Selasa, 24 Juli 2012

Experience The Pleasure Of Traveling In A Gulfstream Charter

An increasing number of people today are opting to fly on chartered flights. When you decide to fly private, you want to make sure that you take the best flight. Gulfstream charters are known as the best private flights. By flying on these, you can experience luxury and comfort like never before. A Gulfstream charter also ensures that travel to your destination is safe.
Most people are under the impression that chartered flights are exorbitantly priced. While this is true to a certain extent, Gulfstream charters are the least expensive of the lot. It is important to note that these planes are highly comfortable to fly in. To begin with, the design of the plane is incredibly stylish. These flights deliver high performance, specifically for long ranges. Owing to these factors, Gulfstream charters are the most popular choice for people who want to travel in style, anywhere in the world.
The range of this charter is close to 6,500 nautical miles, which is impressive. Even when the aircraft is flying as high as 51,000 feet, you will not feel any discomfort. These aircraft travel at 560 miles per hour and can charter around 12- 15 people in a single flight. The speed of the jet is also very commendable, at Mach 8.7.
While there are many benefits associated with being chartered on a Gulfstream aircraft, the price is always a concern. One way to ensure that you do not spend a lot of money is to opt for jet cards. These cards allow you to buy a specific number of flight hours. You can make this purchase even before you start to fly. When you use jet cards, you pay for the hours that you really travel, ensuring that you do not overspend. Ideally, the cards are like debit cards where you have to buy flight hours of a certain amount to a carrier that you opt for, in a one time payment.
Jet cards are also extremely beneficial to frequent travelers. Such fliers tend to spend a substantial amount of time in airports waiting for flights. When they do travel, they use commercial aircraft that are not the most comfortable option. For such travelers, using jet cards is hugely beneficial. You can contact Gulfstream charter companies to gather information about their offers. Private jets and jet cards allow you to travel in style, comfort, and save time while you do so.
Talon Air Jets offer you the convenience and luxury of flying to your destination on a private jet at a significantly lower cost than most private jet charter flights. Talon Air Jets allows you to take advantage of a great value such as one way charter flights and also a Gulfstream charter. Take advantage and choose from one of our core aircrafts such as Hawker Charter or Sikorsky Charter and many more.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7189444

Stop Identity Theft With Five Tips

Securely dispose of mailed account and personal information.
People regularly receive articles of mail filled with identity sensitive documents. Documents such as bank statements, merchant or credit card bills, and invoices etc. Often they are randomly discarded with the other common refuse set out for collection i.e. public domain. People tend to have this sense of security that articles in the garbage are inaccessible and safe from intrusion. All an identity thief needs to do is pluck a few envelopes from the trash and get to work. The most effective method to eliminate this from happening is to invest in a cross-cut shredder that has at least a 10 sheet feed capacity, can handle a CD or credit card, and has at least a cross-cut shred size of 0.156" x 1.562". These are general specifications that may vary according to manufacturer and personal needs. Keep in mind the smaller the shred cut the higher the security. Shredders of this type can be found ranging from $100 to $200. Compared to the average cost to recover from identity theft at approximately $6000, it is a pretty good little investment.
Establish a personal identity verification PIN for any account information or modification.
Typically the same accounts that come via the mail are accessible by phone to resolve issues, make payment or perform account modifications. Sometimes the only verification of the account holder's identity is established with some basic information being provided, which any savvy criminal is quite capable of accomplishing. However, place a call to each of the account customer service lines and request a security PIN be kept on file for that account, which can be a word or number. Each time the account is accessed by phone, the pin must be provided otherwise no access is granted.
Use the ATM card as a credit card only.
Keep in mind that an ATM card will debit the funds immediately from the bank account rather than extending a small loan interest free for 30 days which is basically what a credit card does. When using an ATM the transaction will pause and wait for the PIN to be entered. Shocking as it may seem, criminals actually pose as shoppers and observe consumers in an attempt to capture the PIN. There are also some interesting technical ways this is done as well. To prevent this from happening is to simply not use the ATM as such but rather as a credit card. Then no PIN is required although sometimes a zip code is requested which does not pose a problem. Should the clerk ask if the transaction is debit or credit reply the card is used as a credit card. The only time the PIN should ever be used is while inside the bank at the teller window or at an authorized ATM machine.
A strong password is the first line of defense.
Again, try to weigh the extra steps involved against the worst case scenario. The favorite password of choice is pet names or backward birthdays which are all about as useful as just not bothering to use a password. To be clear, any password can be cracked. There are free password-hacking programs available that can crack just about any password in minutes. However, ease and speed are the desired cracks and passwords that are strong or have a good Bit Strength do not accommodate. Passwords with at least 14 characters and using what I like to refer to as U.L.N.S. (combining upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters) will provide a robust password not easily or quickly broken. If only 6 or 8 characters are available maintain the use of U.L.N.S. Every single account that requires a password should have a different unique password. Using the same password for all accounts means if one is hacked all your eggs are cracked. There are a variety of free and paid password utilities designed specifically for managing many passwords.
Avoid online bill paying through merchant websites.
Many banks and credit unions offer an online bill payment system from within their secured banking system. If they offer such a service, use it. Nearly all municipalities, private businesses, and credit card companies offer Web Payment options through their systems, sometimes adding the tempting offer of discounts for signing up for automated payments debited directly from the consumer's bank accounts. When a consumer uses the vendor website to pay online the vendor has been given a free pass into the private banking account of the consumer, albeit temporarily for that transaction. Even worse is if the consumer agrees to have automatic payments taken, which is an ongoing permission of unrestricted access to personal accounts of consumers. Because this is agreed upon by the consumer there is no protection to resolve disputes or outright theft. There is no protection of account information. When using the financial institutions internal systems, there is encryption and security and best of all, liability and responsibility protection.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7080579

