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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 10, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: delivery ( 8 ), grocery delivery ( 3 ), retail ( 49 ), walmart ( 25 )   

  Would you trust WalMart in your home? 

  

  There used to be a time in our country where home grocery delivery was commonplace. However, that was before we started moving to the suburbs and usually at least one person was home most of the time. Now, with as busy as we all are we can’t afford to have someone home all the time to wait for a delivery person. That’s why a number of companies are trying out home delivery programs where you don’t have to be home to get your groceries. The nation’s leading retailer Walmart is now one of those companies testing this option.

  Recently. WalMart announced they’ll be testing a home delivery option where a delivery person will deliver groceries into your home if you’re not there. That would require a customer to have a smart lock that would allow a delivery person into your home to place the groceries directly into your fridge. The test program will be rolling out in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Vero Beach, Florida. Walmart says that delivery people will have worked with WalMart for at least a year and will be equipped with body cameras so you could watch the delivery remotely.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0THVdc1snQE%5D

  If you’re uncomfortable with a stranger in your home, WalMart has said that this attitude among consumers will change. They cite rideshare services as an example as consumers used to be wary of getting into other people’s cars but that attitude has since relaxed. They believe home delivery like this will also have a similar attitude shift. However, with ridesharing, you’re getting into a driver’s car. Letting someone into your home, especially when no one is there, is a whole other level of trust that consumers may not be willing to give.

  Would you be comfortable allowing a delivery person into your home under WalMart’s proposed security measures? Please let us know in the comments below.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 7, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: dating ( 4 ), John Martin Hill, romance scam ( 82 ), Scams ( 1,652 )   

  Serial Romance Scammer Brought Down! 

  

  We’ve talked about romance scams before. Usually, these scams are perpetrated online by overseas scammers who con people into thinking they’re in a long distance relationship before trying to squeeze money out of their victims. However, in some cases, the romance scam can take place in the real world too. Today, we bring you the story of a man accused of committing real-world romance scams in several states for years before finally being apprehended.

  Police in Franklin, Tennessee recently arrested 35-year-old John Martin Hill. Hill was wanted out of Gwinnett County, Georgia for allegedly defrauding a woman out of $80,000 in a romance scam and using the money to buy a BMW. Hill met his latest victim on a dating site where he claimed to be a millionaire. He proposed quickly to the woman and then got the money from her claiming it was for furniture for the new house they were supposed to be moving into. Hill then reportedly took the money and ran. After he was arrested in Tennessee and extradited back to Georgia a judge ordered Hill be held with no bond. That’s probably because Hill had escaped prosecution in several other states where he is said to have committed similar crimes. Hill had his name legally changed five times while avoiding charges in Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. There was even a Facebook group dedicated to putting a stop to his actions.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlj-lKKqq7A%5D

  While this is an extreme case of the romance scam this story serves as a warning for people who might be vulnerable to being taken in by a scammer like Hill. This story also shows what lengths romance scammers may go to in order to cover their own tracks. So if something seems not quite right in the relationship you may have every right to be suspicious. If you feel like you’ve been the victim of a romance scam don’t hesitate to contact your local police.
   
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  Geebo 8:05 am on June 6, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Arizona ( 12 ), job scam ( 94 ), loan ( 5 ), Scams ( 1,652 )   

  Don’t take out a loan for that job! 

  

  While we’re far from the authority on online scams, we are surprised when we hear about one that we’ve never heard of before. Often these online scams are just variations of only a handful of scams such as the phony check scam. Not to mention that we thought we’ve heard of every job scam under the sun. However, even we were taken aback when we read about this job scam from Arizona.

  According to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, there was an employment scam going through their state in 2017. Two men were posting help wanted ads for phony clerical and administrative jobs. They would then tell the applicants that their credit score wasn’t good enough for the position but that they could improve their credit score by taking out a loan. The scammers would then request the money from the applicants claiming that they would pay the loans back for them but of course, never did. Thankfully, the Attorney General’s office was able to prosecute these scammers but we have to wonder if the victims’ credit ever recovered after these incidents.

  While there are some jobs in the financial sector that require you to have a good credit score, you should never have to pay anything to get a job. If a company offers you an immediate position do some research to make sure they are a legitimate employer. And as always, if the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 5, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: abortion, Alabama ( 3 ), pro-choice, Roe. v. Wade   

  Being Pro-Choice is being Pro-Constitution! 

  

  The state of Alabama made national headlines recently for enacting the most restrictive abortion law seen since the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that protected abortions under The Constitution. If and when Alabama’s new law goes into effect, it essentially outlaws abortion under most circumstances including those of rape and incest. If a medical professional were to perform an abortion in Alabama, they could be potentially sentenced to 99 years in prison. That’s a longer sentence than any sentence for rape or sexual abuse in the state. So in effect, a doctor could serve more time in prison for performing an abortion on a rape victim than the actual rapist. Alabama isn’t the only state enacting such legislation as many conservative states are in the process of passing similarly restrictive legislation when it comes to a woman’s right to choose.

