Earn Money Working at Home
Process Payroll for $$$

Some work at home offers are just scams. In this example, unwilling participants who thought they were processing payroll for an international company were actually money mules. Funds went into an account, and back out. The money was actually being laundered. It was stolen.

Alexey Mineev, of Hampton, New Hampshire recently plead guilty to money laundering charges. He set up drop accounts that were used to receive and send monies that were stolen from brokerage accounts. He could be sentenced to two years in prison, and a $40,000 fine. His plea agreement has him returning the $112,000 he made for his part in the scheme between July and December 2007.

Mineev, and his co-conspirators, Alexander Bobnev and Aleksey Volynskiy worked as a team. They would entice users to watch an online video that required a special codec to be installed, a screensaver or a security patch - which would actually be the delivery mechanism for a Trojan. They could then monitor the user looking for passwords and other logon information for brokerage or bank accounts. Screenshots could be reviewed that also showed the balance in the user's account. Bobnev would review the accounts and Mineev and Volynskiy would move the funds through drop accounts. Once the funds left the U.S. they would be virtually impossible to recover.

Anyone taking on work at home needs to review the employer thoroughly so as to not be a part of a fraud like this. "Money mules" using these drop accounts are not new, and they are not going away any time soon, not as long as some people want to steal, and others drop their cyber-guards.

ID Theft Monitoring Services may have to Change

You've seen the advertisements for these companies that help prevent identification theft. These can cost about $100 a year. One of the mechanisms used to protect you is a "fraud alert." By placing a fraud alert with a credit reporting agency, if someone applies for credit under your name, there should be a telephone call made to you first. This is meant to be a telephone verification to a known person at a number. In theory it should stop the ID thief from getting credit under your name.

There are three major credit reporting agencies in the U.S., Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. Experian has sued LifeLock which is one of the larger companies offering ID theft protection services. Experian maintains that the consumer is the person who is authorized to call and place a fraud alert on their account. These last 90 days and can be renewed. That is what LifeLock does for their customer, they place and renew these fraud alerts. Experian says that LifeLocks service is costing them millions of dollars to replace these alerts. A California judge has agreed and blocked LifeLock from placing fraud alerts on Experian.

From a consumer perspective this is a small bump in the road. If one of the three credit reporting agencies is notified of a fraud alert, they must notify the other two. But if this is such a costly process, it is logical that Trans Union and Equifax will follow suit and allow these alerts to come only from the consumer. These ID theft protection companies would then be impacted and would have to change their services to monitor their customers credit reports. They would be more reactionary then, instead of proactively stopping new credit before a thief can open an account. This would be an increase in work for companies like LifeLock and their customers could expect to see a rate increase as well. Some companies that monitor credit reports now charge $180 per year. You are still free to place and renew fraud alerts. You just have to remember to do it and must have the time.

If you are looking into a service like this, ask what will happen if fraud alerts are not allowed to be placed by the company. Remember too, that you can review your credit report free once per year from each of the three agencies. We recommend that you request one from one company every four months, rotating companies. That way, you will see your report on a regular basis, at no cost, and generally each of the three has very similar information on you. There are companies that offer this service but they charge you a fee or sell you some subscription service for a fee. Some of these companies even have "free" in their name, but they are in business to make money. And they make it from you.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the only authorized source to get your free annual credit report under federal law.