The Identity Theft Warriors

Nick Paras joined us to explains how to protect your Android phone/tablet. Hackers/identity thieves never sleep. We keep all sorts of valuable information on our phones and it's very scary to think that all of your data that you keep near and dear to you could be stolen in an instant. If things go really bad you need a current back-up so you can restore them and get your phone running quickly and properly.

The fraudsters are out there trying to get your password info so they can uncover other sites where you're using the same password. Heather says that you should use a different password for every site you subscribe to. That's truly the only way you can stay safe. Remember human psychology is always in play, you're either avoiding pain or you're seeking pleasure. The fraudsters capitalize on this by threatening dire consequences if you don't click that button or make that call or give out your credit card number. Fear is a much better motivator than pleasure because it taps into the survival instinct.

Heather Wagenhals has always had a particular revulsion against

scammers who exploit the elderly and the ignorant and steal their

money, often their life's savings. Now Heather is compiling a list

of scams around the country. She's put herself onto so-called

"Sucker Lists," and is being voluntarily inundated with scammers.

She records their calls and the phone number they're calling from,

along with any suspect websites. Then she pushes them out on the

web as warning to the unsuspecting. Scammers beware, there's a new

sheriff in town!

Heather Wagenhals has always had a particular revulsion against scammers who exploit the elderly and the ignorant and steal their money, often their life's savings. Now Heather is compiling a list of scams around the country. She's put herself onto so-called "Sucker Lists," and is being voluntarily inundated with scammers. She records their calls and the phone number they're calling from, along with any suspect websites. Then she pushes them out on the web as warning to the unsuspecting. Scammers beware, there's a new sheriff in town!

Ransomware seems to be springing up all over. Imagine you're working on your computer one and find out that someone has encrypted your data and is demanding a Bitcoin payment to give you the key to unlock it. It's not just businesses that it's happening to, individuals are getting hit now too. Your best bet is to backup early and often. Then you should be able to get out of it with your data intact. Remember, backup early and often! Two backups minimum, local and a cloud backup service.

Imagine an 18 year old posing as a doctor and he actually makes house calls. Luckily he was just posing as a holistic doctor. He was enterprising, and while he was visiting a "patient's" home and help himself to her credit cards and check book and borrowed over $35,000. A case of impersonation and identity theft. The perpetrator of this crime is now under psychiatric observation as this was not his first offense. Remember, just because someone has a white jacket and calls himself doctor doesn't make it so!

Just when you thought it was safe to boot your hard drive here comes ransomware. Hackers have figured out how to use encryption to lock up your computer and make the contents inaccessible without a password and then hold your data ransom until you make an extortion payment. This recently happened to a hospital in South Florida and they were shut down for weeks and had to revert back to paper records until they finally gave in and made the payment. Be certain there are no back doors on your computer, change your passwords regularly and be sure not to click any links you're not sure of. And don't open any suspicious email, ever!

James Munton, noted author and authority on Cons, both online and personal, says that you need to be careful about your children's identity. Besides the usual assortment of predators, identity thieves have recently taken to getting children's social security numbers, establishing credit profiles and then ripping off banks and credit grantors. The problem is that you and your children won't find out until it's too late. Often the victim only discovers the identity theft after applying for a student loan or auto financing. And then it's too late! James gives some common sense tips to avoid this outcome.

Just when you thought it was safe to eat your Big Mac, we find out that identity thieves have been breaching fast food company credit card systems. The new chip card reading systems aren't working in many stores. As a result identity theft is continuing unabated. Heather said that the effort to be backward compatible, rather than simply replacing the existing system has been at the root of these problems.

Morgan Wright is an internationally recognized authority on cyberterrorism, cybersecurity, identity theft and US law enforcement. He has trained over 2,000 law enforcement officers in the investigation of computer crime, including one year training the FBI on internet investigations. Morgan taught behavioral analysis interviewing at the National Security Agency, and is a contributing author to the 4th Edition Computer Security Handbook. He gives you sound advice to avoid becoming an identity theft victim.