Thursday, October 25, 2012

Faxing Away Identity



The concept of fax machines has been around since the mid-19th century. While they existed in one form or another through the mid-20th century, they weren’t widely adopted until the 1970’s. In recent years, the graphical devices have taken on another role – that of borrowing your identity for nefarious purposes.

Letters have appeared in the trays of office fax machines that vaguely describe a mutually beneficial business proposal. The text identifies a situation where the offspring of a very wealthy leader requires help to gain access to an extremely large inheritance. The reader is urged to provide personal information so remove the money can be routed through them in order for the offspring to gain access to the cash. The money would then be shared by both parties.

The only thing shared between the target of this scam and the con artist is a one way ticket to trouble. The perpetrators of this scam will take the identities they acquire and use them to their own financial benefit. Victims will spend countless hours afterward gluing together the pieces of their good names. Don’t let this happen to you.

As with all scams, awareness is the key to prevention. Some of the questions asked in this particular scam include:

-         Name(s) in full
-         Residential address
-         Home number
-         Mobile number
-         E-mail address
-         Marital status
-         Date of birth
-         Name of employer
-         Position held

A scammer can cause a lot of harm with this information, so keep it guarded at all times.

What other facsimile scams have you received?

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