An informative press release from MoneyGram....

When the Kids Are Away, the Scammers Come Out to Play

While most Americans will prepare to lose an hour of sleep when Daylight Saving Time ends in mid-March, many parents are preparing to lose something else: their peace of mind when their college-age children travel on spring break.

According to MoneyGram (NYSE: MGI), a leading global money transfer company, spring break can end up “breaking the bank” if parents don’t stay alert to the “family scam” – when a scammer calls parents to inform them their child is in trouble in a distant location, asking for money for medical care or bail, even though the child is perfectly safe.

“Spring break can be a letting-go experience for parents of college students,” said Kim Garner, Senior Vice President of Global Security for MoneyGram. “But along with letting go, parents should hang on to their common sense, especially when it comes to helping their kids stay safe and avoid certain common scams.”

Garner offers the following advice to parents of college students to safeguard their physical and financial health during spring break:

• Check in before heading out: American students traveling internationally can register with the U.S. State Department’s free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which will help with communications in the event of an emergency. Canadian students can register with their country’s similar program, Registration of Canadians Abroad.
• Take a lesson from E.T.: Phone home: Parents should make a deal with their students traveling for spring break – a little freedom for a few phone calls and some extra phone numbers. Parents should establish specific times for phone calls to check in, so they will know where their students are and what they’re up to, and get cell phone numbers for the friends of their traveling children as a back-up means of communication.
• Just say no: With personal belongings left scattered on beach towels, scammers often will use student IDs to find parents and ask for money to be wired in the aid of their child who can’t come to the phone. Garner of MoneyGram advises parents to say no – and never wire money to anyone they don’t know – instead checking in by calling the child’s cell phone or the local authorities where their child is vacationing.
• Give them credit: Parents can temporarily add a child as an approved user to a credit card, and place a pre-set spending limit on the card as a way to prompt financial responsibility while the student is traveling.
• Put a policy in place: To guard against a financial loss, parents should check with their insurance company to make sure their child’s possessions are insured on their homeowner’s policy while the student is traveling, especially if the child will be traveling outside the United States.

“The best way to ensure a safe spring break and avoid a scam is to talk to your child in advance about these types of precautions, and schedule regular contact so you can hear directly from them that they’re safe,” said Garner of MoneyGram. “And while the student is traveling, parents should focus on their own protection against scams by never sending money to anyone they don’t know, regardless of what the individual on the other end of a phone might be telling them.”

As part of MoneyGram’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers from wire transfer fraud, the company recently launched an enhanced version of its fraud prevention website – www.moneygram-preventfraud.com.

About MoneyGram International
MoneyGram International, a leading money transfer company, enables consumers who are not fully served by traditional financial institutions to meet their financial needs. MoneyGram offers bill payment services in the United States and Canada and money transfer services worldwide through a global network of more than 267,000 agent locations -- including retailers, international post offices and financial institutions -- in 192 countries and territories. To learn more about money transfer or bill payment at an agent location or online, please visit www.moneygram.com or connect with us on Facebook.

Technorati Tags: Identity Theft

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) recently released a list of the five most common scams that trap investors across Canada. In these difficult economic times, many of these strategies take advantage of investor’s uncertainly about the markets and the economy.

1. Misleading Exempt Market Securities - Businesses often take advantage of private placements (securities sold under an exemption) because the sale of these securities can be limited to a small number of investors rather than being open to the public. These types of securities tend to involve a higher level of risk. However, scam artists may offer securities that promise guaranteed or unrealistic returns with little or no risk in order to illegally raise money. In general, these scam artists aren’t even registered to offer investment advice or securities transactions.
2. Energy Investments - Scam artists lure investors with the big rewards of investing in oil and gas reserves. They may use technical jargon or hype up a form of new energy to trick investors and make them forget about the high risks involved.
3. Gold and Precious Metals – Gold and other metals are marketed with the promise that they will never decrease in value. With the rising price of gold, it’s easy to be drawn into one of these scams. A scam artist may convince investors to buy into a closed mine so that they can get all their money back. They may also market coins or nuggets, claiming they have a superior return over other forms of gold.
4. Affinity Fraud -- We tend to trust those we know and share our interests, but scam artists play on this trust with affinity fraud. They market fraudulent investment schemes to members of a group or organization and rely on personal recommendations to spread the word about the supposed success of the investment. Before you make any investment decisions, you should carefully evaluate the merits of the plan for yourself rather than relying on recommendations or your relationship with the promoter.
5. FOREX Schemes – While trading foreign currencies can be a profitable investment, it requires sophisticated knowledge and resources that many investors simply don’t have. Scam artists will often use jargon and complicated schemes to confuse investors and convince them to make risky trades.
   While some schemes may sell securities, investors’ money never gets invested in the way that was promised.

