Is It Possible To Stop Identity Thieves Cold?

Just look up your phone number in a popular search engine like Google and see what comes up, it used to come up with so much personal information about you and the only way to be taken off was to make a direct request to removed from their search results.They have since stopped publishing that type of information about you.They do however list a number of services that will do a reverse lookup.In simple terms, if you give these companies a phone number and a small fee, they will give the address and other information associated with that number to anyone who asks.There are any number of methods that a thief can use to obtain information about you, for example "Phishing" is a relatively new type of scam to get personal information from you, quite often these scams involve email it goes something like this.You get an email that appears to be from your bank, or other financial institution asking you to update your account information due to some sort of error (accounting etc), sometimes in order to get you to take prompt action they might even threaten to close your account if they do not receive updated information regarding your account within 5 working days.They will have a link for you to follow in the email that often will carry their name in it, so it looks authentic like [http.//www.Yourbank.Update.Freehosting.Com] every web hosting company I have seen will let you add any prefix to a web address so adding yourbank.Is easy, and if they use a free host and give false information to start the web page.As this article was being written, an email was received to update the customer information for our internet service, this is a copy of that email..Account Alert VERIFY YOUR Comcast® InternetSM ACCOUNT NOW !!!Dear Account User,.This message is from Comcast® High Speed Internet SM message center to all Comcast ® account owners.We are currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center.We are deleting all unused Comcas® account to create more space for new accounts.You are advice to verify and confirm your account details below to enable us u pgrade our Comcast® Internet Service e.G.Your Comcast E-mail, Password, and Address etc.Anyone who fails to do his or her own will automatically lost his/her own Account.Thanks for using Comcast® High Speed Internet SM.To prevent your Account from closing you will have to update it below before three days from now!You are advised to contact your technical agent with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications..Email.customer_services600@yahoo.Com.Email.services_600@comcast.Net.Confirm Your Account Details.Comcast ID..Password..Zip Code..Home Telephone..*Test Question..*Answer..Enter the letter from the Security Image Registration Verification Codehttps.//ab.Login.Yahoo.Com/i this is a free yahoo account, and has been altered to keep the link from being clicked, it is the primary method of contact>.You will be sent a new confirmation alphanumerical password so that it will only be valid during this period and can be changed after the process.Thanks for your understanding.COMCAST http.//www.Adelphia.Com/> this company was purchased by comcast Customer Service.Http.//www.Cox.Net/> this company was also purchased by comcast Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his or her account before two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.This is just one of the tricks used to gather personal information, (most of the link has been removed to keep it from being clicked) the information gathered by this email would likely be used to steal someone's email account for the purpose of spam, the sad part is that if someone responded to this type of email, chances are pretty good they would get canceled for sending unsolicited email (spam) and it would take more than a little time to get this sorted out.This email is bad enough, but it does show how someone will use any method available to gather personal information, this link is relatively harmless, if this info was provided by an unsuspecting victim it's likely the only harm would be the account would be closed for spamming, it may seem like a small thing, but they may have asked for other info on the website like a Social Security number or other information leading to Identification theft in it's ugliest form.