ID Theft and Mail service

 Article Difficulty: Moderate

	Importance: Very Important 

One threat I wrote about in 2015 was miscreants grabbing your online "My SS Account" and then re-directing your social security benefits to their debit card. Despite feeling their security was weak, I recommended setting up an account anyway. The risk of someone else taking your account was too high and too dangerous. I wrote about it again in August 2018 recommending getting your online accounts for all government agencies, phone and cable companies, before miscreants got your accounts and used them for identity theft.

Recently the Secret Service issued an internal alert reporting criminals using the USPS Informed delivery to commit credit card fraud and identity theft. They sent it to their law enforcement partners nationwide. I wrote about this excellent USPS option here. The postal service sends you an email telling you what mail they will deliver that day. But if someone else gets your account before you do, then they will get the email. You won't be able to get the account since they already have it. They will know when pre-approved credit cards requests are sent to you and also when the actual credit card is delivered!

For example, in September 2018 seven people were arrested in Michigan for running up nearly $400,000 in unauthorized charges on credit cards they got from hijacked mail they knew about by monitoring captured Informed Delivery accounts.

Remember, every adult in your household needs to sign up for their accounts, since the Postal service allows anyone who can receive mail at that address to sign up for an account. You need to get your online accounts. This prevents someone else from getting your account and using it against you.

Keeping clients' computers safe and profitable for over 30 years

Home Forms About Current Newsletter subscribe Search All Articles Browse by Category Security Internet Mobile Business Hardware Fun		ID Theft and Mail service Article Difficulty: Moderate Importance: Very Important One threat I wrote about in 2015 was miscreants grabbing your online "My SS Account" and then re-directing your social security benefits to their debit card. Despite feeling their security was weak, I recommended setting up an account anyway. The risk of someone else taking your account was too high and too dangerous. I wrote about it again in August 2018 recommending getting your online accounts for all government agencies, phone and cable companies, before miscreants got your accounts and used them for identity theft. Recently the Secret Service issued an internal alert reporting criminals using the USPS Informed delivery to commit credit card fraud and identity theft. They sent it to their law enforcement partners nationwide. I wrote about this excellent USPS option here. The postal service sends you an email telling you what mail they will deliver that day. But if someone else gets your account before you do, then they will get the email. You won't be able to get the account since they already have it. They will know when pre-approved credit cards requests are sent to you and also when the actual credit card is delivered! For example, in September 2018 seven people were arrested in Michigan for running up nearly $400,000 in unauthorized charges on credit cards they got from hijacked mail they knew about by monitoring captured Informed Delivery accounts. Remember, every adult in your household needs to sign up for their accounts, since the Postal service allows anyone who can receive mail at that address to sign up for an account. You need to get your online accounts. This prevents someone else from getting your account and using it against you. Further Reading Brian Krebs article from November 2018: Date: December 2018 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
		I attempt to provide reliable information, but make no warranty as to the accuracy or safety of these articles. I disclaim all legal responsibility for what following these instructions may do. Follow my advice at your own risk

Keeping clients' computers safe and profitable for over 30 years

ID Theft and Mail service

Further Reading