There could be a million things that could go wrong in business, but there is nothing as bad as a “stolen identity”. You have read about it, you have heard about it, you have even paid your banks money to help protect you from it. Thats all good. In your business there is one big “NO”, a “Never to do” thing that would help you give out your identity to the wrong person inadvertently.
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This is how it works. Your email! The same email that helped you to reach out to your customers, the same email that helped you to sell, the same email that helped you to answer your fan mail, suddenly turned deadly and is now up against you to rob you of your money.
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Email is our second nature now. We use it in our personal lives, our work, our business and our social lives. It is difficult to keep more than one email – and that goes against the whole principle of “creating an identity”. So what is it that you should not do?
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Never use the same email that you use in business or work or social life for your banks or for any monetary transactions. Never! Keep them separate, and keep the second one JUST to yourself.
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So how does it go? You have your profile on myspace.com or on facebook.com and you have described a photograph for sale through them. You receive a very nice, personal & emotional email from another “gentleman” or a “lady” that he or she finds your work beautiful and wants to send a print to his or her son in West Africa. You are thrilled. The buyer even thinks that you are charging so less for such a beautiful creation! Now you are simply flattered. You decide not to send your bank information but graciously pass on your paypal address. You have, in other words, shot yourself at point blank.
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There are computer softwares available that will re-create your password from your email ID in seconds. Although companies like ebay, paypal & google spend millions of costly dollars on technologies to protect you, the thieves are often a step ahead. One out of every ten people get robbed this way, through some leaks in the ways these large companies protect you. You were not at fault, and so were not any of these companies – but you lost your money!
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Its best to ignore these sales requests – do not answer them directly, not if you are using the same email on your Paypal or Google checkout. The thieves know that we all use either of these to sell. They just don’t know what email ID you use to log into them!
Filed under: Home Business, Photography, Writing
[...] Ranjay Mitra wrote an interesting post today on Small Photography Business – Identity TheftHere’s a quick excerptYou have your profile on myspace.com or on facebook.com and you have described a photograph for sale through them. You receive a very nice, personal & emotional email from another “gentleman” or a “lady” that he or she finds your work … [...]
[...] yourself to spam and marketplace scams. Worse still, you could have your identity stolen. Read a similar post here. In some profiles you may like to share more personal information like your Emails & Contact [...]