Equi-Fail!

   Or maybe we should say Equi-Fiasco!

   By now you've certainly heard about the Equifax breach including leaked social security numbers and other personal information on over 143 million people.  And there's plenty more info to come with this one as the facts continue to get uncovered.

   I certainly don't mean to be jumping on the bandwagon here.  There has already been so much coverage of this breach, but it is a big deal.  And, while I've seen a number of articles on what to do now, I haven't seen any that really cover everything you must do to protect yourself.

   Let's do that now!

   The bottom line is this... it's 2017... no one can or will protect your personal information.  You must take appropriate steps to protect yourself.  And here they are... in no particular order... the top-10 things you should do to protect your personal and financial information:

Hello Dearest One

   I just got some incredible news!  I really love working in Information Security, but with this windfall it's certainly time to retire.

   And I wanted to share this news with all of you!

   Here's the email I received that covers it all... this is so exciting!

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Hello Dearest One,

I am Mrs. Jessica W the Administrative manager at a vault of financial & security Institute in Madrid, I am contacting you as regards an abandoned sum of $31.7 Million Us dollars (Thirty One million, Seven Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) in our safe deposit vault, that belongs to one of our foreign customers that share the same surname with you, who died along with his entire family on the 11th march 2009 in a ghastly motor accident in Porto Portugal.

The banking policy can only allow the release of such funds to a benefactor through an application as next of kin to the deceased. After his death, the bank has been expecting a possible beneficiary, but nobody came for the claim, this institute has exploited all its ethical possibilities in other to contact possible relation or inheritor, but no success, I have made my own research with the help of private investigator, it is my knowledge that this man has been living in Barcelona for the past 19 years and has never returned back home. I also leant that his wife and 7 year old daughter died with him during this accident, however because of the international financial crises, a lot of reform has been made within the Spanish financial system; this includes the new law on succession/claims which indicates a duration in which such inheritance could be tolerated,

Upon your acceptance to partner with me, I urge you to please kindly get back to me with your direct contact details for further details via my email address: EMAIL: jessica_jessicaxx@yyy.com  or Alternative Email: jessica_vivian@yyy.com on how you and me can make a claim to the funds in question. I GUARANTEE you that this process would be executed under a legitimate and risk free arrangement. Thanks as I wait to hear from you as soon as you receive this proposal e-letter.

Best Regard,
Mrs. Jessica W
EMAIL: jessica_jessicaxx@yyy.com
Alternative Email: jessica_vivian@yyy.com

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   I did alter the email addresses!

   I'm not sure what I did to get so lucky to receive this gift, but it sounds like the greatest thing ever!  And the thing is, I'm lucky that I even saw this message because it was in my spam folder.

   😃😄😉