The Air Transportation Association (ATA) estimates that over 43 million passengers will be flying the friendly skies this holiday season. This number is apparently down by 9 percent from last year but it certainly makes you pause and think..especially if you are planning on flying to your holiday destination. If you are driving, you can skip over this article but you may want to check out our Thanksgiving holiday travel tips for some guidance.

Now for those that are flying… Here are some helpful tips from the ATA and SmartSecurityPeople.com to get you through the airports in a safe and timely manner.

• If you are taking gifts, then you will want to pack the wrapping paper separate and wrap the gifts when you reach your destination. Chances are that they will need to be inspected at the airport terminal.
• Use automated check-in options available at kiosks up to 24 hours before departure. Most of these kiosks require you to swipe a credit card to identify yourself and then they will walk you through the check-in process
• Sign up with your airline to receive automated travel notification. They can send you flight updates right to you cellphone or email account. If your flight is being canceled, it is always good to be the first to know so that you can transfer onto the next available flight. You can also check the FAA online for any airport delays.
• Program your airline customer service number into your phone. If you do have a problem with a flight being canceled, you can “jump to the front of the line” by placing that call and talking with a customer service person directly and changing you flight.
• Make sure all of your government issued identification (Driver’s license/passport/etc..) is NOT expired.
• Allow plenty of time for checking in and security screening at the airport. If you are traveling on some of the busiest days, you will want to plan on this taking a long time.
• Familiarize yourself with what is allowed on the plane and in what quantity. If you are a frequent traveler, you probably know the rules. If it has been a while since you have been on a plane, then you will want to check out the TSA website for the rules on what is permitted.
• At the security check-point, be prepared to place all of your small metallic objects in the carry on baggage. It will save you a ton of time getting through the metal detectors.
• Tag each of your bags with your name and contact information (inside and out). This will be a life-saver if you become separated from your luggage.

Hope this information is helpful to our readers at smartsecuritypeople.com. We wish you and your families a safe and wonderful holiday travel season.

With this day and age of technology, you find that more and more consumers are doing their Christmas shopping online. In most cases it is a cheaper and more convenient approach to shopping at the brick and mortar retail stores. An extra bonus is that you can shop online at anytime of the day and you can do it in your jammies.  To give you an idea of the magnitude of online shopping that occurs, Forrester Research projects that U.S. consumers will spend $44 billion dollars online this month and next. WOW!

As you can imagine, all of this online purchasing activity does not go unnoticed. Cyber criminals are out in force and ready to prey upon an unsuspecting online shopper. Most cyber criminals are employing malicious programs that act very similar to a virus. They infect your computer like a virus, however, instead of shutting your computer down or corrupting your hard drive, the program lurks behind the scenes and tries to capture your personal information.  Once it has gathered your bank information, social security numbers, and so on.. it will then send that information back to the cyber criminal and they will use it in ways that are sure to hurt your bank account and/or credit report.

So, what can you do to combat these incredulous cyber criminal tactics?

1. Make sure you have some sort of anti-virus software installed on your computer. Any off- the- shelf program should work fine. You may also want to look into downloading AVG’s free virus software or the free version of Avast. Do a search on google and you will find them.
2. Be wary of the sites you are visiting. If it is a site that you have not used before and you question it’s legitimacy, then you may want to steer clear.
3. Stay vigilant even when you are visiting known sites. Unbeknown to them, they may get compromised and in turn compromise your information or data.
4. Never click on any links that are emailed to you (unless you know it to be a secure source) Always go directly to the website that the links imply that they will be taking you to.
5. Make sure your web browsers and plug-ins are up-to-date. Usually you can click on the help button in your browser and it will have a “check for updates” tab

Hopefully this list helps our readers at SmartSecurityPeople.com to become less susceptible to cyber criminals during the holiday season. If you have any other suggestions for our readers, please feel free to share below in comments.

A brother and sister duo (Melissa and Marvin Heggie) from Raleigh managed to defraud JPMorgan of $340,000 in student loans and never had to step foot on a campus or register for a course. You wonder how this can be done given the strict criteria that eduction lenders are adhering to when processing and approving student loans.

The student loan program provided by JPMorgan /Chase allows a student to apply for a private student loan and does not require certification from a school to prove that the student is actually in attendance. Once the loan is approved, the disbursement check goes directly to the student and the school is not involved. Sounds like a great unsecured loan option huh? The Heggie’s thought so. However, they never planned on paying it back.

The Heggies duped 14 other people to give them their social security numbers along with other private identifying information (They made promises of quick cash for the participants.) They then utilized the information to complete bogus student loan applications with a pre-established address set up by the Heggie’s. When the loan was approved and a check sent, the Heggie’s would meet up with the applicant and they would all cash the check together. Each person got their pre-determined amount and parted ways. Apparently the Heggie’s did this for almost a year before getting getting caught.

There are multiple learning points that can be had from this story:

1. Never ever give anyone your social security number or other personal identification information.
2. Always check your credit report to make sure no one is using your information inappropriately. (Check out our guide to protecting your identity)
3. If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is.
4. If you need approved for a good education loan, it appears that JPMorgan/Chase could be the bank for you. Obviously, they do not overly screen/qualify their applicants.

Hope this story helps our readers at SmartSecurityPeople.com. Has anyone ever experienced a similar loan scam not in the educational sector? If so , please feel free to share below in comments. The more we know what to look out for, the better for all of us.