The Urgency of ID Theft Prevention

You don't need to have a computer to become a victim of identity theft... but it helps. Cyber-crimes involving identity theft continue to rise, so you can consider yourself vulnerable if you use the Internet and do not have an ID theft prevention plan. Hackers find new and ingenious ways to steal personal information every day, and the growing instances of data breaches of large institutions' databases puts sensitive information at risk on a global scale.
Online scammers use numerous tactics to steal identities, including posing as trusted websites to obtain private information they use to open bank accounts, obtain credit, apply for loans, get driver's licenses, and even use your health insurance, to name a few. Add organized crime and all of the "non-high-tech" ways to steal identities to the mix, and we have an identity theft epidemic that shows no signs of subsiding anytime soon.
But you are anything but helpless in the fight against ID theft. By taking a proactive, vigilant approach to ID theft prevention, you can significantly decrease your chances of becoming a victim. Here are a few high-tech and not-so-high-tech types of identity theft tactics to watch out for, and what you can do (and not do) to prevent identity theft from happening to you:
Prevent Phishing:
Phishing occurs when an identity thief sends an email from a familiar and official-looking company (such as your bank or a retailer) and asks you to click on a link to verify or update personal information. The website you are sent to appears identical to the real company's site, making you feel comfortable about providing your information.
• ID theft prevention tip: Don't click on links in unsolicited emails and never provide your personal information unless you absolutely have to. Remember that your bank, credit card company, and other reputable organizations will never ask you to "update" personal data online.
Avoid Hacking:
Hacking takes many forms, and often occurs when identity thieves successfully "guess" or decipher your passwords, PINs, or security questions.
• ID theft prevention tip: Use strong passwords (avoid obvious personal information such as your birth date) and change passwords frequently. Don't forget about social networking sites, either. Making public personal information such as your birth date, address, and even your high school also makes you vulnerable to hackers.
Guard Against Dumpster Diving:
When it comes to identity theft, the old adage that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" couldn't be more true. Your personal information is a goldmine. Discarded credit card applications, bank account documents, and even the information on medication bottles give identity thieves the opportunity to pose as you in ways that can seriously damage your financial and healthcare information.
• ID theft prevention tip: Shred all personal documents before throwing them out, don't leave trash cans out on the curb longer than necessary, and consider paying bills online instead of writing checks.
These are just three of the many cunning methods ID theft criminals use to steal identities, slip away undetected, and then reappear to use that information to their benefit. Whether online or offline, staying proactive and vigilant is critical.
Learn more about identity theft by visiting http://www.TheIdentityAdvocate.com and choose the best ID theft prevention and recovery expert today to protect you and your family from identity theft.
Linda Vincent, R.N., P.I., is an identity theft, medical identity theft, and healthcare fraud prevention expert specializing in medical consulting and investigations. She is the president of The Identity Advocate, which teaches corporations, professional practices, and consumers how to stop identity theft, medical identity theft, and healthcare fraud. Visit http://www.TheIdentityAdvocate.com or call 310.831.4400.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7070939

