Thoughts from Chief Sjolander... When smart phones are used for bad deeds... Weve all heard about the problems that occur when so called smart phones are used for some not so smart things like inappropriate photos and texts, but I wanted to visit about another use that some might not know about. Imagine you have some friends over and they bring some friends along that you dont know. All is going well and life is good, until you start getting notices and phone calls from your bank telling you that you are overdrawn, and have maxed out your credit cards. You start getting notices about purchases you never made and it appears your identity has been stolen. You look in your purse or wallet and all your cards are there. You do a very good job of shredding your mail and you have some of the hardest passwords around. So how did they get your information. They took photos of it. Where is your wallet or purse at now? Is it on the kitchen table, hanging on a chair, on a dresser, or sitting in your unlocked vehicle...Criminals will look for your wallet or purse, open it up, take photos of whats in there and use the information to steal your identity or make purchases on line. It just takes a moment for someone pick up your purse or wallet, duck into your bathroom, take the photos they need, and put the item back where they found it. They will get your full name, date of birth, address, card numbers, security codes off the back of the cards, and in some cases, your social security number if you leave that in there as well. What about that person you met somewhere and brought them back to your place, or maybe you went to theirs. How well do you know them? Is it possible that they went through your property and took some information when you were not looking. Do you leave your purse or wallet in a break room at work, are your co-workers honest? We hope so, but lets face it, some are not. If any of this sounds like it could happen to you, please take some steps to help protect yourself. We cant stop everything bad from happening, but by making sure we know our personal information is in a safe location, and we have a good idea of who is around us, we can hopefully reduce some of the dangers we all face. PS...if you have a smart phone, make sure you use the security password feature it came with. A lot of people keep card numbers, etc. on their phones and if left unlocked and unattended, the same information can be taken from your phone as well. Stay safe, Lee
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 17:28:02 +0000
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