Identifying fraud is getting more and more tricky. Criminals have become more and more creative, and increasingly clever about disguising their methods. And on top of that, they’re using more sophisticated technology to commit crime.

Perhaps the most devious tactic being employed by criminals is that they are now targeting their crime. The most vulnerable are being targeted – weary homeowners in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure are enticed with foreclosure scams, while those drowning in debt are duped by offers to clean up or eliminate debt with little or no effort by the debtor.

But there are ways to recognize a scam. First, if you are told an offer will expire if you don’t respond immediately or quickly, and you feel pressured to make a decision, the offer could be fraudulent. Always take your time before committing to anything. You may also want to discuss the offer with friends. Others can often discern when an offer isn’t forthcoming.

Search for the company, the individuals and the offer online. If it is a scam, chances are you’ll find information about it online.

If the offer is from a well-known company, confirm it with them. Don’t just assume that because the offer says it’s from a particular company that that’s the case. Always confirm. Make sure that the phone numbers, links and addresses that came with the offer are legitimate.

One rule of thumb recommended by law enforcement officers is to ask yourself, “If I were made this same offer on the street, would I give out my personal information?” If not, then you shouldn’t give it out online.

If you can’t figure out any other way to determine whether something is legitimate, rely on your gut instincts. If you have any doubts about a particular offer, just don’t do it. Better safe than sorry.

One single criminal operation was responsible for two-thirds of all phishing” attacks in the second half of 2009 and is responsible for a two-fold increase in the crime, a report published by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) stated. Over the last three years, the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s semiannual Global Phishing Survey has become a widely cited source of information about the state of phishing and its effect on Internet users.

“Phishing,” is the process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as user-names, passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers and other personal and financial information by masquerading as a legitimate sender in an e-mail or other electronic communication. Messages that purport to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, on-line payment processors or web-site technical administrators are commonly used to lure individuals into responding. Phishing is typically done using e-mail or instant messaging, and messages usually instruct the reader to enter personal information at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the one it mimics.

There were 126,697 phishing attacks during the second half of 2009, more than double the number in the first half of the year or from July through December of 2008, the APWG report said. Avalanche, which was first identified in December of 2008, was responsible for almost one-quarter (24%) of attacks in the first six months of 2009 and for almost two-thirds (66%) over the remainder of the year. Avalanche targeted more than 40 major financial institutions, online services, and job search providers.

The APWG report stated that, during the attacks, “ … target institutions, the relevant domain name registrar(s), a domain name registry, and other responders and service providers to all be aware of the campaign and working on mitigation at the same time …” Oddly enough, the very scope of Avalanche’s early coordinated attacks may have resulted in the greater ability of the Internet community to neutralize the group’s later efforts.

The Avalanche gang’s infrastructure was briefly shut down in mid November, and ever since then phishing attacks generated by the group have dropped precipitously. Last month, the gang was only able to launch 59 attacks.

Not much is said or written about business identity theft, because businesses can’t technically be the victim of such a theft. But there are a myriad of ways identity theft can impact a business.

Becoming a victim of identity theft is probably the biggest fear of many business owners, since your business credit is often tied to personal credit. It could spell doom for the business if the owner has to be away for countless hours sorting out the attached issues.

Some of the issues a business would face include:

• Loan acceleration. Most small businesses need some sort of loan to get going, buy inventory, rent office space, attend trade shows, provide training, payroll, renting office space or any number of other things. For most businesses, those loans are linked to the owner’s credit. Because of this, before extending any new loans, lenders will check the owner’s credit. If there are any issues, the lender may choose to accelerate the loan, which would mean they want the entire amount back within 30 days.

• Universal default. If a business owner defaults on or is late paying on an account, the lender could require the balance to be paid in full or raise the interest rate to the highest allowed by law. If his personal information has been stolen and a credit card obtained with it, the business owner may not even be aware the stolen card payment is late.

• If a business owner’s Social Security number has been stolen, the IRS may think he makes more money that he’s reporting. That could take a lot of time to clear up.

Dealing with a personal identity theft makes it impossible to focus on your business. And when you add the threat of losing your business on top of losing your good name, it can almost be unbearable.

A survey of consumers and businesses conducted in November, 2009 showed that while many consumers are monitoring their accounts more frequently using technologies such as on-line banking and mobile alerts, consumer education on protection and prevention measures such as keeping anti-virus software up to date will continue to be important.

Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies appear to be having an impact on the problem of ID theft protection. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs. The survey determined that efforts to safeguard information by individuals and businesses have helped in resolving cases more quickly and have reduced the overall costs of identity theft for the consumer.

More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

With the exception of consumers aged 18 – 24, many consumers are found to be more likely to monitor their accounts regularly, to take advantage of ID theft protection programs offered by financial institutions and to install protective computer software on their home computers.

Many banks have offered customers more ID theft protection tools to safeguard electronic and traditional banking.

Financial institutions are investing in identity fraud monitoring, software to detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as complaint resolution and education services.

Consumers have become increasingly aware of e-mail scams such as “phishing.”, and less likely to respond to e-mail requests for personal information.

The use of mobile devices allows consumers to review and report cases of identity theft in close to “real-time,” which may result in lower victim costs and faster incident detection times.

The 2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report was conducted using telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed.

While identity thieves are using technology to steal personal and financial information and to use that information for fraud, many consumers, financial institutions and businesses are fighting back by minimizing the use of Social Security numbers in account information and by monitoring and notifying customers of possible fraudulent activity more quickly. While consumers are monitoring their accounts more frequently using technologies such as on-line banking and mobile alerts, consumer education on protection and prevention measures such as keeping anti-virus software up to date will continue to be important as businesses and consumers continue to learn how to prevent identity theft.

