The Federal Trade Commission warned marketers of six mobile applications that provide background screening apps that they may be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC warned the apps marketers that, if they have reason to believe the background reports they provide are being used for employment screening, housing, credit, or other similar purposes, they must comply with the Act.

The companies that received the letters are Everify, Inc., marketer of the Police Records app, InfoPay, Inc., marketer of the Criminal Pages app, and Intelligator, Inc., marketer of Background Checks, Criminal Records Search, Investigate and Locate Anyone, and People Search and Investigator apps.

According to the FTC, some of the apps include criminal record histories, which bear on an individual’s character and general reputation and are precisely the type of information that is typically used in employment and tenant screening.

“If you have reason to believe that your background reports are being used for employment or other FCRA purposes, you and your customers who are using your reports for such purposes must comply with the FCRA,” the letters say.

The FCRA is designed to protect the privacy of consumer report information and ensure that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is accurate. Consumer reports are communications that include information on an individual’s character, reputation, or personal characteristics and are used or expected to be used for purposes such as employment, housing or credit.

Under the FCRA, operations that assemble or evaluate information to provide to third parties qualify as consumer reporting agencies, or CRAs. Mobile apps that supply such information may qualify as CRAs under the Act. CRAs must take reasonable steps to ensure the user of each report has a ‘permissible purpose’ to use the report; take reasonable steps to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information conveyed in its reports; and provide users of its reports with information about their obligations under the FCRA. In the case of consumer reports provided for employment purposes, for example, CRAs must provide employers with information regarding their obligation to provide notice to employees and applicants of any adverse action taken on the basis of a consumer report.

According to the letters, the agency has made no determination whether the companies are violating the FCRA, but encourages them to review their apps and their policies and procedures to be sure they comply with the FCRA.

To Read Post at FTC

The Internal Revenue Service has issued its annual “Dirty Dozen” tax scams list, reminding taxpayers to use caution during tax season to protect themselves against a wide range of schemes ranging from identity theft to return preparer fraud.

The Dirty Dozen listing, compiled by the IRS each year, lists a variety of common scams taxpayers can encounter at any point during the year. But many of these schemes peak during filing season as people prepare their tax returns.

Illegal scams can lead to significant penalties and interest and possible criminal prosecution. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division works closely with the Department of Justice to shut down scams and prosecute the criminals behind them.

1. Identity Theft: Tax fraud with fake claims increased over 400% in 2011 topping the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list of tax scams.
2. Phishing
3. Return Preparer Fraud
4. Hiding Income Offshore
5. “Free Money” from the IRS & Tax Scams Involving Social Security
6. False/Inflated Income and Expenses
7. False Form 1099 Refund Claims
8. Frivolous Arguments
9. Falsely Claiming Zero Wages
10. Abuse of Charitable Organizations and Deductions
11. Disguised Corporate Ownership
12. Misuse of Trusts

You can learn more about the ‘Dirty Dozen’ at the IRS.

A new Zeus variant has the attention of security experts – not because of its sophistication, but because of its automation.

Named Ice IX, this new malware targets online banking users’ login and passwords, but the ultimate aim is telephone numbers.

Trusteer’s Amit Klein, in a blog about Ice IX, says the phone numbers have proven more valuable than the online banking credentials, because they provide avenues for fraud that go undetected. With stolen numbers, fraudsters can reroute transaction verification from the bank, ultimately bypassing two-factor authentication.

Read more in Tracy Kitten’s blog.

The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 has been a half decade in the making as threats against government and private IT systems intensify.

You can read more at Bank Info Security.

You are less likely to be scammed when you give locally.

by Holly O’Driscoll

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

“People who work together will win, whether it’s against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”

“The leader can never close the gap between his self and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert.”

“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”

Super Bowl XLVI

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots did not get to the Super Bowl because of efforts of one player. They got there by the efforts of each person in the organization – from the owner to the janitor. It wasn’t just the head coach, the quarterback or the defensive line. It took a collective effort by everyone keeping their eye on a collective goal – to win the Super Bowl.

What if the janitor missed cleaning a slippery spot in the locker room and the ‘star’ player slipped and broke his arm? What if the I.T. guy left a hole open in the firewall and the other team read the ‘game plan’? What if one player was always complaining? That one little piece of the puzzle could (would?) give the game to the other team.

Your Team

Do you care about quality work from everyone? Do you let a few negative employees sour the company culture? Do you tolerate abusive customers yelling at your people? Do you spend most of your time with the sales people who are not making quota, or with your super stars? Are the people who are not pulling their weight, pulling down your best people?

You want the best person you can find at every position to have a winning team.

Foolish Leadership

The first time I took my grand-daughter fishing we did not catch any fish. We did not even get a nipple, but we did have fun. That night sitting watching the camp fire she asked, “Why didn’t we catch anything.” I answered, “Must be everyone else has caught the dumb fish and only the smart fish are left.” Being five she agreed and now she always says before each fishing trip, “Hope this lake has some dumb fish.”

