Account Verification Scams

The Scam
Also known as Phisher scams, these identity thieves register domain names very similar to the website names used by your credit card and other companies you may be dealing with. Many times the domain name will include the name of the company in its url but will add a "-accounts" or something similar. These identity thieves will then send out millions of emails asking you to verify your account information or your SSN. This kind of identity theft is blatant and obvious to most but when you consider that they are approaching millions of users with this scam, even if a small percentage of unsuspecting victims respond, they are able to acquire loads of private information.

They may want you to login through a link in the email which will send you to a page that is almost identical to the one you are used to. Be warned that if you do, you have given them your user name and password. Some of the companies that are and have been targeted by identity theft are: AOL, MSN, Earthlink,PayPal, Discover Card, Bank of America, Providian and many more.

The Solution
Prevention is the key to this type of identity theft scam. Never respond directly to any email received that requires you to give out or verify account information. Do not even request to be removed from their list. If you do receive an email that you think is not a scam to try and get your personal information, contact that company directly by phone or email using the contact information that you already have and not the one provided in the email.

In this type of identity theft scam, they cannot get your personal information unless you give it to them.

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