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Madera County Counterfeit Check Warning – KSEE

November 29th, 2011. Published under Money Order Scams. No Comments.

KSEE Madera County Counterfeit Check Warning KSEE The warning comes in response to a money order scam discovered in Oakhurst. An Oakhurst man answered an ad to become a Mystery Shopper on the internet. He received a check in the mail with instructions to cash it; pocket $100.00 of the $980.00 sent to …

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Madera County Counterfeit Check Warning – KSEE

A Video – How To Start An Internet Business For Dummies – SelfMade Millionaires explain

July 5th, 2011. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

Here’s a good video I came across – Hope you like it Author’s Description: Starting an Online Business For Dummies, 4th Edition Industries & Professions E-commerce – Cached I am pretty new to the internet business concept, so I knew that this DUMMIES book would be a good Read Published on February 29, Starting an

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A Video – How To Start An Internet Business For Dummies – SelfMade Millionaires explain

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61781 – Castanet.net

May 3rd, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61781 Castanet.net I received this e-mail the other day from a reader and it brought back memories of the same scam that went through the Internet a couple of years ago. People are receiving e-mail that look official with a phony bank logo and everything. … and more

FTC Sends Refund Checks to Victims of Wal-Mart Shopping Spree Scam

April 29th, 2011. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

This week, an administrator working for the Federal Trade Commission began mailing checks to more than 172,000 consumers nationwide who were defrauded by a scam in which consumers were falsely promised free gifts such as shopping sprees, movie passes, and gas vouchers and wrongfully paid monthly fees for “program memberships” in discount buying and travel clubs. Consumers who were victims of the “Wal-Mart Shopping Spree” scam will receive a total of more than $3 million in refunds. These are legitimate checks, and the FTC urges consumers to cash them. In this 2008 case, known as Universal Premium Services, Inc. , the court banned Brian K. McGregor, the architect of the scheme, from telemarketing and selling program memberships. McGregor and Membership Services Direct, Inc., also known as Continuity Partners, Inc., were ordered to pay $28.2 million. The amount of money consumers receive from the redress administrator will vary, depending on how much they lost in the scam. The average check will be for about $18 per consumer. The redress administrator will mail checks directly to eligible consumers. The refund checks must be cashed within 60 days of receipt, or they will become void. Consumers should call 1-866-783-5589 with any questions or click on the Internet link here . The FTC never requires the payment of money up front, or the provision of additional information, before consumers cash refund checks issued to them. Source: FTC Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSAL PREMIUM SERVICES, INC., a California corporation (also known as Premier Benefits Inc.); CONSUMER REWARD NETWORK , INC., a California corporation; STAR COMMUNICATIONS LLC, a California limited liability company; MEMBERSHIP SERVICES DIRECT, INC., a Nevada corporation (also known as Continuity Partners, Inc.); CONNECT2USA, INC., a Nevada corporation; BRIAN K. MACGREGOR; HARIJINDER SIDHU; JOSEPH F. LAROSA, JR.; PRANOT SANGPRASIT; WILLIAM THOMAS HEICHERT; MICHAEL HOWARD CUSHING; PAUL P. TOSI.; MANH D. CAO; Midwest Properties, Inc. and Christine MacGregor, Defendants. (United States District Court Central District of California) Civil Action No.: CV06 0849; FTC Matter No.: 052 3153

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FTC Sends Refund Checks to Victims of Wal-Mart Shopping Spree Scam

ARNewsline Report 1759 — April 29 2011: – eHam.net

April 29th, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

ARNewsline Report 1759 — April 29 2011: eHam.net (Southgate) The Radio Society of Great Britain is reporting on a ham radio version on an old Internet scam . This as it advises its members to be on the look-out for bogus e-mails purporting to be from other radio amateurs and asking for financial help. … and more

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61651 – Castanet.net

April 27th, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61651 Castanet.net I received this e-mail the other day from a reader and it brought back memories of the same scam that went through the Internet a couple of years ago. People are receiving e-mail that look official with a phony bank logo and everything. …

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Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61651 – Castanet.net

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61638 – Castanet.net

April 26th, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61638 Castanet.net I received this e-mail the other day from a reader and it brought back memories of the same scam that went through the Internet a couple of years ago. People are receiving e-mail that look official with a phony bank logo and everything. …

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Edited by John Thomson – Story: 61638 – Castanet.net

Operator of Deceptive "Scareware" Scheme Will Pay More than $8 Million to Settle Charges

January 27th, 2011. Published under Scams. No Comments.

An operator of an online “scareware” scheme will pay more than $8 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he used deceptive ads to trick consumers into thinking their computers were infected with malicious software, and then sold them software to “fix” their non-existent problem. As part of the FTC’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers from online scams, the agency cracked down on the scareware operation, filing a complaint against seven defendants who allegedly operated the scheme in 2008. The agency charged that the defendants did business using the company names Innovative Marketing, Inc. and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC, operated using a variety of aliases, and maintained offices in various countries. The defendant whose settlement was announced today will be required to turn over $8 million in ill-gotten gains so it can be used to reimburse victims of the scam and will be barred from the deceptive practices In December 2008, at the request of the FTC, a U.S. district court ordered a halt to the massive scheme. According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers’ computers. The FTC alleged that the defendants conned more than one million consumers into buying their software products such as Winfixer, Drive Cleaner and Antivirus XP to remove the malware the bogus scans had supposedly detected. The FTC charged that the defendants used elaborate and technologically sophisticated Internet advertisements that they placed with advertising networks and many popular commercial websites. These ads displayed to consumers a “system scan” that invariably detected a host of malicious or otherwise dangerous files and programs on consumers’ computers. The bogus “scans” would then urge consumers to buy the defendants’ software for $40 to $60 to clean off the malware. Under the proposed settlement order, Marc D’Souza and his father, Maurice D’Souza, will give up $8.2 million in ill-gotten gains. The FTC alleged that Marc D’Souza was one of the key defendants behind the scam. It charged Maurice D’Souza as a relief defendant who did not participate in the scam, but allegedly profited from it. The order bans Marc D’Souza from any involvement with software that interferes with consumers’ computers. It also bars him from: making deceptive claims in connection with computer security software; using domain names registered with false information; and misrepresenting that he is authorized to act on behalf of third parties. The FTC wishes to thank the Canadian Competition Bureau for its invaluable assistance in this matter. Source: FTC Federal Trade Commission v. Innovative Marketing, Inc., also d/b/a Billingnow, BillPlanet PTE Ltd., Globedat, Innovative Marketing Ukraine, Revenue Response, Sunwell, Synergy Software BV, Winpayment Consultancy SPC, Winsecure Solutions, and Winsolutions FZ-LLC; ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC; James Reno, individually, d/b/a Setupahost.net, and as an officer of Bytehosting Internet Services, LLC; Sam Jain, individually, and as an officer of Innovative Marketing, Inc.; Daniel Sundin, individually, d/b/a Vantage Software and Winsoftware, Ltd., and as an officer of Innovative Marketing, Inc.; Marc D’Souza, individually, d/b/a Web Integrated Net Solutions, and as an officer of Innovative Marketing, Inc.; Kristy Ross, individually, and as an officer of Innovative Marketing, Inc., Defendants; and Maurice D’Souza, Relief Defendant (United States District Court for the District of Maryland) Civil Action No.: 08-CV-3233-RDB; FTC File No.: 072-3137

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Operator of Deceptive "Scareware" Scheme Will Pay More than $8 Million to Settle Charges

No Privacy – Member or Not Dating Site Creates Profiles from Your Public Information

January 17th, 2011. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

Sooner or later it was bound to happen at a dating site. Other companies have been scraping the web and using information to build profiles for marketing and businesses. You are about to lose more privacy as an individual, and lose it soon. Gotham Dating Partners, an online dating company has plans to mine and scrape information from the web (including social networking sites) and create a profile of you, whether you want one or not. The company operates several dating sites including: Dons and Divas, Faithful Lover, Marry Me First, Prison Hookup and Ugly People Date. The company claims they will soon have over 340 million profiles on their services, as opposed to 6.45 million currently. My number one problem with their (mis)use of my public information is that I am happily married and don’t want (or need) my information on a dating website. I probably won’t be the only person suing such a site in the future for creating a profile without my explicit permission. As I mentioned earlier marketing companies have been mining the Internet for years. I generally get

Unemployment – What It’s Like To Be Unemployed

January 11th, 2011. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

A compilation of videos from video bloggers (vloggers) across the Internet with their inner most thoughts about what it’s like to be unemployed.

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Unemployment – What It’s Like To Be Unemployed

Oh Happy Days – FinallyFast.com Sued and Forced to Refund Consumers

January 5th, 2011. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

You’ve seen their television commercials claiming to scan and return your computer to full performance. Apparently with the “free” scan consumers got more than they bargained for, namely scareware that made consumer scramble to pay fees to FinallyFast.com (owned by Ascentive, which is another long story of consumer complaints). The Washington State Attorney General sued Ascentive LLC for violating the states spyware act, consumer protection act and the commercial electronic mail act for deceptive marketing practices.

