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scotslassie

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I've just returned from visiting a friend who was a victim of Identity Theft. Her and her husband's bank accounts were emptied, £25,000 of goods bought on "their" credit cards, and a weekend break at a luxury hotel booked and paid for. The fraud investigation team (the police were involved because of the amount) took her laptop away to examine it and after a week told her it was not Online Banking or Online shopping to blame but they were 90% certain it was a forum she was a member of. She has now been told (a bit late) never to put a photo of herself on anything, especially a head and shoulder one as these criminals are taking the photos and putting them on i.d. cards and selling them. Also not to disclose her date of birth, place of birth, present location or place of work. The people who did this to her also have her N.I.No, maiden name, passwords, childrens names, ages and schools and where and when she is going on holiday. The banks have told her she will not be out of pocket because of this which is, as she says "the least of my worries now". She has had to close her accounts and re-open new ones. She is seriously thinking of cancelling her holiday. We all know that trolls come onto forums but I don't think we all realise how devious these people are. They can be on for months gathering information on their selected victim. They don't have to log on or be a member. I'm not posting this to scare people or put them off ever joining a forum but I got a wake up call today when I thought back about personal information I have made public. It's no longer a rare occurence, the police told her they are stretched to the limit with this type of crime. Also, it's no good going back and deleting stuff (as I've now done) as once it's on, it stays there, somewhere in cyberspace. I have obviously heard of i.d. theft but this is the first time I've actually met it close up and it's awful. Please be careful everyone about any info you give out no matter how trivial it seems as it all adds up. I'd hate to think of it happening to anyone on this particular forum. Take care. Zelda McWhirter, (that's my new name now - ok?)
 
Thank you Zelda. lol I will be more careful with what I disclose.
 
How scarey that is. How violated your friend must have felt. Thank you for the reminder.
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I just don't use personal pictures but I know some who want to and are computer savvy and they use a digital mixing program on the photo's they want on their profile pages that leaves the photo's viewable on a computer screen but renders them useless for that sort of identity theft duplication. It seems like a lot of work to me so I just don't use personal pictures but if any one wants the name of it, PM and I'll find out for you.
Oh yeah, sorry about your mates Zelda.
 
scarey stuff... thanks for the info and sorry about your poor friend...
 
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