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Latest ID Theft Tactic: Fake Job Listings
citking writes "News.com.com reports that, in an attempt to curb identity theft on its service, online career listing site Monster.com has begun warning its users of fake job postings bent on stealing personal information. 'Regrettably, from time to time, false job postings are listed online and used to illegally collect personal information from unsuspecting job seekers', according to an e-mail sent by the company yesterday to registered users. With the increasingly difficult job market, things such as background checks and non-disclosure agreements are becoming more and more difficult to avoid, so where does one draw the line for giving out personal information in response to a classified ad? CNN has a small article about this as well."
When your "identity is stolen" do you forget who you are ? Can your friends not tell the difference between you and the criminal ? Does money disappear from your bank account ? Clearly, this "identity theft" is one of those nasty memes designed to talk us into being ripped off, like "intellectual property" and "savings and loan bailout" and "double taxation" and "child porn" and "social security."
If someone goes to a credit card company and fraudulently get money, does that involve you ? No. Do you loose anything by it ? Only if you are stupid enough to keep using a company that gets ripped off and spreads the cost over it's customers. When you get a bill in the mail for $5,000 in online porn subscriptions, have you been robbed ? No, you just write a certified letter (notarized if a N.P. is handy) explaining the situation -- you are out a half hour of annoyance.
"Oh, but what about my credit record ?" It's the credit company's job to keep accurate records. If they sell inaccurate records, well, that's the problem of the people who bought those inaccurate records -- the credit card companies. Not you. Don't ever pay money to see your credit history; you already know it, for one thing, and for another it's probably a lie.
"Oh, but what if I need to borrow money to buy groceries ?" What if you need to sell drugs to buy groceries ? That's just your unfortunate situation, and you have to deal with the fact you have not saved enough money to make sure you don't have to deal with criminals. Remember, if you use credit cards you already pay for "identity theft" along with other much larger sources of fraud because those costs are spread accross all the accounts.
Most importantly, the fact that YOU choose to do business with people who cannot keep track of money or identities and thus get ripped off is not part of MY business. So, I would like to see the whining in congressional testimonies stop. The credit company got ripped off. If they can track the guy down, we have laws. Either way, they should adjust their plan of business so they don't get robbed again.
Because we all know where this is going. All of our collective tax monies are going to be used to pay off the loses of credit card companies which would rather a fat hand-out than spend the attention to fix their way of business. They want to spread the cost of their broken business over the whole nation instead of just their customers.
This is just what the credit card companies to with respect to their very model of business -- they charge %3.5 percent of every purchase you make to the merchant, but if the merchant explicitly passes that cost on to you, they will not handle that merchant's account, and that merchant can't accept credit cards. Thus, when you pay in cash at a business that accepts credit cards, the cash price is still slightly higher because you are paying for an insecure form of financial transactions THAT YOU DON'T EVEN USE. now these parasites have found a new way to sensationalize a part of their costs and try to get the whole world to pay for them.
So, let's get one thing straight. There is one way to be a victim of identity theft, and that is by WILLINGLY participating in the system, by WILLINGLY paying off that fraudulant bill just to keep your credit record. The Federal Government isn't about to use my tax dollars to track down cheaters on Everquest, because it is understood by all that if you don't like the people running Evercrack you can take your money and your spare time somewhere else. Similarly, credit card addicts should be allowed to rot in the high rates and fees of the system they created, without our enabling subsidies.
I bought my car for $2,200 in cash and it has served me well for five years. People do buy houses through owner financing or in cash. I fuel my car at any hour of the night with cash, but a debit card (ATM card) works just as well. While I have to show a credit card as gaurantee at some places to rent a car, I never pay by that method -- because I know the rental agency gets to keep more of the money if I pay another way, keeping prices down overall. I know of several (well, ok, 2) middle-class families that have purchased homes outright; and in any case, when you want to buy a house, enough money is involved that you can sit down with the loan officier of the bank, explain the situation, and it's worth their time to make a few phone calls and check it out. I purchase things on line quite regularly; I pay for ebay auctions with US Postal Money Orders (has the added advantage I can send a letter to the Postmaster General if I am ripped off) and I buy books by going to abe.com, finding the phone number of the place that has the best price, calling and reserving it and mailing them a check.
The fact is, you are inflating the restrictions that the unavailability of consumer credit places on your life. They are mostly the loss of convenience, not the loss of ability. It is not a disaster to have a credit agency lie about you.
In any case, even if it WAS a major fucking disaster and relegated you to holding a cardboard sign on a street corner, that would be between you and your credit agencies, and NOT MY PROBLEM. All I ask is that the people who feel terrified (as you do) by the prospect of not being able to get fast, expensive, small amounts of electronic credit PAY FOR THE SYSTEM THEY USE. I don't want to support your little emotional plastic card safety net, I want you to support it with the fees you pay on your purchases.
What ever happened to personal responsibility ? Just because you want to use an insecure, unstable electric money system just suck up the occasional costs. Why drag in the government, other consumers, etc to bail you out ?