Taxfree Internet in Jeopardy, as Tax Moratorium Expires November 1st

January 2nd, 2011. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

November 1, 2007 is the date the Internet tax moratorium is set to expire. The original Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 created the tax-free moratorium, which Congress has extended two times. Legislation has been entered into both Houses this year–S. 156 and H.R. 743-by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Cal., respectively,

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Taxfree Internet in Jeopardy, as Tax Moratorium Expires November 1st

Massive Internet Enterprise Charged with Scamming Consumers Out of Millions Billing Month-After-Month for Products and Services They Never Ordered

December 24th, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Scams. No Comments.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking legal action against a far-reaching Internet enterprise that allegedly has made millions of dollars by luring consumers into “trial” memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes, and then repeatedly charging them monthly fees for these and other memberships that they never signed up for. The FTC seeks to stop the illegal practices and make the defendants pay redress to consumers and give up their ill-gotten gains. “No consumer should be sucker-punched into making payments for products they don’t know about and don’t want,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. The FTC’s complaint alleges that the defendants offer consumers bogus money-making and government-grant opportunities. They claim that the offers are “free” or “risk-free,” and that they will charge customers only a small shipping and handling fee. According to the FTC’s complaint, the operation, doing business under the name I Works and controlled by Jeremy Johnson and nine other individuals, uses websites that tout the availability of government grants to pay personal expenses or pitch various money-making programs. The websites offer “free” information at no risk and ask consumers to provide their credit or debit card numbers to pay for a small shipping and handling fee such as $1.99. When consumers provide their billing information, though, I Works proceeds to charge them hefty one-time fees of up to $129.95 and monthly recurring fees of up to $59.95 for the grant or money-making programs. I Works charges them additional monthly fees for one or more unrelated programs that consumers did not agree to. The FTC’s complaint alleges that this scheme has caused hundreds of thousands of consumers to seek chargebacks – reversals of charges to their credit cards or debits to their banks accounts. The high number of chargebacks has landed the defendants in VISA’s and MasterCard’s chargeback monitoring programs, resulted in millions of dollars in fines for excessive chargebacks, and prevented the defendants from getting access to the credit card and debit card billing systems using their own names. To keep the scam going, the defendants tricked banks into giving them continued access to these billing systems by creating 51shell companies with figurehead officers, and by providing the banks with phony “clean” versions of their websites. The FTC has charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that government grants are available for paying personal expenses, that consumers are likely to obtain grants by using the defendants’ program, that users of their money-making products will earn substantial income, and that their offers are free or risk-free. The complaint also alleges that defendants failed to disclose that consumers who pay a nominal shipping and handling fee will be enrolled in expensive plans that charge consumers fees until they cancel, and that the defendants charged consumers’ credit cards and debited their bank accounts without their consent. In addition, the FTC alleges that defendants posted deceptive positive reviews and used deceptive testimonials that misrepresented the benefits of their grant services. Finally, the FTC has charged the defendants with violating the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E by debiting consumers’ bank accounts without their signed written consent and without providing consumers with a copy of the written authorization. As alleged in the complaint, the defendants gained access to the Visa and MasterCard systems through many entities. The banks included Wells Fargo, N.A., HSBC Bank USA, First Regional Bank, Harris National Association, and Columbus Bank and Trust Company. The payment processors the defendants used included First Data, ECHO, Global Payment Systems, Litle & Co., Moneris, Payment Tech, Trident, and Vital, as well as independent sales organizations, including CardFlex, RDK Inc., Merchant eSolutions, Pivotal Payments, PowerPay, and Swipe Merchant Solutions. The FTC complaint names 10 individuals, 10 corporations, and 51 shell companies as defendants. As alleged in the complaint, the lynchpin of the enterprise is Jeremy Johnson, the sole owner and officer of I Works Inc., which has done business under numerous names. The FTC’s complaint names Johnson and nine other individual defendants: Duane Fielding; Andy Johnson; Loyd Johnston; Scott Leavitt; Scott Muir; Bryce Payne; Kevin Pilon; Ryan Riddle; and Terrason Spinks. In addition, the 10 corporate defendants are: I Works Inc.; Anthon Holdings Corp.; Cloud Nine Marketing Inc.; CPA Upsell Inc.; Elite Debit Inc.; Employee Plus Inc.; Internet Economy Inc.; Market Funding Solutions Inc.; Network Agenda LLC; and Success Marketing Inc. The 51 shell companies named in the complaint are Big Bucks Pro Inc., Blue Net Progress Inc., Blue Streak Processing Inc., Bolt Marketing Inc., Bottom Dollar Inc., doing business as BadCustomer.com, Bumble Marketing Inc., Business First Inc., Business Loan Success Inc., Cold Bay Media Inc., Costnet Discounts Inc., CS Processing Inc., Cutting Edge Processing Inc., Diamond J. Media Inc., Ebusiness First Inc., Ebusiness Success Inc., Ecom Success Inc., Excess Net Success Inc., Fiscal Fidelity Inc., Fitness Processing Inc., Funding Search Success Inc., Funding Success Inc., GG Processing Inc., GGL Rewards Inc., Highlight Marketing Inc., Hooper Processing Inc., Internet Business Source Inc., Internet Fitness Inc., Jet Processing Inc., JRB Media Inc., Lifestyles For Fitness Inc., Mist Marketing Inc., Money Harvest Inc., Monroe Processing Inc., Net Business Success Inc., Net Commerce Inc., Net Discounts Inc., Net Fit Trends Inc., Optimum Assistance Inc., Power Processing Inc., Premier Performance Inc., Pro Internet Services Inc., Razor Processing Inc., Rebate Deals Inc., Revive Marketing Inc., Simcor Marketing Inc., Summit Processing Inc., The Net Success Inc., Tranfirst Inc., Tran Voyage Inc., Unlimited Processing Inc., and Xcel Processing Inc. The Commission vote to file the complaint was 5-0. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Source: Federal Trade Commission Federal Trade Commission v. Jeremy Johnson, individually, as officer of Defendants I Works, Inc., Cloud Nine, Inc., CPA Upsell, Inc., Elite Debit, Inc., Internet Economy, Inc., Market Funding Solutions, Inc., and Success Marketing Inc.; as a member of Defendant Network Agenda, LLC; and as the de facto principal of numerous Defendant Shell Companies identified below; Duane Fielding, individually and as an officer of Anthon Holdings, Inc., and as a member of Defendant Network Agenda LLC; Andy Johnson, individually and as a manager of I Works, Inc., and as titular principal of numerous Defendant Shell Companies identified below; Loyd Johnston; Scott Leavitt; Scott Muir; Bryce Payne; Kevin Pilon; Ryan Riddle; Terrason Spinks; I Works, Inc.; Anthon Holdings Corp.; Cloud Nine Marketing, Inc.; CPA Upsell, Inc.; Elite Debit, Inc.; Employee Plus, Inc.; Market Funding Solutions, Inc.; Network Agenda, LLC; Success Marketing, Inc.; Big Bucks Pro, Inc.; Blue Net Progress, Inc.; Blue Streak Processing, Inc.; Bolt Marketing, Inc.; Bottom Dollar, Inc., d/b/a BadCustomer.com; Bumble Marketing, Inc.; Business First, Inc.; Business Loan Success, Inc.; Cold Bay Media, Inc.; Costnet Discounts, Inc.; CS Processing, Inc.; Cutting Edge Processing, Inc.; Diamond J Media, Inc.; EBusiness First, Inc.; EBusiness Success, Inc.; ECom Success, Inc.; Excess Net Success, Inc.; Fiscal Fidelity, Inc.; Fitness Processing, Inc.; Funding Search Success, Inc.; Funding Success, Inc.; GG Processing, Inc.; GGL Rewards, Inc.; Highlight Marketing, Inc.; Hooper Processing, Inc.; Internet Business Source, Inc.; Internet Fitness, Inc.; Jet Processing, Inc.; JRB Media, Inc.; Lifestyles for Fitness, Inc.; Mist Marketing, Inc.; Money Harvest, Inc.; Monroe Processing, Inc.; Net Business Success, Inc.; Net Commerce, Inc.; Net Discounts, Inc.; Net Fit Trends, Inc.; Optimum Assistance, Inc.; Power Processing, Inc.; Premier Performance, Inc.; Pro Internet Services, Inc.; Razor Processing, Inc.; Rebate Deals, Inc.; Revive Marketing, Inc.; Simcor Marketing, Inc.; Summit Processing, Inc.; The Net Success, Inc.; Tranfirst, Inc.; Tran Voyage, Inc.; Unlimited Processing, Inc.; Xcel Processing, Inc., Defendants. (United States District Court for the District of Nevada) Case No. 2:10-cv-02203 FTC File No. 102 3015

Watch Out Kids Debt Buyers Are Hot On Collecting Defaulted Student Loans

October 11th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

It seems that the next hot collection industry target is going to be defaulted student loans. So kids get ready for debt collectors to begin harassing, and possibly abusing you verbally and mentally while they attempt to collect on your old student loan. There are many collectors out there that will say (or do) anything to get you to cough up the money, including filing lawsuits against you. Once a student loan, Federal or otherwise, is sold by the original creditor to a third party such as a debt buyer or junk debt collector the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protection comes into full force. Another words it becomes a debt just like any other consumer debt (credit card, bank load, payday loan, etc.). It’s my opinion that the debt buyers / junk debt collection companies see younger adults as easy targets, and assume you will run to mom and dad and ask them to bail you out. Be aware most that most collector threats are nothing more than that, just empty threats. Debt collection harassment and abuse is illegal and you need to know that. While I do advocate paying debts, the ballgame changes completely when collectors use illegal and abusive collection tactics to scare you into pay them. What debt collectors cannot do: Harassment. Debt collectors may not harass, oppress, or abuse you or any third parties they contact. For example, they may not: Use threats of violence or harm; Publish a list of names of people who refuse to pay their debts (but they can give this information to the credit reporting companies); Use obscene or profane language Repeatedly use the phone to annoy someone. False statements. Debt collectors may not lie when they are trying to collect a debt. For example, they may not: falsely claim that they are attorneys or government representatives; falsely claim that you have committed a crime; falsely represent that they operate or work for a credit reporting company; misrepresent the amount you owe; indicate that papers they send you are legal forms if they aren’t; or indicate that papers they send to you aren’t legal forms if they are. Debt collectors also are prohibited from saying that: you will be arrested if you don’t pay your debt; they’ll seize, garnish, attach, or sell your property or wages unless they are permitted by law to take the action and intend to do so; or legal action will be taken against you, if doing so would be illegal or if they don’t intend to take the action. Debt collectors may not: give false credit information about you to anyone, including a credit reporting company; send you anything that looks like an official document from a court or government agency if it isn’t; or use a false company name. Unfair practices. Debt collectors may not engage in unfair practices when they try to collect a debt. For example, they may not: try to collect any interest, fee, or other charge on top of the amount you owe unless the contract that created your debt – or your state law – allows the charge; deposit a post-dated check early; take or threaten to take your property unless it can be done legally; or contact you by postcard. In addition, a debt collector cannot represent that they are attorneys if they are not, or imply that communications are from an attorney. 15 U.S.C. 1692e(3). If a debt collector does anything outlined above (or similar) it is your obligation to hold them accountable and sue them. Who knows the collector may end up cutting you a check for the abuse or harassment. While the Federal Trade Commission has been tasked with enforcing the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act they rarely take any enforcement action against illegal debt collection. Consumers *must* take action. You can file FDCPA civil complaints yourself in any recognized court of find a consumer protection attorney to help you go after bad collectors. Most good consumer protection attorneys do not require upfront fees to help you sue collectors as they get a small percentage of any monetary award or settlement that they obtain on your behalf. A good place to begin searching for a consumer protection attorney is Martindale ( www.martindale.com ). If you have been harassed or abused by a collector I encourage you to find and retain an attorney. The only way to put a stop to illegal collections is for consumers to fight back using the court system.

