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Scam of the day – October 6, 2021 – Bogus Debt Collector Permanently Banned from Collection Business

by | Oct 5, 2021 |

Receiving a telephone call from a debt collector is not a pleasant experience. Being hounded by someone attempting to collect a debt you do not owe is fraud. I have written many times in the past about scammers who use deceptive and abusive collections practices in attempting to collect non-existent debts.  These scammers violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by making threatening and verbally abusive phone calls, contacting third parties about the  phony debts, threatening legal action and attempting to collect debts that the scammers knew were not owed.  Last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated Operation Corrupt Collector, a joint action by the FTC and state authorities to shut down illegal debt collectors.  In the Scam of the day for October 17, 2020 I told you that the FTC obtained a Temporary Restraining Order shutting down Critical Resolution Mediation LLC’s illegal debt collection operation while legal action continued against it.  According to the FTC, Critical Resolution Mediation LLC’s employees threatened consumers with arrest, wage garnishment, revocation of drivers’ licenses and lower credit scores if they did not pay debts claimed by Critical Resolution Mediation that in many instances were never ever owed, so-called phantom debts.  The FTC also alleged that Critical Resolution LLC illegally contacted consumers at their workplace and illegally notified family members about the phony debts.  Now the FTC and Critical Resolution Mediation settled the legal action.  Pursuant to the settlement, Critical Resolution Mediation is permanently banned from the debt collection industry and must pay a fine.

TIPS

Subject to strict federal laws, legitimate debt collectors are permitted to call debtors, however, the law prohibits them from threatening imprisonment for the failure to pay a debt and attempting to collect a debt that the debt collector knows is bogus.  It can be difficult to know when someone calls attempting to collect a debt if indeed they are legitimate or not, so your best course of action if you receive such a call is to not discuss the debt with the person calling, but instead demand that they send you a written “validation notice” by regular mail which describes the debt they allege you owe and includes a listing of your rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.    In this case, Critical Resolution Mediation never supplied the validation notices as required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Never give personal information over the phone to anyone who calls you attempting to collect a debt. You can never be sure who they are. You also can check your credit report at each of the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to see if any debts which you are not aware of appear on your credit reports.  If you receive the validation notice and it appears to be legitimate, you may be better off contacting your creditor directly because the person who called you may not be representing the creditor, but may merely have information about the debt.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address in the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”

Scam of the day – October 5, 2021 – Medicare Open Enrollment Scams

by | Oct 4, 2021 |

The annual open enrollment period for Medicare will begin on October 15th and continue until December 7th.  This is the only time during the year that people enrolled in Medicare can change their Medicare health plans, Medigap plans and prescription drug plans.  By now, people already enrolled in Medicare should have received an Annual Notice of Change from their health insurance providers describing any changes to their plans such as the dropping of particular drugs from their prescription drug plan.  If you are satisfied with your plans, you do not need to do anything.

Although the Medicare open enrollment period hasn’t even begun, already scammers are hard at work on a number of different scams.   Scammers and identity thieves view the open enrollment period as senior citizen hunting season as myriads of Medicare scams are common during this time.  Seniors may be contacted by someone purporting to be from their insurance company asking them to verify information. This is a common tactic of identity thieves trying to trick their victims into providing information. They also may be contacted by people claiming to have supplemental insurance programs that will save them thousands of dollars. Here too, you cannot be sure that they are legitimate when they contact you by phone, text message, email or even regular mail.

TIPS

Never give personal information to anyone who calls you on the phone because you can never be sure who is actually on the other end of the line.  Through a technique called “spoofing,” a scammer can manipulate your Caller ID and make it appear that the call is from the government or some legitimate company when in fact, it is from an identity thief who is eager to steal your money.  If you want to get information you can trust about what insurance plans are available to you and at what cost, merely go to the “Plan Finder” section of Medicare’s website http://www.medicare.gov.  If you want to speak with someone on the phone, call Medicare at its 24 hour hotline 1-800-MEDICARE.  Your Medicare options can be quite confusing.  Fortunately, the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP) which is a national network of federally funded programs provides free Medicare counseling.  Here is a link to SHIP’s website https://www.shiptacenter.org/

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address in the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”

Scam of the day – October 4, 2021 – Malicious Apps Steal Millions from Android Users

by | Oct 3, 2021 |

There seems to be a mobile app for just about anything you could possibly want to do and scammers are quite aware of this which is why scammers have turned to malware infected apps frequently in recent years.  Recently the mobile security firm Zimperium uncovered a massive app scam affecting more than ten million people around the world who downloaded any of 200 infected apps.  The scammers managed to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from their victims through this scam.

