Advice from subscribers - PDA security tip, success in foiling a PayPal scam, and advice for improving your credit rating for Australians: Internet ScamBusters #184
Today we're again going to share with you some of the best advice and stories we've received from subscribers in the past few weeks:
- PDA Security Tip
- Success in Foiling a PayPal Scam
- Advice for Improving Your Credit Rating For Australians
By the way, the feedback we got for our Special Issue on Ransomware was fantastic. If you haven't yet seen that article, we highly recommend you do so now.
Let's get going with today's advice...
PDA Security Tip
This suggestion comes from Jason:
I have a tip for your readers about something they probably haven't thought of. If your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) -- like a Palm Pilot -- is stolen or even lost, the thief can gain access to a lot of your personal information.
So, it's important to password-protect your PDA. Use at least eight characters, and include numbers. Don't use anything obvious, like a birth date or address.
Then, if your PDA is stolen, the thief will have to type in the password before they can use your PDA, which will help protect your privacy.
A second tip is to encrypt the info on your PDA. You can find out how by looking at the manual that came with your PDA or searching the manufacturer's website.
Thanks for the fabulous job you do -- I love ScamBusters!
Success in Foiling a PayPal Scam
Kathryn provided this story after sharing a PayPal Snippet from ScamBusters with the police officers she works with:
Thanks for a great site.
I received the following message from one of our police officers after sharing one of your articles:
"I just read your article and wanted to let you know that
my wife received the same email a week ago. Like you said,
she was upset that someone had used our PayPal account to
make a $123.99 purchase at Starbucks dot com, so she
clicked on the link.
"Because of conversations we have had in the past, she
became very suspicious when the site asked for personal
information such as Social Security number and mother's
maiden name. Needless to say, she did not complete the
online form and called PayPal's 800 number instead.
"In talking to the representative, she was informed about
the scam and was very pleased that she was not 'duped' by
this phishing scam."
Thanks for your timely word and training from the financial crimes unit as this saved us from making a very costly mistake.
Advice for Improving Your Credit Rating For Australians
This Snippet comes from Margaret in response to our article on "Counter-Intuitive Ways to Boost Your Credit Score."
Your ideas on how to improve credit rating are good ideas. However, here in Australia, the rules are slightly different and some could be counterproductive.
When determining how much people can borrow, the credit card limit is taken into account. The assumption is that it is possible for people to max out their credit card(s) tomorrow by using the limit to, for instance, buy a car. And the ability to service the maximum available has to then be taken into account.
The equivalent to your 30% rule here is "does the person pay the account off every month or is there a continuing balance"?
Paying it off every month means good stewardship. An ongoing balance means higher fees for the bank but can be an indication that the person lacks finance management skills.
Multiple credit cards means multiple queries on the credit report and this is seen as someone shopping around or someone who has been declined elsewhere. Both are bad.
That's it for now -- time to close for today. Wishing you a wonderful week.