Radio Interview With the Author of Stick It To Sue Happy Debt Collectors on KSVY Sonoma

September 28th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

I’ve been meaning to post the radio interview regarding my book Stick it to Sue Happy Debt Collectors. KSVY Sonoma California, interviewed me regarding consumers defending themselves against debt collectors in court. Jamie Waterman is the host and I think you will get a lot from the interview Listen to Allen’s radio interview regarding debt collectors on KSVY Sonoma California with host Jamie Waterman, Click here to listen to the broadcast . (under 5mb, MP3). Allen is the author of the book “ Stick it to Sue Happy Debt Collectors ”, that has saved many a consumer from the clutches of abusive debt collectors and shady debt collection law firms. Allen has a new book nearly ready for publishing titled, “ Suing Abusive Debt Collectors, Don’t Get Mad Get Even ”, that shows consumers how easy it is to sue debt collectors for illegal debt collection tactics and violations of consumer rights. Allen Harkleroad is a veteran when it comes to beating bad debt collections, whether it defending himself in court or suing collectors for violating the law. Allen is an avid and judicious consumer advocate who enjoys helping others. In addition to consumer advocacy he enjoys writing and blogging on various technology and business subjects. Follow Allen on Twitter Contact Allen via email Other books by Allen Harkleroad Stick it to Sue Happy Debt Collectors In this book, I cover original creditor lawsuits and junk debt buyer lawsuits (3rd party collectors), and the similar ways that you will deal with them. I will also cover strategies to keep debt collectors off your back before any lawsuits are filed and how and when to sue a debt collector for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Care and Feeding of a Sucks.com “The author, Allen Harkleroad, has gone toe-to-toe with many multi-billion dollar companies on the planet for publicly criticizing their products and services on the Internet. Many times these companies used legal intimidation or threats to force him to shut down his sucks.com websites. The scare tactics didn’t work as Allen understands his first amendment legal rights, and copyright / trademark law. He shares his knowledge and expertise with you.” Confidential SEO Secrets “I’ve been building websites since early 1994. To get visitors to my websites I solely rely on search engine referrals for the bulk of my traffic. I don’t buy advertising or market my websites in any other way than search engine optimization. I eat, sleep and breathe search engine optimization. My websites consistently rank in the top 5 results for the keywords I target. My books shows you how to do the same.”

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Radio Interview With the Author of Stick It To Sue Happy Debt Collectors on KSVY Sonoma

health-insurance-for-unemployed.mp4

September 21st, 2010. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

What to Do to Get Health Insurance for Unemployed When you find yourself suddenly got fired, you might feel as if the world just fell upon you, especially if you have no passive income. You’re worried about all the bills you have to pay, the basic things like electricity, gas, running water, etc. Another big thing that might bother you is concerning health insurance. Is there anyone who doesn’t need health care services? With the soaring price of hospital cost, health insurance becomes a very reasonable option. But what would you do if you are suddenly unemployed and no longer enjoy the comfort of having your old health insurance? Does it mean you have to live without health insurance once you are out of job? Do you really can’t have medical or health insurance for unemployed? Well, that’s not necessary be true. There are ways to get health insurance even if you’re unemployed. Read on to get some of the available options. First of all, try to find more information from various sources, for example: • local unemployment office • health insurance agents • the internet They can help you with lots of information about getting or keeping your health insurance for unemployed all of the options for getting some kind of health insurance. They might want you to consider COBRA as well as HIPPA. COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act while HIPPA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Both COBRA and HIPPA can help you to keep your …

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health-insurance-for-unemployed.mp4

Mlb jerseys Reasons to Buy a Website

September 11th, 2010. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

At the end of December 2009, there were more than 230 million websites on the internet. Every month, a few hundred mlb jerseys thousand are being created, thanks in part to the myriad of new web addre

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Mlb jerseys Reasons to Buy a Website

FTC Halts Cross Border Domain Name Registration and SEO Fees Scam

August 9th, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The Federal Trade Commission has permanently halted the operations of Canadian con artists who allegedly posed as domain name registrars and convinced thousands of U.S. consumers, small businesses and non-profit organizations to pay bogus bills by leading them to believe they would lose their Web site addresses unless they paid. Settlement and default judgment orders signed by the court will bar the deceptive practices in the future. In June 2008, the FTC charged Toronto-based Internet Listing Service with sending fake invoices to small businesses and others, listing the existing domain name of the consumer’s Web site or a slight variation on the domain name, such as substituting “.org” for “.com.” The invoices appeared to come from the businesses’ existing domain name registrar and instructed them to pay for an annual “WEBSITE ADDRESS LISTING.” The invoices also claimed to include a search engine optimization service. Most consumers who received the “invoices” were led to believe that they had to pay them to maintain their registrations of domain names. Other consumers were induced to pay based on Internet Listing Service’s claims that its “Search Optimization” service would “direct mass traffic” to their sites and that their “proven search engine listing service” would result in “a substantial increase in traffic.” The FTC’s complaint charged that most consumers who paid the defendants’ invoices did not receive any domain name registration services and that the “search optimization” service did not result in increased traffic to the consumers’ Web sites. A federal district court judge in Chicago, Robert M. Dow, Jr., ordered a temporary halt to the deceptive claims and froze the defendants’ assets, pending trial. The settlement and default judgment orders announced today end that litigation. The orders bar the defendants from misrepresenting: that they have a preexisting business relationship with consumers; that consumers owe them money; that they will provide domain name registration; and that they will provide “search optimization services” that will substantially increase traffic to consumers’ Web sites. The defendants are also required to disclose any material restrictions or aspects of any goods or services they provide. The settlement order, entered against defendants Isaac Benlolo, Kirk Mulveney, Pearl Keslassy, and 1646153 Ontario Inc., includes a suspended judgment of $4,261,876, the total amount of consumer injury caused by the illegal activities. Based on the inability of the settling defendants to pay, they will turn over $10,000 to satisfy the judgment. The default judgment order was entered against defendant Steven E. Dale and includes a judgment in the amount of $4,261,876. Charges against Ari Balabanian and Data Business Solutions were dismissed by the court at the FTC’s request. NOTE: Stipulated orders are for settlement purposes only and do not necessarily constitute an admission by the defendants of a law violation. Stipulated orders have the full force of law when signed by the judge. The Federal Trade Commission works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm .

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FTC Halts Cross Border Domain Name Registration and SEO Fees Scam

NEW FTC Rule to Protect Consumers in Credit Card Debt

July 30th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Amendments to Telemarketing Sales Rule Prohibiting Debt Relief Companies From Collecting Advance Fees Will Take Effect in October 2010 Starting on October 27, 2010, for-profit companies that sell debt relief services over the telephone may no longer charge a fee before they settle or reduce a customer’s credit card or other unsecured debt. “At the FTC we strive every day to make sure America’s middle class families get straight deals for their dollars,” Chairman Jon Leibowitz said. “This rule will stop companies who offer consumers false promises of reducing credit card debts by half or more in exchange for large, up-front fees. Too many of these companies pick the last dollar out of consumers’ pockets – and far from leaving them better off, push them deeper into debt, even bankruptcy.” Three other Telemarketing Sales Rule provisions to take effect on September 27, 2010, will: require debt relief companies to make specific disclosures to consumers; prohibit them from making misrepresentations; an extend the Telemarketing Sales Rule to cover calls consumers make to these firms in response to debt relief advertising. The Final Rule covers telemarketers of for-profit debt relief services, including credit counseling, debt settlement, and debt negotiation services. The Final Rule does not cover nonprofit firms, but does cover companies that falsely claim nonprofit status. Over the past decade, the FTC and state enforcers have brought a combined 259 cases to stop deceptive and abusive practices by debt relief providers that have targeted consumers in financial distress. Advance Fee Ban The Final Rule contains specific requirements for debt relief providers related to charging an advance fee before providing any services. It specifies that fees for debt relief services may not be collected until: the debt relief service successfully renegotiates, settles, reduces, or otherwise changes the terms of at least one of the consumer’s debts; there is a written settlement agreement, debt management plan, or other agreement between the consumer and the creditor, and the consumer has agreed to it; and the consumer has made at least one payment to the creditor as a result of the agreement negotiated by the debt relief provider. To ensure that debt relief providers do not front-load their fees if a consumer has enrolled multiple debts in one debt relief program, the Final Rule specifies how debt relief providers can collect their fee for each settled debt. First, the provider’s fee for a single debt must be in proportion to the total fee that would be charged if all of the debts had been settled. Alternatively, if the provider bases its fee on the percentage of what the consumer saves as result of using its services, the percentage charged must be the same for each of the consumer’s debts. Dedicated Account for Fees and Savings Another new provision of the Final Rule will allow debt relief companies to require that consumers set aside their fees and savings for payment to creditors in a “dedicated account.” However, providers may only require a dedicated account as long as five conditions are met: the dedicated account is maintained at an insured financial institution; the consumer owns the funds (including any interest accrued); the consumer can withdraw the funds at any time without penalty; the provider does not own or control or have any affiliation with the company administering the account; and the provider does not exchange any referral fees with the company administering the account. Disclosures and Prohibited Misrepresentations Under the Final Rule, providers will have to make several disclosures when telemarketing their services to consumers. Before the consumer signs up for any debt relief service, providers must disclose fundamental aspects of their services, including how long it will take for consumers to see results, how much it will cost, the negative consequences that could result from using debt relief services, and key information about dedicated accounts if they choose to require them. The Final Rule also prohibits misrepresentations about any debt relief service, including success rates and whether the provider is a nonprofit entity. The FTC’s Statement of Basis and Purpose, which accompanies the Final Rule, provides extensive guidance about the evidence providers must have to make advertising claims commonly used in selling debt relief services. The Rulemaking Process In August 2009, the FTC published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule and requesting public comments. Over 300 commenters, representing a wide variety of stakeholders, submitted comments in response. The Commission also held a public forum on the proposed amendments on November 4, 2009. The FTC developed the Final Rule based on the public comments, the record of the public forum and the FTC’s September 2008 Workshop on the debt settlement industry, recent testimony before Congress, and law enforcement actions brought by the Commission and the states. Information for Businesses Today, the FTC staff issued a compliance guide to help businesses comply with the new debt relief rules. The compliance guide describes the key changes to the Telemarketing Sales Rule affecting debt relief services, helps businesses determine if they are covered by the new rules, details information that covered entities must disclose to customers, and discusses how fees may now be collected. It can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/marketing/bus72.pdf on the agency’s website and is linked to this press release. The FTC vote approving publication of the Federal Register notice was 4-1, with Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch voting no. The notice will be published in the Federal Register shortly, and is available now on the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/07/R411001finalrule.pdf . The provisions of the Final Rule will take effect on September 27, with the exception of the advance fee ban provision, which will take effect on October 27. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm .

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NEW FTC Rule to Protect Consumers in Credit Card Debt

Marketers of "Rapid Debt Reduction" Program To Pay $1.5 Million for Falsely Claiming They Could Lower Consumers’ Interest Rates

July 23rd, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud. No Comments.

Defendants Permanently Banned from Marketing Debt Relief Services The marketers of a “Rapid Debt Reduction” program who promised to lower interest rates on credit cards – for an up-front fee of up to $899 – have settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they misled consumers. Under a court order settling the FTC’s case, the pitchmen have been banned from marketing debt-relief services and have agreed to pay $1.5 million that will be used to refund defrauded consumers. Filed as part of the “Operation Short Charge” law enforcement sweep, the FTC’s complaint alleged that Mutual Consolidated Savings (MCS) and its affiliates and principals used cold calls, pre-recorded “robocalls,” and the Internet to push a phony “Rapid Debt Reduction” program to consumers in the United States and Canada. The defendants convinced consumers to pay $690 to $899 for the program, claiming they would reduce credit card interest rates, save consumers thousands of dollars, and enable them to pay off their debt three to five times faster than they could under their current payment schedule. The FTC also alleged that the defendants failed to honor their money-back guarantee. In addition, according to the FTC, the MCS defendants called consumers whose telephone numbers were on the Do Not Call Registry, failed to honor consumers’ requests that they not be called again, transmitted fake Caller ID information, failed to identify themselves during telephone pitches, and made illegal robocalls. The order settling the FTC’s charges bans the defendants from working in the debt relief industry and prohibits them from misleading consumers or helping anyone else mislead consumers about any material facts regarding goods or services they are selling. In addition, they must comply with the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, including not calling consumers on the Do Not Call Registry. The settlement order also requires the defendants to pay approximately $1.5 million – all of their available assets – that will be distributed to injured customers in the United States and Canada. If they misrepresented their financial condition, the defendants will have to pay the full amount of the alleged consumer injury, $22.5 million. The FTC vote approving the complaint and proposed settlement order was 5-0. The settlement order was filed on June 14, 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma and signed by the judge on July 19, 2010. It settles the FTC’s charges against MCS Programs, LLC; United Savings Center, Inc.; and USC Programs, LLC; and their principals, Paul Morris Thompson and Miranda Lynn Cavender. Law Enforcement Coordination In investigating and bringing its case against Mutual Consolidated Savings, the FTC received assistance from the Canadian Competition Bureau. Both the Competition Bureau and the FTC are members of the Vancouver Strategic Alliance, a law enforcement task force located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In carrying out the terms of the court order in Mutual Consolidated Savings, the FTC received assistance from the Police Department of Tacoma, Washington. NOTE: Stipulated final orders are for settlement purposes only and do not constitute an admission by the defendant of a law violation. Stipulated orders have the force of law when signed by the judge. Copies of the complaint and final order are available from the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm .

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Marketers of "Rapid Debt Reduction" Program To Pay $1.5 Million for Falsely Claiming They Could Lower Consumers’ Interest Rates

Dietary Supplement Maker to Pay $5.5 Million to Settle FTC False Advertising Charges

July 15th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

As part of its ongoing efforts to stop bogus health claims, the Federal Trade Commission is requiring a major marketer of dietary supplements to pay $5.5 million to settle charges that it falsely advertised that its supplements could help consumers lose weight and treat or prevent colds and other illnesses. The $5.5 million will be used for refunds to consumers who purchased Accelis, nanoSLIM, and any Cold MD, Germ MD, and Allergy MD product.

Unemployed Need Not Apply

July 5th, 2010. Published under Unemployment. No Comments.

Imagine it for a second that you are sitting at home frantically searching the Internet for job listings as your unemployment is running out, and your pantry is growing more and more bare. Finally you find a listing that seems like something you qualify for, only to see these words at the bottom of the listing….”Unemployed candidates will not be considered”. It seems crazy, that during a recession with millions unemployed that none of them would be considered for a job, but apparently its happening all over the country. Alyona talks to Norm Elrod, the author of the blog Jobless And Less.

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Unemployed Need Not Apply

Georgia’s JAK Productions Inc to Pay $300,000 for Abandoning Millions of Telemarketing Calls

June 30th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Court Halts International Scheme Responsible For More Than $10 Million In Unauthorized Charges On Consumers’ Credit and Debit Cards

June 28th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has halted an elaborate international scheme that used identity theft to place more than $10 million in bogus charges on consumers’ credit and debit cards, pending a trial. More than a million consumers were hit with one-time charges of $10 or less, and their payments were routed through dummy corporations in the United States to bank accounts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The defendants, using phony company names resembling real companies, and information taken from identity theft victims in the United States, opened more than 100 merchant accounts with companies that process charges to consumers’ credit and debit card accounts, according to the FTC complaint. The FTC believes the defendants may have run credit checks on the identity theft victims first, to be sure they were creditworthy. The defendants also cloaked each fake merchant with a virtual office address near a real merchant’s location, a phone number, a home phone number for the “owner,” a Web site pretending to sell products, a toll-free number consumers could call, and a real company’s tax number found on the Internet. The FTC alleged that with spam e-mail, the defendants recruited at least 14 “money mules” – people in the United States they paid to form 16 dummy corporations, open associated bank accounts to receive the card payments, and transfer the money overseas. The defendants used debit cards linked to these bank accounts to set up telephone service, virtual addresses, and Web sites that helped deceive the card processors, according to the complaint. The “money mules” responded to spam e-mail pretending to seek a U.S. finance manager for an international financial services company. The FTC has not determined how the defendants obtained the stolen identities or consumers’ credit and debit account numbers. Consumers’ payments were sent to bank accounts in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan. None of the consumers affected by the scam had contact with any of the defendants. Most consumers either didn’t notice the charges on their bills or didn’t seek chargebacks because of the small amounts – charges ranged from 20 cents to $10. Consumers who called the toll-free numbers that appeared on their bills either found them disconnected or heard recorded messages instructing them to leave a message, but no calls were returned. The defendants are the 16 sham companies – API Trade LLC, ARA Auto Parts Trading LLC, Bend Transfer Services LLC, B-Texas European LLC, CBTC LLC, CMG Global LLC, Confident Incorporation, HDPL Trade LLC, Hometown Homebuyers LLC, IAS Group LLC, IHC Trade LLC, MZ Services LLC, New World Enterprizes LLC, Parts Imports LLC, SMI Imports LLC, SVT Services LLC – and one or more persons who are unknown to the agency at this time. The FTC charged them with making unauthorized charges to consumers’ credit cards in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act. The court froze the defendants’ assets and ordered them to stop operating, pending final resolution of the case. The Commission vote to file the complaint was 4-0. The preliminary injunction order was entered by Judge Ronald A. Guzman in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law. The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics .

