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  • Geebo 9:01 am on February 5, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Romance scams in time for Valentine’s Day 

    Romance scams in time for Valentine's Day

    With Valentine’s Day approaching a number of us are getting our plans in order for the romantic holiday. Whether it’s the old standbys of flowers, dinner, and chocolates or something as simple as a movie, many people will be shelling out big bucks to try to celebrate their significant other or impress a new prospective partner. That kind of spending is fine if you’re into the Valentine’s Day celebrations. However, there is another kind of romantic spending no one should do no matter what time of year it is and that’s falling victim to the romance scam.

    The romance scam can affect anyone no matter what their social status, education level, or age group is. It usually starts out on dating sites and apps or social media. The scammer will try to strike up a relationship with a victim almost out of the blue but they’ll never meet the victim in real life. They may give some excuse like they’re working in a remote area or they’re living overseas. Eventually, the scammers will ask their victims for money under the guise of some emergency or money they need to travel. If a victim ends up paying this money, the scammer will continue to ask for money but will still give excuses as to why they can’t meet in person.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub_Equ__Svk%5D

    The FBI has a list of tips on how to avoid romance scams. These include researching the photos that someone uses in their profile, not allowing the other person to try to isolate you from your family, and never give out your banking or other financial information. If you were to become a victim of one of these scams, the FBI recommends either filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center or your local FBI field office.

    While the feeling of being alone on Valentine’s isn’t the best, it’s not worth ignoring the red flags that could lead to financial ruin.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 4, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Coronavirus fears have led to cyber attacks 

    Coronavirus fears have led to cyber attacks

    The coronavirus has taken up much of the headlines lately and with good reason. Recent reports have come out claiming that it could become a global pandemic although the potential fatality rate remains in doubt. Add to that the amount of rumors and misinformation that is being spread about the disease isn’t helping allay public fears. So as is can be expected, cybercriminals have taken it upon themselves to take advantage of that fear for their own crooked purposes. As we always say, scammers and con artists never fail to take advantage of a disaster or crisis to try and put one over on their victims at great personal cost.

    Security experts at Kaspersky Labs have discovered several phishing emails being spread about the coronavirus. The emails, a sample of which can be seen here, pretend to be from a medical professional who is a coronavirus expert. The emails then request that you click on a link so you can get more information about protecting yourself from the coronavirus. The links are disguised as being any number of video or document files such as pdfs and mp4s. However, these attachments are filled with malware that can do any number of malicious things to your device including destroying your files or holding your device for ransom, among others.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEFFZ7uZoFM%5D

    As always, you should never click on any links or attachments in emails from someone you don’t know personally. If you are concerned about the coronavirus you can get the most factual information from either the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, or both. Education about the disease is one of the best tools we have as a society in defeating it.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 3, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    How to recognize an Airbnb scam 

    How to recognize an Airbnb scam

    Last Fall, a reporter from VICE unintentionally uncovered an alleged scam ring that was operating on Airbnb. She found that several hosts were using bait and switch tactics to get guests into substandard accommodations. In her case, the hosts said that there was a plumbing accident at the property she had booked but they offered her a substitute booking. The replacement lodging was compared to that of a flophouse. She discovered that the hosts were allegedly pulling the same scam using different names all over the country. It seems that these scammers were not the only ones.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfwRWgw_M3I%5D

    In a recent follow-up article, VICE reached out to their readers and asked them what scams they had encountered while using Airbnb. The bait and switch was an obvious one with many people reporting that hosts would say that something happened to the property in the listing, like a plumbing emergency, and that they would rent them a different listing which of course was substandard. Another common scam was hosts trying to get guests to pay for their stays outside of the Airbnb platform through either cryptocurrency, check, or a third-party payment app. Other respondents said that hosts would often try to charge them for damages where the fees were much greater than the cost to repair the damages.

    Unfortunately, with the way the Airbnb platform is set up, you can’t often detect a scam listing until you’ve already made arrangements. The best protection against these scams is to thoroughly research the hosts. It’s recommended that you do a reverse image search on their profile pictures to make sure the hosts aren’t using stock images or images they found online. You can also research the people leaving good reviews for the hosts to make sure they’re not the hosts leaving phony reviews. However, the only foolproof way to avoid Airbnb scams is to rent a hotel room.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 31, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Social Security scams are now the #1 phone scam 

    Social Security scams are now the #1 phone scam

    This past Wednesday, the Senate Aging Committee released a report claiming that social Security scams are now the nation’s leading phone scam. For the first time in five years, social Security scams have outpaced IRS scams when it comes to financial losses. These scam calls resulted in the loss of $38 million in 2019 with most of the losses coming from seniors. The Social Security Administration has promised to bolster education efforts when it comes to warning recipients about these scams. This will include mailers sent to recipients and a banner across the SSA website warning recipients of ongoing scams.