The infected apps when downloaded would cause pop-up ads and notifications of special offers and prizes to appear on the victim’s phone.  If the victim responded to these notifications and pop ups by providing their cell phone number as requested, they would unknowingly be signing up for a premium text message service that charged $35 or more monthly.

Perhaps most troubling about this scam was that the malware infected apps were available through the Google Play store.  While Google tries to monitor the Google Play store to keep scammers out, they certainly aren’t perfect.  Upon discovering the scam, Zimperium notified Google who promptly removed the infected apps from the Google Play store, however, this scam is a warning to all of us not to blindly trust that all of the apps found in legitimate app stores are safe.

TIPS

If you have an Android phone you should check to see if you downloaded any of the infected apps.  Here is a link to the Zimperium memorandum that lists all of the 200 infected apps

GriftHorse Android Trojan Steals Millions from Over 10 Million Victims Globally

It is important to limit your downloading of apps to legitimate sources such as the Apple App Store and Google Play to avoid malware infected apps. Before downloading any app, read the reviews carefully.  While scammers will write glowing phony reviews about their apps, their reviews are usually cursory and do not provide much information.   You can also go directly to a legitimate retailers website for information about any apps they may have for their products.  Also, you can do a search on Google or other search engines using the words “fake app” along with the name of the company whose app you are interested in to see if there have been reports of problems.   Finally, make sure that you have installed security software on your phone and that it is updated with the latest security patches.

For many years I have been warning you about the dangers of cramming.  Cramming is the name for putting unauthorized third party charges on to a consumer’s telephone bill without the knowledge or approval of the consumer.  There are many ways that these unauthorized charges make their way to a victim’s phone, sometimes, consumers unknowingly sign up for premium texting services that may be for things such as flirting tips, horoscopes or celebrity gossip.  Whatever the source of the charges, they are fraudulent and typically cost about $9.99 per month, but can be as high as 24.95 and continue to appear for months without end.

In order to protect yourself from cramming you should carefully review your phone bill  each month to identify if cramming charges appeared anywhere on your bill.  These charges often appear with vague descriptions so if you don’t recognize any charge, you should contact your provider to explain the charges to you.  Sometimes the charges appear in sections of your bill labeled “miscellaneous” or “third party charges.”  Receiving unsolicited text messages is often an indication that you are a victim of cramming so if you do receive such messages, check your phone bill carefully to see if these are related to unauthorized charges.  Most cell phone carriers will allow you to block charges from third parties for free, which is a good way to avoid cramming.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – October 3, 2021 – FTC Sending Refunds to Victims of Phony Training Program Scam

by | Oct 2, 2021 |

In the Scam of the day for February 2, 2021 I told you about that the Federal Trade Commission had settled claims against Seed Consulting LLC after the FTC had filed a complaint against the company for charging consumers between $3,000 and $4,000 merely to apply on their behalf for multiple credit cards with total credit lines of more than $50,000, a practice referred to as “credit card stacking.”  The credit cards were then used to pay for expensive and generally useless training programs that purported to train aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to start businesses or to become successful real estate investors.

Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, Seed Consulting LLC paid 2.1 million dollars to the FTC which is now sending refunds to the victims of the scam.  For more information about the refund program go the tab marked “FTC Scam Refunds”  in the middle of the first page of http://www.scamicide.com.

According to Andrew Smith of the FTC, “Seed obtained credit cards for consumers by using inflated income, and then shared the credit limits with promoters of bogus real estate seminars who tricked consumers into maxing out the cards to pay for the seminar ‘tuition.'”  Many of these training companies had already been charged by the FTC with operating deceptive training schemes.  Most consumers who paid for these training programs earned little if anything from the programs and ended up with substantial credit card debt and lower credit scores.