Court Halts Massive Telemarketing Robocall Operation

June 10th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

The Federal Trade Commission’s work to stop deceptive pre-recorded “robocalls” took another step forward today as a federal court halted a major telemarketing operation that made millions of illegal phone calls pitching worthless extended auto warranties and credit card interest rate-reduction programs. At the request of the FTC, a federal court judge in Chicago has entered an order stopping the operation’s calls, temporarily freezing its assets, and appointing a receiver to take control of the operation. “Telemarketers need to understand that blasting consumers with ‘robocall’ pitches is no longer legal,” said FTC Midwest Region Director C. Steven Baker. “Unless you have someone’s consent up-front and in writing to receive a robocall, just don’t do it. The rules could not be simpler than that, and we will go after telemarketers who ignore them.” According to the FTC, SBN Peripherals, Inc., based near Los Angeles, allegedly made more than 370 million calls to consumers nationwide in the past year alone, prompting tens of thousands of complaints to the agency. One telephone service provider told the FTC that during a single day in April 2009 the defendants sent 2.4 million calls to consumers – more than 27 calls per second. The FTC charges the robocalls violated the agency’s Do Not Call Registry Rule. To make it difficult for consumers to identify the caller, the FTC alleges that SBN’s robocalls often transmitted caller ID information vaguely identifying the caller as “SALES DEPT” and displaying telephone numbers registered to an offshore company it controlled called Asia Pacific Telecom. Asia Pacific, a foreign shell company for SBN, made many of the calls and lists its addresses in locations as disparate as the Northern Mariana Islands, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands, the FTC’s complaint alleges. According to the FTC, three of Asia Pacific’s telemarketing numbers accounted for more than 25,000 consumer complaints to the agency in the past year. Two of those telephone numbers – 301-882-9986 and 757-990-8981 – generated more complaints to the FTC during the past year than any other robocall number. Many of the calls were made to cell phones, sticking consumers with additional charges. The operation allegedly used a technology known as “voice broadcasting” to deliver its fraudulent pitches. The FTC charges that the recordings falsely claimed that the caller had urgent information about the consumer’s auto warranty or credit card interest rate. Consumers who pressed “1” for more information were transferred to live telemarketers at a variety of different locations, who used fraudulent practices to sell inferior extended auto service contracts or worthless debt-reduction services. The company’s calls may be familiar to consumers who have answered the phone, only to be greeted by a recording from “Stacey at Account Holder Services” or “Rachel at Cardholder Services” pitching a purported service to lower their credit card interest rate. The FTC’s complaint alleges that defendants violated the FTC’s telemarketing rules by: using robocalls to contact consumers. Under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, since September 1, 2009, nearly all such pre-recorded calls have been illegal, unless the seller first obtains the consumer’s written permission; calling consumers whose telephone numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry; “abandoning” pre-recorded calls (not connecting to a live person when a consumer answers) at a higher rate than permitted under law (three percent of all calls made); and repeatedly calling consumers who asked to be put on their company-specific do-not-call list. The FTC alleges SBN delivered robocalls on behalf of at least seven entities that the agency or state attorneys general previously sued for engaging in fraudulent sales practices. SBN also allegedly made illegal “extended auto warranty robocalls” on behalf of another company owned by Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian, a repeat telemarketing offender against whom the FTC obtained a new court order last week (see press release at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/06/dolcegroup.shtm ). In addition to the temporary restraining order and asset freeze announced today, the FTC is seeking a court order permanently barring the allegedly illegal conduct and will seek consumer redress as appropriate. The Commission vote approving the complaint was 5-0. It was filed under seal on May 25, 2010 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The court issued a temporary restraining order against the defendants on May 26, 2010. The FTC filed the complaint announced today against Asia Pacific Telecom, Inc., doing business as (d/b/a) Asia Pacific Networks; Repo B.V.; SBN Peripherals, Inc., d/b/a SBN Dials; Johan Hendrik Smit Duyzentkunst; and Janneke Bakker-Smit Duyzentkunst. The Commission would like to acknowledge the assistance that telecommunications carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless provided in the investigation of the case. The FTC reminds consumers that if they get a robocall they did not authorize, they can file a complaint by going to: www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222. The FTC’s Do Not Call Registry for telemarketers accepts both land lines and cell phone numbers. NOTE: The Commission issues a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The issuance of a complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have violated the law. Copies of the complaint are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm .

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Court Halts Massive Telemarketing Robocall Operation

Contact 2: Ebay Scam – FOX2now.com

June 2nd, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Contact 2: Ebay Scam FOX2now.com GLEN CARBON , IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com) – A Glen Carbon Illinois man learns buying on the internet can be risky business. …

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Contact 2: Ebay Scam – FOX2now.com

Local man is victim of Internet scam – Belleville News Democrat

May 31st, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Local man is victim of Internet scam Belleville News Democrat The 57-year-old Glen Carbon man thought he was getting a deal when he found and bought a Bobcat skid loader for what he thought …

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Local man is victim of Internet scam – Belleville News Democrat

Glen Carbon man loses $10000 in eBay scam – Alton Telegraph

May 27th, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

Glen Carbon man loses $10000 in eBay scam Alton Telegraph Three months after a Glen Carbon man lost nearly $10000 in an Internet scam , he is warning others to be cautious when buying on the auction website eBay. …

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Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks?

May 26th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

When you think of attacks on your computer you probably think of the attacks coming from intruders on the outside of your network. But, unless you are on a home network, then there are plenty of forces inside of your corporate network that would love to take it down. The person who tries to take it down may have several issues that are causing this behavior – They may be doing it for the money, meaning someone on the outside is paying them to cause damage to your internal network. Alternatively, they can be upset about the way that they were treated recently. When someone feels that they were wronged, sometimes they can take these types of hostile feelings to the extreme and attempt to retaliate against the company. This may lead them to doing something as boneheaded as trying to take down the company’s network. Even if they are not an advanced black hat hacker, they can find some of the tools that they will need to accomplish this over the internet – you do not need to be a genius hacker to be able to take down a network from the inside – all you need is that one right tool. Does Windows 7 Offer Sufficient Protection In This Area? One of the tools that an attacker from the inside would need is something that would allow them to get your password and username. The username may be a little easier to get than the password but, with the right software tool, the password is not that hard either. An attack that is easy for just the average person to pull off is called a brute force attack . Unfortunately, even though Windows 7 has prepared for a lot of attacks against its software, it is still susceptible to a brute force attack. A brute force attack is when a piece of software just starts to throw out random information in the hopes that it can find the password that an administrator has used to secure their system. It attempts to query the system over and over again until it guesses the right information. Once it does, it then saves the information and uses it at another time. There are different variations of a brute force, such as a dictionary attack , but no matter the variation it can prove to be a very effective attack for someone that is new to hacking. If you have been on the underground scene for a while then you would know that there are quicker ways to get into someone’s computer other than a brute force attack. A brute force attack would be the last option for someone who has had a lot of experience. Microsoft has increased its security a great deal with Windows 7 but a brute force attack may be hard for even them to stop. There are certainly ways to block it, but all a person needs is time and the right time pattern and then they can just make the attempts to guess the password look more natural. Try to make sure that your computer has limited access at work – you do not want anyone trying this with your workstation. Read more on Windows 7 Security Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks? is a post from: Security FAQs

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Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks?

BBB Warns Buyers to Beware of Online Predators – St. Louis Globe-Democrat

May 25th, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.

BBB Warns Buyers to Beware of Online Predators St. Louis Globe-Democrat Three months after a Glen Carbon , Ill., man lost nearly $10000 in an Internet scam , he is warning others to be extremely cautious when buying on eBay, … and more

How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head?

May 24th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The world of banking online is a scary place. People hear all of the news on television about the many break-ins that happen so, even though they may still do it, they are nervous about putting their numbers onto the site. Many of these same people have no such apprehension when they use an ATM machine outside. They feel no pressure that they are going to be robbed or that it is even dangerous to use but the fact is that there are more and more attacks being leveled at ATMs all of the time. ATM Rootkits The bad guys have found out that they are not as secured as people think, so they have found ways to bypass the security. But for the average person there is even more disturbing news that is coming out about the safety of these machines – there are hackers that have figured out a way to place a Rootkit inside of an ATM machine . This is bad news for everybody. So far this attack is not in the wild and it was discovered by security researchers. Even though it was only recently discovered it doesn’t mean that bad guys won’t have it soon – Black hat hackers are always trying to find new and creative ways to exploit anything that will make them money – so it is likely only a matter of time before they figure out how to do this as well. Some people reading this story may have heard of a Rootkit but they do not realize how dangerous it really is. A Rootkit allows a program to sit on a computer and not be able to be detected by the operating system or other software programs that normally detect viruses. It takes a special software program to be able to detect a Rootkit so for someone to be able to install a Rootkit inside of an ATM machine is a big deal. The rootkit could hide inside of it, functioning in a way that would allow the program to be able to capture the banking information of the people who are using the ATM machine. It can then take that information and send it to a server that will store it. Since the infection is a Rootkit it may be able to sit there for months at a time before anyone was able to discover it. With that much time to sit there and gather information, it could possibly gather hundreds of thousands of banking credentials. That is a lot of people that can be put at risk. Luckily for us, the technology that goes into being able to detect a Rootkit has improved over the years – we are now able to detect them better than we were ever able to before. Since we know that an ATM machine is now able to be attacked we can use this knowledge to come up with a solution before there is even a major problem. The new ATM rootkit can cause major problems to the banking industry if not handled properly. It also serves as a timely reminder that computer security applies to the real world too , not only the internet. It is a good thing that we have the technology to combat this problem early on. How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head? is a post from: Security FAQs

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How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head?

How Do The Bad Guys Use BitTorrent To Spread Their Malware?

May 23rd, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

If you are a person that is on the internet a lot then there is a good chance that you have heard of a technology called BitTorrent . You might not know what it does exactly but you have probably seen the name on some of the news sites that you visit. It has been a very controversial technology for a while now and, while its notoriety has been spreading, the software has been becoming ever more popular. While the technology itself, like all other technology, can be used for good and bad purposes by the average user, it is all of the sudden becoming a popular tool in the malware community. In the following article I will tell you what the technology does and why it is being used to spread malware around to unsuspecting computer users. BitTorrent And File Sharing Bittorrent is the name of the software and the protocol that allows you to share files quickly over the internet. Back in the day, you had to us a normal HTTP format to share files. The files would go from one location straight to the next place. With BitTorrent the file is split up and it is intended to be shared by a group of people. This way the file does not have to be downloaded completely by one person for him to share it with another person – they will just get the piece that he downloaded from someone else. There can be one or more seeders (people who have the original file) and a bunch of other people get the pieces from them. They get it piece by piece instead of all at the same time. With this system the file transfer goes quicker and everyone is able to get the most out of the bandwidth that is available. This technology is used for both legal and illegal file sharing which is the exact reason why it has been on the news lately. Spreading Malware Like any other technology, since it is becoming so popular, the bad guys are starting to use it more and more to deliver their malware. There have always been bad guys on the BitTorrent circuit but now there are more than ever. With certain attacks, they change the name of the files so that it confuses you and you download the wrong thing. They also hide the malware in illegally obtained software in the form of keygens or the executable itself. There have even been cases where they hide the malware in .pdf files . There are a lot of web sites that use BitTorrent to share their legal files so the technology is not going away anytime soon. This means that if you want to use the technology to get a file that you want you are going to have to take some precautions. There are certain precautions that you can take and they are the same precautions that you should employ any other time you download an unknown file from the internet. You must have an updated antivirus scanner and run it over everything that you download from BitTorrent sites – I would guess that maybe 99% of the items will come up clean but it is that other 1% that you have to worry about. If you scan everything that you download, you should be able to stop any problem before it is too late How Do The Bad Guys Use BitTorrent To Spread Their Malware? is a post from: Security FAQs

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How Do The Bad Guys Use BitTorrent To Spread Their Malware?

