About Identity Theft Scout

About this Identity Theft Scout website: In my careers I have been a Banker, Accountant, Certified Financial Planner and Freelancer.

I know from my 30 years as a Banker and 10 years as a Certified Financial Planner that having a plan and being prepared is crucial to protecting your finances and assets.

When I was a bank accountant I went through the traumatic experience of being at a bank branch that was held up by an armed robber after cash.

My last position in the banking industry was as a Manager in a compliance/audit role when electronic fraud was becoming a serious operational threat.

Today, banks are constantly proactively trying to anticipate what the unscrupulous might do. However, it is important that you take preventative steps to protect your assets by protecting your identity.

From Banker to Certified Financial Planner

I worked in the banking industry for about thirty years and I was there when the last big financial crisis occurred in the late eighties and early nineties.

I was a Manager in an auditing/compliance role and saw the source of the policy mistakes first hand. It is disappointing that history has repeated itself.

After I had recovered from losing my career I realized that I would have to retrain myself and went back to school to study financial planning for two years.

It took another three years of continuing education and examination before I became a Certified Financial Planner. One of the key lessons that I learnt was that every financial plan for every client should have emergency money set aside.

Today, with the common occurrence of identity theft I believe that this should have this clause added: and protect your assets by protecting your identity.

John Cosstick at 50
an Accountant & Financial Planner
(Before retirement)

Lifestyle Planning is About Understanding Risk Management

Whatever stage of life you are at whether as a single, married, parent or retiree it is important that you understand how to manage risk. Often this is not learnt until later in life.

I know because I have made mistakes and not identified the risks at some stages of my life and had to work hard to recover my position.

In broad terms risk management can be summarized as follows:

• Accept risk: this means you are prepared to accept the consequences if something goes wrong
• Avoid risk: this means that you will alter plans to avoid something adverse happening
• Mitigate risk: this means that you will take steps to lessen the impact if something does go wrong
• Transfer risk: this means you will outsource risk to a another party if something does go wrong

Taking reasonable precautions to prevent identity theft is important because the consequences can be severe. You may find that your bank may well have added another layer of security to protect your bank account that you are not aware of.

When my wife and I were reviewing our bank accounts we discovered that they had added a mobile telephone SMS code facility to the Pay Anyone Facility that existed on our bank accounts.

This meant that when we wanted to transfer money outside the bank that wasn’t payment of an account we had to input a code sent by SMS to our mobile telephone. This is a clever and simple service to prevent fraud. We implemented the service. Have you checked with your bank?

Watch out for Fraud on the Internet – There is More Than Identity Theft!

It is hard to believe that people would prey on the gullibility of people seeking to start work again or supplement their family income.

However, it is true and the scams are not easily detected. I have been caught myself and lost about $5,000. You would think that with all my experience that I would be able to pick up a scam.

It was the seemingly genuine testimonials supporting a scam that that got me hooked. However, I was not alone. Not that it makes me feel any better.

Internet fraud is now a major issue for consumers around the world. Most countries' Fair Trade Commissions or equivalent Commissions have taken action to tighten the guidelines on testimonials.

The Federal Trade Commission of the United States has published guides on endorsements and testimonials which can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/.

How I Got Scammed and Why I Switched to SBI! To Build Websites

I was taken in by a scam in 2006 that implied that it was easy to build websites and obtain traffic by buying home e-commerce software packages and with some minimal back end support.

This was presented at a seminar supported by speakers talking about how they had used the system successfully and it was easy to operate and be successful.

There were at least a hundred people at the presentation and many bought the packages at special not to be repeated offers (a sure sign of a scam!).

I tried to follow the process outlined and to make it work, but it would not work despite my best efforts and I eventually gave up. I wrote the amount off to experience - $5,000 gone! I have subsequently noticed that there have been court cases against the company in a number of countries.

Take A Reality Check About Earning Income on the Internet

Earning money on the internet is not easy! You are more likely to lose money than make money unless you complete your due diligence. If you want to earn money on the internet you need to learn how to do it by a reputable organization.

I read about the article SiteSell Education Changes Lives and the list of Universities and Colleges that teach SBI method.

Here are some of the Universities and Colleges:

• The University of Arizona
• Penn State University
• University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
• University of Alaska
• Austin Community College
• Santa Fe Community College

There is also the stay at home e-learning courses which you can find more information about by clicking below:

This is why the SBI website building process is so popular:

I am proud to tell you that I support the Solo Build It process of website building because I can still see in my mind's eye the seminar where I paid $5,000 for a website building process that did not work. Solo Build It pays me a referral fee for promoting something that I believe in.

We disclose that other product and service providers mentioned and linked to may pay us a commission on sales generated.

Amazon Disclosure: Identity-Theft-Scout.com is participating in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Regards,

To Top of About Identity Theft Scout page