 

TIPS

You should always be wary of any company that charges a significant fee merely to assist you in obtaining credit cards.  You don’t need the help of third parties to whom you must pay a fee to apply for credit cards on your behalf.  In particular, any company that encourages you to falsely inflate your income on credit card applications should be avoided.  As for training programs to teach you how to start a business or invest in real estate, there are plenty of free or low cost materials you can get that can be quite helpful.  Always research any such business coaching program before purchasing it.  A simple way to research such companies is to do to Google or other search engine search with the name of the company and the word “scam” and see what comes up.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – October 1, 2021 – Do You Need to Buy Protection From Home Title Theft?

by | Sep 30, 2021 |

Earlier this year, the New York Attorney General announced a grant of $800,000 to a program to help protect homeowners from a variety of scams threatening them including deed fraud.  Deed fraud, which is also referred to as “property title theft” occurs when a criminal files a counterfeit deed to property owned by someone else and then either lives in the property or even sells the property to an unwary buyer.  Deed fraud most commonly occurs after a homeowner dies.  Enterprising criminals monitor the obituaries looking for homes owned by people recently deceased and then forge a deed to the property and record it in the local Registry of Deeds.

Indications that a home you may own has been subject to deed fraud often comes when you receive notices for unpaid real estate tax, water or mortgage bills.  Ironically, another indication of deed fraud is when you own a home and don’t receive your real estate tax bill because the scammer has changed the address to which the real estate tax bill is sent to cover his or her tracks.  Receiving a foreclosure notice when you don’t even have a mortgage is another indication that you have become a victim of deed fraud after the criminal has mortgaged your home by forging your signature.

Resolving deed fraud can be a timely process, but it is one that you will eventually be able to do successfully.

TIPS

In order to protect yourself from deed fraud you should regularly monitor your credit reports at each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and be on the lookout for bills related to your property.  Monitoring your credit report is something we all should do regularly anyway. In response to the Coronavirus pandemic, through April 20, 2021, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax will offer all U.S. consumers free weekly credit reports through AnnualCreditReport.com.

It also is helpful to regularly check with your local Registry of Deeds to confirm that no one has filed a forged deed to your property.  Most people can access their local Registry of Deeds online for free.

Finally, when you purchase your home, you are offered the option of buying an owner’s title insurance policy which will cover the cost of remedying deed fraud.  An owner’s title insurance policy is a good choice for any homeowner for a variety of reasons.  Lately I have seen and heard advertisements for special insurance that only covers deed fraud although generally all these policies offer is monitoring the Registry of Deeds for filings that relate to your home, which is something that you can do on your own quite simply for free.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – September 30, 2021 – UK Bank Vishing Scam

by | Sep 29, 2021 |

I have written many times about phishing emails from scammers posing as your bank who attempt to lure you into transferring money to them under the pretext of some emergency.  I also have written many times about smishing text messages where scammers use text messages that appear to come from your bank that attempt to lure you into transferring money to them or providing information that leads to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  I have also written on a few occasions about vishing scams in which scammers pose as your bank in a phishing phone call.   Vishing is a combination of the word “voice” and the word “phishing” and it refers to phishing scams done over the phone.    Today’s Scam of the day is about a vishing scam in the UK in which Merrick Anderson lost approximately 25,000 pounds to such a scam.  This scam is certainly not limited to the UK, but is occurring everywhere.

Merrick Anderson’s troubles began when he received a phone call from someone purporting to be from Lloyds Bank regarding problems with Anderson’s account.  Anderson’s Caller ID indicated that the call was indeed from Lloyds Bank.  Unfortunately, sophisticated scammers are able to trick Caller ID into indicating that the call indeed is coming from your bank through a technique called “spoofing” so you cannot trust your Caller ID to screen legitimate calls from those scammers.  The scammer convinced Anderson that in order to protect his account from more problems, he should transfer the money in his account to an account at Barclays.  Believing that it was an emergency, Anderson complied and promptly transferred approximately 25,000 pounds to the account of the scammers.  In less than an hour he realized what a mistake he had made and called Lloyds who was only able to recover 2 pounds.  Eventually the bank agreed to reimburse him for half of the money he lost in accordance with a UK voluntary industry code.  In most jurisdictions, Anderson would have no claim against his bank as the fault was entirely his own.

TIPS

Whenever you get a phone call, text message or email you cannot be sure who is really contacting you so you should never provide personal information, click on links or take any action in response to the communication unless you have absolutely confirmed that the communication was legitimate.

