Do I have to keep Paying for a Stolen Car?

Years ago the father of a friend passed away unexectedly and his mother returned the father's new car to the dealer. She thought that would stop the payments but she was wrong. Since the "used" value of the car was less than what was still owed, she was billed for the difference.

A similar situation was described recently on FoxBusiness.com, Why You Must Keep up The Payments on a Stolen Car

"Until your car loan is satisfied, you are obligated by the terms of your finance agreement to keep up with your payments, and your insurance policy needs to be kept until the stolen car is no longer registered in your name."

A stolen car claim can take 30 days or more to settle and during that time you're on the hook for all payments. You definitely want to keep the insurance active in the hope that they'll pay for the car loss if it's not recovered or any damages sustained when it is recovered. There may be a gap between the used car price that insurance will pay and what is owed. There are special "gap" insurances policies you can buy to cover this (before the fact of course.)

I'd rather be phishing?

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to phish and you feed him for a lifetime."
- paraphrasing a Chinese Proverb

Phishing is the act of catching unwary users of email and tricking them into giving personal information or clicking on a link for the purpose of installing malware or other nefarious actions. Phisherman are never so crude as to say, hey look, you don't know me but click here please. Instead they pretend to be someone you know having already stolen your friends email address book, or pretend to be a legitmate business that you deal with, or provide some incredible other that is too good to pass up.

• Never open or reply to any e-mail when you are unsure of the sender.
• If it is too good to be true - it is.
• E-mails that appear to come from a known entity (like your bank, the government, someone from your old high school, etc), often are spoofed e-mails and do not come from them at all.  
• If you see an e-mail from your bank - sign into your account directly from the official website - NEVER follow the helpful link they send you. That helpful link will take you to a fake website that will save your account # and password for later theft.
• If you get an e-mail notice from the government about your tax info, think about it. How did they get your e-mail address? And the IRS does not use email; they send you a nicely registered letter requesting your presence at an audit.

The internet is seeing a continuing dramatic rise of e-mails designed to fool you into action; and it does work or they would not be doing it.  Some of the most recent tricks are:

• Notices of copyright/trademark infringement
• Notices from the BBB about a complaint
• Notices from banks requesting an update of some kind or another
• Notices about problems with an electronic check/deposit (ACH)
• Notices from the Government looking for you to update your tax data
• Notices about problems with your tax return 
• E-Mails from old friends (they get that data from Facebook, Linkedin, etc, etc...)
• E-Mails asking you to help a friendly prince get his inheritance out of a country controlled by an unfriendly tyrannical government
• etc, etc, etc...

Bottom Line

This is nothing new - just a reminder to practice safe computing. Below is a screenshot of e-mail quarantined by one person in one morning; you can clearly see  examples of phishing.

When to Call your Credit Card Company

Remember that credit is money
- Benjamin Franklin

MSN Money suggests there are seven occasions when you should always call your credit card company.

1. When a new card arrives - most cards require a phone call to activate a new card
2. Unauthorized charge - if you see something on your credit card statement that does not make sense, call immediately. ALWAYS review your credit card statement line by line. You might have been enrolled in some monthly fee program by visiting a web site or responding to a text message on your phone. Or it could be fraud or identity theft. Years ago a restaurant changed the amount of the tip on my card to a higher value. That is illegal.
3. Lost card - If you're not sure where your card is it's safer to have it canceled and a new card number assigned.
4. Stolen card - call immediately to get the card canceled. File a police report and also notify the credit rating bureaus.
5. Change of Address - don't make the mistake of letting your bank and card statements go to an old address and into someone else's hands.
6. Missing credit card statement - if your monthly statement does not arrive on time, call. Someone can do a lot of damage if they steal your statement which contains card number, name, address, etc.
7. Before a vacation or big purchase - companies monitor cards for unusual activity and may shut it down if they suspect fraud. We have a friend who now lives in Florida but rents out his prior home in New York. While visiting New York to make house repairs, his card company froze his account because of all the "unusual activity" in New York. Before I traveled to Canada this summer I called my credit card companies to warn them about my travel plans. (And to find out their money conversion fees.)

Bottom Line

Credit cards are great to have when used responsibly. Card rates are outrageous so this is not the best way to obtain a "loan" when you're short of cash. Never pay just the minimum suggested - pay more, pay it all if you can.

Don't touch my vegetables!

Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar
with few, friend to one, enemy to none.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)

In recent months I described how the poor economy has increased the incidents of metal theft - stealing air conditioners, trash cans, etc. for their scrap metal value. End Bold thieves steal bridge in North Beaver, Pennsylvania.

Well here's a new sign of the times, Vegetable stealing! As reported by WLS radio of Indianapolis,

gardeners of the Grassroots Community Farm were nearly in tears over the latest insult. .... Who would steal their hard-won tomatoes right off the vine? Who cut the collard greens and swiped their sweet potatoes? ... it was the work of vegetable thieves who came equipped with shovels and plastic bags. ...
Indianapolis is not alone with stories of garden thievery. The New York Times reported recently that veggie thefts this summer that have disheartened gardeners in New York's network of more than 700 community plots.

Bottom Line

Think about the word Civilization. It begins with the word "Civil". When civility and respect are lost, then civilization too will be lost. Robert Heinlein in his novel Friday addresses this point,

Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms as you have named…  But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot.
This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength.
...
I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots of course – but I suspect that little incidents of violence, pecking way at people day after day, damage a culture even more than riots that flare up and then die down…

10 Things You Shouldn't Keep in Your Wallet or Purse

What's in your wallet?
-Capital One slogan

Fox Business News lists 10 Things You Shouldn't Keep in Your Wallet or Purse.

1. Social Security Card
With your Social Security card a thief could open a credit card, apply for a loan, or even buy a car with the information. Memorize the nine digits instead.

2. Your Passport
A passport is a must if you're traveling internationally, but leave it in the hotel safe. When abroad, carry a photocopy of your passport for identification. "If you lose your passport or get mugged in a foreign country, it's such a horrible hassle. You have to go to the embassy, and it's a vacation nightmare."

If you're traveling in the U.S., carry only your driver's license.

3. Passwords/Pass codes
"If you store any type of ATM password or even a code for your home alarm in your wallet, you have basically gifted a thief with access to your life." If you must write them down, enter them in backwards or add one to each number so that 1234 becomes 2345. Use some kind of a code to alter the number that you will remember.

4. A Non-Password Protected Phone
Some smart phone applications allow instant access to bank accounts, PayPal accounts, medical records, and more. Even email on an unprotected phone could give a thief way too much information. Be sure to password protect your smart phone AND don't carry that password on you.

5. Your Checkbook
A checkbook has your bank account number and routing number on it, and your address.

6. Too Many Credit Cards
If you carry every credit card you own and your wallet is lost or stolen then you'll have to cancel every one. If you leave at least one card at home (in a safe place) you'll have a card you can use when the others are gone. Also make sure you keep photocopies of the front and back of each card at home; the back of most cards carries the 800 number for reporting a lost or stolen card.

7. Too Much Cash
Carry only as much cash as you're willing or able to afford to lose.

8. Gift Cards/Certificates
Gift cards and gift certificates are just like cash -- they don't require ID for use.

9. USB Devices
USB devices can be bad news in the hands of thieves if they contain confidential files.

10. Receipts
Some receipts have your credit card information on them, as well as your signature, which thieves could do a lot of damage with.

Bonus Item:
"It may sound silly, but if you're changing earrings ..., it's very possible you may forget and toss these things in the zipper compartment of your wallet. It would be horrible to get your wallet stolen any day, but if you're also losing your grandmother's earrings ..., it's even worse!"

Bottom Line

What's in your wallet? Does it contain anything besides a drivers license that a thief can use to steal your identity?

Scrap Metal Theft in Chicago

"Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself."
William Shakespeare

Last month I wrote about Scrap Metal Theft. This month CBS Chicago reports that thieves are stealing air conditioner units for the metal value.

"They work silently, leaving no trace behind. A Chicago neighborhood is on alert after the number of thefts of air conditioning units have jumped sharply in recent weeks. The robbers are after the copper inside, which they can resell for scrap, a favorite quick money-making method for drug addicts. But they're not just cracking open the units and plundering the pipe, they're lifting the entire central AC unit."

NBC Chicago reports that,

Some 100 orphaned cats and dogs living in a Chicago animal welfare center are in danger heading into the expected-to-be-hot weekend after vandals either stole or destroyed all of the building's main air conditioning units Thursday evening.

The shelter will need $20,000 to replace the A/C.

Bottom Line

"Residents have taken to enclosing their air conditioning in thick cages with multiple locks. If you live in an area where AC theft is a concern, you should also lock up the disconnect box to make it harder to get to the AC."

