Bank Details Of 40 Million People !!.

THE bank details of 40 million people have been reportedly recorded by a former British cop who plans to charge victims to see whether their details are available.

Colin Holder, a retired detective, has spent more than $324,000 scouring the internet for stolen personal bank details of millions of people.

Credit card details, bank account numbers, home addresses and PINs are all available according to Mr Holder.

It is not known how many Australian details are stolen.

The data comes into criminal hands as result of “phishing”, where internet users are duped into revealing over their key details.

Mr Holder claims the highly sensitive information is readily available and traded over the internet.

"About six months after I retired, I was contacted by an old source who said he was seeing a vast amount of credit card and other personal data being exchanged between criminals, and what could he do with it,'" Mr Holder told.

Mr Holder has since created a website- www.lucidintelligence.com - where people can search to see whether their details are for sale.

He said he will only charge those whose details have been stolen.

"This project is costing me £6,000 a month to operate, and I'm only charging to help recover those costs," Holden said.

"In 90 percent of cases, the searcher will never have to pay a penny."

Lloyd Borrett, an internet security expert and marketing manager at Australian anti-virus company, AVG, said users have to be vigilant with their private details.

“The key thing all of mailware is that they are always trying to slowly rip people off, gathering parts of their identify and information of the person, whether it be bank records, tax file number, phone numbers, everything,” Mr Borrett said.

He said AVG users around the world reported 560 million “mailware events” in June alone proving the threat to users.

Mr Borrett said internet users needed up-to-date anti-virus software to combat new mailware and virus attacks.

“If you think someone might have your details, contact the bank and change them, if you think about it the bad guys have got contacts and they can do far more that we think,” he said.

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Jobless Could Hit 4 Million - Predicts Bank Adviser

Unemployment could double to four million unless the Government takes drastic action to boost public spending and create new jobs, a Bank of England official has warned.

In a dire outlook, Monetary Policy Committee member David Blanchflower also said the recession could be deeper and longer than the Bank previously predicted.

He added that the Government needed to tackle the soaring numbers of young people out of work by raising the school leaving age sooner and pushing more people into higher education.

Doom and gloom: The Bank of England's predictions that UK output would tumble 3.5 per cent could prove 'too optimistic'.

Speaking at a Westminster conference, Mr Blanchflower called for the Treasury to launch a near-£90billion fiscal stimulus, including tax cuts and investment in new schools and hospitals. This would help create 750,000 new jobs, he said.

'This is not about people being lazy,' he added. 'There aren't jobs. In six months this is going to be the biggest issue in every MP's constituency.'

David Blanchflower says the recession could be deeper and longer than initially expected..

Mr Blanchflower has proved one of the most prescient members of the MPC, calling for interest rate cuts a year before the rest of the committee.

Last summer he forecast unemployment would hit two million by Christmas - a prediction that was fulfilled in January.

Last month the Bank of England predicted UK output would tumble 3.5 per cent this year, before recovering 1.2 per cent in 2010.

But this is likely to prove too optimistic, Mr Blanchflower said yesterday. As a result, predictions that jobless ranks will peak at three million are also likely to be too rosy.

'(With) any forecast of unemployment and output, the likelihood in a recession is we have undercooked it,' he told MPs. A surge in unemployment to four million would mean the total surpassing the heights reached in the deep recession of the 1980s, when joblessness peaked at nearly 3.3million.

Mr Blanchflower's fiscal stimulus plan includes 'large cuts' in income taxes and national insurance contributions for the lowpaid and young people.

In a paper co-written with David Bell of the University of Stirling, he said the Treasury should plough billions into construction projects by health authorities, universities and housing associations.

The raising of the education leaving age to 18 should be brought forward to this year to prevent legions of school leavers seeking jobs when there are few available.

This summer more than 600,000 people will leave schools and universities and embark on a desperate search for work. Already 40 per cent of the unemployed are under 25.

Mr Blanchflower said young people's entire lives would be affected if they were unable to find work now.

Honda workers to get pay cut

Carmaker Honda is asking its workers to accept a pay cut for at least a year to ensure the survival of its UK factories.

The Japanese firm is sending letters to 3,600 workers at its Swindon plant stressing the dire state of car manufacturing.

The letters do not state the size of the cut, but a similar arrangement at Toyota has seen both working hours and pay cut by 10 per cent at its two UK plants.

The average wage for lineworkers is around £22,000. The Unite union said negotiations were yet to be held on the issue.

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Top 7 Forbes Rich List

The much-watched Forbes annual rich list put Microsoft founder Bill Gates back on top with a net worth of $US40 billion, although he saw his bank balance lose $US18 billion over the last 12 months.

In second place came Warren Buffett with $US37 billion, despite losing $US25 billion this year in the value of his Berkshire Hathaway shares

Carlos Slim Helú - who owns 90 per cent of Mexico's telephone landlines - is the world's third richest person. He has lost $US25 billion since the economic downturn, but is still worth $US35 billion.

