equifax doesn’t know if you were hacked.
First, go to the website www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. You will need your social security number. After you enter your last name and last six digits of your SSN hit continue. That will take you to another site for enrollment. You will the receive an enrollment date and you will be told to return to the site www.equifaxsecurity2017.com ON THAT DATE to continue your enrrollment. For security purposes, you will be asked to re-enter your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. To enroll in TrustedID Premier, you will be asked to provide additional information to verify your identity. You also will need to provide a valid email address in order to complete the process. Within a few days, you will receive an email with a link to activate TrustedID Premier. Please be sure to check your spam and junk folders if you do not receive your activation email within that time frame.
As a word of warning the scammers will be on this like a dog on a bone. So please be very wary of any E-Mails, texts, or phone calls you get from “Equifax.” ALWAYS call their 800 number to check.
Beware of Scams by Text (SMISHING)Smishing is when scammers use text messaging to lure targets into sharing credit card numbers and other personal information. The name comes from combining Short Message Service or SMS (the technology used for text messages on cell phones) with phishing. How it works:
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