Don’t Add Strangers to Your Facebook Page

I cannot stress this enough. If you don’t know a person, do not become Facebook friends with said person, even if it means you won’t end up with 500 people posting to your wall. A woman in Minnesota did just that and she ended up becoming friends with Timothy Peter Noirjean, an alleged identity thief who is accused of stealing more than 200 women’s email addresses and password information via the social networking site.

The 20-year-old woman, who has not been publicly identified, chatted with Noirjean and, during the course of the conversation, ended up divulging her password. He allegedly used this information to hack into her email and retrieve photos of her, which he then posted to an adult website. He is also accused of contacting some of her Facebook friends and sending at least one of them a link that caused her computer to crash when she clicked on it.

Noirjean identified himself as Steven Mills on the website. It sounds like a fairly innocent kind of name. At least eight women had their photos posted to the adult website without their consent, and five women had their Facebook accounts hacked and passwords changed, according to police. All of these women must have added Noirjean as a “friend” so that he could access their accounts.

This is the danger of social networking online. Since it is such an impersonal avenue of communication, a lot of people think nothing of simply adding anyone who friend requests them. You need to be more picky than that. Don’t add people that are strangers to you, and even be careful if these people are friends with your friends. You never know when one of your buddies may have added a scam artist. Never chat online with people you don’t know. You don’t know who they really are, and there is no way to be sure of their motives.

If a person you think you do know requests you, you may even want to contact that person using information you know to be correct, just to make sure that this person is who he or she is claiming to be. This is especially important for people with common names. Identity thieves don’t want to stand out and create some kind of crazy profile. It’s a lot easier to gain someone’s trust if you are able to blend in.

Kiplinger Magazine Subscribers at Risk for Identity Theft due to Hacked Credit Card Numbers

The FBI has been contacted and has an investigation underway after being notified by Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. regarding a hacking incident of their system. The data that is at risk includes names, email addresses, contact information, and credit card numbers of those who have subscribed to their magazine or newsletter.

While not all hacked accounts had credit card numbers available, many hackers will utilize contact information such as email addresses in order to send phishing emails and attempt to obtain credit card numbers or other personal information through that alternative method. This, in turn, can result in identity theft once a thief has an individual’s personal financial data.

Although Kiplinger states that the chances of identity theft are highly unlikely, it is not out of the realm of possibilities as they are not exactly sure what information the hackers obtained and how they intend to use that data. Which is why an identity theft protection service is essential in keeping your good name and avoiding damage and unauthorized activity on your financial and personal accounts.

Files from Closed Law Firm in Warren, Ohio Found Disposed in Trash Receptacle

Local police are investigating an incident in which legal files from a defunct law firm, Spain & Spain, were found dumped into a trash bin, leaving thousands of personal documents available to be found. These documents included legal court records, income earnings, and Social Security numbers of children and adults in family court filings.

An anonymous caller contacted the Tribune Chronicle to notify them of the documents in the dumpster, and they found out that the files were possibly discarded into the dumpster by the landlord of the nearby office building, the Park Place Building on 155 S. Park Avenue, after she had notified the tenants to remove all possessions from their offices.

Thousands of documents were found in the dumpster, and some date back to the 1980′s. Credit report monitoring services are essential for those who want to ensure their information is not at risk. Past clients of Spain & Spain are encouraged to watch their financial records and data closely to monitor for possible identity theft.

Medical Billing Company’s Laptop Theft Leaves 1,500 Patients Worried of Identity Theft

1,500 patients of PhyData LLC are worried about the misuse of their personal medical information after a laptop with their data was stolen from an employee’s vehicle at a local shopping mall. This theft occurred back on May 7th at the local RiverGate Mall in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

What’s at stake? Supposedly, information from companies such as Advanced Diagnostic Imaging, Premier Radiology and Anesthesia Services Associates are all at risk for identity theft, considering the information stored on the laptop included names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of patients from around the beginning of 2009 to the end of 2010. While there have been no current reports of information misuse, the company is offering free credit monitoring services to help you protect your good name, both in the medical sense and in the financial sense.

Mailing Error Leaves Personal Data Visible on Envelopes

RxAmerica and Accendo Insurance Company are in the process of contacting some 175,000 members of their benefits program to notify them of a recent possible data breach. During a recent mailing, information such as member name, ID numbers, birth dates, and medical prescriptions were visible in the window of the envelope.