    We’ve discussed Social Security scams multiple times in the past. The way they generally work is that the victim will receive a phone call telling them that either there’s been suspicious activity attributed to their Social Security number or that their Social Security benefits are about to be suspended. Sometimes even both these options are threatened. Often these calls will appear as if they’re coming from the SSA’s customer service number which can be easily spoofed. The scammers will then instruct the victims that the problem can be resolved with some kind of payment. This can range anywhere from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rfw-EjbNRk%5D

    Unless you have an ongoing case that requires resolution with the SSA, they will never call recipients. If there is an issue with your Social Security number or benefits, the SSA will always reach out by mail. If you receive one of these phone calls that threaten you with legal action or request some form of payment, you’re asked to hang up and report the call to the Office of the Inspector General. If you know someone who could potentially be targeted in a Social Security scam please show them this post, the article we linked to above, or this warning page from the SSA.

     

  • Geebo 9:03 am on January 30, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , ,   

    Man loses $30,000 to scammers posing as federal agents 

    Man almost loses $30,000 to scammers posing as federal agents

    A man in Michigan almost lost $50,000 after falling prey to a very threatening scam. Unfortunately, the man did lose $30,000 to the scammers before the scam was noticed. For many, especially the elderly, that is not an insignificant amount of money to lose. The scam that was used against him was a combination of scams that we’ve discussed previously. At first, it involved a call from someone claiming to be from the Social Security Administration. They told the man that a car had been leased in his name using his name and Social Security number. From here it became more frightening for the man.

    He was then transferred to someone claiming to be from the Drug Enforcement Agency and that if he didn’t pay them money he would go to jail. The man didn’t believe them and he hung up. He then received a call from someone claiming to be from the local barracks of the Michigan State Police telling him he would be arrested if he didn’t cooperate with the supposed DEA agent. The scammers then instructed the man to purchase $10,000 in gift cards and provide them with the numbers. The next day the scammers called back and instructed him to overnight $20,000 in cash to a location in Texas. The scammers tried to get another $20,000 out of the man but his bank informed him that he was likely the victim of the scam.

    There are a lot of red flags in this story. The first is that Social Security rarely calls recipients and that’s usually only when there’s an ongoing issue that the recipient initiated. Secondly, law enforcement will never call someone asking for money. Lastly, no government agency accepts or requires money through gift cards. If you receive a phone call like this, hang up and call your local police. If you believe there may be some kind of issue that needs your attention through Social Security or law enforcement, call them back at their official numbers.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 29, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , LabCorp, , , Wawa   

    Recent data breaches can affect your money, health, and privacy! 

    Recent data breaches can affect your money, health, and privacy!

    If you’ve ever been to the East Coast especially the Pennsylvania and South Jersey areas you may be familiar with the convenience store chain Wawa. They recently had a data breach that could have exposed up to 30 million payment cards of its customers. Reportedly, hackers had installed malware into the payment processors at multiple stores at both the register area and their gas pumps. Some of the payment card information has even ended up on the web for sale to malicious actors. If you used a debit or credit card at a Wawa store in the past couple of months you’ll want to keep an eye on your account for unauthorized purchases.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyT4SabnV2w%5D

    LabCorp is one of the nation’s largest medical testing companies. They recently had a flaw in their website that allowed 10,000 patient records to be exposed. This information included dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and lab results among other medical data. This is the second breach for LabCorp in the past year as their payment system was exposed back in June which resulted in the compromise of close to 8 million payment records. This latest breach could result in heavy fines for LabCorp under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). LabCorp has said that they will be notifying patients who had their data exposed.

    Lastly, it seems we can’t talk about data breaches without talking about Ring. While Ring’s most recent incident may not be a data breach per se, it does show how your information can be put at risk. The internet privacy advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) claim they have discovered that the Android version of the Ring camera app sends user information to several third-parties. One of those third-parties is said to be Facebook and it doesn’t matter if you have a Facebook account or not. Some of the information sent to these third-parties include users’ full names, email addresses, and app settings including the number of locations they have Ring devices installed in.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 28, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Kobe Bryant, , spear phishing   

    Scammers are preying on the loss of Kobe Bryant 

    Scammers are preying on the loss of Kobe Bryant

    No matter what your opinion of Kobe Bryant may be, it’s a tragedy that he and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna along with seven other people lost their lives in a helicopter crash over the weekend. Leave it to the scammers of the internet to waste no time in trying to take advantage of this horrible accident. It seems like it took the scammers no time at all to put their schemes into action after the news broke of Kobe’s untimely passing. In less than a day, con artists had taken to the internet to try to prey on Kobe’s fans in their time of mourning.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnB0S6QZYXg%5D

    The Better Busines Bureau, as always, is already on top of these scams. They are warning that the scams are coming in two different forms of attack. The first is what’s known as a spear-phishing attack. Emails are being sent out en masse claiming to be from a reputable news outlet. The email will claim to have some kind of exclusive news that’s not being reported anywhere else. The email will contain either a link or an attachment that the scammers will hope you’ll click on. This could lead to any kind of malware being installed on your device.

