Tag Archives: identity

Are You a Marketer Who is Contributing to Identity Theft?

I still receive “snail mail” at home. And every time I look at it I get enraged.

In fact, I’m this close to opening most of the pieces of mail, removing the postage-free reply envelope, and returning it to the originator with the following message:

Thank you for contributing to rampant identity theft.

How do companies, possibly including YOUR company, contribute to identity theft? Read on.

Snail mail, a treasure trove of PII

Let me provide an example, heavily redacted, of something that I received in the (snail) mail this week. I won’t reveal the name of the company that sent this to me, other than to say that it is an automobile association that does business in America.

John Bredehoft

[HOME ADDRESS REDACTED]

John Bredehoft…

You and your spouse/partner are each eligible to apply for up to $300,000.00 of Term Life Insurance reserved for members – and with Lower Group Rates ROLLED BACK to 2018!

… SCAN THIS [QR CODE REDACTED] Takes you right to your personalized application

OR GO TO [URL REDACTED] and use this Invitation Code: [CODE REDACTED]

So that’s the first page. The second page includes a Group Term Life Insurance Application with much of the same information.

And there’s the aforementioned return envelope…with my name and address helpfully preprinted on the envelope.

What could go wrong?

Google Gemini.

Dumpster divers

Now obviously the sender hopes that I fill out the form and return it. But there is a very good chance that I will NOT respond to this request, in which case I have to do something with all these papers with personally identifiable information (PII).

Obviously I should shred it.

But what if I don’t?

And some dumpster diver rifles through my trash?

  • Perhaps the dumpster diver will just capture my name, address, and other PII and be done with it.
  • Or perhaps the dumpster diver will apply for term life insurance in my name and do who knows what.

Thanks, sender, you just exposed me to identity theft.

But there’s another possible point at which my identity can be stolen.

Mailbox diverters

What if this piece of snail mail never makes it to me?

  • Maybe someone breaks into my mailbox, steals the mail, and then steals my identity.
  • Or maybe someone breaks into a mail truck, or anywhere on the path from the sender to the recipient.

Again, I’ve been exposed to identity theft.

All because several pieces of paper are floating around with my PII on it.

Multiply that by every piece of mail sent to every person, and the PII exposure problem is enormous.

Email marketers, you’re not off the hook

Now I’m sure some of you are in a self-congratulatory mood right now.

John, don’t tarnish us with the same brush as junk mailers. We are ecologically responsible and don’t send snail mails any more. We use email, eliminating the chance of pieces of PII-laden paper floating around.

Perhaps I should break the news to you.

  • Emails are often laden with the same PII that you find in traditional snail mail, via printed text or “easy to use” web links.
  • Emails can be stolen also.
Google Gemini.

So you’re just as bad as the snail mailers.

What to do?

If you’re a marketer sending PII to your prospects and customers…

Stop it.

Don’t distribute PII all over the place.

Assume that any PII you distribute WILL be stolen.

Because it probably will.

And if you didn’t know this, it won’t make your prospects and customers happy.

Caught!

I was having fun creating videos based upon the controversial third verse of The Star Spangled Banner, but I decided to get back to business.

And the business is that, as the Innocence Project knows all too well, algorithms can be better than humans at identifying faces.

Grok.

But the silly videos are only what I do for fun.

What I do for business is help identity, biometrics, and technology companies explain how their solutions benefit society.

Can Bredemarket help YOUR firm come up with the right words, via compelling content creation?

  • Blog posts. Among other projects, I’ve authored a multi-month blog series to attract business to a client. 
  • Case studies and testimonials. Among other projects, I’ve written a dozen case studies to justify a firm’s capabilities to its projects. 
  • LinkedIn articles and posts. The multi-month blog series was designed for repurposing as LinkedIn articles. 
  • White papers. My white papers have made the case for the superiority of my clients’ products and services.

Set up a free meeting to talk to Bredemarket about your marketing and writing needs.

Spotting GoFundMe “Helper” Scammers

When someone approaches you to “help” with your fundraiser, look for these 3 scammer signs:

  • The contact says no specifics about the fundraiser.
  • The contact is NOT the helper.
  • You MUST go to a different platform.

Know your business!

Spotting scammers.