How Are My Actions On The Internet Being Tracked?

May 22nd, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

Make no mistake about it, when you surf the web, you are constantly being tracked. There are a lot of web sites out there that want to get as much as information about you as possible so they place little pieces of software called cookies into your browser to see what sites you are going to. But some web sites take it even beyond that. There are some businesses that are willing to skirt the law just to be able to track what you are doing online. There is a thin line between what the law allows you snoop on and what it doesn’t. Some business web sites either cross the line or get very close to it. To make sure you are not a victim to an overzealous business, I will show you what information the web sites are able to get just from your browser alone. Tracking Via IP Address The first thing that you should know about when you are surfing the web is a thing called an IP address. You may have heard that term plenty of times but you might not be sure what it means. An IP address is a group of numbers that identify your computer on a web site. A web site is able to tell what part of the world you are from through your IP address and can even narrow it down to what section of which city you are in. Every single thing that is connected to the web has an IP address – it is how you are able to connect to the different servers and web sites that you go to. You don’t see the actual numbers because it sits behind something that is called a DNS . That is a program that takes the numbers of the IP address and transfers it to a name. That name is what you type into the browser to get to the site that you want to visit. So the IP address is the first way that they are able to track your browser. Tracking Via Adware The second most common way to track you whenever you use your browser is to install a program that is known as adware. This type of program will see which web sites that you are visiting and will then serve adverts that are based on the content of those web sites. You may think that it is the web site that is sending you the pop up, but in reality it is the program that is installed on your computer. These programs are not only seeing the web sites that you are visiting, and sending ads that go along with it, they are also sending that data to a remote server and tracking what you are doing. The combination of the two allows them to make a lot of money off of you. This is especially true if you are not aware of where the ads are coming from. Tracking Via Cookies And the last way that they will track you is by what I mentioned before and that is a cookie in your system. Almost every web site uses cookie technology. The problem is that some web sites abuse the ability to leave a cookie in someone’s computer. These are the different ways that companies are able to track you when you use a web browser. Make sure that you always remember what they are. How Are My Actions On The Internet Being Tracked? is a post from: Security FAQs

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How Are My Actions On The Internet Being Tracked?

Why The Safest Bet Is To Assume You Have No Privacy On Social Networks

May 21st, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

There has been a movement going with a lot of leaders in the tech community complaining about the privacy issues that come along when you sign up for Facebook. They are really not happy about how fast and loose they believe Facebook has been with their privacy policy . With most web sites, when you hit that checkmark that says that you understood their privacy policy, you usually never hear from it again. With Facebook, they have made several big policy changes in the past couple of years. Each time they have made a change, it has given the end user less and less privacy when it comes to the data that they post on the Facebook site. The latest changes will allow Facebook to give away a huge portion of your data to third party companies. This may be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Are You Naive Enough To Believe In Social Network Privacy? The truth is, that even though Facebook has some horrible policies when it comes to users privacy, you should not expect that much privacy on any social network anyway. For most social networks, whenever you first sign up, most of their privacy policies tell you in a nutshell that they can do almost anything that they want with the data that you post. Of course they are not supposed to expose data that you thought was going to be private such as messages sent back and forth through what is known as a “pm” or private message – that is a feature that most people and companies expect to be private. But, other than that, you cannot have any reasonable expectations of privacy . This is why it is always good to be careful in what you post. When you are on any of these social media network web sites you should only post items if you do not care who sees it as you must automatically assume that more people that are outside of your friends list will someday see the post because there is always a chance that it might be seen by everyone. Whether this happens by accident, or by a change in the policy of the web site that you are on, your data will eventually be exposed. If you are not using email or an IM service, when it comes to the social portion of the internet, privacy is a hard thing to keep. This is why you should really think hard before you post an item onto the web. These days a lot of employers are looking to put together a past history on you when you apply for a job. They do that a lot of the times by checking the internet. When they do check the internet they will no doubt come across your social media online profiles. That is why you should remember that if you think that a post can harm your prospects of getting a job, then there is a good chance that you should not post it. Remember, the last thing that you should expect on a social media web site is privacy . Why The Safest Bet Is To Assume You Have No Privacy On Social Networks is a post from: Security FAQs

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Notorious Rogue Internet Service Provider Permanently Shut Down

May 20th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

3FN Service Specialized in Hosting Spam-Spewing Botnets, Phishing Websites, Child Pornography, and Other Illegal, Malicious Web Content At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a district court judge has permanently shut down a rogue Internet Service Provider that recruited, hosted, and actively participated in the distribution of spam, spyware, child pornography, and other malicious and illegal content. The ISP’s computer servers and other assets have been seized and will be sold by a court-appointed receiver, and the operation has been ordered to turn over $1.08 million in ill-gotten gains to the FTC. In June 2009, the FTC charged that 3FN, which does business under a variety of names, actively recruited and colluded with criminals to distribute harmful electronic content including spyware, viruses, trojan horses, phishing schemes, botnet command-and-control servers, and pornography featuring children, violence, bestiality, and incest. The FTC alleged that the defendant advertised its services in the darkest corners of the Internet, including a chat room for spammers. The FTC complaint alleged that 3FN actively shielded its criminal clientele by either ignoring take-down requests issued by the online security community, or shifting its criminal elements to other Internet protocol addresses it controlled to evade detection. The FTC also alleged that 3FN deployed and operated botnets – large networks of computers that have been compromised and enslaved by the originator of the botnet, known as a “bot herder.” Botnets can be used for a variety of illicit purposes, including sending spam and launching denial-of- service attacks. According to the FTC, the defendant recruited bot herders and hosted the command-and-control servers – the computers that relay commands from the bot herders to the compromised computers known as “zombie drones.” Transcripts of instant-message logs filed with the district court show the defendants’ senior employees discussing the configuration of botnets with bot herders. And, in filings with the district court, the FTC alleged that more than 4,500 malicious software programs were controlled by command-and-control servers hosted by 3FN. This malware included programs capable of keystroke logging, password stealing, and data theft, programs with hidden backdoor remote control activity, and programs involved in spam distribution. The FTC charged that 3FN’s distribution of illegal, malicious, and harmful content and deployment of botnets that compromised thousands of computers, harmed consumers and was an unfair practice, in violation of federal law. On June 15, 2009 the court issued a preliminary injunction to prohibit 3FN’s illegal activities and require its upstream Internet providers and data centers to stop providing services to 3FN. The court has now ordered a permanent bar on the illegal activities of 3FN and its agents and has appointed a receiver and instructed him to liquidate the operation’s assets. The defendants named in the FTC’s complaint are Pricewert LLC, also doing business as 3FN.net, Triple Fiber Network, APS Telecom, APX Telecom, APS Communications, and APS Communication. This case was brought with the invaluable assistance of NASA’s Office of Inspector General, Computer Crime Division; Gary Warner, Director of Research in Computer Forensics, University of Alabama at Birmingham; The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; The Shadowserver Foundation; Symantec Corporation; and The Spamhaus Project. The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics .

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The Importance of Internet Neutrality

May 19th, 2010. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

Large network companies and cable companies are trying to get their hands on the largest money load of them all; the internet. The internet is an exponentially expanding market that is only going to get bigger. We are seeing more and more internet based companies and less and less offline companies being created. There is

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Stop Broadcasting Your SSID To Improve Your Wireless Network Security

May 15th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

There are certain features that are put into our computers and the accompanying hardware that are there for the convenience of the average user. A lot of the time, however, these conveniences come at the cost of the safety and security of the device. This is the case when it comes to routers and their ability to be able to broadcast the name of the router over the air. I’m talking about the feature that allows a person that is looking for that particular router to be able to easily find it. For example, anyone that comes into your house with a laptop computer or any other wireless device that connects to the internet, can easily find your router. Unfortunately it also lets the bad guys, including your neighbors that like to leech the internet off of you, to know where your router connection is as well. Stop SSID To keep people off of your wireless connection, you can set the router to stop broadcasting your SSID. SSID stands for Service Set IDentifier and it is the name that you see when you search for networks to connect to. If you go to the admin panel of your router you will see that there is an option to turn it off. If you do this then you will be able to hide your router from anyone on the outside that is physically trying to connect to it. It might be a pain for anyone that visits you to try to connect to it but all you have to do is to let them know the name of the network. Hiding your router is easy enough but it is not the only thing that you want to do to keep people off of your network. You will want to set the encryption layer of your network as well. While not having the SSID broadcasting to your neighbors is very effective, there are still ways for people to find the network. So in case they do, you must secure yourself so that they are still not able to connect to your network even if they do find it. To even be more secured you might also want to allow only certain MAC addresses on your network as well. This will allow only certain computers to connect to the network, even though they know the proper keypass and were able to find the network despite the SSID being hidden. Not showing the SSID of the network is only the beginning when it comes to security measures for your network but is a good start and something that you should really think about. Read more about wireless network security . Stop Broadcasting Your SSID To Improve Your Wireless Network Security is a post from: Security FAQs

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What Do I Need To Know About Computer Data Recovery Software?