Phishers are looking for the dumb phish. Be a smart phish and don’t click on any message or link in an email, Facebook post or Instant Message asking for personal information. Don’t click the link in any message. Always go to your online accounts via favorites or by typing the link. Remember legitimate companies do not ask for personal information via email.

Wikipedia: “Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail spoofing or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one.”

FTC How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam: “If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply. And don’t click on the link in the message, either. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization mentioned in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company’s correct Web address yourself. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser — phishers can make links look like they go to one place, but that actually send you to a different site.”

FBI on Spear Phishing: “Targets select groups of people with something in common—they work at the same company, bank at the same financial institution, attend the same college, order merchandise from the same website, etc. The e-mails are ostensibly sent from organizations or individuals the potential victims would normally get e-mails from, making them even more deceptive.”

FTC Phishing Scam Quiz

OnGuardOnline Phishing Advice

FDIC Phishing Scam Information

Scam Alert: Email Posing as BBB Laced with Malware

Danger of shortened URLs

Don’t be too quick to click. Be the smartest phish in the lake.

A SSN that has never been used is gold for thieves, since there is no connection between TransUnion, Experian, Equifax and Innovis to the Social Security Administration. The first time a SSN, Child’s name and birthday are connected together, at the Credit Reporting companies, is with the first application for credit. The thieves are taking advantage of these holes in the system by combining Child Identity Theft and Synthetic Identity Theft. They combine the child’s SSN with a different name and birthday. The birthday usually makes the ‘new’ person between 18 and 22 years old. Every day young adults apply for their first credit – cards, cell phone, apartment, department store credit. The Credit Reporting companies expect to create hundreds of new accounts every day and most of them are legal.

The FTC reports:

• A child is 51 times more likely to have their identity stolen than an adult.
• 1 in 10 children will have their identity stolen.
• The majority of Child Identity Theft is by organized crime.
• A credit report will NOT discover if a child’s Social Security Number is being used for credit.

A standard credit check does not discover the theft of a child’s credit because it needs to have a match of the name, birth date and Social Security number. Since the thief is only using the child’s SSN to create a synthetic fictitious identity, the parent does not have the name or birth date used by the thief. Consequently the bureaus report “No Record Found”. Therefore, only 1% of child identity theft is found with a credit report.

There must be a search of the child’s SSN in the “Credit Header Data” which is the non-financial, identifying information located at the top of a credit report, such as name, current and prior addresses, telephone number, and Social Security number. When a parent adds “Safe Guard for Children” to their LegalShield Identity Theft Shield protection Kroll, Inc. does the required Credit Header Data investigation. Kroll is an investigation and risk consulting firm established in 1972. They are experts in privacy security, offering best-in-class solutions and experience to resolve data breach events and renowned for its legacy of investigative and forensics experience. If their Credit Header Data search finds that a child’s SSN is being used, their licensed investigators fix the problem at no additional cost.

Start educating your children today. Check their Social Security Number now, but no later than age 16. Give yourself at least two years to get their identity cleared before they apply to a college. They will be turned down, if they are a victim. Please keep your child’s future secure!

My 1997 Pontiac Bonneville SE’s air conditioning died at the end of last summer and it isn’t just a recharge to fix the problem. The fix is more than the value of the car, so a new or new used car is in my future like thousands of car owners.

Car dealerships are a hot bed of Identity Thieves. I have lost track of how many clients and readers who think their Identity was stolen at a car dealership – usually a used car lot.

Clark Howard: Do not apply for a car loan through the dealership!

Not only will you pay a higher interest rate, but you will be giving you Social Security number to them. I have seen applications for car loans setting in a stack on a salesman’s desk. I doubt the dealership runs background checks on the service department, receptionist or cleaning staff.

What you need to do:

Get your free credit reports from at least one of the major credit bureaus: AnnualCreditReport.com.

Get preapproved for your loan at your bank or credit union. You will save money and avoid giving your Private Personal Information to a high risk Identity Theft source.

Freeze your credit after you get the loan.

Consider a monitoring service like Identity Theft Shield.

New scam warning for online car buyers: “A bogus eBay buyer protection program is being invoked by criminals pretending to sell cars on Craigslist.”

Crooks use Edmunds name in car scam: Edmunds.com has had its good name and logo ripped off by con artists trying to sell cars through a bogus purchase protection program that doesn’t exist.

Clark Howard of CNN says in his Credit Freeze and Thaw Guide, “Credit freezes are one of the most effective tools against economic ID theft available to consumers.”

Do you check your credit report from each of the four credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union & Innovis) annually to look for errors and evidence of identity theft?

Don’t let your Identity pay for a thief’s new car.