Jury Duty ID Scam

Subject: Jury Duty ID Scam very important

This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the Scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Check it out here: FBI

And here: SNOPES

*77 Is Mostly An Urban Legend

I received the following email from one of my friends. The information enclosed would be greatly beneficial if it were all true. However, as I found out, not all is factual.

"YOU MUST KNOW *77


I knew about the red light on cars, but not the*77
It was about 1:00 p.m. In the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on.. Lauren's parents have always told her never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather to wait until they get to a gas station, etc.

Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called *77 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way.

Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.

I never knew about the *77 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe & quiet place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. Put on your hazard lights) & call *77 like Lauren did.

Too bad the cell phone companies don't generally give you this little bit of wonderful information.

*Speaking to a service representative at ** Bell ** Mobility confirmed that *77 was a direct link to State trooper info. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about *77...

Send this to every woman (and person) you know; it may save a life. This applies to ALL 50 states"

First, *77 is not a number that is available in all 50 states to connect you to the Highway Patrol.

Second, it is true that some rapists attempt to pass themselves off as police officers.

Third, the person portrayed in this story is not confirmed to be an actual person as this story has turned into an urban legend and has been modified multiple times.

According to Snopes.com, in March 2002, the main character's name in the story was changed from Lauren to Lisa. There have been versions of this story that move the action to different countries, utilizing different emergency numbers.

While it is truly important to note that women driving alone have been sexually assaulted by rapists pretending to be police officers, this particular story does not seem to have merit.

Stay safe.

Car Theft. Vulnerable Keyless Entry Codes.

This was forwarded in an email to me and I thought it was interesting.

"Snopes Approved

I locked my car --- as I walked away I heard my car door unlock I went
back and locked my car again three times. I looked around and there were
two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. When I
looked straight at them they did not unlock my car again.

How to lock your car safely

While traveling my son stopped at a roadside park. He came out to his car
less than 4-5 minutes later and found someone had gotten into his car, and
stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator briefcase.....you
name it ... called the police and since there were no signs of his car
being broken int o- the police told him that there is a device that
robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors
on your car using your key-chain locking device.. They sit a distance away
and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the
store, restaurant, or bathroom and have a few minutes to steal and run.
The police officer said ...to be sure to manually lock your car door-by
hitting the lock button inside the car, that way if there is someone
sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim it will not be
you. When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting...it does not
send the security code, but if you walk away and
use the door lock on your key chain- it sends the code through the
airwaves where it can be stolen, something totally new to us...and real
... be aware of this and please pa s s this note on..look how many times
we all lock our doors with our keys...just to be sure we remembered to
lock them....and bingo someone have our code...and whatever was in the
car...can be gone.

Keep safe everyone!"

Here is a brief version of what Snopes has to say.

"Origins: Automobile remote keyless entry systems (RKE) were introduced in the 1980s. They've proved to be a big hit, making it easier for the grocery-laden to unlock their cars and sparing many of the terminally forgetful from finding they've left their keys in the ignitions of their now-locked cars or their purses in the seats of same.

The earliest RKE systems were quite vulnerable to the sort of attack described in the warning e-mails quoted above. Their RF transmitters (usually built into key fobs) sent unique identifying codes that could be picked off by 'code grabbers' devices that recorded the codes sent out when drivers pushed buttons on their remote key fobs to lock or unlock their cars.

...automakers shifted from RKEs with fixed codes to systems employing rolling random codes. These codes change every time a given RKE system is used to lock or unlock car doors and thus renders 'code grabbers' ineffective. That form of more robust system became the industry standard for remote keyless entry system in the mid-1990s, so automobiles newer than that are not vulnerable to being quickly and easily opened by criminals armed with code grabbers.

...theoretically possible...with the right technology...

'Theoretical attack requires detailed knowledge of the system implementation and a combination of data, specialized skills, equipment and access to various components of data, specialized skills, equipment and access to various components of a system which is seldom feasible. These theoretical attacks are not unique to the Keeloq system and could be applied to virtually any security system.'

None of the police agencies we spoke with had ever heard of an instance of an automobile break-in theft being accomplished through the method described above."