May 13th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

There are many reasons why you may want to keep data recovery software to hand. If you mess something up on your computer, and have some knowledge of what you are doing, then such software may give you the opportunity to recover some or all of your files without having to resort to the hassle and expense of employing a professional . Computer data recovery software may also offer an interesting side benefit in that it can recover files lost to fragmentation, thereby improving the speed of your machine. Typically, a single lost fragment of data is all that is necessary to recover a complete file or archive. Potential Problems In The Recovery Process There are several factors that can influence the process of data recovery. There are some factors that you won’t be able to control, but there are others that can be improved if you take the time to take care of the files on your computer system. In any case, owning a good data recovery software package nowadays is a must. Over time, data fragmentation occurs on most computer systems. There may be different fragments of a file, or files, scattered throughout your computer, possibly even on different hard drives. The more fragmented the data on your hard drive is, the more difficult the recovery process will be. This is one reason why it is good practice to regularly defragment your hard drive – its a simple enough process, can often be run in the background, and can be immensely valuable when things go wrong. If you search the internet you will find many examples of disk defragmenting software, though you need to research them as not all are created equal. That said, most data recovery programs have such functionality included anyway. The Fragmentation Process Whenever your system uses related applications or programs the installed operating system will access and load certain pieces of your data to use. When you are finished with that data it will be written back onto your hard drive. The operating system will look for space on your hard drive to write that data too but as your disk fills up those spaces may not necessarily be next to each other on the platter. This means that the data will be written to different areas of the physical disk, leading to fragmentation. Computer data recovery software can help avoid this. There are two main reasons for fragmentation to occur – Through installing and deleting new programs By copying and deleting other files If this is something you do on a frequent basis then you will want to defragment your hard drive at least once a month. If you don’t, big files will be saved across multiple positions on your hard drive, increasing the risk of data loss and quite possibly slowing your system down. Once again, computer data recovery software can improve this problem. What Do I Need To Know About Computer Data Recovery Software? is a post from: Security FAQs

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Learn Digital Photography .. Can You Make Money From Your Photography

May 13th, 2010. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.

By trade I’m a web developer and my wife is a graphic designer. Together we began selling our photographs through the internet over two years ago as a way to earn a little extra cash from something we

How Can I Choose A Completely Safe BitTorrent Client?

May 7th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

Even though the standard has been around for almost nine years, the world of BitTorrents is still a mysterious thing to a lot of people. When it comes to downloading files off of the internet, most people still use the traditional way of going to a web site and just downloading the file like they would normally do. Some people who may be a little more technically inclined may use one of the file sharing services like Kazaa to download files off of the net. But if you are a person that really knows computers then there are two ways that you are going to go – either use the Usenet service that has been around for ages or use bittorrent. Going Underground Even though bittorrent still remains somewhat an underground phenomenon, it is still popular enough that people make many versions of the client. Since the bittorrent client is an open protocol, anyone who feels like it can make their own version of it and can build it and use it themselves. Software and protocols being open like this is usually a good thing but there have been some bad guys that have tried to take advantage of this. They have created their own version of a bittorrent client and use it to spread malware to unsuspecting users’ computers. The tainted software does this by either pretending to be a real client when it isn’t, or it is a real client but it sends unauthorized downloads to your computer. Either way, both of these tricks can give a new user to bittorrent a bad impression about the software and the overall community itself. So, to make sure that you download a client that is safe, here is what you should do – The first thing that you can do to make sure that your client is safe is to go to a site that is well known and retrieve the client from there. If you look at a web site such as download.com or any other like that, you will find dozens of bittorrent clients waiting to be downloaded. This way you know the software is safe and has been tested. Peer Recommendations Another thing that you can do is to go and visit some forums to see what clients they are using. Ask the people for a link and you will surely be able to come up with a decent client to use. Once you start trying to find out what client you want to use, you will hear certain names that come up over and over again. Try a couple of these clients and see which one that you like the best. When a new person is entering the world of downloading torrents there is a steep learning curve to get past. Learning how to pick a safe client to use should not be on that list. Once you have a client remember also that there are some dangers inherent in downloading torrents . How Can I Choose A Completely Safe BitTorrent Client? is a post from: Security FAQs

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How Can I Protect My Gmail Account?

May 2nd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

For most people, even though it is still an older technology, email is still the number one way that they do business in the world of the internet. They are used to the ability of checking the account whenever they want and they still might not be comfortable with the real time aspects of most newer communication applications that are out there. Sure, email may be a slower way to communicate than some of the newer applications, but it is still one of the most effective ways to get your message across. Email Accounts Are Appealing To Black Hat Hackers But… black hat hackers know that a lot of people still use email as their main form of communication, so they have focused their latest attacks in getting past this road block. In particular they have focused on getting past the security barriers that are layed down by Google. Google’s Gmail service is one of the most popular email services out there and because of that, it has become a target. When you are dealing with Gmail or any other email accounts, you have to be careful who can gain access to it. There are a couple of steps that you can take to make sure that no one but you is able to access the account. Do not give the log in information to anyone else, or most of these techniques will be rendered moot. The first thing that you want to do before you try to protect your password, is to make sure that you have your reset password details set. In case you are hacked, you can let Google know that you are the real owner by answering a few questions. If you are not able to answer these questions, or if they are not set, then you will not be able to access the account. So make sure that you have this feature set. Password Security Is Paramount After that is done, make sure that you have a password that will not be easy to guess . When creating the password, use symbols, numbers, and Capitalized letters. Also make sure that the word is not a dictionary word. Using all of these precautions, you will be able to keep the attacker from guessing the password. Another thing that you should do, is to access GMail from as few locations as possible. Do not access your account from a public computer if possible. Some people forget to log out when they do this regularly and people are able to get in and see your information. When you log into Gmail, if anything seems off, you can check the IP address of whoever logged in last. At the bottom of the page, Google has set up a feature that is called “Last Known Activity”. You can check this to see if anyone besides you has access your account. To check your IP, go to WhatsmyIP.com and compare it to the ones that are listed on Google. Keep in mind that if you logged in from a remote place, such as work, it will give a different address. Or if you have an ISP that uses dynamic IP addresses, it will not be as effective as well. These are a couple of ways that you can protect your email . Make sure that you use them. How Can I Protect My Gmail Account? is a post from: Security FAQs

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Introduction of the Ant Tribe

April 16th, 2010. Published under Economic News. No Comments.

Nowadays, lots of words like “ant tribe”, “dwelling narrowness” are famous on the internet and the daily expression which used to describe people who born in the late of 1980s and graduated recently. What is the common ground between ant and the college students born in the late of 1980s? We will have a look at

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Watch Out For Counterfeit Software Scams

March 2nd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Fraudsters are always looking to make money on the internet and they use a number of different schemes to do just that. One way in which they achieve their nefarious means is through distributing counterfeit software . Typically, these fraudsters will open up online stores from which to sell their warez. They will then advertise the popular software products of the day at a huge discount, often from 50% or even much more. To lend an air of credibility to the deals that they are offering they will also falsely claim that they are authorised sellers for the software on their sites. Should you happen to buy counterfeit software from such a seller it is likely that you will end up extremely disappointed and out of pocket as the programs will most likely come with fraudulent serial keys. Such keys, if not already blocked by the software manufacturer at the time of your purchase, will likely prove to be useless in a short period of time. How Do I Protect Myself From Counterfeit Software Scams? As ever, commonsense is the key here. If a product is priced at a ridiculously low level then alarm bells should ring loudly in your head. Also, you should also be very wary of buying anything from websites you know nothing about. In the case of software, you can always contact the producer of the software you are interested in to check whether the website you’ve seen is indeed an authorised seller of said product. Watch Out For Counterfeit Software Scams is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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Federal Trade Commission Issues Report of 2009 Top Consumer Complaints – Debt Collection #2

February 24th, 2010. Published under Business Scams, Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

What bothers me the most is that debt collection complaints ranks number 2, the Federal Trade Commission received 119,549 complaints and only a handful of enforcement actions in 2009. As far as I am concerned the Federal Trade Commission is as useless as “tits on a boar hog” in regards to enforcing the FDCPA and FCRA. Congress needs to light a fire under the FTC or vote the new consumer protection agency into power. —- The Federal Trade Commission today released a report listing top complaints consumers filed with the agency in 2009. It shows that while identity theft remains the top complaint category, identity theft complaints declined 5 percentage points from 2008. The FTC is releasing a new animated video showing how people can file a complaint, and offers examples of what complaints the FTC handles. To watch the video, visit http://ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint.shtm (also available in Spanish at http://ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint_es.shtm ). The report breaks out complaint data on a state-by-state basis and also contains data about the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest per capita incidence of fraud and other complaints. In addition, the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest incidence of identity theft are noted. The top complaints were: Rank | Category

Why You Should Beware Of Dance Studio Scams

February 15th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

Dancing can either be a fun pastime or, for some gifted people, a great career opportunity. Dance studios can cater to both types of dancer, though they tend to be aimed more at those who are looking to have fun and socialise rather than pursue a career. Students can learn new techniques and have fun at a dance studio but they should, perhaps, be a little wary when signing up.. Dance studios generate large amounts of money for those who run them and so, just as with most types of business, scam artists become involved in a small number of them. HOW DANCING STUDIO SCAMS ARE COMMITTED Dance studios don’t tend to allow students to come and go as they please, preferring to organise agreements for minimum periods instead. Clients will be signed up for a certain amount of time, typically a year or more, during which will they be contractually obligated to continue paying fees. Dance studios that are looking to earn as much as they can from their clients then find ways of using those contracts, including adding terms and conditions that compel their students to make purchases of training materials or equipment solely through them or an agent of their choice (who will undoubtedly be giving them a nice kickback) . Additionally, such contracts may also compel clients into paying additional fees too, such as a contribution towards the cost of the venue, or for extra training sessions. Funnily enough, a lot of these ‘extras’ will either be unwanted or will go unused. HOW TO AVOID DANCING STUDIO SCAMS As with everything in life, common sense is key. Before joining a dance studio be sure to check them out and ask questions. Speak to people who are already members as well as searching for the studio on the internet. Whilst you shouldn’t believe everything you read it will be worth investigating any complaints you see or hear. Here are some ideas of the types of question you should be asking before joining a dance studio – What is the cost per dancing lesson? Will there be a need to pay for extra materials or lessons? What are the total costs of the contract? Are there any advance payments or deposits required? Will there be monthly or annual fee increases during the term of the contract? How many lessons you are paying for, when are they held and how long do they last? Can you cancel early and what would be the cost of doing so? Is your payment protected if the studio goes out of business? Check whether the answers to those questions will be contained in the contract and, before signing the contract, it may be worth consulting with an attorney to verify that you are clear on what you are paying for and what rights you have. Enjoy your dancing! Why You Should Beware Of Dance Studio Scams is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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Oops, I Pressed *Esc

February 8th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.

