Identity Theft

[sandyRoe]

A Canadian friend of mine has had thousands of dollars fraudulently charged to her credit card and her driving license number was used to try to get another credit card. This happened in Canada and at the time she was in Spain with me.
The bank has frozen her account until they investigate.
This morning I received a Messenger text, it had my friend's profile picture and the name was the same except for one letter, asking if I'd heard of SSBG. This is supposed to be a Canadian benefit and as it would have no relevance to me I smelt a rat.
Is there anything I should do to improve my security?

[Old_Geezer]

Do you need improved security, and where ?
I'd ignore the text were I you, but tell your friend.

[sandyRoe]

I think when I heard my friend had fallen victim of fraudsters I got a bit paranoid, thinking they might target me next. But it's probable they've routinely contacted all her contacts and if any of them asked for more details of the SSBG benefit they'd then be walking into trouble.

[KARL]

I have numerous e-mail contacts around the world. I can usually see in which country at least one of my contacts has had his/her address book accessed somehow by someone - the style/targetting of the spam I suddenly start getting gives it away. If I only have one contact to whom this sort of stuff might apply then I can let them know. In fact I occasionally still receive messages supposedly sent by people who are deceased but I knew when they were alive. The spammers clearly send "blanket-wise" the same material out to all addresses they have access to and have reason still to be active.