    In a similar vein, the second form of attack is clickbait. These are the headlines you may see that claim to have news that ‘you won’t believe’. Or they may claim that they have ‘exclusive footage’ that no one else has. These websites also contain malware that could be used to steal personal information from your device.

    In any case, you should never click on links or attachments in emails from people you don’t know personally. Also, the articles that go along with shocking headlines usually aren’t shocking at all and could contain code that could possibly hijack your device. Always think twice before clicking on any potentially risky link.

     

    • Suberinacooperjohnson 4:43 am on January 30, 2020 Permalink

      The FBI should take these people check.

    • Suberinacooperjohnson 4:45 am on January 30, 2020 Permalink

      Continue praying for the entire kobe bryant family especially his wife , vanassa& daughters. As well as his mother/father & sisters.entire Lakers family, friends & fans.

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 27, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , ,   

    Avoid this census scam in 2020 

    Avoid this census scam in 2020

    With it being 2020 and a new decade, the US Government is getting ready to issue the 2020 census forms. Each decade the government takes the census in order to not only determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives but to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities. To complete this monumental task, the government often hires census takers to visit the homes of people who haven’t or are unable to complete their census forms. With the 2020 census upon us, scammers have not hesitated to try to take advantage of people who are looking for one of these government positions.

    Once again, the Better Business Bureau is warning prospective census takers to be on the lookout for hiring scams. Some online listings have already been discovered offering census-taker jobs but then ask for money for either a training or processing fee. These ads are not being placed by the Federal Government as governmental jobs never ask for any kind of payment upfront. The best these ads will do is send you a package on how to apply for government jobs or claim to prepare you for the application test but will not deliver any kind of actual employment.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfL3992GvSw&feature=youtu.be%5D

    While this may seem like a once in a decade scam, these phony employment ads crop up all the time for governmental jobs. The most common of these scams is for the US Postal Service. However, these scams can also appear for other governmental agencies like the IRS, especially around tax time. It’s best to keep in mind that you will never be charged for applying for a government job and that these positions should only be applied for through official government websites. If you’re interested in becoming a census taker, you can apply for one of the positions at the US Census Bureau’s website.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 24, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , FedEx, , , ,   

    FedEx text scam is more dangerous than you think! 

    FedEx scam is more dangerous than you think!

    A number of reports went out nationwide yesterday about a scam that’s appearing in the text messages of many Americans. As you can see by the graphic above, the text claims to be from FedEx telling you that you have an incoming package that requires you to submit your delivery preferences. The text then provides you a link to click on. While this appears to be just a ‘normal. phishing scam on the surface, this particualr scam goes much deeper than that and can end up costing you a lot of money.

    If you were to click on the link in the phony text you would be taken to a site that looks like Amazon but isn’t. The fake Amazon site then asks you to fill out a customer service survey in order to claim a prize. However, to collect the prize you need to cover the cost of shipping and for that, you need to provide your financial information. Yet, it doesn’t stop there. On top of everything else, by providing your payment information you’re also signing up for a subscription service that will charge you close to $100 a month for products related to the ‘prize’ you chose. We’ve previously discussed subscription scams here.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez1ZmkI4EfA%5D

    If you receive this text, delete it immediately. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t click the link nor should you respond to it. While FedEx does offer a service to text message you about the arrival of your packages you have to sign up for that service. FedEx will never send unsolicited text messages. If you are expecting a package to be delivered from FedEx or any other courier and you are concerned about the delivery, always use the courier’s website or official app to see if there have been any actual problems with delivery.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 23, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Personal Data Protection Fund, , US Trading Commission   

    Can you get paid for data breaches? 

    Can you get paid for data breaches?

    Sadly, data breaches are just a part of our way of digital life anymore. It’s not a matter of if some of our data will be exposed, it’s a matter of when. Some of the more egregious data breaches have even landed companies in legal trouble such as the infamous Equifax leak. Some of these have resulted in class action lawsuits which while costing the companies large sums of money, consumers affected by the leaks can only claim a very small part of that settlement. Some scammers are now using that fear of exposure and a little bit of consumer greed to try to trick people into giving up their personal information.

    Security experts Kaspersky Labs recently came across a website that promises to send you money if your data has been exposed in one of these corporate leaks. The website claims to be from the ‘Personal Data Protection Fund’ that was created by the ‘US Trading Commission’. There is no governmental office known as the US Trading Commission. The site asks you to enter your information including your Social Security information to see if your data has been leaked. Of course, it tells you that it has and promises you a payout of $2,500. All you have to do is give them your bank number in order to collect the payout. As you might have expected, there is no payout and now some overseas scammer has all the information they need to steal your identity or worse.

    As always, you should never give your personal or financial information to just anyone who asks on the internet. Don’t be lured in by promises of money where you don’t have to do anything for it. Also, the government doesn’t hand out payments for people who have had their data breached. If you’re afraid your data may have been breached you can check at haveibeenpwned.com which is one of the more trustworthy places online.

     

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