Although the latest survey by Javelin Strategy and Research showed that the average cost to consumers of identity fraud cases fell in 2009, what consumers really want to know is how to prevent identity theft in the first place.

There are some things that one can do. The fact is, increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies already appear to be having an impact on the identity theft problem. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

How to prevent identity theft? The Javelin study outlines some of the areas where individuals can focus on how to prevent identity theft in the first place.

Whenever possible, protect sensitive information contained on paper documents. Eliminate as many paper statements as possible by requesting electronic statements; Use post office boxes to mail payments rather than placing mail containing checks in an unlocked mailbox; Secure all documents containing personal information such as social security numbers or account numbers in a locked storage box, and purchase and use a paper shredder.

Install anti-virus software on your computer and keep it updated. Be sure to password protect any files that contain personal and financial records using unique or hard-to-guess passwords. Don’t ever give out personal or account information on-line or over the phone, and don’t publish your personal information on social networking sites such as FaceBook.

Check your bank and credit card activity periodically for transactions you don’t recognize or remember – and sign up for alerts whenever possible. The javelin study found that 43 percent of all reported identity fraud cases were spotted by consumers self-monitoring their accounts and those who use more timely electronic methods to detect fraud experience lower average out-of-pocket costs.

Utilize an identity theft protection service to help detect the fraudulent establishment of new accounts in your name. Identity thieves are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, on-line and e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts.

In November 2009, Javelin conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults, including 487 victims of identity theft, were surveyed via a 50-question phone interview to gain insight into this crime, its effects on its victims, and how the survey findings can help consumers most effectively avoid becoming victims of identity theft.

In addition to providing a detailed picture of the crime of identity theft in the U.S. for 2009, the survey reinforced the idea that consumers can learn how to prevent identity theft and play a key role in detecting and resolving identity fraud committed against them. The report found that more consumers are pursuing legal action, with nearly 50 percent of all victims filing police reports. Increased consumer awareness of how to prevent identity theft has empowered consumers to fight back, leading to more arrests, prosecutions and convictions. More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

In November 2009, Javelin conducted telephone interviews with more than 5,000 U.S. consumers to identify and track the methods used by criminals and the impact of identity theft on American consumers and businesses. Almost 4,800 U.S. adults were surveyed.

The survey reinforced the idea that consumers can learn ways to prevent identity theft and play a key role in detecting and resolving identity fraud committed against them. The report found that more consumers are pursuing legal action, with nearly 50 percent of all victims filing police reports. Increased consumer awareness of ways to prevent identity theft has empowered consumers to fight back, leading to more arrests, prosecutions and convictions. More consumers than ever before are actively monitoring their credit and financial accounts for suspicious activity and fraud and are acting faster when identity theft is detected.

Although the latest survey by Javelin Strategy and Research showed that the average cost to consumers of identity fraud cases fell in 2009, what consumers really want to know are some of the ways to prevent identity theft in the first place. The study reveals that there are ways to prevent identity theft. Increased vigilance by consumers, businesses and government agencies already appear to be having an impact on the identity theft problem. Many organizations, especially banks and financial institutions have started offering fraud monitoring services, which can sometimes detect account access and payment anomalies, as well as dispute resolution and identity theft education programs, in most cases offering these services free to customers. Mobile banking solutions allow account monitoring, alerting customers in near-real-time of account activity and possible fraud. These partnerships and increased activism on the behalf of consumers resulted in consumer out of pocket costs dropping to an all-time low of $373 in 2009.

- Eliminate as many paper statements as possible by requesting electronic statements
- Use post office boxes to mail payments rather than placing mail containing checks in an unlocked mailbox
- Secure all documents containing personal information such as social security numbers or account numbers in a locked storage box
- Purchase and use a paper shredder.
- Install anti-virus software on your computer and keep it updated
- Be sure to password protect any files that contain personal and financial records using unique or hard-to-guess passwords
- Don’t ever give out personal or account information on-line or over the phone
- Don’t publish your personal information on social networking sites such as Facebook.
- Check your bank and credit card activity periodically for transactions you don’t recognize or remember – and sign up for alerts whenever possible.
- Utilize an identity theft protection service to help detect the fraudulent establishment of new accounts in your name. Identity thieves are increasingly using stolen information to open new credit card accounts, on-line and e-mail payment accounts and cell-phone accounts.

If you’ve received a confirmation in the mail of your change of address – and you haven’t moved – consider it a tip that you’ve become a victim of identity theft.

This type of scam is becoming more and more common, and it’s easy to do. Scammers first obtain a change of address form from a local post office. Then, using information as simple as mail they’ve swiped from your mailbox or the phone book, they submit a change of address. Soon, all your mail comes to the thief, giving him all the information he needs to steal your identity and ruin your credit.

But the U.S. Postal Service does sort of help you out in this circumstance. When a change of address is submitted, the USPS sends a verification letter to both the old address and the new one. The letter will instruct you to contact the post office if the change is inappropriate. If you receive such a letter and you didn’t request a change of address, contact the post office immediately, The local postmaster will forward your mail if you don’t tell him or her to do otherwise.

This scam has happened all over the country, but there have been a multitude of cases reported in New Mexico and Texas.

Some tips to remember:

- If you receive mail at your home, pay attention if you don’t get any mail for more than a couple of days, even if other people at your home are getting mail. A change of address does not necessarily redirect mail for everyone at a particular address.

- Consider mailing your letters and bills from a secure public mailbox or at the post office, rather than from your home mailbox.

- Pick up your mail as soon as possible after it arrives at your mailbox. Don’t leave it sitting in the box overnight.

- Consider purchasing a locking mailbox.