Home › Blogs › smsharif's blog

Identity Theft Terms

Submitted by smsharif on Sat, 05/30/2009 - 21:52.
  • Dumpster diving - Searching through trash and recycling bins for personal information such as credit card statements, purchase recripts and income tax papers.
  • Shoulder surfing - Confidential information such as your PIN or password can be stolen by ID theives who can look over your shoulder at and ABM or POS Terminal, or when you use a public computer, your laptop, your Blackberry or other devices in public places
  • Spyware - Software that is secretly installed on home or public computers to collect personal information.  Spyware can be installed in various ways, by visiting infected websites, by downloading software or applications from the internet.
  • Phishing - ID Theives use unsolicited emails and fraudulent websites that closely resemble legitimate business sites.  The goal is to trick you into revealing personal or financial information such as usernames, passwords, account number and SSN's
  • Social Engineering/Vishing - Similar to phishing, the ID theives try to trick victims into divulging personal and financial information over the phone.  A typical call will ask for information regarding a ban or credit card account.  Another approach is an email asking you to call a number to verigy, update or confirm account information
  • Mail theft - By stealing statements and credit cards from accessible mailboxes and/or have your mail redirected to a new address
  • Other online threats
Posted in Submitted by smsharif on Sat, 05/30/2009 - 21:52.