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    Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves
    Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves
    Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves
    Audiobook7 hours

    Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves

    Written by Adam Levin

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Increasingly, identity theft is a fact of life. We might once have hoped to protect ourselves from hackers with airtight passwords and aggressive spam folders, and those are good ideas as far as they go. But the truth is, there are people out there -- a lot of them -- who treat stealing your identity as a full-time job.

    One such company is a nameless firm located in Russia, which has a trove of over a billion internet passwords. Another set up a website full of live streams of hacked web cameras, showing everything from people's offices and lobbies to the feeds from baby monitors. Even purchases made in person are still logged by retailers like Target, who are famously vulnerable to hackers.

    Adam Levin, a longtime consumer advocate and identity fraud expert, is your guide to this brave new world. By telling memorable stories and extracting the relevant lessons, he offers a strategy for dealing with these risks. You may not be able to prevent identity theft, but you certainly shouldn't wait until it happens to take action. Levin's approach is defined by the three M's: minimizing risk, monitoring your identity, and managing the damage. The book is also organized around the different problems caused by identity theft: financial, criminal, medical, familial, etc., enabling readers to dip into the sections most relevant to them.

    Swiped is a practical, lively audiobook that is essential to surviving the ever-changing world of online security. It is invaluable not only for preventing problems but helping cope when they arrive.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAscent Audio
    Release dateDec 1, 2015
    ISBN9781469094793
    Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves

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    • 4/5
      The reader will come away more aware of scams that are possibly related their kids SS info, medical fraud and even IRS fraud. All possible based on a system that offer its citizens protection or privacy. Companies invest the bare minimum on such safeguards and have no intention of changing their practices. The specific frauds are detailed at the back of the book. I couldnt follow them easily, but an interested user could replay the content to grasp the elements of each scam.
    • 4/5
      The question is not if, but when, identity theft happens to you. This book gives the details.Everyone has read about the major data breaches of recent years, exposing the personal information of hundreds of millions of people. The bad people in this world have come up with new ways to scam the public. A letter or phone call may come from a debt collector saying that, for instance, a credit card has been opened in the name of a deceased family member, or a newborn baby (Pay Up Now). It's possible that the debt collector, and the bill, are not even legitimate, and they are simply trying to intimidate you into paying.Hackers have been known to file fake tax returns, using your Social Security number. When you file your return, and are looking for your refund, the IRS will say "we already gave you your refund." If a hacker gets your medical history, using the information to open a credit card, for instance, or giving your name to the police after they have been arrested, is not the worst that can happen. They can also, for instance, delete your allergy to penicillin, or give you HIV, which is much worse.What can a person do about it? In this day and age, anyone who still uses "password" or "1234" as their computer password is just asking to be hacked. Change your passwords often. Check your bank statement and credit card statement online many times per month; don't wait for the paper statement. If anything looks questionable, start calling today. Get a free copy of your credit report from each of the credit-reporting agencies every year. Again, if anything looks questionable, don't wait. Get on the phone today, and document everything. Also, minimize your online exposure, and clean out your wallet.It's not possible to completely eliminate your exposure to identity theft, but, this book does a very good job of helping to minimize it. Many people may consider what's in this book to be common knowledge, but it certainly bears repeating. This an eye-opener, and very much worth reading.