Also see my previous posts on GoFundMe “helper” scams:

Bredemarket helps anti-fraud firms market their products. https://bredemarket.com/mark/

GoFundMe? No, GoFund ME! Fraud Scams Targeting Fundraisers

On LinkedIn, the hashtag “#opentowork” isn’t the only magic phrase that attracts all sorts of people. I found this out Sunday morning when I reshared my September 26 “Graber Olives is in Foreclosure…But There’s a GoFundMe” post on Bredemarket’s Inland Empire LinkedIn page. 

You will recall that the post detailed Kelsey Graber’s fundraising efforts to keep the Graber Olive House from foreclosure. As of October 19 the GoFundMe fundraiser is still active at the https://www.gofundme.com/f/dont-let-ontario-lose-its-oldest-landmark URL.

Save Graber Olive House GoFundMe.

I should note this is Kelsey Graber’s GoFundMe. This is not my GoFundMe. 

Anyway, I reshared the post on LinkedIn…and got all sorts of reposts…with additional commentary. The commentary was not addressed to the GoFundMe fundraiser…but to me. (The resharers probably never read my original post; they just saw the word “GoFundMe” and jumped.) I’ve redacted the redirects to WhatsApp…a common fraud scam tactic.

The scammers’ what

Foone Berkeley:

“Hi, I came across your campaign, really impressive work. It reminded me of an independent group I’ve seen quietly helping project owners connect with private contributors who genuinely want to make a difference.

I’m not part of their team, but I’ve seen them support a few people in my circle. If you’re open to exploring new sources of backing, you can reach them directly here:

📞 WhatsApp: [REDACTED]

They usually prefer to speak one-on-one with campaign owners to understand their goals and see if there’s a good fit.

Wishing you continued success, your work truly deserves attention.”

Alex Mary:

“Hello 🌸 I just read your campaign, and it truly touched me. I know how tough fundraising can be, but there are genuine people out there who want to help. A trusted charity once helped me raise over $38,000 after I’d almost given up. If you’d like, you can message them on WhatsApp 👉 [REDACTED] they might be able to guide you too. 💙”

Olivia Williams:

“If you’re looking to grow your campaign donations fast, I truly recommend reaching out to Crowd. She’s an expert in GoFundMe promotions and helped me raise over $180,000 a few months ago! he knows exactly how to attract real donors and get results. You can contact her directly here [REDACTED]”

The scammers’ how

Let’s look at the red flags common to all three:

  • The person is touched by the fundraising effort, but doesn’t say anything specific about them. (And doesn’t acknowledge that this is someone else’s fundraiser, not mine.)
  • The person resharing is not the person who can provide help. It’s always someone else: an independent group, a trusted charity, or a woman (or man?) named Crowd.
  • The person wants to get you off LinkedIn as soon as possible. Private email, SMS, or an encrypted service like WhatsApp or Telegram.

The scammers’ goals

So why are these people so willing to recommend helpers who can assist desperate GoFundMe fundraisers? GoFundMe itself has addressed this:

“If someone you don’t know is reaching out to offer something that sounds too good to be true, we always recommend validating the individual before sharing any personal information. Donors and donor networks shouldn’t expect anything from you in return for their generosity.”

Two common tactics include:

  • Guarantee reaching your fundraising goal in exchange for a service fee or percentage of funds raised
  • Make a donation if you provide personal information such as email address, phone number, or banking information

There are other tactics, but the goal is the same. Instead of helping you raise money, the “helper” wants to get money from you.

Now there are legitimate companies that assist charities in their fundraising efforts…but they can be contacted via methods other than WhatsApp.

Today’s honeypot 

And now that I’ve written this warning, I’m going to conduct a little experiment.

I’m going to reshare THIS post on LinkedIn.

With quotes from the first and fourth paragraphs that include several mentions of the word “GoFundMe”…plus the additional honeypot word #opentowork. (I haven’t planted an opentowork honeypot in a while. Oh, and not that they’ll notice, but the words “fraud” and “scam” also appear.

Grok.

Let’s see what moths are attracted to the new flame.

And consider what YOU are doing to fight fraud.

Bredemarket specializes in helping anti-fraud firms market their products.

(Image sources: Gemini (still), GoFundMe, Grok (video). Only the GoFundMe is real.)

Reducing Biometric Marketing Internal Bias By Using Bredemarket

Identity/biometric marketing leaders continuously talk about how their companies have reduced bias in their products. But have they reduced bias in their own marketing to ensure it resonates with prospects?

I recently talked about the problem of internal bias:

“Marketers are driven to accentuate the positive about their companies. Perhaps the company has a charismatic founder who repeatedly emphasizes how ‘insanely great’ his company is and who talked about ‘bozos.’ (Yeah, there was a guy who did both of those.) 

