March 30, 2011 – Epsilon.com’s personal info was compromised.

The personal info that was obtained by an unauthorized entity, was only email addresses and/or customer names of Epsilon.com

Epsilon does the dirty work of e-mail list management, upkeep and complaint interference for household brands around the world, including Disney, Capital One and Kroger.  Most consumers have no idea that Epsilon has their e-mail and name — the e-mails generally appear to be from a retail firm with which the consumer has a business relationship. That relationship usually begins with a simple check box on a website or a form filled out during a retail store purchase, but it can last for years. -msnbc.com. There is a full investigation underway, but as of yet, no one even knows who was responsible.

My problem, and the reason I want to tell my readers about it, is that I immediately started receiving emails after that incident,  that looked as though they were from Amazon, Paypal, Target, Walmart – and lots of others.  The email are cleverly disguised as coming from legit businesses, and they have just enough info – such as your name or your email address that you think it’s actually coming from someone you trust.

This process is known as “phishing”.  Phishing - a fraudulent attempt to get you to provide personal information, including but not limited to, account information – has been going on almost as long as the Internet has.  The way you are “phished” could be a convenient link embedded in the email that takes you to another site that may also look legitimate, but needs some specific info from you – such as your address, or your bank account number.  Don’t even click on the link in the first place.

When I receive any email requiring me to answer a question or any that I am in the least bit suspicious of, or possibly one that says my account will be shut down if I do not immediately respond, I immediately go to that actual site such as www.amazon.com or www.paypal.com and well – all the others – and have always found  that there was no problem and my accounts were fine, and the email didn’t really come from any of the places I may purchase something from anyway.

So, if you are aware, all you need to do is to ignore those email – right?  The problem is that this goes on all the time.  And, are you going to remember to be careful when you receive one of those emails in two or three years?  Or are you going to go ahead and click on the handy link?  Perhaps even enter the name of your favorite pet, or your Mother’s maiden name??  NO!  Don’t do it.

At no time should you give anyone any personal information – especially in an email.  They do make it very convenient for you to give them information that could be devastating to your financial future.  You don’t even need to put a stamp on the envelope – you just have to click and….. well, hopefully all of you will heed this warning and remember.

If you receive a notice from your bank or utility company or a store through the email -  just give them a call – at a number you know is theirs.  Better yet, stop in and see if everything is going alright.  You make yourself known, and you’ll have no reason to wonder about an email.

This advice came from one financial institution:

Personal Info Article by Barbie 

to retire?

Then get your finances in order.

Of course, if  you’re soon going to hit that magic age to retire,

it may seem a bit late to worry about.  But, hopefully, you’ve learned to be a bit frugal along the way – put a little bit aside – learned not even to try to keep up with the Joneses (Like the pitiful guy on the television commercial who shows off his beautiful house, his big new car, the golf club membership and then admits “I’m up to my eyeballs in debt!” – poor guy – no – poor stupid guy.)

My husband, Dick, and I learned years ago it’s not how much money you bring in, it’s how wise you are using whatever that amount is.

So, clear up those credit card balances before you are ready to retire…

… and then make it a practice to always pay your credit card debt off each month.  We also feel you should try your very best to have your home paid off – no mortgage in otherwords.

Remember, you’ll most likely want to downsize when you retire - why worry about having to clean and care for a 4-bedroom home when you really just want to head out and get another round of golf in?  Hopefully you can sell that big money-drainer and get something easy to take care of and then, even put a good chunk of cash in your pocket.

I have a chart in my book , Retire in Luxury, that actually has the figures and compares living expenses where we then lived, with those expenses we would probably experience in Mexico, when we retire.   Actually, during the time Dick and I were exploring, in order to decide to where we would and spend these precious years, we had charts for everything – and we even had a chart about what we wanted in a house - what would be really important to us – what was necessary – and what we’d like but could do without– we really are detail folks, apparently!  Especially in retirement, it works for us!

Retire article by Barbie.

The way I became aware of it was just opening the mail one evening. There was a bank statement, an internet bill, and a bunch of junk mail. The junk mail went into the shredder. Then I opened Quicken on my computer and quickly paid my internet bill, then opened the bank statement.

