Personal and Financial Protection When Evacuating

Most of us never expect to evacuate our homes because of a disaster.  However, watching the devastation that has occured across the Northeastern United States because of Hurricane Sandy, helps us all realize that we need to have a plan in mind in case we ever have to evacuate our homes because of a storm, earthquake or forest fire.  Not only do we need to protect ourselves from the natural disaster, but also from people who may try to take advantage of our situation.

A few years ago, my husband and I were living in an area which we feared might be evacuated because there were multiple forest fires in the area.  We were particularly concerned that our neighborhood would be evacuated while we were at work and we would be unable to return to our neighborhood to retrieve anything from our home.  As a result, we drove around with the trunks of our cars filled with supplies and valuables that we knew we would want.  Listed below are some suggestions for preparing to evacuate.

Personal Evacuation Supplies

A suitcase with a few changes of clothing
A small supply of important medications
Bottled water
A bag of easy to eat food, such as dried fruit
Pet food
Blankets

Remember that you could be stuck for a night or two in your car, caught in a long traffic jam while millions of other people also try to evaculate, or stranded by a storm until help arrives.  Having food, water, clothing, medication and bedding for every member of your family is important for your health and safety.

Documents to Evacuate

Insurance policies
Mortgage documents or lease information
Car titles
Passports
Credit Cards
Stock certificates or other valuable documents

You will also want to take any other identification or documentation you may need to prove who you are and that you are the owner or resident of the property, so you will be allowed to re-enter the neighborhood or discuss your situation with your insurance agent or representatives from FEMA.

Valuables to Evacuate

Sadly, looters and others who take advantage of people during disasters may victimize you as much as the natural disaster.  While you cannot pop your big screen television into your car, you can make sure that you remove your favorite photo albums, jewelry, coin collections, valuable artwork and similar items.  Not only will you protect these items from theft, but you will appreciate having these items with you if you need to start over again.

Phone Numbers

You will want to either make sure that these numbers are stored on your cell phone, or that you have them written down and kept in the glove boxes of your automobiles.  In fact, you may want to do both.  Then, if you become separated from your cell phone, you still will have the numbers that you need.  Long before you ever have to prepare for a disaster, write out a list of these phone numbers and keep the list in your car at all times:

Your Insurance Agent
Your doctors, dentist and vet
Your pharmacy
Your utility companies
Out of state relatives
Cell phone numbers of neighbors
Your childrens' schools
Your bank
Contact information for your credit cards
State and local police departments
AAA or other roadside assistance

These numbers will help you contact relatives and let them know you are OK, contact neighbors to make sure they got out, deal with medical emergencies, and handle the business aspects of an evacuation.

You may also want to read:

Security Breaches Endanger Your Personal Information
Computer Virus Scams
Computer Fraud and Identity Theft During Your Vacation


You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of hurricane damage courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Security Breaches Endanger Your Personal Information

Do you ever feel as if some unknown person could simply reach into your wallet and steal the money and credit cards you keep there?  Security breaches have become so common during the past year that many of us have put our finances at risk without even knowing it.

Just today, Barnes and Noble admitted that the PIN machines in their stores had been hacked, allowing the hackers access to debit card information including the PIN numbers that customers had used. This is not the only company to have experienced this type of breach.

According to LifeLock, 400,000 Yahoo! accounts, 6.5 million LinkedIn accounts, and 24 million Zappos customers had their account information stolen in the first half of 2012.  This is in addition to the many banks and schools that also had data retrieved by unauthorized people.

USA.gov also released a warning today about Smartphones.  Their report stated that people who own Smartphones are 33% more likely to be the victims of identity theft than people who use an older style cellphone.

Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft

LifeLock has these suggestions to help people protect themselves:

Install security software on your Smartphone.  Many people who have security software on their home computers do not realize that they should also install similar software on their Smartphones.

Only use secure wireless networks to use your laptop.  This will make it less likely that your computer will be hacked while you are using it.

Since about 1/4 of us store personal financial information on our laptops, never let yours out of your sight.  While it is out of your possession, someone could steal sensitive information.

