Frauds and scams tend to rise around the holidays, when busy consumers are distracted or rushed. (Wellesley Consulting Services file photo)
Every holiday season a number of scams make an appearance in an effort to deprive the unsuspecting of their money and purchases. This year is no different. Here follows a quick survey of some recent well-known scams this holiday season. Continue reading
Gaddafi email scam the latest advance fee fraud (Canstockphoto)
The recent Libyan revolt which resulted in the death of its former leader, Moamar Gaddafi, and the exile of his surviving family members, has spurned an email scam similar to the infamous “Nigerian 419″ advance fee frauds.
An email hitting inboxes – or possibly only junk mail filters – around the world and purportedly sent by Mariam Gaddafi, pleads for assistance in moving $42 million in Libyan funds to a safe country, in exchange for some proceeds from the haul. Continue reading
Banks are turning to facial recognition technology to combat fraud, according to Reuters news story this week. (Stock image)
Technology that detects bank customers using false photo identification is a growing crime fighting tool, according to a Reuters news article published Monday.
File Image: Wellesley Consulting Services.
Debit card fraud is on the decline as chip technology rolls out nationwide in Canada, according to a QMI Agency report this week.
The report follows an Interac Association release on Monday which said losses to debit frauds were down 16% over the previous year to $119 million in 2010. The lower losses meant less reimbursements to customers who were victims of fraud.
Fraudsters stealing debit card information and cloning the data on to other cards is believed to be the largest group of payment card frauds. Chip-enabled debit cards specifically target this type of “skimming” fraud by making it more difficult for criminals to create clone cards.
According to the article, fraud occurs in about 0.1% of Interac’s 4 billion annual payment card transactions, which suggests debit cards are still a very secure method of payment.
Interac recommends consumers using debit cards try inserting chip-enabled cards into a chip-reading card slot first, when making retail payments. If the terminal is not chip-enabled, the user will be prompted to swipe. If the terminal is chip-enabled, it avoids an unnecessary swipe of the card’s unencrypted magnetic stripe.
Consumers should also keep a list of card numbers and the lost/stolen card contact information for each card. Although the contact numbers are on the cards, you won’t have them handy should the card be lost or stolen. Keeping the numbers handy, in a smartphone’s password vault or written in a safe place, means you can contact the issuing financial institution quickly should a card be lost.
Equifax has an app for iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad, for US customers. (Image: Equifax/Apple App store)
Owners of Apple iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices have an array of security and fraud related “apps” now available, many of which are free.
Ascendent Group has produced an app for monitoring a home or office video surveillance system, called ARMS. The app plugs in to the IP address for your streaming cameras, DVRs, or IP servers, allowing you to view your CCTV system remotely, from anywhere in the world.
Most DVRs and cameras that are Internet friendly allow for some type of interface through a regular web browser, but this app allows the user the convenience of viewing the camera system anywhere you have a WiFi or mobile phone signal, streaming directly from the source. The app also features capability for taking snapshots, and controlling PTZ camera systems.
Scanner911 is a free app that allows a user to listen to radio broadcasts from a robust list of city and regional emergency services around the world. The list of Canadian agencies alone includes 95 police, fire, ambulance and other emergency services agencies. The contributors are volunteers who connect scanners to their computer systems in order to broadcast a particular agency live over the Internet.
Because they are hobbyists, the various agencies go offline periodically. But the ability to monitor emergency services radio systems in another town or even province may have security applications, particularly for home owners on the road, or businesses with interests in various locales.
Profiler magazine also has an app, allowing convenient browsing of their current and past issues. The magazine mainly deals with health care industry fraud awareness, and recently featured articles on pharmacy fraud, medical billing fraud, and health care information security.
Equifax also has an app, with two important features: a member log-in, to view your credit information, and a location-based module called “Equifax Places”, which overlays credit scores and fraud risk by geographical area. The data for the app comes from Equifax USA, but perhaps Equifax Canada will release a similar tool in the near future.
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