  Usually, when the topic of abortion is debated, it comes down to two fundamental arguments, a woman’s right to choose and domain over her own body vs. the protection of an unborn child. Now we’re going to take a different approach and discuss the Constitutionality of abortion and why overturning Roe v. Wade could be more harmful to the country than you might think. Conservative state governments love to tout that the Constitution is a sacred document, however, they tend to pick and choose which parts of it they hold sacred. While they’ll continually encourage and advocate the Second Amendment as if it was handed down by God, they’ll try to circumvent others like the Fourteenth Amendment. That’s the Amendment which contains the Equal Protection Clause. Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that women have a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion. President Trump has stated that if he were to seat enough justices on the Supreme Court, he would have Roe v. Wade overturned. That would mean that a landmark decision that was previously protected by the Fourteenth Amendment would be overturned. This would cause precedent for other landmark decisions under the Fourteenth Amendment to be possibly overturned. One of the most famous landmark decisions that was also protected by the Equal Protection Clause was Brown v. Board of Education, the ruling that led to the ending of segregation in schools in our country. In today’s politically charged climate, to put it politely, is it too far out of the realm of possibility that overturning Brown v. Board of Education would be next after Roe v. Wade?

  If conservative states like Alabama really wanted to curtail abortion there are more helpful ways they could do that such as providing better sex education information to their students. They could also provide better and more affordable healthcare access for things like birth control. They could provide better incentives for adoption and foster care, that is after cleaning up bloated and corrupt family service departments. Instead, they enact restrictive policies that endanger women under the guise of “states’ rights”. Why is it that the concept of states’ rights usually only comes up when they’re trying to take the rights of others away?

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 4, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: data breach ( 33 ), healthcare ( 45 ), HIPAA ( 4 ), privacy ( 46 ), quest diagnostics   

  Giant medical lab bleeds patient information! 

  

  If you’ve ever had a blood test at your doctor’s office that they had to send to a lab, chances are that they may have sent it to Quest Diagnostics. Quest is one of if not the largest medical testing corporation in the country. Due to the sheer amount of testing and processing that Quest does, they must have their logistics down to a T to be able to handle so many patients. However, recent events have shown that even a well-oiled machine is vulnerable to breakdown.

  Within the past few days, it’s been reported that Quest has had a patient data breach on a massive scale. According to reports, close to 12 million patients have had their personal data exposed due to a billing vendor giving unauthorized access to an unidentified person. This information is said to have included financial information such as credit card numbers, medical information, and personal information. Quest claims that the results of any testing have not been exposed but they have also notified law enforcement of the breach.

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

  Besides being a PR nightmare for Quest, this could end up being very costly for them as well. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA as it’s better known as the government could levy hefty fines against both Quest and their billing vendor for compromising such information. So far the largest HIPAA violation fine has been $5.5 million levied against a hospital that allegedly exposed over 100,000 patients’ information. With Quest and its vendor reportedly exposing the information of 12 million patients we could sadly see a new record being set.
   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 3, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BBB ( 22 ), employment ( 44 ), job scam ( 94 ), Scams ( 1,652 ), summer ( 2 )   

  Summer is scam season for jobs! 

  

  With Memorial Day Weekend behind us and many schools ending the year, a number of people will be looking for seasonal employment during the warm weather months. Whether it’s students looking for some pocket money for weekend activities or adults and retirees looking to supplement their incomes, many of these temporary positions are in demand. That doesn’t mean that scammers take the summers off. They’ll be using this influx of job seekers to try to fleece their victims any way they can.

  The Better Business Bureau is warning people to be on the lookout for certain scams targeting seasonal applicants. One particular scam is said to target college students by sending spoofed emails that look like official emails from the college the student is attending. In reality, it’s another take on the fake check scam. The student will be sent a phony check that the scammers say is for the supplies the student needs for the position and will be asked to deposit the check and will then be asked to wire the money to phony vendors. Again, once the bank where the check was deposited finds out the check is fake the victim will be on the hook for the money owed to the bank.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4nBcBLPeWY%5D

  The BBB is also warning to be on the lookout for employment listings that say things like ‘no experience needed’ or ‘immediate start.’ These are red flags for potential scams. Don’t be in a rush to accept any position that may come your way. Ask as many questions as possible from your potential employer and try to get everything in writing. Real positions will be willing to provide any information you might need while the scammers will try to convince you otherwise. Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll have a productive and enjoyable summer.
   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 31, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: employment ( 44 ), repackaging ( 24 ), Scams ( 1,652 ), work at home ( 14 )   

  ‘Work at home’ could put you in jail! 

  

  We’ve discussed the re-packaging or re-shipping scam before. Normally how it works is someone looking for work will reply to an employment ad for a work at home position. That person will usually be hired on the spot and will be asked to receive items in the mail then re-package them and send them to another destination. This is done to send items purchased with a stolen credit card to a location where the thieves can receive the item. More often than not, the person being used in the scam either doesn’t get paid or they lose money by cashing a phony check disguised as payment. However, one man from Alabama has ended up in prison for his efforts.

