Category: Finance (Page 1 of 3)

Unclaimed Money

January 4, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 2 Comments

There may be some money out there with your name on it. All you have to do is claim it. This is not a scam. Unclaimed money, aka unclaimed property or abandoned property, is regulated and managed by consumer protection laws throughout the USA.

Unclaimed money can be from a forgotten bank account, or a refund that couldn’t be mailed to you. Whatever the scenario, that money is typically sent to a state-run office for unclaimed funds, and it is held and logged in a database. If you find it and can prove who you are, they give you your money!

Official Unclaimed Money Websites

Check out the first bulleted link above. This site is run by our federal government, and they explain about how unclaimed property is managed in the USA. And then they provide links to the other bulleted websites above.

Each state has its own unclaimed-funds website, and Unclaimed.org will help you find the right office for your state. At Unclaimed.org, you can click your state on a map and the next site will help you begin your search.

But what if you’ve moved around a lot in your lifetime? You could have missing money all over the country… And MissingMoney.com has you covered, because that site will let you search the entire USA. The search results can be a bit messy, and you may have a lot more to comb through, but it’s worth it if you find some big $$$!

Not A Scam

I want to repeat that this opportunity is legitimate. I know that I often blog about scams, and I encourage all of my readers to mistrust a lot of what they encounter on the internet. But this time, I have something positive and trustworthy to share with you!

Still, be safe out there. Start with the sites I’ve linked to above. Read up on what those sites describe until you are comfortable with this topic. Don’t use Google to look for unclaimed money, because you will encounter suspicious look-alikes and impostors.

Know that if you do pursue unclaimed funds through these offices, you will have to provide significant personal info and documentation, to prove who you are. As long as you start with the links on this page, you will be dealing with real government agencies and trustworthy programs. And best of all, the process is cost-free. You won’t be asked for any fees for your searches and claims.

The Fortnite Settlement

December 21, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

If you play Fortnite, you may want to keep tabs on this: Epic Game, the maker of Fortnite, has to pay over a half of a billion dollars to our federal government. This is a settlement over charging players for unwanted items, as well as locking people out of the game when they tried to dispute charges.

And a lot of that money will come back to Fortnite players! But… the FTC hasn’t figured out that part yet. I’m sure it’ll come out soon. If this affects you, keep an eye on the FTC page about this settlement, or sign up for FTC email updates.

Finding the Best Prices on Video Games

October 17, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Back as the pandemic began, I blogged about CheapShark, a great site for finding your best prices on video games. But since then, other similar sites have been launched. If you’re a frequent gamer, there are a lot of ways for you to save money on your hobby/habit!

GGDeals is the first I should mention, because it may match what CheapShark does. And GGDeals covers a different range of game vendors, so you may want to review both in turn to find your best deals.

PsPrices is more for console game players. Here you can find game pricing tools for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft game systems, as well as the Epic Store and Apple App Store.

DekuDeals is for Nintendo Switch games only. But you may find it more pleasant to find your deals here than by combing through the Nintendo Store.

And there are plenty more niche sites that will help you save money on hard-to-find games or bundle purchases, as well as review pricing history for the games you want. Some runner-up mentions are:

FreeAirPump.com

October 11, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

This website helps you find places that don’t charge to use their automobile air pump. FreeAirPump.com gives you a map of locations near you (or a specific address or zip code) where you can fill your tires for free.

This site is powered by user-submitted info. If you know of a store offering free use of an air pump, and it isn’t shown on the FreeAirPump map, make sure to send it in!

Disposal of Metal Credit Cards

September 21, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

I hope it goes without saying that when your credit card expires, or when you close the cc account, you need to properly dispose of the credit card. You cannot let that card fall into the wrong hands. And most of the time, it’s easy! Simply throw the defunct plastic card into a shredder and you’re done. Or cut it up carefully with scissors and recycle it.

But some banks are fashioning their credit cards out of metal. You’ll know if you have a metal credit card, as it feels noticeably heavier, and you won’t be able to fold it in half or cut it with regular blades. And if you throw a metal card into an average household shredder, the shredder will be ruined.

