Password code generation method???

I read a month or so ago here about a very easy and clever method for choosing a password. It was easy for the owner of password to remember but impossible for another to guess.

Can anyone tell me where to find the thread again?

Yesterday I fell for the fraudulant PayPal email asking me to "update and verify my info or my account would be cancelled". I gave them my SS#, mothers maiden name, password, atm code and full credit card number...then as I thought about it..I called PayPal's 800# and found out I'd been duped.

Now I've had to cancel that card and change my password and ATM number. What a hassle.

PayPal will never ask such questions online. Be careful.

Ouch. With the data you gave them, you need to do more than cancel your credit cards. You need to sign up for a credit monitoring service that automatically checks your credit every 30 days for problems. The reason you need to do this is because with the data you gave them, they can create new credit cards and lines of credit in your name that you won't even know about.

All 3 of the major credit agencies have such a service... check them out, it's like $40 a year or something. Well worth it, especially since you are now in DEFENSE mode.

You can also call any of the 3 credit companies and put an 'account alert' on your records, for free. If anyone tries to open any sort of credit cards, take out a loan, etc. it's put on hold until you're personally contacted to verify that you have approved it.

I had to do this recently, when some shit-heels stole a laptop from a bloodbank with all of us doner's information on it. Fuckers. From a blood bank!

Now isn't that just freaking ridiculous?
Around here you can't just give people a name and a number to make a credit card, that would be insane!
Anything serious like banking needs physical presence, photo ID, recognized signature, proof of residence and place of employment.
Yeah, go ahead, say we're stuck in 1970... but at least there's no identity theft.
I can give you every single bit of data about me and you would still not be able to do anything with it.

I'll take that bet.