Read these tips and make sure you’re ready.
Posts tagged "safety"
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. Learn more about how to talk to your teen about setting dating rules and building respectful relationships.
‘Gameover’ Scam Targets Bank Accounts
The FBI identified a new phishing scam online that targets your bank accounts. The scam is called “Gameover.” Once the virus is on your computer, it can steal all of your user names and passwords before you realize what has happened.
How It Works
The Gameover scam will email you, pretending to be from the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), the Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The email will say that there has been a problem with your bank account or a recent transaction, and will include a link to help fix the problem. The link will send you to a phony site, where the Gameover malware is automatically installed on your computer and starts stealing your bank account information.
If you think you’ve been victimized by this type of scheme, contact your financial institution to report it, and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Understanding the Serious Crime of Stalking
The Office on Violence Against Women proudly joins the President in recognizing January as National Stalking Awareness Month.
Stalking is described by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics as, “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear for his or her safety or the safety of someone close such as a family member.”
Earlier this month, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its first National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). NISVS data shows that:
- Nearly one in six women has experienced stalking so severe that she felt very fearful or believed that she or someone close to her would be harmed or killed.
- One in 19 men has experienced the same level of stalking.
- Women were particularly likely to be stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
Stalking behaviors can include seemingly innocuous acts, such as making unwanted phone calls; sending unsolicited or unwanted letters or emails; or leaving unwanted items, presents or flowers, but when taken together, and when feared by the victim, may constitute a criminal act.
Other forms of stalking include following or spying on the victim; showing up without a legitimate reason at places where the victim is likely to be; waiting at places for the victim; and posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth.
Newer technologies, such as text messaging, emails, and electronic monitoring devices (including cameras and GPS), are also used by perpetrators to stalk victims.
Stalking is also frequently a precursor to much more serious, and sometimes lethal, acts. In fact, 76 percent of female intimate partner murder victims had been stalked by their partners prior to their death.
Stalking is a crime across the country. Despite the fact that millions are victimized each year, stalking remains a widely misunderstood and hidden crime and tends to go unreported.
The Office on Violence Against Women is taking steps to ensure that we create secure and supportive communities for stalking survivors. In 2000, we launched a partnership with the Stalking Resource Center of the National Center for Victims of Crime. The Stalking Resource Center provides training and technical assistance to enhance responses to stalking and is committed to collecting the best knowledge about stalking, including researching policy and tracking program success.
During this month and throughout the year ahead, we are committed to spreading the word that stalking will not be tolerated. For more information, please visit the Stalking Awareness Month website at: http://stalkingawarenessmonth.org.
For more information about the Office on Violence Against Women, visit ovw.usdoj.gov. We remind all those in need of assistance, or other concerned friends and individuals, to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE.
Image description: Nathan Yau, from the blog Flowing Data, created this image based on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. It reveals that fatal car accidents are more likely to occur on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and that fewer fatal accidents occur during winter months, which is attributable to the fact that people drive fewer miles in winter months.