To avoid schemes like these, you should always verify the merits of an investment opportunity and check the background of the person offering the investment. You can verity a firm’s registration online through the CSA’s National Registration Search.

Gina Holstead is a retired officer and manages the site Law Enforcement Training. Her site helps new law enforcement students pick the best program.

Technorati Tags: Investment and Securities Fraud

Accepting credit cards has a lot of benefits for a business: enhanced customer satisfaction, increased revenue and faster growth. However, fraud can quickly put an end to your company’s credit card processing and put your business in a difficult financial position.

Luckily, in 2004, American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover and JCB International joined forces to create a security council that would develop standards to improve security and reduce fraud. These standards encompassed the Data Security Standard, Payment Application Data Security Standard and PIN Transaction Security Requirements.

This article will focus on the council’s accomplishments and what the true benefits have been for both merchants and consumers.

Procedures for Maintaining, Supporting, Testing and Monitoring a Secure Network

One of the first changes that the PCI Council implemented was the Data Security Standards. These standards ensured that credit card data was secured and could not be accessed by hackers or thieves. These security measures involved the implementation of a proper firewall configuration and enforcement of security parameters related to password-protected information and account access.

The security network is constantly tested for liabilities and to identify opportunities to improve processes for efficiency and protection. At the same time, the network is constantly monitored for suspicious behavior that may lead to data being compromised. This issue will be explored in more detail later in the article.

Heightened Security for Consumer Credit Card Data

The PCI Council also developed safer methods of transmitting and storing credit card data. For example, anytime the data is wirelessly transferred across a network, it is now fully encrypted so it cannot be viewed or accessed by third parties. With the increase in website and server hackings by organized crime and other independent groups, online data can be extremely vulnerable if protocol is not followed.

More Data Flow Control

Credit card information can no longer be easily accessed by businesses. They only have access to the data on a need-to-know basis. This prevents part-time or other non-management employees from accessing sensitive data that may be used against the merchant or consumer. Users who do have access to the data are tracked through the system with their unique ID number and may be flagged for fraudulent behavior.

All of the above mentioned accomplishments are great in theory but the true accomplishments lie with the benefits provided directly to merchants. The following are some of the major consequences of the new procedures, improved security and data control that affect the everyday consumer.

Improved Trust Results in More Business for Merchants

If consumers can trust merchants to safeguard their credit card information, then it will result in repeat purchases and more business. This holds especially true for e-commerce businesses where the credit card is not present during the transaction. Online business is extremely competitive so every opportunity needs to be exploited. Furthermore, reputation management is a difficult task for small and medium sized businesses, so it shouldn’t be made harder with compromised credit card data.

Protection from Fines

If a merchant is not PCI DSS compliant and their credit card data is breached, they may be fined, be required to pay investigators to identify the source of the breach or pay for credit cards that need replacement. However, by being compliant, merchants can eliminate the risk of credit card fraud and put the onus back on the credit card companies. To put it in perspective, 77% of merchants in the hospitality industry believe they are PCI compliant and may be in for a surprise if there is breach!

Writer Bio:
Alexander Galasso is the Social Media Manager at Pivotal Payments, a merchant service provider that facilitates small and medium sized businesses with accepting debit and credit cards. You can follow Pivotal Payments on Twitter and Facebook for the latest industry news.