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Many people hesitate to make on-line purchases because of the epidemic of identity theft. It's a valid concern,
and one that Moon Maven Publications shares. To protect you, we've taken a number of precautions, including the use of firewalls
and Spybot to
keep our records secure. We do not share your email address with anyone. Our secure shopping cart is by PayPal, a well-established
company with powerful security measures that you can read about at their
Security Center before
creating an account with them. How PayPal works is that you use your already-existing credit card to charge your purchases, so long as
you have one of the types of cards shown below.
If you'd prefer not to order on line,
write to us to arrange to pay by check.
(The downside is that the process of paying by check takes at least a week, whereas when you buy on line, you can have your books today.)
After working with PayPal for more than two years, we have full confidence in the company itself.
However, there are a variety of mass mailing scams that purport to
come from PayPal, major credit card companies, banks and other financial institutions that you should be aware of.
Called phishing (pronounced “fishing”) these are fraudulent emails that request or initiate a scam to get sensitive
personal information. They lead to spoof sites; that is, to fraudulent sites that look exactly like
well-known websites. Below, for your protection, are ways to spot these fakes.
We'd also to caution you against answering any email with the following fake addresses: info@moonmavenpublications.com;
contact@moonmavenpublications.com; webmaster@moonmavenpublications.com or anything similar.
These are typical ploys of spammers and do not come from us. Any emails we send will have the address moonmave@spiritone.com.
Stay safe and stay alert! Our best regards, Moon Maven publications.
How to Recognize Fraudulent Emails
Below are examples of fraudulent emails that people have received from identity thieves, claiming
to be from PayPal. The thieves have captured and counterfeited certain graphics from the PayPal
website, so you might easily assume the emails are real. They also have a fake email address,
like security@paypal.com--an email address that actually goes nowhere and simply bounces back to you if you use it.
Reading them, you can see how slick they are--and how threateningly
authoritarian. The language is calculated to
frighten you enough that you forget safety precautions:
a threat to suspend your account if you don't verify your banking information.
a notice that your account has been locked down because you violated their policies.
Other scare tactics include emails that warn you that a suspicious charge has been made on your account or
that give you a phony receipt for a purchase they claim you made. Here's an example--guaranteed to scare you into unwise and hasty action if you recieve it.
Be especially aware not to click on the part that says, "Save my information:
A fake charge on your account.
The dangerous part of these types of emails is a demand for banking information, which will include your account
number, social security number, and pass words. For instance, it may say:
"In order to safeguard your account, we require that you confirm your banking details.
To help speed up this process, please access the following link so we can complete the verification of
your PayPal Account."
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you click on a link like that and give out private information in response to
any purported communication from PayPal, your credit card companies, or your bank. If the notice contains a link
of any kind,
it is a fraud. Precisely because of concerns about identity theft, an email from a reputable financial company
will warn you
NOT to follow a link. These links lead to fake sites with counterfeit graphics that look
exactly like the real company.
There are identity theft prevention pages on the websites of
most reputable financial institutions, and they will tell you not to follow such links.
Instead open up a new browser window and go to the front page of the company's web site, signing in
with your secure password, and contact the security division of the company. Read their identity theft pages carefully for more hints on
how to prevent identity theft. PayPal's
Security Center is an excellent example, and you should read their materials if you already have or are
about to open an account there.
We hope you're reassured that we're taking solid measures to make you safe in ordering our books online, but your best defense
is vigilance and paying attention to your instincts if something is telling you to beware.
We would ask that if you order from us and subsequently recieve a communication like the ones above,
contact their security department to ask whether there is a genuine problem with your account.
Forward a copy to spoof@paypal.com so that they can keep track of the newest and slickest
cons and warn others who may be recieving them. Please also forward a copy to us.
If it's a new one, we'll post it on this page
to warn other customers! YOU BETCHA!
Identity Theft Prevention Reources
Here are some good identity theft resources. If you know of other good non-commercial sites,
we'd appreciate hearing of them.
FTC.gov is an official goverment site for consumer affairs, but has a library of
materials, including information on various state and federal laws.
Colorado's Attorney General has numerous information pieces about ID theft.
California State's Office of Privacy Protection has extensive information
on ID theft.
Identitythef.org is partly commercial but contains valuable advice for
those who wish to prevent ID theft and those who have already been victims.
This page is a creation of Donna Cunningham's
Word
of Mouth Web Design The layers of this treatment are based on stained glass from
the exceptional collection by Kokomo Opalescent Glass. Graphic images
from Clipart.com.
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