We happen to have two accounts at this particular bank — a “senior” checking account, and a bank account that we’ve had for a few years that just sits there with $1,385 in it (a little emergency cash, just in case), month in, month out never a charge, never any interest.

So, of course, I expected to open the envelope, glance at it and put it in it’s proper file. But — hey — wait — $850 balance??? Hum??????

OK — “Hey, Dick” I yell through the house. “Have you, by any chance, been to Hungry Howie’s Pizza without me and spent $62???”

“What in the world are you talking about, Barbie?” came back his response.

By now, I had glanced down the page at the rest of the charges — Hungry Howie’s 6 times???

Dick and I had never even heard of the place. Also a charge to an Internetcompany. And a couple of other strange items…Like the Wild Bronco’s Hideaway.

Like I mentioned, this was evening — our bank is closed. It’s a rough night in the Parks household.

Early the next morning, we head to the bank. Luckily the manager was there and took us directly into his office. After calming our fears with an assurance that the bank would stand behind us, he entered some information into his computer. An immediate fraud report went out attached to our account.

But, even with that quick action, as we were sitting there, the computer flashed an alert — over $500 spent at a computer store — oh boy — whoever was doing this was planning to have a fun weekend!

An interesting point — this was just a bank account — the cards that were issued to us were never taken out of the envelope they came to us in and that envelope has lived from the first day in my file. Never taken out, never used. From what the Bank Manager told us, hackers can just buy some sort of a gadget from a store, connect that up to their computer and it starts sending out random numbers to companies trying to charge an amount of $1, and when a charge hits an actual number,it “takes”. Your account is then at the mercy of the thief. Scary Huh?

So, even though they, the thieves, had no social security number, no I.D. number, nothing, your identity can be stolen. Even if you have no computer!

Dick and I felt very lucky our bank stood behind us. It was less than two weeks, and we were reimbursed.

However, this costs the bank — so we’re all losers. The banks have to cover their loses some way.

Well, anyway — if this happens to you – contact your bank, credit card company, etc, immediately – don’t wait one second. And make sure you always check the charges on all of your statements.

When you place an order over the Internet, it’s easy to make sure it’s a secure transaction. When you start the paying process, you should make sure the address line has an added “s” immediately after the http – meaning “secure connection”.

So watch out, be careful, and monitor your statements! Identity theft can happen to anyone.

I recently received two emails.  They are known as “phishing” emails:  The people who sent them are “Phishing” (fishing) for personal info. We have all worked too long and too hard to be taken advantage of by these crooks!   

One rather easy way to tell a scam – check all the misspelled words – funny! They are not only crooks, they are ignorant crooks.

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE:

“CAUTION: On October 1, we will be moving to a new Internet Banking system.

You will need to print any previous records (statements, cancelled checks, Bill Pay information, etc.) you wish to retain since they will not move to the new service. Your Internet Banking access will resume on Monday, October 1. Payments with a scheduled payment date of October 1 or before will be processed and should not be resubmitted. Any payment scheduled for payment after October 1 will not be processed and other payment arrangements should be made. If you previously had e-bills or payees setup with Bill Pay, Wire, Ach, etc., you will need to re-apply for the service, and re-enter the bill payment information on the new system starting October 1. If you have any questions about your Internet Banking service or our merger, please feel free to call us at 1-xxxxxxxxxxxx. All information you provide to us on our web site is encrypted to ensure your privacy and security.”

AND ANOTHER:

“You have received this E-mail because you or someone else had used your Account from different locations.  For security purposes, we required to open an investigation on this matter.  In order to safeguard your Account , we require you to change your xxxx Password and confirm you Banking Details. To help speeding up this process , please access the fallowing link so we can complete verification form Online.  To get started, please click the link below: (and they list a URL)  xxxxxxxxxxx.xx Please note:  If we do not receive the appropriate Account Verification within 48 hours, we will assume this xxxxxx Credit Card Account is fraudulent and it will be suspended. The purpose of this Verification is to ensure that your xxxxxx has not been fraudulently used and to combat fraud from our Community.”  

THESE ARE BOTH SCAMS!!!!!!!    Do not even answer emails like these.  Somehow, they will ask for some personal information, etc.  Then, look out – you too may lose your financial identity!

And there are many, many more emails out there, being delivered to unsuspecting folks everyday – be on your toes – DO NOT BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY THESE CROOKS!