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personal details requested irrespective of how convinced you are the request is legitimate. Banks are the first to advise you they will not ever ask you for personal details such as your PIN number either over the phone or by way of e-mail. Always phone your bank to advise them of any suspicious communication received and you will doubtless be advised your bank did not in fact send you any such request.

If you use Internet banking facilities, pay attention and make sure you are on the correct site. Any changes you notice need to be treated with suspicion and you should always double-check everything before transmitting financial information. Your banking institution can be your best friend here where for the cost and time required to make a simple phone call might be the one barrier against transmitting your bank account details and providing access to criminals. Check all statements for unauthorised transactions and question anything you are not sure of. Once more, a simple phone call may save you considerable pain.

Nobody is invulnerable and your best efforts sometimes may not be enough however if you do discover someone accessed your account, get into the bank immediately and report it. Electronic transfers can be reversed provided you act without hesitation. I had one such transaction reversed after discovering someone had managed to get my credit card number (I still don't quite know how) and place a $40 charge listed as a booking fee into a motel. An Internet provider some time ago took three additional payments from my account after I discontinued the service yet on both occasions, the transactions were reversed. The inconvenience was time where the transaction was frozen while the bank requested evidence from the parties who made the unauthorised transactions. I was able to provide evidence clearly proving the fact I did not authorise these transactions.

And now to my favourite the get rich quick by working at home' scams (see reference 3). What a life if you are able to make this work for you, and I have no doubt some people can actually do this however the chances of it being you or me are another matter altogether. Somehow it never occurs to those who believe what they read that if making thousands per week for only a few hours work each day at home were really as easy as described, everyone would do it which of course leaves nobody to do the real work. Ok, so some may work to a small degree, for example; this site offers reward for writing but I

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