Brain Krebs reports on a recent scam technique whereby scammers impersonate an existing customer at a cell phone store (identity theft). The scammers are able to make off with a new, expensive smart phone billed to the victim’s credit card. Worse still, the victim’s phone number is also hijacked in the process, and victims simply stop receiving calls on their current phones.
In the case of one couple, the results were deadly:
A Life or Death Case of Identity Theft?
With any business where you do ongoing business, it’s wise to insist that they require a careful ID check before making any account changes. As an example, my wife and I frequent a local video rental shop. To prevent someone from renting in our names, perhaps with a new clerk who doesn’t know us, the store has a note in their system requiring that we show picture ID every time we check out.
