Utility Scams are on the rise. You could encounter these via email, text message, phonecall or even at your door. Here are some examples to learn about and be ready to dodge: Slamming In some states, you are allowed to switch your energy supplier to save money on (for example) your natural gas bill. This … Read more
The latest wacky text to make the rounds is about some Powerball jackpot that a Good Samaritan wants to give away. This Lottery Winner smishing scam should be obvious to most. I hope you don’t fall for it! This scheme is just a remix of that classic chain letter, from the Nigerian King who wants … Read more
Get ready to ignore or report any text message about an Amazon Recall. These texts are not legitimate. They are not from Amazon, but from spammers and scammers! Here are example images of the Amazon Recall Smishing Scam: If you receive anything like this, do NOT click any links or attachments in the text! There … Read more
It’s said that here’s no such thing as a free lunch. So, of course, the same logic applies to all those spammy emails you get. The ones claiming you won a lottery. Earned a free gift card. Awarded an iPhone. None of these offers is legitimate, even though their logos and senders look real. But … Read more
No, you didn’t buy a gun. A firearm is not being shipped to you. If you received the email below, please take a moment to realize that it is just The Gun Purchase Scam. As scams go, this is another variant of the Thank You for Your Purchase Scam. That means that there is no … Read more
The latest smish to arrive in people’s texts is the Unpaid Traffic Ticket scam. It may look familiar to you, because it’s brought to you by the same criminals who are behind those ubiquitous unpaid-toll and unpaid-parking schemes. If you get a text message like what’s pictured here, don’t believe it. Don’t answer it, don’t … Read more
This type of scammy email can catch a lot of people off-guard. I want you to be familiar with the Cloud Storage Alert scam that’s gonig around: These emails may be vague, like the one pictured above, or they might mention Apple, Google or other big tech companies. But usually, there’s something off about them. … Read more
Have you received a text message about a parking fine? It’s almost certainly a scam. The same jokers who perpetrated the Unpaid Toll Smishing operation are now rolling out a similar scheme. The Unpaid Parking Ticket Scam is probably coming to your text messages, soon! And what’s worse is that the smishers are getting better … Read more
Remote control scams are still very common, and I get to help people everyday in recovering from them. It’s pretty straightforward, most of the time: I explain the scam. Before we deal with the computer, the client secures their finances with their banks. Next, we go over their PC or phone to uninstall the scammer’s … Read more
Many tech scams begin with “Thank you for your purchase” and I’ve blogged about many of them. Today’s Best Buy Purchase scam is possibly the best one yet. Let me show you all about it, so that you won’t be fooled by this. The Phishing Email The bogus email I received was very convincing. It … Read more