Database titan Lawrence Ellison came in at fourth place with a $US22.5 billion fortune.

Ingvar Kamprad opened his first Ikea store 50 years ago. He retired in 1986 but still works on his brand's image. His $US22 billion fortune makes him the fifth richest person in the world.

Karl Albrecht, the founder of the Aldi Sud supermarket chain, moved from number 10 to 6 as he cashed in on shoppers after cheaper products. He is worth $US21.5 billion. No photo of Albrecht was available.

Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani comes in at 7th place with a $19.5 billion personal fortune. He is the chairman, managing director and the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries

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Time To Fix - Proper Utilization Of Your Mortgage

WITH interest rates low, 13above.com takes a look at what that means for your mortgage, your savings and the prospect of dipping your toe back in the share market.

Interest Rates Dice : Low rates ... Use extra cash from interest rate cuts to keep paying off your mortgage, say financial planners.


Mortgages :

The Reserve Bank left interest rates unchanged at 3.25 per cent at today's meeting.

The decision surprised economists, who were tipping a cut of between 25 and 50 basis points. With rates on pause, is now the time to lock in a fixed rate mortgage?

Give it a few more months, since rates could fall further, says Prescott Securities chief economist Daryll Gobbett.

"I think we’re looking at a cash rate of 2 per cent or 2.25 per cent. Not tomorrow, but maybe by May,” says Mr Gobbett.

Existing fixed rate deals don’t hold great appeal anyway, says Count Wealth financial planner Desiree Fraser.

She advocates using fixed rate mortgages to shield yourself when you know you can’t afford a bigger monthly repayment – not for second-guessing the future.

"If you know you can’t afford interest rates to go up another 3 per cent, lock it in now. So use it as a protective mechanism,” she says.

"Do it on the basis of what is affordable to you, rather than what you think will happen in the future."

Keep putting extra cash from a rate cut towards your mortgage.

"The best advice to give when interest rates are falling is to maintain your payments at the high interest levels,” says Heraud Harrison private client adviser David Marasea.

"Don’t reduce the payments just because interest rates have gone down. You’d be surprised at the compounding effect."

Paying down a mortgage at 6 or 7 per cent is a better deal than socking it away in cash and earning just 3 per cent interest, says Mr Gobbett.

"Keep chipping away at that mortgage,” he says.

Savings :

People who yanked money out of the haemorrhaging share market last year now face dwindling returns on their cash as interest rates tumble.

Term deposits that paid 7-8 per cent late last year have fallen to around 3 per cent – less than the inflation rate of 3.7 per cent.

Australians have upped their savings from zero to 4 per cent of income as nerves about the economy dampen the urge to spend, but are hardly earning anything on that cash. So should they consider investing that money instead?

"It depends on why they’re saving,” says Mr Gobbett.

"It really comes down to if people are saving for a house or something for the next 12 -18 months, (or) keeping that money (as) savings or term deposits because of the risk."

Those looking to the longer term should consider shares offering good dividends (some give an 8 per cent return), instead of tiny interest returns, says Mr Gobbett.

"If saving for retirement or lifestyle, they should start looking at bank shares where they will get a better level of dividend, even with cuts we’ve seen with ANZ lately,” he says.

Ms Fraser says things are tough for savers.

"They’re getting hit quite hard,” says Ms Fraser of people who parked cash in what used to be high-interest accounts.

Rates will stay low, so look at your spending and consider if you need the income from savings to live on. Ask yourself what your priorities are. If protecting your capital isn’t important, you might be better off spending the money and rebuilding savings later, Ms Fraser says.

Shares :

Low interest rates discourage savings, but with the ASX at five-year lows, is it a good time to invest in shares? What about borrowing to invest now that rates are low?

"Obviously there is still so much concern in the general public about what’s going to happen and when it’s going to occur,” says Ms Fraser.

"There is no end goal. No one can tell them when the market is going to recover."

Few clients are showing up with a pool of cash to get into the market, she says.

Mr Gobbett urged caution with margin loans: they can burn you if you pick the wrong market bottom.

"Just be a bit careful at the moment,” he says.

"The problem is that if the market falls further, you have to tip more money in."

If you do invest, focus on companies paying good dividends or consider buying into new share offerings by big companies, often at a discounted price.

Commbank invited retail investors to buy in with just $1000, and Wesfarmers offered shares at a few dollars discount. Many banks are still paying good dividends, he says.

"Twelve or 18 months ago, it would have been quite risky, but now all shares are down, even ones that are good value. So it may be time to buy into some share offerings that are offered at discounts," he says.

The market is always a good long-term bet, says Ms Fraser.

"I think it’s appropriate as always for people with a long term horizon, say seven years, who don’t require it for income and don’t need the capital,” she says.

"It depends largely on your risk tolerance and your investment time horizons. If you’ve got the next 20 years to invest, then you’ve got to accept the share market represents value, even if it goes lower," says Mr Marasea.

Source

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