A Question of Identity

Identity theft costs individuals and businesses $52 billion a year. Not only is ID theft costly, it can also be a major hassle that affects you and your credit score for years. The key to preventing identity theft is awareness. How aware are you?

1. The practice of watching someone enter his or her PIN and recording it for the purpose of stealing the person’s identity is known as:
   1. ATM reading
   2. Looky-looing
   3. PIN peeping
   4. Shoulder surfing
2. Creating a fake Web site that looks identical to that of a bank or e-commerce site in order to steal personal information is called:
   1. Phraud
   2. Phishing
   3. Phreaking
   4. Pharming
3. Consumers should work with their banks to conduct as many transactions as possible online.
   1. True
   2. False
4. Which method is useful for determining whether a Web site from which you are about to purchase something is legitimate?
   1. Check with the Better Business Bureau
   2. Look for a padlock icon on the bottom right of the screen
   3. The URL starts with “https”
   4. All of the above
5. Which of the following indicate that an e-mail is fraudulent and may be an attempt to capture your personal information?
   1. Generic greeting or no greeting at all
   2. Lacks more than one way to respond, just provides a clickable link
   3. Contains misspellings and grammatical errors
   4. All of the above

Answers:

1. d. Shoulder surfing. Although a PIN by itself may not be enough to commit identity theft, your bank accounts could be in jeopardy if a thief is able to obtain your debit card or even the number from it.
2. d. Pharming.
3. a. True. This eliminates the amount of paper floating around with your personal information on it.
4. d. All of the above. The “s” in https stands for “secure,” meaning the site encrypts your information, making it harder for cyber thieves to intercept.
5. d. All of the above. Moreover, a legitimate financial institution would never ask a customer to verify personal information by e-mail.