Identity Theft

Tips on How to Identify Scam or Fraud

If the email, phone call, prize or lottery notification has any of the following elements, we strongly suggest it is probably a fraud and you do not respond to it. Below are some general tips to recognize scams:

The name of the company is listed on this website somewhere as a scam.
The email matches one of the definitions or formats on this website.
The organization has no website and can not be located in Google.
The email or requestor asks for bank account information, credit card numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, your mother's maiden name or other personal information.
The email or caller advises that you have won a prize - but you did not enter any competition run by the prize promoters.
The email claims you won a lottery (we know of NO legal lottery that notifies winners by email)
The mail may be personally addressed to you but it has been posted using bulk mail - thousands of others around the world may have received the exact same notification. Especially true if you find an exact or similar email posted on this website.
The return address is a yahoo, hotmail, excite.com or other free email accounts. Legitimate companies can afford the roughly $100 per year that it costs to acquire and maintain a domain and related company email account.
The literature contains a lot of hype and exaggerations, but few specific details about costs, your obligations, how it works, etc.
The prize promoters ask for a fee (for administration, "processing", taxes, etc.) to be paid in advance. A legitimate lottery simply deducts that from the winnings!
The scheme offers bait prizes that, if they are real, are often substandard, over-priced, or falsely represented. Or, as part of the prize you can purchase "exclusive items" which may also be over-priced or substandard.
To get your prize might require travel overseas at your own cost (and personal risk) to receive it.

What to do if you've given your personal information to a scammer

Everyone makes a mistake once in a while, so let's assume you fell for one of the scammer's cons, and gave him your social security number, a fax of your passport, a credit card number, etc. What do you do now to prevent further damage, such as identity theft?

What should I do if I think my identity has been stolen or compromised?

If you think your identity may have been stolen, here's what to do now:

Do not communicate with the scammers! They are dangerous criminals. You can be physically injured and even killed by fraud criminals. Do not travel to meet them or "claim your winnings". Some people who traveled to Nigeria and South Africa been beaten, kidnapped, or murdered too bad.
Contact your bank - If you think you’re a victim of identity theft or account fraud, you should call your bank, tell them what happened and ask them to monitor for unusual activity and advice whether you should close the account and open a new checking or savings account.
File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime. Keep a log of all conversations including date, name, phone number, the information provided and trace there E-mails to get original location of there Location/country.
Obtain new identity documents - If you sent your passport number or faxed a copy of it to the scammers, or done the same with your driver's license or other government documents, obtain a new document - be sure to explain what happened, so they cancel your old one and give you a new number. Call the Social Security Administration and all creditors with whom you have accounts to let them know you have been the victim of identity theft.
If you have seen unauthorized charges: Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
Stay current with new scams as the emerge, so you don't have this happen again

Source: Consumer Fraud Reporting