Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves - Hardcover

Levin, Adam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1610395875 ISBN 13: 9781610395878

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2015

Synopsis

Identity fraud happens to everyone. So what do you do when it's your turn?

Increasingly, identity theft is a fact of life. We might once have hoped to protect ourselves from hackers with airtight passwords and aggressive spam filters, and those are good ideas as far as they go. But with the breaches of huge organizations like Target, AshleyMadison.com, JPMorgan Chase, Sony, Anthem, and even the US Office of Personnel Management, more than a billion personal records have already been stolen, and chances are good that you're already in harm's way.

This doesn't mean there's no hope. Your identity may get stolen, but it doesn't have to be a life-changing event. Adam Levin, a longtime consumer advocate and identity fraud expert, provides a method to help you keep hackers, phishers, and spammers from becoming your problem.

Levin has seen every scam under the sun: fake companies selling credit card insurance”; criminal, medical, and child identity theft; emails that promise untold riches for some personal information; catphishers, tax fraud, fake debt collectors who threaten you with legal action to confirm your account numbers; and much more. As Levin shows, these folks get a lot less scary if you see them coming.

With a clearheaded, practical approach, Swiped is your guide to surviving the identity theft epidemic. Even if you've already become a victim, this strategic book will help you protect yourself, your identity, and your sanity.

About this title

About the Author:

Adam Levin is a consumer advocate with more than 30 years' experience in personal finance, privacy, real estate and government service. A former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Levin is Chairman and founder of Identity Theft 911, Chairman and co-founder of Credit.com and serves as a spokesperson for both companies. An expert on personal finance, credit, identity management, fraud and privacy, he writes a weekly column which appears on Huffington Post and ABCNews.com. He is a frequent guest on television, and has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business News, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, CBS Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight and scores of radio stations throughout the country. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.

Review:

"The real value of Levin's book, though, lies not in its diagnosis, alarming as it is, but in its practical advice on how to protect yourself. No one can make themselves completely safe, but much like burglars who target the most vulnerable house on the street, hackers will seek out those with the weakest online defenses. Levin has a wealth of suggestions for making yourself less vulnerable.” The Sunday Times (UK)

In this alarming book, Levin, a consumer advocate and founder of the consulting agency Identity Theft 911, warns about the prominent dangers of identity fraud in the increasingly digital world [SWIPED is] a primer on the potential dangers and what's at stake.” Publishers Weekly

A real eye-opener . . . rock-solid evidence on the rise of identity theft and multiple steps we can take to counteract an attack.” Kirkus Reviews

If you have a credit card, or money, or a car, or a house, or anything of value if you have a job or a family or a name you need to read this book.” Marc Weber Tobias, Security.org and Forbes contributor

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1610395875
• ISBN 13: 9781610395878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288