The words of Lloyds Bank in response to this scam should be heeded by everyone.  Their spokesman said, “It’s important to treat every email, message or call that you’re not expecting with caution, avoid clicking on links asking for your bank details and pay close attention to any warnings when banking online.  Your bank or a genuine company will never ask you to move money to a different account — if anyone does, it’s definitely a scam, no matter how genuine it may appear.”

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – September 28, 2021 – Student Loan Debt Relief Scammers Charged in California

by | Sep 27, 2021 |

I have written many times over the last ten years about student loan scams because scammers have successfully targeted college students and their parents for a variety of scams related to these extensive loans.  In October of 2017 the Federal Trade Commission, working with the Attorneys General of eleven states, launched what it cleverly calls, Operation Game of Loans to jointly target these various student loan scams.   Some scammers promise dramatic reductions of debt of 50% or more in return for upfront fees of between $500 and $2,500.  Often these scam companies have names that make it appear that they are endorsed by the federal government in order to trick people into trusting them.  Another student loan scam involves promises related to consolidating student loans.  Sometimes the scammers represent that they are associated with the U.S. Department of Education although the Department of Education does not associate with private lenders in regard to student loan consolidation.  These scammers also charge significant fees for their student loan consolidation services when the truth is that there is no fee for legitimate student loan consolidation.  It is also important to remember that consolidating your student loans does not lower your interest or monthly payment.  Instead, after loan consolidation the student’s monthly payment is equal to a weighted average of the interest rates on the student’s current loans.

The present pause on federal student loan payments and interest put into effect during the pandemic was set to expire on October 1, 2021, but has been extended until January 31, 2022.  However it should be noted that Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has indicated that this will be the final extension of loan forgiveness. The sudden resumption of payments by 40 million student loan  borrowers four months from now is sure to prompt scammers to contact students and their families with a wide variety of scams related to repayment or forgiveness of student loans.  Some scammers will be contacting students posing as the student’s loan servicer.  In order to verify that you are being contacted by your real loan servicer, you can go to the Department of Education’s federal student aid website where you can get detailed information on your current student loan servicer including contact information.  Here is that link.  https://studentaid.gov/

Recently California brought criminal charges against Angela Mirabella who operated a network of student debt relief businesses that promised to reduce or eliminate federal student loan debt.  According to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Mirabella stole more than six million dollars from students who were victimized by Mirabella’s scam.  Bonta said that Mirabella’s agents falsely represented that they were associated with the U.S. Department of Education and that they could obtain full relief from federal student loans.  As is typical in such scams, Mirabella’s agents required upfront payments along with monthly fees for their services.

TIPS

The old adage still is true.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.  Many of these student loan debt relief scammers promise quick loan forgiveness, which is unrealistic.  In addition, you should never pay any upfront fees for student loan debt relief assistance.  Those fees are illegal and are a sure indication that you are being scammed.  Also, remember my motto, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”  Don’t trust scammers merely because they use names that sound like they are affiliated with the government.

Indications of a student loan scam include demanding upfront fees which are illegal, promises of full and quick debt forgiveness and being required to provide the student’s Federal Student Aid Identification (FSA ID) which is the username and password used to log on to Department of Education websites.

For information you can trust about federal student loan repayment option, go to https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans .  There you can learn about loan deferments, forbearance, repayment and loan forgiveness programs and there is never an application fee.  If you owe private student loans, contact your loan servicer directly.  You can also look into student loan refinancing rather than consolidating the loans.  Refinancing student loans can result in a lower interest rate.  For more information about student loans go to https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/1028-student-loans  Here is a link to a calculator that can help you determine whether you will save more by consolidating or refinancing student loans.https://www.makelemonade.co/calculators/student-loan-consolidation-refinancing-calculator/

Here also is a link to an FTC video that explains student loan scams and what you can do to protect yourself.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjSI4Q6ztQ

