Old School Identity Theft is Back

Javelin Strategy & Research, a San Francisco based company, released their survey results on identity theft. They have concluded that financial institutions have improved online security measures and a result is identity theft increasing via snail mail and the telephone.

Identity theft originating through in-store and online fraud is declining, while similar fraud originating in the mail and with telephone purchases increased from 3 percent, to 40 percent.

Some additional statistics include:

In 2007 there were 8.1 million Americans victimized by identity theft, as compared to 8.4 million the year before.

In 2007 the cost of identity theft fell to $45 billion, as compared to $51 billion the year before.

The average cost to resolve identity theft problems on the consumers part rose to $691 in 2007, as compared to $554 the year before.

The most frequent sources for identity theft include:
33% - loss/theft of a wallet, check or credit card
23% - in-store, mail or telephone purchases
17% - use of confidential information by relatives, friends, and in-home employees
8% - computer viruses, spyware and hackers
7% - data breaches and
6% - stolen paper mail

Tax scams are increasing not only because of the tax season is upon us, but also because of the proposed economic stimulus package and the potential for additional tax rebates. But the stimulus package isn't even approved yet. Still, when a person gets an email or telephone call and believes they can get something for nothing, they may provide that confidential information such as a SSN or bank account number. After all, they've been hearing about this in the news.

Here is a copy of an email. Most people wouldn't fall for this. What tax refunds are triggered on a credit card? Well, a credit card may have been used to e-file a tax return so there is a relationship. The IRS and MasterCard won't use a gmail account. It is an obvious fake, but these scams continue because they work.

Your employees and customers need to be aware of these scams.

====================================================================================

Notification of Tax Refund on your VISA or MasterCard Now


Dear Citizen:

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $203.59.
Please submit the tax refund request and allowus 6-9 days in order to process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here :

http://xrl.us/bfd7m


> For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
> Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated


Regards,
Internal Revenue Service


*************************************************
Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A.
*************************************************