Scrap Metal Theft

“He that steals an egg will steal an ox”

-Proverb

A year ago I wrote about Appliance Fires in England caused by a power surge when thieves broke into an electrical substation and stole £20 worth of copper switching parts to sell on the black market. Likewise I recall a story during the Iraq war that power outages resulted when thieves stole remote power lines in the desert to sell as scrap metal.

The Consumerist reports a similar story here in the US. In 2009 the mayor of Pittsburgh purchased 250 trash receptacles printed with his name for $1,010 apiece. Critics objected to the high price (and to his name on the cans). Other cities had spent less to stash the trash - Cincinnati ($500), Philadelphia ($118) and Minneapolis ($323). The mayor replied that a lower price was just not possible,

"I would challenge somebody that suggests that it is (possible) to prove where that can happen — and what is the quality and the durability and the maintenance factor of those garbage cans?"

Three years later the durability and maintenance are a problem. I'm sure the cans are in fine condition when you can find one - but it seems that 50 cans have gone missing. Some detective work revealed that the $1000 cans are being sold to scrap dealers for about $40. Maybe the city should have bolted the pricey cans to the concrete?

My wife and I have similar concerns about buying a lawn ornament. We love the look of bears carved from a tree log but wonder how long it would last in the front yard before someone stole it (or vandalized it). So instead we purchased a glass table supported by a carved bear that we use in the living room where it will be safe.

Bottom Line

Is the economy making theft worse? Here are some headlines from DrudgeReport.com

ATM Scams

"Consider this: I can go to Antarctica and get cash from an ATM without a glitch, but should I fall ill during my travels, a hospital there could not access my medical records or know what medications I am on." - Nathan Deal

Hopefully you're aware of ATM skimmers. I'll discuss them below but thought I would start with a low tech way to lose money at an ATM. San Francisco police caught a crook who stuffed napkins into ATM cash dispenser slots. When people tried to withdraw cash, it would get stuck behind the napkins. After they walked away frustrated, the crook dislodged the napkins, and walked away with their cash.

If your ATM money does not come out reach up into the slot and see if there's anything stuck there. If that fails, take a cellphone picture of the ATM screen for evidence and then call the number on the ATM for service or go inside the bank for help.

Now back to skimmers. These are devices designed to steal your card information and pin. Check out the photos at http://www.snopes.com/fraud/atm/atmcamera.asp and http://consumerist.com/2009/04/heres-what-a-card-skimmer-looks-like-on-an-atm.html

There are two things to worry about.

1. A camera that records the PIN you type in. At the snopes link above the camera is hidden inside a pamphlet holder next to the ATM (pictured above). At the consumerist site the camera is in a strip attached to the ceiling.

2. A card scanner attached to the ATM. At both sites the extra scanner is part of a panel affixed to the ATM and look absolutely authentic!  At this site, http://gizmodo.com/5453857/atm-card-skimmers-are-getting-frighteningly-sophisticated, the skimmer is quite thin and covers the card reader.

Bottom Line

What can you do to protect yourself. Not much I'm afraid. Try to cover your fingers as you type the PIN from prying eyes or camera. Use the same ATM and remember what it looks like. If anything changes on the outside of the machine, ask the bank before using the machine.

Any card scanner could be stealing information - at restaurants, gas pumps, grocery stores, etc. If money is stolen report it to the bank and file a police report.

Stolen Laptop

"UNIVAC: a device, which contained 20,000 vacuum tubes, occupied 1,500 square feet and weighed 40 tons; there was also a laptop version weighing 27 tons."- Dave Barry

The Consumerist recommends 7 Things You Should Do Before & After Your Laptop Is Stolen.

BEFORE

• Have Serial Number and Receipt On File - this will be necessary to prove you are the rightful owner.

• Backup Your Hard Drive (this is also protection should your hard drive fail. Mine has)

• Install Tracking Software – who knew there is LoJack for Laptops?

AFTER

• File A Report With Your Laptop Manufacturer —In case the new owner attempts to have your laptop repaired by the manufacturer.

• File a Police Report —they’ll want the serial number.

• Call the Pawn Shops —They might have bought it or remember someone trying to sell it.

• Check Online Marketplaces like Ebay and Craigslist for someone selling your laptop

BOTTOM LINE

I’d add three more BEFORE steps.