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – September 27, 2021 – Venmo Text Message Scam

by | Sep 26, 2021 |

Peer to Peer Payment Payment Services (P2P) such as Zelle, Venmo, ApplePay, PayPal, Square Cash and PopMoney are popular ways to quickly and conveniently send money electronically from your credit card or bank account.  However, anything popular with the public is also popular with scammers and identity thieves.  Recently there has been a dramatic increase in text message scams called “smishing” which appear to come from Venmo, but are, in fact, coming from an identity thief.  Many of you may be unfamiliar with the term “smishing” which is described in detail in my book “Identity Theft Alert ,” however, you are probably familiar with the term “phishing” which describes the scam by which identity thieves will trick you in an email that appears to come from a person, company or governmental agency to go by way of clicking on a link to a phony website that appears to be that of a legitimate company or governmental agency.  There you are either tricked into providing personal information that becomes used to make you a victim of identity theft or by merely clicking on the misleading link, you unwittingly download a keystroke logging malware program that reads and steals all of the personal information from your computer and proceeds to make you a victim of identity theft.    Rather than coming to you by way of an email,  a smishing attack delivers the scam to you through a text message, which is technically a “short message service” (SMS) hence smishing.

Here is a copy of a Venmo smishing text message which was forwarded to me by a Scamicide reader.

“Venmo User: You have been selected to receive a free gift worth at least $125 for a 2 minute survey distinguishsjstartxxxxxx.”

I have altered the link, however I left the initial part of the link because it does not have any apparent relation to Venmo which is a good indication that this is a scam.  Venmo is not offering $125 to people to take a survey.  No one is.  If you click on the link you either will be lured into providing personal information used to make you a victim of identity theft or will merely by clicking on the link download dangerous malware on to your phone or computer.

TIPS

Never respond directly to these text messages.  Don’t text “stop” or “no” as sometimes suggested.  Doing so only alerts the identity thieves that they have a real  and active cellphone number. Instead forward the text to 7726, which spells SPAM on your keyboard.

You can never be sure when you receive a text message asking for information if the sender is who he or she says he or she is and even if the message originates from a legitimate cellphone, you can’t be sure that the legitimate cellphone was not hacked into and the message you receive is from an identity thief.  If you ever have the slightest thought that the text message may be a legitimate message from an entity with which you do business, you should contact the real entity directly at a number that you know is correct to inquire about the text message.

For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide has been cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.

If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is sign up for free using this link. https://scamicide.com/scam-of-the-day/

Scam of the day – September 26, 2021 – Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft

by | Sep 25, 2021 |

Identity theft can result in your being hounded by debt collectors for debts you did not incur; becoming unable to access your own credit cards, bank accounts, or brokerage accounts; having your assets stolen; being arrested for crimes committed by people who have stolen your identity; or even receiving improper medical care because your medical identity has been stolen and your medical records have been corrupted.  In addition, identity theft can ruin your credit rating, which can affect your chances to get a loan,  get a job, get insurance or rent a home.  Identity theft is the number-one consumer fraud in America.

TIPS

So what can you to do protect yourself?

The best thing you can do to help prevent you from becoming a victim of identity theft is to freeze your credit at each of the three major credit reporting bureaus.  Since 2018 it has been free to do so.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at all of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

It is also important to regularly monitor your credit reports for unauthorized accounts.  For years federal law provided for a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus annually, however, in response to the pandemic, all three major credit reporting bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are offering free credit reports weekly through April 20, 2022.   You can get your free credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com.  Some other sites promise free credit reports, but sign you up for other services that you probably don’t want or need.   You also consider signing up for an identity theft protection service if you have not already done so.
A number of companies off identity theft insurance and they offer a wide variety of services that may include monitoring your credit report and assisting you if you become a victim of identity theft.  Some of the services they offer you can do for yourself at no cost although it may be more convenient to have someone else do these things for you and the cost of these policies can vary considerably,  In my book “50 Ways to Protect Your Identity in a Digital Age” I describe in detail all of the things you should consider when deciding whether or not to purchase identity theft insurance.  However,  many people are unaware that you can also get identity theft insurance as a part of your homeowners insurance as a rider or endorsement to your liability coverage although it generally only reimburses you for costs you incur in remedying the problem such as correcting false information in your credit reports.  Recently a number of homeowners insurance companies began offering cyber liability coverage as a rider to your homeowners insurance policy that will provide services such as reimbursing you if you are a victim of a phishing attack where you are conned out of money, wire transfer fraud losses, electronic bank account theft and cyber extortion payments as well as virus clean up of your computers following a cyber attack.  The cost of such protection ranges from $25 a year to $60 per year depending on the company which is less than the cost of stand alone identity theft insurance policies.
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.”  Scamicide.com was recently cited by the New York Times as one of three best sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address where it states “Sign up for this blog.”

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