Change your passwords often.  According to an article on Yahoo!, we should also avoid using popular passwords that thieves are likely to try.  The most common passwords are:  password, 123456, 12345678, abc123, querty, monkey, letmein, dragon, 111111, baseball, iloveyou, trustno1, 1234567, sunshine, master, 123123, welcome, shadow, ashley, football, jesus, michael, ninja, mustang, password1.

Instead, create passwords in more unique ways.  For example, you could use the first letter in every word in a phrase you like, or combine two words.  If you replace a letter with a symbol somewhere in your password, you will create an even stronger password.

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of wallet courtey of www.morguefile.com

 

Religion, Politicians, and Dishonesty

Have you checked out the Fact Checking websites that are available on the internet?  I was recently planning a blog post about the different lies that are being told in the presidential election, as well as the state and local elections.  As I began to dig into the confusing world of political lies, I was simply overwhelmed.  There were far too many of them to cover in a blog post.

Then, a rather disturbing thought occured to me.  Most of these politicians claim to be members of a religious group. In addition, the majority of their followers are people of faith, often people who are deeply devoted to their religious beliefs.

Somehow the idea that we so easily accept political lies was a deeply disturbing thought to me.  How can people of faith be so nonchalant when their favorite political candidate is caught in an obvious lie?  I am not talking about candidates who have earnestly tried to fulfill a campaign promise, but have failed due to lack of cooperation from others.  I am talking about candidates who brazenly lie about their opponents in television ads, or who say one thing to their supporters in private and something entirely different when they are being interviewed on television.

I am not so naive as to think that everyone always tells the truth.  In fact, as I have mentioned before on this blog, most people tell a number of lies every week.  Many of these lies are exaggerations or they are told because people want to avoid embarrassment.  However, when I hear our local politicians completely distort the record of their opponent, or when I hear them deny their own guilt even when they have been caught in a crime, I am extremely disappointed.  Just last week the Los Angeles County Assessor was arrested for taking campaign contributions from wealthy donors in return for unreasonably lowering the assessed values of their properties after he was elected.  About ten years ago, an Orange County judge was caught with child pornography and he continued to run for re-election, despite the fact that he was under house arrest, pending his trial. I have heard of many other politians who have committed crimes that were just as outrageous!  I'm sure that you know about political lies that are being told in your own communities.

I think that we people of faith should hold our politicians accountable.  Regardless of the political outcome, we should expect our candidates to make the same statements regardless of who is listening ... their supporters or the general public.  We should demand that they reveal the truth about their finances and their personal lives.  We should insist that they answer the questions they are asked, and not try to avoid the issues.  We need to hold our politicians to a standard of integrity that is at least as high as the general public. 

I understand that many people who have loyalty to a political party will vote for candidates based solely on their party affiliation.  However, I hope that most people will one day begin to look beyond party politics and make personal integrity one of the most important things they consider when choosing a candidate.

You may also be interested in reading:

The Facts About the Obama vs Romney Debate
Fact Checking Bill Clinton's Convention Speech
Factual Errors in Paul Ryan's Convention Speech
Politics and Lies

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of religious symbols courtesy of www.en.wikipendia.com/commons

Avoid IRS Scams

The end of the year is fast approaching, and many of us will be filing our taxes as soon as possible.  Before you get busy with the holidays and swept up in working on your taxes, you should know about a few IRS scams that you will want to avoid.

First of all, the IRS never, ever will contact you and ask for your Social Security number or bank account information by email or over the phone.  Be immediately suspicious if anyone contacts you and asks for this information, even if they say they are from the IRS.

Be suspicious of any emails that say they are from the Internal Revenue Service.  It may have subject line that says something like "tax notification" or "refund" information.  They will suggest that you go to an IRS website, and the website may even look authentic and ask that you submit your bank account information so that they can "deposit" your refund.  However, there is no refund.  They are trying to steal your account information.  Do not be fooled.  The IRS will not contact you by email.  It will mail you a letter if they want to contact you. The only time they ask for bank information is in your actual tax return.

In general, be suspicious if anyone sends you an email and says they represent the IRS.  If you receive a phone call and think it may be legitimate, call the IRS yourself at the number printed in your phone book or given to you by an information operator.  Never give out personal information to a stranger calling you on the phone or sending you an email.  The scammers are hard at work trying to trick you.  Don't fall for it.

