Government Records Stop wasting your time and start tracking down your desired information.

Former ID thief offers advice to consumers

Want to know how to be a better credit card thief? Just ask anyone who’s been there.

Dan DeFelippi, 29, was convicted of credit card fraud and identity theft in 2004, and he warns consumers that when it comes to preventing this type of theft, you can’t be too careful.

DeFelippi mostly made fake credit cards with actual credit card information, which he purchased online. He created fake IDs to accompany the credit cards, and then purchased expensive items like laptops, which he sold on eBay. Although he was caught and convicted, he still says credit card fraud is “ridiculously easy to do.”

DeFelippi was facing eight years in prison, but made a plea bargain in which he agreed to community service and $200,000 in restitution. He also worked for the U.S. Secret Service, helping them infiltrate the online underground and training agents in the latest fraud techniques.

His help has led to the arrest of nearly 15 people. He’s now working as a Web developer at a graphic design company in Rochester, N.Y.

DeFelippi says he got his start in junior high, doing “innocent hacking.” He wasn’t trying to make money; he just wanted to see what he could get away with. In college, to make extra money, be began making fake IDs. He also participated in online chat rooms where people talked about identity theft, and that’s where he found he could make money with little effort.

The former thief said he bought credit card data online. The magnetic stripe found on the back of every card, contains account data. DeFelippi said there are people who work at nothing but hacking into the computers where valuable data is stored. He also says that there are servers in restaurants who also skim the data and sell it online. He paid $10 to $50 for information from one card. Then he used an encoder to put the data on a fake card, which used to purchase things.

DeFelippi recommends that people do not use their debit cards, since they’re tied to your bank account.

He warns consumers to be careful when shopping online, saying that it’s easy for criminals to create a fake online store, and they do so to collect credit card information. He advises consumers to stick to reputable sites that have have reviews.

He warns that if a company you’ve never heard of is sending you an ad through email, don’t buy anything from them.

With LifeLock, if you ever do fall victim to identity theft while on LifeLock’s watch, you won’t have to go it alone. LifeLock offers a $1 Million Total Service Guarantee, which means that LifeLock will spend up to $1 million to make things right.

 

 

Technorati Tags: id theft, identity theft, LifeLock

Posted under Miscellaneous Content

Identity theft or ID theft refers to a criminal offense in which a thief steals critical information of an individual that includes a Social Security number and a driver’s license number. If an identity thief is able to obtain such crucial information, he can start to pretend to be another person. Stolen information may be used to obtain money, services or goods under a victim’s name, which is a reason you should use protection against identity theft.

Pretending to be someone else for immigration or other purposes can take place in cases where an identity thief has been supplied with fake documents through the crime of ID theft. One of the largest identity theft issues is that more often than not, crimes committed by a criminal are usually ascribed to the the individual who had been victimized.

True name ID theft and account takeover are the 2 main kinds of identity theft. With true name identity theft, the identity thief uses another individual’s private data in order to obtain new accounts. Such accounts include a checking account to get blank checks, new charge card account or a mobile telephone service.

Account takeover, on the other hand, is a type of ID theft in which an identity thief makes use of private data that has been stolen and is used to get access to another individual’s banking accounts. Quite often, the criminal will take advantage of the illegally obtained data to be able to purchase additional goods and at the same time changes the victim’s billing address so that the victim never sees the bills with fraudulent charges.

Since no real verification is performed when purchasing online, criminals are finding it easy to buy items online. All that is required is just the credit card information and they are good to go. Another excellent example why you should use a best identity theft protection.

Some identity thieves hack databases to obtain personal data. ID theft of this kind, however, is not frequently done unlike the well known techniques such as looking at a person while making a financial transaction or going through the trash for some receipts.

You should always be aware when filling out forms with a lot of personal information at the Department of Motor Vehicles or other places. There are criminals waiting to obtain your personal data which often times leads to ID theft. Invest in a protect identity product and protect yourself today!

Technorati Tags: id theft, identity theft

Posted under Miscellaneous Content