What You Don't Know About Computers May Get Your Identity Stolen

With the recent hacking of social sites, and the traumatic experiences that are in my book about identity theft and identity fraud, gives me even more reason to pause. Our privacy has been compromised for years. Yet, no one actually takes the time to really listen to what is "really" being said. If our information is stolen, we do not know how many people the thief actually sells our information to and what happens after the sale.
Working in the financial industry for many years, I witnessed the exact same situations. My clients, and with people who didn't become my clients. They said, "Oh, it will never happen to me." Many of these people would tell me God would take care of them. Had it ever occurred to these people, that working through my services, was God's way of helping these folks?
After leaving the financial industry, and I left because of my own identity theft, my lessons of life escalated. I myself never thought that I would be the target of identity thief. Yet, it happened to me. While alone and in trauma, I learned everything possible about the computer, and also how the Phantoms (as I have named them in my book), not only target people online but also offline as well.
Can it happen to anyone. Yes it can. Identity Theft is a stigma that is difficult to overcome. With retirement funds stolen, reputation ruined, bank accounts depleted, and credit cards appearing one after the other, security codes from the banks fraud department breached, targeted people experience a depth of betrayal that can result in a lifetime of work to gain trust, and feel secure.
But trust can return. It's not easy and it takes time. Learning to protect our identity is work. There are many habits we have (especially here in America) that need to be broken, and new habits learned. Example using Debit Cards with pin numbers, even at the ATM. This convenience is a habit that can lead to identity theft. The list can seem endless. But learning the list of ways to protect ourselves is not nearly as endless as the repercussions of the theft.
We must learn to place our lives in God's blessings and miracles network. The is a network where we can truly find safety and security. Many people proclaim to be strong believers, yet it is only lip service. Our identity is unique. No one else is exactly like us. When we lose our financial or professional identity, we many times leave our spirit stark naked and ready for the Phantoms to clothe us in depression, hurt, anger, and lack of trust; especially trusting God. This was my lesson to learn. And it did take a few years. Now, with lessons learned, I can take that trauma and teach other people how to not let it happen to them, and if it does happen to them, how to overcome and start over. But it's difficult to teach an ostrich with his head in the sand.
Today in these difficult financial times and tight economy there are predators lurking in the shadows of cyberspace, looking for easy targets or victims to prey upon. They search out and find private financial information and pilfer the banks, credit cards and investment accounts of their victims. For the most part, these predators and thieves walk away with their victims money and are seldom caught. You can learn valuable lessons that will secure your identity..Stay informed of what to beware of in your own live to ensures that there is hope for people who have been hit by identity theft. People who have not been attacked can learn how to protect and secure their identity. For more help http://www.patrcagaines.com


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7110864

Safeguarding Personal Information Today Requires More Vigilance Than Ever Before

With the economy still in turmoil nearly four years later, the incidents of identity theft are on the rise yet again. It is vitally important that you do everything you can when it comes to safeguarding personal information, no matter what. You have to be continually vigilant these days, because simply monitoring your credit is no longer a viable option. Even when traveling, you have to be sure that nothing you carry will give a thief the option of stealing your identity, and ruining your credit and financial future for life.
Tips For Safeguarding Personal Information Today
It used to be that you just had to be careful about opening certain forms of email, the kind known as phishing mails, to avoid giving away credit or financial information to people searching for it by mistake. The emails would often look like official documentation from government agencies, banks and credit bureaus, and would trick people by the thousands. People would often monitor their credit histories for unexplained charges, but these days, even that is no longer enough for safeguarding personal information properly.
For safeguarding personal information these days, you have to get tough. You have to take every measure you can to make sure that nothing gets out into the wrong hands, period. Once they have it, they often will open up accounts with different addresses, so that the information may not ever hit your personal credit history. To forestall that, you may need to sign up for personal credit monitoring services, so that if any part of your information is used to request loans, credit cards or bank account services, you will be alerted, and nothing will be approved. Being vigilant just is not enough, not any more.
Using Personal Credit Monitoring Services
When using personal credit monitoring services for safeguarding personal information, you will need a service that provides the most value for the money you will be spending. You need for them to stay on top of matters, and to inform you reasonably soon after any attempt is made to use your credit information to open new accounts, that triggers enquiries into your credit history, or causes alterations in your employment information or residential address. All of these are signs that someone is trying to use your personal information for their own personal gain. They should also be able to effectively stop further actions from happening, and freeze that information for review.
Traveling Abroad
To effectively perform safeguarding personal information tactics, you have to take a hand yourself, rather than just rely on an outside agency to do it for you. When you are traveling, for example, do not carry anything that contains your social security number, or banking information, period. And, keep everything you need easily accessible by using travel wallets and purses. These attach to your wrist, and should contain passports, a credit card, and cash, that is it. Carry nothing of value to thieves in any travel wallets or purses, or you will regret it.
For additional info concerning Personal Credit Monitoring Services and Travel Wallets And Purses, pay a visit to Weight Loss Vacations For Adults website.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7123082