  According to the Daily Beast, the man had responded to one of these ads and was re-packaging items with no problem. That was until Postal Inspectors showed up at the man’s house letting him know that he was involved in a re-packaging scam. The man then emailed the people he was working or to tell them that he wouldn’t be packaging items for them anymore. The scammers then reportedly told the man that the Postal Inspectors were actually fraudsters who were trying to steal the items being re-packaged. So, the man kept re-packaging the items he received. That was until he received a shipment of high-capacity magazines for AK-47s marked ‘toy parts’. That’s when federal agents arrested the man. The man admitted to knowing that the boxes contained gun parts and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.

  While this is a rare case of the re-packaging scam, it does show that entering into any number of work at home scams can be potentially costly to the victim. Whether it’s loss of funds, time, or personal information, these scams have proven to be quite effective in finding victims.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 30, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Cuba ( 3 ), internet ( 9 )   

  Has Cuba opened the internet for all? 

  

  Here in America, many of us are glued to our screens for most of the day. Whether it’s for work, entertainment, or talking with friends we’re accessing the internet as if it was some magical unlimited resource. We even use it in remote places that in previous generations had trouble getting electrical or phone services. Now, imagine being only a few miles away from one of the world’s more cosmopolitan areas and only being able to use the internet for at most a couple of hours a day and you can only use it in certain areas that aren’t necessarily convenient to get to. That’s how the country of Cuba has been using its limited access to the internet.

  Yesterday, the Cuban government announced that it would be lifting the restrictions on having private wifi networks. The law is scheduled to take effect on July 29th. Previously, Cuban citizens could only access the internet in public wifi hotspots set up by the government that were usually in parks or on street corners. In order to use these hotspots, people would need to buy access cards that allows someone to use the internet for an hour for a fee. The current fee sits at $1 an hour.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tYSaqrBh7c%5D

  However, this doesn’t mean that Cuban citizens will start enjoying the internet the same way that we do. There is only one internet service provider in the country and it’s run by the Cuban government. In order to be able to use wifi in your home, you would still need to set up an antenna to access the public hotspots for your home router to access and would still need to buy the hourly access cards. While this isn’t the biggest leap forward for internet users in the Caribbean nation it is at least a step in the right direction.
   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 29, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: getaway cars, Lime, LimePod, ride sharing ( 6 ), Seattle ( 8 )   

  Follow that Lime! 

  

  When you first hear the concept of LimePod it sounds like a great alternative to other rideshare platforms and public transportation. With the Lime app, you can unlock a car called a LimePod for $1.00 that you can drive around town for $.40 a minute. Right now, the program is only available in the Seattle area but if history is any indicator it will soon be coming to other cities as Lime has their motorized scooters for use in many locations. However, it seems that Seattle can’t have nice things as the LimePods are being used for illegal actions.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91U4j5fBMLc%5D

  According to reports from King County in Washington State, the LimePods are allegedly being used as getaway vehicles in porch and mail thefts. In order to use a LimePod, a user has to submit a copy of their driver’s license before they can use the service but if someone were to gain access to a stolen phone it wouldn’t take much to bypass security measures if that phone’s LimePod account had already been approved.

  Sadly, this seems to be a recurring trend as even rental scooters have been used as getaway vehicles in even such crimes like bank robbery. When someone comes up with an idea to help those around them there are always those who will look to take advantage of that assistance. Unfortunately, for a platform like LimePod to truly work without hiccups, it seems that even more stringent security measures are needed.
   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 28, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: AI ( 35 ), deep fakes ( 10 ), technology ( 7 )   

  Could Deep Fakes ruin our world? 

  

  Recently, a video was distributed on social media od Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that made it look and sound like she was slurring her speech. While the video was determined to be fake it was put out by someone who supposedly did not support Pelosi’s politics. However, with politics being what it is in this country today there were people who believed it to be real. While this particular video was made using simple editing tricks of an actual video it does bring up the matter of what will happen when ‘Deep Fakes’ become more prevalent in our society and media.

  For those of you unfamiliar with the term Deep Fake, it refers to a process where someone can take a single image or video and by using an AI Assisted program it can turn the original video into just about anything the fabricator wanted. For example, if you wanted to make it look like a beloved celebrity say that they enjoyed stealing candy from babies you probably could. Now take that same process and imagine it being used against candidates running for President. Potentially deep fakes could be used to make it look like any candidate look like they were saying or doing something completely detrimental to their campaign.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLoI9hAX9dw%5D

  The deep fakes could become so commonplace that we wouldn’t be able to tell what was real and what wasn’t. If someone were to commit a heinous act caught on video’ all they would need to say is that the video was a deep fake and scores of people would believe them. Thankfully, the technology is not there yet where a deep fake is indistinguishable from the real thing but it could only be a matter of time before it is. When technologies are used by bad actors, it usually takes law enforcement and government some time to catch up before designing the tools needed to fight them.

  These tech scams are frightening! | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments