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February 15th, 2012 Philip Thomas

 

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McAfee Warns Consumers about Holiday Scams

November 8th, 2011 Philip Thomas

With the holiday season fast approaching, security vendor McAfee has released information about the “12 Scams of Christmas,” a list of what McAfee believes will be the most dangerous online scams of the holidays. Malware targeting mobile devices (particularly smartphones and tablets running Android) and social media threats topped the list.

McAfee’s 12 Scams of Christmas

1. Mobile Malware: A recent National Retail Federation (NRF) survey, dated October 19, found that 52.6 percent of U.S. consumers who own a smartphone said they will be using their device for holiday-shopping related activities—whether it’s to research products, redeem coupons, or purchase holiday gifts. Malware targeted at mobile devices is on the rise, and Android smartphones are most at risk. McAfee cites a 76 percent increase in malware targeted at Android devices in the second quarter of 2011 over the first, making it the most targeted smartphone platform.

New malware has recently been found that targets QR codes, a digital barcode that consumers might scan with their smartphone to find good deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, or just to learn about products they want to buy.

2. Malicious Mobile Applications -These are mobile apps designed to steal information from smartphones, or send out expensive text messages without a user’s consent. Dangerous apps are usually offered for free, and masquerade as fun applications, such as games. For example, last year, 4.6 million Android smartphone users downloaded a suspicious wallpaper app that collected and transmitted user data to a site in China.

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Woman loses $2,000 to Facebook scam‎: ‘I thought it was my sister’

September 28th, 2011 Philip Thomas

Interesting Facebook scam story coming from MSNBC:

Teacher’s aide Edythe Schumacher, 58, says she feels “so stupid.”

Now, you can’t even trust your sister on Facebook.

Edythe Schumacher logged onto the social networking site recently and a picture of her sister popped up immediately, inviting her into a Facebook chat.  After a bit of small talk, Schumacher’s sister – Susan Palmer – egged her on to apply for a government grant, saying she’d just received one.  For an up-front fee of $2,000, Schumacher was assured, she’d get access to up to $500,000.

Schumacher trusted her sister — and lost $2,000. 

Apparently, Facebook impersonation scams have reached a new level of duplicity. Palmer’s account had been hacked, Schumacher says, by an impersonator skilled enough to pretend to be her own flesh and blood.  The fake Palmer eventually talked Schumacher into wiring $2,000 to an address in Massachusetts. 

“Turns out I was not chatting at all with my sister,”

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Top 10 Online Scams from BBB

September 15th, 2011 Philip Thomas

“Many people still do not understand the nature of online scams. Remember, there is only one reason these scams continue to show up in your email accounts and pop up when browsing. They work. As silly as some of them appear, they work well enough, and fool enough people, that millions of dollars are lost to the crooks every year. Your only defense is awareness,” said David Polino, Better Business Bureau President.

Here’s the Better Business Bureau list of the top 10 online scams:

1.    Job Hunter Scams – Victims must pay a fee to be considered for a job. You end up out of money you don’t have, and still no job. 

2.    Debt Relief and Settlement Services – Potentially leave the consumer drowning in even with even more debt than they started with and completely ruin their credit.

3.    Work from Home Schemes – Instead of getting paid for work, you can end up losing hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars or in legal trouble.

4.    Timeshare Resellers – You pay fees to get out of a vacation property, but the seller never hears from the company again.

5.    Not so “Free” Trial Offers – The free trial offers seem easy, but the consumer is repeatedly billed every month and it’s very difficult to cancel.

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FTC Cautions Consumers on the Pitfalls of Penny Auctions

August 28th, 2011 Philip Thomas

Who doesn’t love to get a good deal? Some people shop sales circulars, others clip coupons. Still others find online penny auctions to be a fun way to try to get big ticket items like electronics, jewelry, gift cards, appliances, and sports equipment at reduced prices. But in many ways, penny auctions are more like lotteries than traditional online auction sites. In a penny auction, you have to pay to bid.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to know how online penny auctions work and how to recognize some of their pitfalls before you get caught in a bidding frenzy. Penny auctions move fast. Before you know it, you could spend far more than you intended, with no guarantee that you’ll get anything in return.

How does a penny auction work?

In a penny auction, items are posted by the site owner and you pay to bid for them. Unlike a traditional auction, where only the winning bidder pays anything, penny auctions require you to pay before – and as – you play, win or lose.

For openers, you may have to pay a fee just to register for the site. Sometimes, the fee is substantial. Then, you have to buy a “bid package.” For example, you may “buy” 100 bids for $50. Additional bids cost more money, often between 50 cents and a dollar per bid.
The price of auction items usually starts at zero, and each bid bumps the price of the item up a penny. Each bid also adds time – from 10 seconds to 2 minutes – to a countdown clock. The goal is to be the high bidder when the clock runs out. But because the clock resets with each bid, the auction process can be unpredictable and take time to complete.

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