You may also be interested in reading:

Dangerous Election Scams
The PayPal Scam
Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During Your Vacation
Online Dating Scams

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Dangerous Election Scams

Like many Americans, I have donated money to my favorite political candidates over the years.  Usually I go straight to their websites, which seems to be the safest way to make a donation.  However, many people make donations when they receive phone calls from sincere sounding individuals who say they are calling from the campaign quarters of major candidates.  Often they convey a sense of urgency, telling you the campaign desperately needs more more or your candidate will almost certainly lose.

Donation Scams: I'm sad to report that these phone calls are often from scammers to are using the current election season as a way to trick honest people out of their hard-earned money.  If you receive a phone call and want to make a donation to a political party or a candidate, you are far safer if you contact the campaign or election office and make a donation directly to them.

Here are some other scams you need to avoid:

Voter Registration Scam:  Callers tell you that you need to re-register to vote and that you can do so over the phone.  All you need to do is give them some identifying information, such as your Social Security number.  Currently there are no states that allow you to register over the phone, so don't fall for this scam.

Election Poll Scam:  Many people are quite happy to tell pollsters which candidate or propositions they plan to support.  If someone calls and this is all they want to know, then the poll is probably legitimate.  However, if they want your personal information, do not give it to them.  If they offer you a prize for answering their questions, don't fall for this trick.  Often they will ask for you credit card information to cover fees or other charges.  This is just a tricky way for a dishonest person to get your credit card information. 

No matter who you support, you do not want to fall for any of these scams.  If you believe that you have been the victim of one of these calls, contact local law enforcement and let them know.  If your caller ID captured the phone number of the caller, report that to the police, too.

Elections are a wonderful time for Americans to exercise our legitimate right to vote.  Don't let your enjoyment of your political freedom be ruined by becoming the victim of a scam.

You may also be interested in reading:

The PayPal Scam
How to Avoid ATM Theft, Scams and Skimmers
Post Disaster Contractor Fraud

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of ballot courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Consumer Warning about Counterfeit Airbags in Cars

The federal government issued a warning this week to anyone who has had the airbag in their car replaced in the past three years.  The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency seized 2500 counterfeit airbags during the past year, and these fake airbags do not work.

According to the federal government, here are the people who should have their airbags checked as soon as possible:

Anyone who has had their airbag replaced, especially if it was not replaced at a new car dealership;

Anyone who has purchased a used car, but does not know whether or not the airbag was ever replaced by the previous owner;

Anyone who has purchased a car that was listed as salvage, rebuilt or reconstructed;

Anyone who has purchased an airbag over the internet, especially if they paid less than $400 for it.

If you are concerned, you can take your car to a dealership and have them check your airbag.  You can locate a dealership that will perform this inspection on the website:  www.SaferCar.gov

Unfortunately, consumers will have to pay to have their cars inspected, as well as for the cost of replacing the airbag if it turns out to be counterfeit.  The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates than an inspection will cost about $100 to $200 and the replacement cost for a steering wheel airbag is approximately $750 to $1,000.  For you own protection, confirm the price before you take your car to an inspection site.  As always, this blogger does not recommend that you get any work done on your car (or other property) until you have a written estimate.  This is especially important for consumers because some cars may have as many as eight airbags.

Sadly, it is absolutely shocking and tragic that there are people who would knowingly put the lives of other human beings in danger by selling counterfeit safety equipment that does not work.  Many people who are struggling to get by financially will be especially hard hit by this crime.

You may also be interested in reading:

Post-Disaster Contractor Fraud
You Can Avoid Online Used Car Scams
Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During Your Vacation

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo of wrecked car courtesy of www.morguefile.com

The PayPal Scam

Many people, including this author, like to use the reliable and honest company called PayPal to make purchases on the internet and receive payments from freelance writing sites, as well as other businesses.  I like the extra layer of protection that PayPal offers me, making it possible to do business transactions without giving out my bank or credit card information.  That is why I was alarmed to read about a new scam that criminals are using to try to trick people into giving out their PayPal information.

The way this scam works is to send you an email congratuating you on a large deposit that has been made to your PayPal account.  In this email, the phony PayPal company asks you to click on their website in order to accept the deposit.  As soon as you click on the site, a virus is loaded onto your computer and their computer hackers are able to take over your computer and retrieve anything they want from it.

Do not fall for this trick, or anything like it!  If you receive a suspicious email that suggests they are contacting you from PayPal, your bank or any other financial institution, remain skeptical.  Do NOT click on any links within an unexpected email.  Instead, use the normal URL you use to contact your financial institutions, or call them, if you want to check on any unusual activity in your accounts.  Just because a stranger tells you that they have made a large deposit into your account does not mean it is true.  Your financial institution is the best source of reliable information, not suspicious emails.

Far too many people are being fooled by these scams, which is why they persist.  Protect yourself and pass on this information so that your family and friends can protect themselves, too.

You may also be interested in reading:

Online Dating Scams
Credit Fraud and Identity Theft During Your Vacation
Computer Virus Scams
You Can Avoid Online Used Car Scams

You are reading from the blog:  http://Lies-and-Liars.blogspot.com

Photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com

The Facts about the Obama vs Romney Debate

The 2012 election appears as if it is going to be close.  In fact, as you can see on the attached electoral map, the decision may actually be made by undecided voters in the states of Florida, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio and Iowa.

Because the election is so close, it drives me crazy when I hear the candidates say one thing in television interviews and something else when they are debating each other before a national audience.  It also bothers me when I hear them exaggerate their numbers or make statements that are clearly intended as lies.

Fact Checking Six Statements in the Obama Romney Debate

The website PolitiFact. com is a Pulitzer Prize winning news site that investigated the claims made in the October 3 presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Romney.  Here is a rundown of some the factual errors that were made during the debate.

"Under Governor Romney's definition, Donald Trump is a small business." - Not true

"Up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect" - Not true

"Romney's Medicare plan was estimated to cost the average senior about $6,000 a year." - Half true

"Romney's plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut." - Half true

"Obama put in place a board that can tell people ... what treatments they're going to receive."  - Mostly false

"Romney would turn Medicare into a voucher program" - Mostly true

Fact Checking Numbers in the Obama Romney Debate

The Washington Post had their own Fact Checkers working overtime during and after the debate.  They explained some of the discrepancies in numbers that were thrown around by the two candidates.  Here is what they discovered.

"Governor Romney's ... economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut." (Obama)
"I don't have a $5 trillion tax cut." (Romney)

Obviously one of them was not being completely honest.  According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Romney's proposal to cut the tax rates by 20 percent and eliminate estate tax and the alternative minimum tax would cut tax revenue by $500 billion in 2015 and about $5 trillion over a period of 10 years.

"We take some of the money that we're saving as we wind down two wars." (Obama)

This is a budget trick on the part of both parties.  The Bush administration never appropriately accounted for war expenses, and the Obama administration is projecting future savings far into the future, which inflates the potential savings.

"I want to close loopholes that are giving incentives for companies that are shipping jobs overseas." (Obama)

"I have no idea what you're talking about." (Romney)

Perhaps Romney didn't know about it, but there actually are tax deductions that companies can take for moving their operations overseas.

There were other exaggerations and mistatements made during the debate, but I wanted to focus specifically on the ones that involved money.  In addition, the point of this post is to make it obvious that you simply cannot believe all the rhetoric you hear from political candidates.  You have to look up all the facts yourself, and then decide which candidate has the plan that is most likely to be implemented and that will help you and your family have the most desirable quality of life.

Don't vote on the basis of sound bites in television ads and debates.  Check the facts and gather as much information as possible on every issue.  Be skeptical if you wanted to be a well-educated voter.

You may also be interested in reading:

Fact Checking Bill Clinton's Convention Speech
Factual Errors in Paul Ryan's Convention Speech
Politics and Lies
The Collapse of Lehman Brothers
Misinformation about Affordable Healthcare Act

You are reading from the blog:  http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com

Photo courtesy of www.en.wikipedia.com/commons