Identity Theft and Fraud

Ready to test your knowledge? You'll have ten multiple choice questions to answer. Click on each question to reveal the question and multiple choice answers. After you've completed answering all ten questions, click "Grade Me!" at the end of the quiz to see how you did.

Question 1

The practice of sending e-mail which appears to originate from a financial institution, government agency, or other well-known/reputable entity and contains a message that you must "verify" or "re-submit" personal or confidential information by clicking on a link embedded in the message is known as:

(A) Nigerian Spaming	Correct Incorrect
(B) Pharming	Correct Incorrect
(C) Phishing	Correct Incorrect
(D) Spamming	Correct Incorrect

According to the Federal Trade Commission, when individuals or organizations attempt to commit internet fraud by tricking consumers into giving out their personal information, it is called ´phishing´.

If you are a phishing target, you should immediately delete email or text messages that request your personal information (i.e., account numbers, passwords, personally identifiable information). Also, do not reply or click on links or call phone numbers provided in the message. Those links typically take you to fake sites that may resemble the real one, but are simply setup to steal your information.

Question 2

If you think someone has misused your personal or financial information, the first thing you should do is:

(A) Cut up all of your credit cards and shred your bank statements.	Correct Incorrect
(B) Call one of the three major credit reporting companies (Experian, Trans Union or Equifax) and ask them to put an initial fraud alert on your credit report.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Call your friends and family and put them on the lookout for someone pretending to be you.	Correct Incorrect
(D) Close all of your accounts.	Correct Incorrect

The Federal Trade Commission recommends the first line of defense is to contact any one of the ´big 3´ credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to place a fraud alert on your credit report. If you call any one of them, they are required to share that fraud request with the others. Placing a fraud alert on your credit report can make it more difficult for accounts to be setup in your name, using the information the identity thief obtained.

Question 3

If you are contacted via telephone by someone purporting to represent a financial institution you do business with and are asked to provide or update personal or account information, you should:

(A) Give it to them. What's the big deal?	Correct Incorrect
(B) Ask to speak to a supervisor.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Hang up!	Correct Incorrect
(D) Hang up and find the phone number of that institution off of one of your account statements, credit cards or their verifiable website address and call that number to check on the request.	Correct Incorrect

One of the tricks ´fraudsters´ use when conducting phishing attacks is to call consumers on the phone, pretending to be one of your financial service providers. They´ll request account information as part of their scam. You should never provide such information if you´re not the one who initiated contact through a phone number designated by your financial provider when you opened your account.

Question 4

In order to prevent identity thieves from finding personally identifiable information by looking through your trash, you should:

(A) Put your sensitive documents in your neighbors trash bin.	Correct Incorrect
(B) Shred, or otherwise destroy all account statements, account applications, cancelled checks or other documents or information that contain personally identifiable information.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Never throw out any sensitive information. Keep it in a safe place within your home.	Correct Incorrect
(D) Take your sensitive information directly to the dump.	Correct Incorrect

Documents containing personal information that are disposed of by placing them in the trash will pass through several processing stages before reaching their final resting place. Each of these stages presents an opportunity to have your personal information pass in front of individuals who might do you harm with that information. Financial institutions recommend that you shred or destroy these documents before placing them in the trash. And many financial institutions offer free shredding services to make it easy for you to protect this information.

Question 5

If a crook opened a credit card account in your name and ran up thousands of dollars in charges, what's the most you be liable for?

(A) $50	Correct Incorrect
(B) $500	Correct Incorrect
(C) $10,000	Correct Incorrect
(D) $99.95	Correct Incorrect

Under the terms of the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA), your maximum liability for unauthorized use of your credit card is $50.00. However, if you report the loss of a card before the card is used by fraudster, your liability drops to zero for activity that occurs after your report.

Question 6

You may be a victim of medical identity theft if:

(A) You get a bill for medical services you didn't receive.	Correct Incorrect
(B) You try to make a legitimate insurance claim and your health plan says you've reached your limit on benefits.	Correct Incorrect
(C) You are denied insurance because your medical records show a condition you don't have.	Correct Incorrect
(D) All of the above.	Correct Incorrect

Fraudsters use the names, birth dates, addresses, insurance policy numbers and medical and billing information to create fake identities, file false claims or buy drugs. And since your medical information is something you seldom check, fraud activity can go on for a long time without you even knowing about it. If it hits you, you may find your medical records with information that is not related to your actual medical history and huge financial claims for procedures you never had.

Question 7

You're exposing yourself to potential credit card fraud if you:

(A) Sign your cards as soon as they arrive.	Correct Incorrect
(B) Leave cards or receipts lying around.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Void incorrect receipts.	Correct Incorrect
(D) Carry your cards separately from your wallet, in a zippered compartment, a business card holder, or another small pouch.	Correct Incorrect

Following the recommendations of credit card issuers to cautiously guard your credit cards and credit card related documents is the best way to safeguard your credit card. Being careless with that information and those documents, is not.

Question 8

Which of the following are not recommended security practices when setting up a wireless network in your home?

(A) Place your router in a secure location in your home.	Correct Incorrect
(B) Change the name of your router from the default.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Change your router's pre-set password.	Correct Incorrect
(D) Turn on the encryption feature of your wireless routers.	Correct Incorrect

Generally, when we´re talking about Internet security and your wireless router, we´re talking about fraudsters gaining access to the wireless signal and not the router itself. Safeguards related to router signal security, such as secure data transmission, password security and keeping fraudsters guessing about your setup are the best ways to protect yourself.

Question 9

You can make sure that the web page you are visiting is secure by:

(A) Accessing the site from a secure, wireless network.	Correct Incorrect
(B) Looking for a security seal on the web page.	Correct Incorrect
(C) Logging in to your website account.	Correct Incorrect
(D) Looking for https at the beginning of the web address (the "s" is for secure).	Correct Incorrect

HTTPS is a protocol for secure communication over a computer network. Properly configured by the website owner, HTTPS authenticates the website to the web server it is hosted on and provides data encryption between your web browser and the site´s web server that keeps your information secure and protected against hackers and fraudsters.

Question 10

Which of the following ARE NOT popular online or computer related scam methods?

(A) The "Nigerian" Email Scam	Correct Incorrect
(B) Tech Support Scams	Correct Incorrect
(C) Phishing	Correct Incorrect
(D) All of the above are popular online or computer-related scam methods.	Correct Incorrect

Internet scams are everywhere. They range from Nigerian email scams that will couple a sob story with a big payday for you, to technical support scams that will make claims about problems with your computer in order for them to gain access to it, to phishing attacks where fraudsters impersonate a business in the hope that they can trick you into providing your personal or financial information.

	Correct	Incorrect
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