Avoiding Text Message Frauds

The invention of text messaging - and particularly, the widespread adoption of cellular data plans that allow for unlimited texting - has been a real boon for the honest and law-abiding citizen. Text messages, also known as Short Message Service (SMS), provide a tremendous convenience for today's busy people. They let us alert loved ones that we'll be a few minutes late, gossip with friends in quiet places, and send key information to coworkers or friends. Unfortunately, this same convenience and ease of use makes text messaging an area that is ripe for exploitation by the unscrupulous and criminal element.
If you text, you've probably received "spam" marketing text messages uninvited in your inbox; if you weren't on an unlimited plan, you may have expressed a few choice words at having to pay an extra charge for the privilege of seeing an unwanted advertisement. But text spam is an irritant at worst; the real threat comes from "smishers," identity thieves using the SMS system to try to trick or extort personal identity from unwary consumers.
These scammers will usually send a faked message that pretends to be an official communication from your financial institution. The fake text will ask you to contact someone in the office at a provided phone number or to click on a link embedded in the text message to visit a web site from your cell phone's browser. The phone number leads to a boiler-room crime ring, and the web site is a fake, designed to look like the real site, but it is, in fact, completely in the control of the identity thieves. Once they have you on the phone or on the web site, a smooth talking operator will attempt to get your identity information, such as your account number(s), your social security number, your home address, etc.
Sometimes spotting smishing attempts can be very simple, as when there are obvious misspellings in the message, the name of the financial institution is slightly wrong, or the request for information is blatantly obvious. Unfortunately, many smishers have grown much more sophisticated; their dummy sites look and work just like the official site, and the people working the phones or the online chat system at the website are very knowledgeable and skilled at emulating real financial industry professionals.
There are four key defensive techniques.
One, be suspicious to the point of paranoia about your passwords and account information. No reputable financial institution will ask you to provide, to verify, or to confirm such information over an unsecured phone or Internet chat line, and they will NEVER call you or text you to ask you to provide or confirm such information in order to avoid an account closure or other dire consequence.
Two, you can further protect this information by ensuring that you always have strong passwords for your accounts at financial sites, using a different password for each account so that one lucky guess doesn't open up your entire portfolio to these hackers.
There are several defensive measures in order to get rid and be free from text message scams. The most important defensive measure is to never ever give your account details and password to anyone. Wayne Westland Federal Credit Union offers several other preventive measures against scams; visit their website now to learn them.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7095964

Online Fraud

One of the curses of going online is the flood of spam emails making a variety of fraudulent claims. A lot of them seem to emanate from Nigeria, where corruption is endemic, but they are spreading to all corners of the Internet Globe.
From their frequency, I assume there are people online who are falling for these scams, and there seems to be little or nothing that Internet Service Providers are doing to put a stop to them. I find this surprising. After all, if they can't, or won't, police their fraudulent clients, who will?
These scams vary in their fraudulent offers. The most popular is where the sender has access to an enormous sum of money, apparently deposited by a now deceased client of theirs who left no next of kin, and in return for the cooperation of the recipient, he will share in the windfall. For his part, the recipient will have to provide his personal information, which can then used for identity theft, and also make a substantial administration payment to facilitate the transfer of this non existent sum of money. Needless to say, once paid, the hapless victim is left high and dry and poorer for the experience.
The other popular scam is winning a lottery, and the scammers use email addresses from reputable companies to give authenticity to this type of fraud. There is always an administration payment required, and again, hapless victims are falling for this on a daily basis.
There are always dishonest people hoping to profit from the misfortune of others. With the global economy in a downward spiral, and with unemployment in many countries at an all time high, the hope of instant riches to solve the problems of those at the end of their tether is often too great to resist.
And finally, there are the scams from public international bodies such as the UN, offering to compensate victims of scams, again in return for personal details and an administration payment.
The Internet is exploding at an alarming rate, and to many, it is out of control. It is the beast that cannot be slain, like the Hydra of Antiquity, but that is a poor excuse. The first port of call must be the ISP's. Without an email address, these scammers couldn't operate.
Time for a complete rethink on the way the Internet is policed. As a starting point, I would like to know how these scammers get access to my inbox. I appreciate that they are sent to "undisclosed recipients", so my actual email address is not being used, but that doesn't stop them arriving with alarming frequency.
About The Author
David Osborne is a successful barrister, author, public speaker and media personality. He writes articles of topical interest on the law for newspapers and journals, and he has his own blog at: http://david-osborne.com/blog.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7166779