“And since marketers are often mandated to create both external and internal sales enablement content, their view of their own company and their own product is colored.”

Let’s look at two examples of biometric marketing internal bias…and how to overcome it.

Google Gemini.

Internal bias at Company A

  • Company A does not participate in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Face Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE) for technical reasons. 
  • As a result, the company’s marketing machine constantly discredits NIST FRTE, and the company culture is permeated with a “NIST is stupid” mentality. 
  • All well and good…until it runs into that one prospect who asks, “Why are you scared to measure yourself against the competition? Does your algorithm suck that bad?”

Internal bias at Company B

  • Company B, on the other hand, participates in FRTE, FATE, FRIF (previously FpVTE), and every other NIST test imaginable. 
  • This company’s marketing machine declares its superiority as a top tier biometric vendor, supported by outside independent evidence. 
  • All well and good…until it runs into that one prospect who declares, “That’s just federal government test data. How will you perform in our benchmark using our real data and real computers?”

Internal bias at Bredemarket 

Well, I have my admittedly biased solution to prevent companies from tumbling into groupthink, drinking of Kool-Aid, and market irrelevance.

Contract with an outside biometric product marketing expert. (I just happen to know one…me.)

Google Gemini.

I haven’t spent 30 years immersed in your insular culture. I’ve heard all the marketing-speak from different companies, and I’ve written the marketing-speak for nearly two dozen of them. I can ensure that your content resonates with your external customers and prospects, not only with your employees.

All well and good…until…

Reducing internal bias at Bredemarket 

“But John, what about your own biases? IDEMIA, Motorola, Incode, and other employers paid you for 25 years! You probably have an established process that you use to prepare andouillette at home, based upon a recipe from 2019!”

Google Gemini.

I don’t…but point taken. So how do I minimize my own biases?

My breadth of experience lessens the biases from my past. Look at my market-speak from 1994 to 2023, in order:

  • We are Printrak, a nimble private company that will dominate AFIS with our client-server solution.
  • We are Printrak (stock symbol AFIS) a well-funded public company that will dominate AFIS, mugshot, computer aided dispatch, and microfiche.
  • We are Motorolans, and our multi-tier Digital Justice Solution has a superior architecture to that of Sagem Morpho and others.
  • We are MorphoTrak, bringing together the best technologies from MetaMorpho and Printrak BIS, plus superior French technology for secure credentials and road safety…unencumbered by the baggage that weighs down MorphoTrust.
  • We are IDEMIA North America, bringing together the best technologies from MorphoTrust and MorphoTrak for ABIS, driver’s licenses, and enrollment, coupled with the resources from the rest of IDEMIA, a combined unbreakable force.
  • We are Incode, not weighed down with the baggage of the old dinosaurs, and certainly not a participant in the surveillance market.

Add all the different messaging of Bredemarket’s clients, plus my continuous improvement (hello MOTO) of my capabilities, and I will ensure that my content, proposals, and analysis does not trap you in a dead end.

Reducing internal bias at your company 

Are you ready to elevate your company with the outside perspective of a biometric product marketing expert?

Let’s talk (a free meeting). You explain, I ask questions, we agree on a plan, and then I act.

Schedule a meeting at https://bredemarket.com/mark/

Stop losing prospects! Use Bredemarket content for tech marketers

Identity and Expression

(Part of the biometric product marketing expert series)

Whether you are a human or a non-person entity (NPE) with facial recognition capability, you rely on visual cues to positively identify or authenticate a person. Let’s face it; many people resemble each other, but specific facial expressions or emotions are not always shared by people who otherwise look alike.

All pictures Google Gemini.

But in one of those oddities that fill the biometric world, you can have TOO MUCH expression. Part 3 of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Document 9303, which governs machine readable travel documents, mandates that faces on travel documents must maintain a neutral expression without smiling. At the time (2003) it was believed that the facial recognition algorithms would work best if the subject were expressionless. I don’t know if that holds true today.

But once the smile is erased, any other removal of expression or emotion degrades identification capability significantly. For example, closing the eyes not only degrades facial recognition, but is obviously fatal to iris recognition.

And if you remove the landmarks upon which facial recognition depends, identification is impossible.

While expression or lack thereof does not invalidate the assumption of permanence of the biometric authentication factor, it does govern the ability of people and machines to perform identification or authentication.