Fraud

Pointer #1: Take care of your credit card.
[A friend of mine is now $4K in credit card debt due to fraud]

Did you know that jus the photographic memory of an attentive waiter, memorizing at will your credit card digits, name on card and expiry date is enough to render you with bills for stuff you never paid for?

Take care of your digits whenever you pay for your card. You as the consumer are allowed all leeway to protect the digits including bills with counterfoils that are returned back to the restaurant or dept store after you're done signing [the signature even many ppl dont check. a TNP reporter could sign mickey mouse/marilyn monroe/lee kuan yew and get away with it not a while back]. Take just an extra few secs to scratch out the digits with a blunt edge on the carbon copy. It might save you a major headache.

Also, banks are not too friendly with dissolving debt. So unless, you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you had no reason whatsoever to order 10 Rolexes thru an online site. You're pretty much fucked. While the investigation proceeds.

Pointer #2: Don't divulge personal details to anyone.

Anyone. Just putting two and two together with the power of Google can render you the victim of some major fraud work or stalking. [Friend of mine has recently reported her stalker to the cops and got a PPO. He traced her through only her name, where she stayed and her house phone number].

Let me elaborate. Most indian names these days are quite unique as it is. Be it spelling or with the taggin on of our pop's names. So, to Google someone in the Singapore context is super simple. Now if I had your full name, I'd Google it. Get extra peripheral information, maybe your CCA posted some stuff which included you. Or you did some volunteer program for which you were commended for. Or you are enrolled in some tuition agencys' online list. Anything can be uncovered. Not to mention that the power of Google extends not only to words on the page but doc/pdf files even embedded within.

Point in question, last night I managed to prove to a close buddy how I could get hold of his dad's I/C number. Just like that. I could have got more, which I did. Like his poly FYP photos. But, yeah, first how I did it.

I got his name. I used his dad's name to go through the Yellow Pages, got his full address plus his 3 registered house telephone lines. Googled his pops and unearthed some old old employment form where his dad had applied for and uncovered his I/C number.

Also, if any of your company or school sites decides to publish ya full name with I/C number on any of their webbies. Go fuck them please. Don't be a victim of fraud. Last I heard [not sure if still valid], going rate for a "real authentic" I/C is 150 dollars and a passport can go for up to 400 dollars. Just the I/C number alone however can be used to change email passwords, register in certain government websites and recently even to find out when you had booked your ROM [the bug since removed].

Amazingly enough, Googling my own name didnt net anything even remotely useful to blackmailing me with. Blehz. So, do search your own name, and your family members names out. If there is something somewhere that you wouldnt want any stranger to know bout ya, contact the webmaster or the organization responsible for hosting the page and tell them to remove it. You do have a legal right to do so.

If you are still using LimeWire or any other P2P program without adequate firewalling [Zonealarm recommended], and antivirus [free antivirus - use AVG or Avast], STOP.

Just last week, my computer decided to do a kow tow act to the whims and fancies of some hacker from the Netherlands, with me just by coincidence foiling the sending of a text file instructed by his Trojan with ALL and i mean ALL my user Ids and passwords from every goddamn site I've ever used online.

Heng heng, my bank one wasnt in there cos DBS smartly uses a Java Applet which means passwords don't get stored locally. But for all you know, you could get hit with a keylogger. So, scan every goddamn file you get thru MSN even. It's easy to activate. Use the options menu and put the scan file name to "whatever.exe" whatever being the anti virus you are using.

By the way, I got my Trojan not cos I didnt protect myself but cos of that damn thing called a router and the creation of an internal network to share files and the printer. Since, about the only 2 possessions I have much love for since I bought them with ahrd earned money are my PC [3 years old come July, same with my uni chronology] and my handphone [I know la 6170 is old school liao, but sayang la.]

So, it was my brother who subsequently got hanged upside down from the ceiling fan and his goddamn LimeWire that did the trick. No Naruto and Bleach for him for a month, that's the modern way of grounding a kid.

Adieu!

credit card fraud, ic number, singapore, google, p2p, trojan, hacker
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