While it is believed that everyone received their envelopes, the fact that the information was visible leaves all members at risk for identity theft. The companies are offering a year of credit monitoring services for all of those whose data was visible through the envelope window, and is in the process to ensure these formatting issues do not affect future mailings from the companies.

Employee Inappropriately Copies Data from California Department of Public Health Computer

An employee of the California Department of Public Health is on administrative leave after it was determined that they copied personal information of about 9,000 state employees off of the company computer and onto a personal hard drive without permission.

The information that was included in these copied files include names, birth dates, addresses, and workers’ compensation data for current and former employees of the state. As the investigation continues, the offices of Public Health have been strengthening their security safeguards. Those who feel they may be at risk are encouraged to sign up for credit monitoring services to ensure that the data will not be used inappropriately for identity theft.

Laptop Theft Leaves Little Concern for Identity Theft for 1,200 Doctor Office Patients

Foothills Nephrology in Spartanburg, South Carolina is undergoing an investigation after a company laptop was stolen from a physician’s vehicle back in April of 2011. This laptop was indeed password protected, but individuals are still concerned about the information stored on the laptop regardless of the lack of concern from the office. The data on the computer included names, birth dates, and personal medical and clinical information regarding their healthcare. The doctor’s office ensures those that Social Security numbers, personal addresses, and insurance data was not stored on this laptop.

For those with any concerns regarding this situation, they are told to call 1-888-541-1588 to speak to a security officer. Otherwise, as a more personal measure, those who may be affected can sign up for identity theft protection services on their own to make sure their personal information is safe and secure and not used inappropriately.

Stolen Laptop Leaves 43,000 at Risk of Identity Theft

A laptop stolen from an employee’s vehicle in Mansfield, Ohio leaves some 43,000 individuals at risk of identity theft. Contact information and personal health data of the Mansfield Area Agency on Aging, Inc. clients was stored on the laptop. It is unknown if the laptop’s data was encrypted or password protected.

As the investigation is underway, the Mansfield Area Agency on Aging, Inc. has been notifying its clients by postal mail about the incident, and is offering credit protection services for those affected. Those with questions regarding this situation are encouraged to call the Agency themselves at 1-800-522-5680 at extension 1234.

Cell Phones and Identity Thieves

When you get a new cell phone, what do you do with the old one? You might recycle it, you might sell it or you might throw it in the trash. Or, maybe you’ll just throw it in a drawer to worry about later. No matter which of these methods you go with, you likely soon forget about it

This is when it’s the optimum time for a thief to step in. According to Mike Newman, president of ReCellular, a company that purchases used cell phones, Americans retire 130 million cell phones a year. Even if thieves only get their hands on a small fraction of these phones, they can do some major damage.

Think about all of the things that you store on your cell phone: your name; the names, phone numbers and possibly addresses of your contacts; Web addresses; passwords … even if all the thief can get is your name and phone number, he can be in business. He can use that phone and your name to call U.S. citizens from a foreign country and make it look like he’s calling from just down the street.

To keep thieves from spending your minutes, figuratively, you don’t have to lock your old phones in a safe for all eternity. Instead, just follow the steps that your cell phone manufacturer provides to make sure you delete all of your data before you get rid of your phone. It’s not as simple as just deleting the phone numbers and the text messages.

If you need help ReCellular provides a free DataEraser search that lets you receive the instructions on how to clear your phone via email. Note that you do have to provide a first and last name, email address, carrier name and model name to get this information. If you’d rather not do that, go to the website of the manufacturer that makes your phone and call the customer service number to find out exactly what you need to do.

You can also try paying a visit to the store where you originally purchased your phone. It’s likely someone will be able to help you, especially if it means they’ll be making a sale on a new phone at the same time.

Other than that, you may want to consider purchasing an identity theft protection service to help you stay protected.

Employee of Jackson Memorial Hospital Stole Personal Information from Work

An employee that worked within the Jackson Health System has been fired and is under investigation after it was found that the employee “inappropriately accessed” financial information of 1,800 patients of the Miami, Florida hospital.

The information within the files is such that could be used for identity theft and unauthorized access to financial and personal data of the patients. While the employee that was reprimanded goes unnamed at this point, an investigation is underway as the hospital is in the process of contacting those affected and offering free credit monitoring services for extended protection.

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