1. Decorate your laptop in some unique way that makes it stand out and easily spotted during a search. Like a bumper sticker.

2. Be careful what you store on your laptop. We keep a list of passwords, bank accounts, etc in Word documents but the documents are password protected. Apply a password to anything you don't want others to read.

3. Your laptop may be stolen at your workplace. Could be the cleaning staff, someone who broke in, or a late working co-worker. You never know. I purchased a lock and chain to attach the laptop to my desk. Sort of like a bicycle chain.

P.S.

Laptops are an amazing achievement of technology. Check out http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/18/amazing-facts-and-figures-about-the-evolution-of-hard-disk-drives/ for a history of hard drive sizes. I never knew there were refrigerator-sized hard drives in the 70’s. My oldest memory is from the 80s when the hard drive looked like a stack of vinyl LP records.

Car Theft

“The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it” - Dudley Moore

Today’s gleam of wisdom comes from Consumer Reports, How to prevent car theft.While car thefts in the U.S. continue a five-year trend downwards (2008 was the lowest in 20 years), still nearly one million vehicles are stolen annually.

Here are some tips to discourage car thieves:

1. NEVER leave your car running unattended and NEVER leave the keys in the car when you get out. Why make life easy for car thieves?
2. Lock your car. This will slow a thief down.
3. Keep windows closed when you park. A clothes hanger can reach in through a narrow opening to unlock some doors.
4. Don’t store expensive electronic devices in plain sight. A thief may smash your window and grab the obvious valuables.
5. Park in well-lighted, public place. At home a car will be safer in a garage than in a driveway or at a curb.
6. Use a visual warning device, such as a blinking light, as a deterrent.
   [Personally I hate car alarms and don’t know anyone who responds to them]
7. Smart keys or a fuel cut-off system are standard on many new cars. Thieves won’t steal a car they cannot start.
8. Install a GPS tracking system or OnStar in your car to help police find it.

Bottom Line

The three most stolen vehicles for 2008 were the 1994 Honda Accord, 1995 Honda Civic, and 1989 Toyota Camry. Older cars can be quickly sold for their parts and are easier to steal than newer models with anti-theft technologies.

One day in college my driver-side door refused to open. When a mechanic opened up the door panel he found a shim stuck inside (see picture at top). Someone had tried to steal my car but the shim became jammed in the lock. A lucky break for me.

On the other hand, I've locked my keys in my car at least three times in my life that I recall. Each time a professional locksmith or tow truck driver had no difficulty opening my car in seconds.

Protecting your Go-Kit Contents

"Money, money, money. Always sunny, in the rich mans world" - ABBA

In yesterday's post I discussed adding financial items and contact information to your Go-Kit. This could be extremely helpful in putting your life back to together after a catastrophic emergency. However it can also result in total ruin if your Go-Kit were lost and a thief stole your identity.

Let's start with cash. It's good to have some cash in the Go-Kit, say $20-$100. After a hurricane or during a blackout the ATM's will be out of service and the banks not functioning. There is no way to prevent the theft of cash so pack only what you can afford lose. As an alternative to cash, consider barter. A friend, who lived in Saudi Arabia, says prepared persons wear gold jewelry to use in emergencies when you need to buy or bribe your way to safety. Consider packing extra items that you can share or trade such as sewing needles, candy bars, lighters, matches, etc.

When the electricity comes back, a useful item to have is a debit card in your Go-Kit. When protected by a PIN this is equivalent to safe cash that can not be stolen from you. Make sure your spouse and older children know the PIN. Teach your children never to share the PIN with anyone.

The contact info is probably safe to store on paper so long as you stick to just phone numbers for friends and family. Keep the paper inside a zip-lock bag so it is not destroyed by water. If you're like most people your only record of many phone numbers is on your cell phone. If the phone is lost or the battery dies, can you access the numbers you need?

For personal information like account numbers for banks, medical, insurance, etc. I store the information electronically. Important documents like the car title are scanned into my home PC, copied to MS Word, and then the Word document is protected with a password. Detailed contact information is typed to a Word doc and password protected. These documents were then copied to a flash drive ($10-$25) that is the size of your thumb and easily fits in a Go-Kit and my wife's purse. This give us the best of all possible worlds. Most any PC will be able to open our vital documents but only for someone knowing the passwords.

Bottom Line
Be financially prepared in a safe way. Look for ways to make the information and cash accessible only to yourself and not a thief.