The following email has been circulating around the internet in many guises for several years, but I still find it amusing. Dear Microsoft Technical Support, I am desperate for some help. I recently upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 and found that the new program began giving unexpected errors and also took up a lot of space and valuable resources. This wasn’t mentioned in the product brochure. In addition Wife 1.0 installs itself into all other programs and launches during system initialization where it monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Boys Night Out 2.5, and Cricket 5.3 no longer run and crash the system whenever selected. Attempting to operate Saturday Sports Bar 6.3 always fails but Saturday Shopping 7.1 runs instead. I cannot seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background whilst attempting to run any of my favorite applications. I am thinking about going back to Girlfriend7.0 but uninstall doesn’t work on this program. With regards, ……………….. THE REPLY: – This is a very common problem resulting from a basic misunderstanding. Many men upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 thinking that Wife 1.0 is merely a UTILITIES & ENTERTAINMENT program. Whereas Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM designed by its creator to run everything. You are unlikely to be able to purge Wife 1.0 and still convert back to Girlfriend 7.0 as Wife 1.0 is not designed to do this and it is impossible to uninstall, delete or purge the program files from the system once installed. Some people have tried to install Girlfriend 8.0 or wife 2.0 but have ended up with even more problems. (See in manual under alimony Support and Solicitors Fees). Having Wife 1.0 installed myself I recommend you keep it installed and deal with the difficulties as best you can. When any faults or problems occur, whatever you think has caused them, you must run the C: I APOLOGISE.bat program and avoid attempting to use the *Esc-key. It may be necessary to run C: I APOLOGISE.bat a number of times but hopefully eventually the operating system will return to normal. Wife 1.0 although a very high maintenance program can be very rewarding. To get the most out of it consider buying additional software such as Flowers 2.0 and Chocolates 5.0. Do not under any circumstances install Secretary36.24.36 (Short Skirt version) as this is not a supported application for Wife 1.0 and the system will almost certainly crash. Thank you for using the program!! I received the latest version this morning and it reminded me why I’m getting divorced.. I just couldn’t bring myself to run the I APOLGISE.bat program which she requested, even when she was the one in the wrong If you haven’t been able to work it out, the above is, of course, an email hoax and not a genuine reply from Microsoft. Oops, I Pressed *Esc is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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A Top 5 List Of The Most Common Security Hoaxes On The Internet

February 1st, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

Most people tend to ignore the email that may appear in their spam folders, with good reason of course. Sometime, if you are expecting an email and it hasn’t appeared yet, you may check the spam folder to make sure that it didn’t end up in there. Otherwise you will just most likely ignore it. Sometimes, the opposite might happen and a piece of spam email may appear in your normal inbox. The spammers will find a way to circumvent the filters. So now that it is in your normal email inbox, you will tend to trust it a little bit more. It will tell you a story that may come off as a serious piece of news or a rumor that is going around. It may sound credible or it might sound crazy, the main thing that the email wants you to do, is to click on the link. Once you click on that link, they have won the battle. Dangerous Places It’s not the email itself that is dangerous, its the place that it is sending you to. There are a lot of hoaxes that are discovered everyday floating around the Internet. These new stories are passed around, just to see what sticks. Along with the new ones, there are some that have been around forever. They are still used by hackers and spammers, because people will continuously click on them. They are worded just right, so that they do their job and make people click on to somewhere they do not want to be. They may think that by clicking the link, they are getting the rest of the story, but in reality, they are being sent somewhere that will damage their computer. Some of these hoaxes have been around for years. At this point, maybe even decades. No matter how many warnings are given, people still tend to click on them. As long as that happens, they will never stop. The Top 5 Email Hoaxes Here are some of the top five email hoaxes that are being spread around on the Internet – A.I.D.s virus – this hoax tells people that they have to be aware of email messages that state “OPEN: VERY COOL” or “aolfree.com”. It then ask you to warn everyone in your message book. Evocash – This hoax sends a false alert, saying that it contains a worm. It doesn’t but the page that it sends you to might. Just delete it. John Kennedy Jr – This is another one that tells you to watch out for a virus being spread by a screensaver called “John Kennedy Jr”. Big Brother – This is an old hoax, that comes around every year while the show big brother is on. This is another one to just delete and not pay attention to. PANDEMIC COMPUTER VIRUS – This is another that tells users about a fake computer virus, called “Microshaft”. Again this is not real and you should not pay attention to what it says. These are the 5 most common email hoaxes that are out there. If you see any of these hoaxes, to not be concerned. Simply take your delete key in your email and use it. Do not click on any links or take any actions that these emails may suggest to you. A Top 5 List Of The Most Common Security Hoaxes On The Internet is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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Hackers Use The News Of Fake Celebrity Deaths To Their Own Advantage

January 28th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.

If you want to get people interested in something that you have to say, just add a celebritie’s name to it and the heads will turn. This does not necessarily reflect well on our society, but it is the truth. We pay attention more to celebrities, than to anybody else. It doesn’t matter if they are in movies, music or sports, people care what they have to say. Since this fact is well known, hackers use this to their advantage on a regular basis. Before, they would wait until a big news story about a celebrity to break, and they would then try to capitalize off of it. Since there are sites such as Twitter and Facebook out now, it is easier to create a fake story themselves and get everyone to click on it. Fake Deaths Spread Malware This is exactly what happened last week. Throughout the different social media web sites, it was reported that the actor Johnny Depp, was killed in a car accident . Even though there was no credible source, that was reported in the news, the story spread like wild fire. In less than a couple of hours, Twitter was filled with RIP notices to the supposed “late” actor’s death. Of course none of this was true and was only just the means of a hacker spreading his latest attack throughout the Internet. It seems that it was a pretty successful attack, even though there are no hard numbers to reveal this fact. But as popular as this fakes new story was throughout the weekend, there had to be a lot of victims to this attack. He used the news, that there was video that showed the actual crash, to spread the virus around. When they went to watch the video, it would ask them to download a codec to be able to see the video. Once they did, the virus would then spread onto their machines. There must be an effort to educate people on what to click and what not to click. If there is not, then attacks such as this will work every time. Malware Plugged In People are so used to web sites asking them to install plugins when they go to them, that it is not a big deal for the average user anymore. When you go to web sites such as CNN.com, they even ask you to use a special plugin to view their content, which is only a Flash video. So it is hard for the average user to be able to tell the difference. As long as these attacks still work, Hackers will do their best to implement them. We have to get the word out to the public, when it is best to install something from a web site. If not, then this problem will be a continuous cycle. Hackers Use The News Of Fake Celebrity Deaths To Their Own Advantage is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

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How Are Online Ads Used To Scam People?

January 21st, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

The human race is an imaginative bunch. If there is a problem that is in front of us, we do our best to solve it. The same goes for when we have an objective to achieve. We will pull out our imaginations and come up with something very cunning. This is what hackers and online scam artists do on a daily basis. They see an objective, which is how to get the money that is in your wallet, and figure out a way to accomplish it. Online Classified Ads Scam The latest scam has been using online classified ads to find their victims. There have always been scams when it came to classified ads, even online ones. Craigslist, Ebay and all of the other types of classified web sites, have all had to increase their security over the years. No one wants to visit these places, if all that happens is, them being scammed and their money taken. So there are safe guards in place to help prevent this from happening. But these safeguards deal with just the normal crooks. These days, the online classified ads scams are being done by organized groups of individuals. Organized Crime The groups that are involved with the scams range from organized crime members in the US to criminals operating out of Nigeria. There is just not one group of individuals who are committing these crimes, it has gone international. People have found it lucrative and are taking advantage of it. The range of scams are also great. The different scams include fake electronics, bait and switch, robbery, and even real estate fraud. Some of these scams might need a little bit of explanation so that you know how to avoid them. The bait and switch is especially popular on EBay . It involves someone advertising an item and showing a picture of it in a package. In little letters at the bottom of the page, they say that they are selling the packaging and not the item itself. So when you get only the packaging and you start to complain, they bring up that it is exactly what was advertised. Robbery happens a lot on Craigslist . People will pretend that they are selling something and they need you to pick it up. When you go there with your money, they physically assault you and take the money out of your pocket. This happens more often than people think. Make sure you meet in a public place if possible, when purchasing items off of craigslist. The real estate scam involves people claiming that they have a house for rent or sale. They will tell you that they live there but are out of the country. They then send you a key, and you send them the money. When you get to the place, you find out that the key doesn’t work. This is a relatively new crime that has been happening a lot. Most traces claim that a lot of the real estate scams are originating from Nigeria. Online classifieds are a great way to get a deal but they have their share of risk as well. If you are careful and make sure that read the listing very throughly, you should be able to avoid the scams. How Are Online Ads Used To Scam People? is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

I Looked Out My Window And There It Was, Evidence Of Global Warming

January 6th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.

I always thought global warming was a hoax . I mean, come on, is the planet really getting warmer each year? Today, though, I saw it with my own eyes, the glorious sunshine on what should have been a cold winter’s day – A quick change of clothes was in order, I feel so much cooler in my shorts and t-shirt. The weathermen said this was the coldest winter since records began in Britain. They are clearly deluded – They also said that we hadn’t had this much snow since those records began either. Are they on drugs? This here photographic evidence clearly proves otherwise – I am therefore, completely converted. No longer will I believe that global warming is a hoax or conspiracy designed for hitting us with higher taxes or who knows what else. It is quite obviously a genuine phenomenon that poses a very real threat to society. I for one am glad though as I won’t be needing my heating on this winter I Looked Out My Window And There It Was, Evidence Of Global Warming is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009

b34c30c191snow 3.jpg 150x93 I Looked Out My Window And There It Was, Evidence Of Global Warming

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I Looked Out My Window And There It Was, Evidence Of Global Warming

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