Stay Safe
Posts Tagged ‘scammer’
I understand your worry. My identity was stolen after accessing just one of these fake job sites.
If you have provided ANY personal details, particularly your SSN, you are at a VERY high risk of identity theft. What does that mean though?
If your identity is stolen, criminals will be able to take out credit cards, loans and finance in your name. It can be incredibly difficult even with very sympathetic help from the authorities to overcome this. Sadly this is also something you are likely to need to live with for quite some time, as the effects of this intrusion onto your credit report may be felt a long time after the scammer has been locked out.
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Me Too!
Its not that hard to be taken in by the promise of a good and well paid job – I mean that’s part of the American Dream right??
Here is what you should do:
- Save all messages and site addresses.
- Submit all information to https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov – this will report the scam and the spam all in one nice location.
- Check your computer to see if the scammer has infected it – remember you DO NOT need to have installed a program to become infected. Read this page for full information on the threat facing you and the solution: http://www.besafeonthe.net/help-i-think-my-computer-is-infected-by-scammers-viruses DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOUR CURRENT ANTIVIRUS WOULD HAVE DETECTED A THREAT.
- Fix any indicated problems
- If you provided the scammer with ANY personal information – I strongly suggest you read the following page, as failing to do so, could quite literally open your bank account: http://www.besafeonthe.net/help-i-think-my-identity-may-have-been-stolen
You should also get one of your free credit reports – these are available directly from the government – PLEASE DONT BE SCAMMED BY NON OFFICIAL SITES AND SERVICES. You can request three credit reports a year 100% for free and without entering any billing information from http://www.annualcreditreport.com this is the official FTC approved site.
Good luck – I can only hope that an inept scammer contacted you, as the proficient ones, like the one that got me, can take everything.
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Its VERY common where you receive a fake job response that links to a website, that this website will attempt to install whats known as malware on your computer. Malware basically means software that is designed to compromise your computer. THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS THREAT. Common uses for malware will involve gaining complete access and control over your computer, typically your computer will then be used for spam, fraud, criminal, and most worryingly terrorist purposes. It allows the scammer to masquerade on the Internet as you. Its also increasingly common for these scammers to install whats known as a keylogger – this records everything you type; SSN, Credit Card Numbers, Bank Logins, Web Passwords and so on.