July 2012

Identity Theft: What To Do, What To Know

Do you know what to do if your identity is stolen?  What steps can you take to protect your identity?  Knowing what to do is important because an identity thief can hijack your tax refund, alter your medical records, prevent you from getting credit or a job, and even borrow money in your child's name.

Lottery Fraud: If You Have To Pay, You Didn’t Win

The pitch is simple. You receive a call from a foreign lottery announcing that you have won money, a car and other prizes. The caller tells you that you entered a contest: a form you submitted in the mail, or on the internet, or while shopping. You have won, but you must pay taxes, insurance and other up-front fees in order to get your prize into the United States. Despite several payments totaling thousands of dollars, you never receive the prizes promised to you.

Blog Topic: Avoid Scams

Tips for Yahoo! Users

In light of recent news that a Yahoo! service was hacked and some 400,000 usernames and passwords for Yahoo! and other companies were stolen, OnGuardOnline.gov offers the following tips:

An Internet Knock-off

Thanks to some malware that’s been around since last year, but that the FBI believes is still affecting more than 60,000 computers in the U.S., some people could find out on Monday that they no longer have internet access. If that happens, you’ll need to get help from your service provider to get back online.