So please know: to get rid of a metal payment card, contact the issuing bank. Ask your bank for a Disposal Envelope, so that you can mail the card back to them. they will destroy the card for you, at no cost.

Alternatively, you can break out the tin snips, but returning the card using the USPS is the safest method, I think!

The Hybrid Paypal Scam

September 15, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

I’ve seen plenty of Paypal-related scams, but this one is the slickest I’ve encountered to date. Pay attention and don’t be fooled if this shows up on your doorstep:

The Scam Arrives

You’ll see this scam arrive either in your inbox as an email, or in your Paypal account as a transaction under Activity.

Are you a believer yet? I wouldn’t blame you, because this is not your typical fake-email. This is an authentic Paypal email, and it takes you to the true Paypal website to view a real Paypal invoice! Nothing has been spoofed or faked here. The Paypal invoice can even be downloaded as a PDF from their website. The only lie is what’s shown in the Seller’s Notes field.

What is truly afoot here is that someone’s Paypal account has been stolen and is being used to send payment requests. Paypal calls them “invoices”, and that terminology only serves to make the scam look even more important.

The Two-Fold Danger

You’re at risk from two different directions with this scam. Make sure you don’t get taken by either of these:

The cybercriminal is trying to trick you into paying the bill with a quick click.
The crook wants you to object to the bill and call the phone number listed in the Seller Notes.

For anyone moving too quickly and not thinking enough, #1 quickly puts $500 in the thieves’ pocket. The money will be transferred into gift cards or other untraceable ratholes, and the victim will have a hard time clawing that money back.

#2 leads to a typical remote support scam. If you call the number, you’ll talk to a scammer who will seek to remotely access your computer, steal your money and possibly bork your PC.

In short: do NOT pay this bill, and do NOT call the listed phone number.

What To Do With This Hybrid Scam

First, be very careful as you deal with this. Make sure to avoid any “Pay Invoice” button. It’s safe to view the invoice and other screens in your Paypal account, but you must not accidentally pay the scammer.

Next, much like with an accidental payment scam, you can simply ignore the invoice. Nothing bad will happen if you simply do nothing with this Paypal item. It will sit there inert, until some day when Paypal catches up and removes it.

Alternatively, you can cancel the invoice. Sign into your account at Paypal.com, click on Activity, and select the scam invoice. Right below the blue Pay button, you may safely click on “Cancel Invoice”.

Lastly, you may reach out to Paypal support, if you want them to know about the scam attempt. Once you’re logged in at Paypal.com, scroll to the bottom of the site and look for the Contact link. Click it and make use of the Call Us or Message Us options to reach out to them.

The Facebook Internet Tracking Settlement

July 1, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

If you’ve received an email or news about the Facebook Internet Tracking Settlement, please know that it is legitimate & true.

You may trust in the following and take part in the proceedings, to get your piece of the settlement:

The Lawsuit

Facebook is accused of collecting user data through outside websites, and selling it to advertisers. They allegedly did this through those Facebook Like buttons that used to appear all over the web. In doing so, Facebook may have violated privacy laws and unjustly profited from all of us.

Facebook is admitting no guilt in the matter, but they are settling. In order to put this matter to bed, they are agreeing to a $90 Million settlement. It’s somewhat of a speeding ticket to a company worth $538 Billion, but so it goes…

How to Participate

You can get your share of that settlement, as long as you qualify. Consider yourself qualified if you:

Had a Facebook account between 4/22/2010 and 9/26/2011
Visited non-Facebook websites that displayed the Facebook Like button.

Don’t remember if that was the case? Those Like buttons were everywhere back then, so it is very likely you encountered them, while reading the news or checking out personal blogs or shopping online.

Here’s the website to sign up, just scroll down to the SUBMIT A CLAIM section and use the Submit Online link to get started.

Final Commentary

I notice that the Online Claim page may not load in the presence of an ad-blocker. I guess they are tracking who visits that page! If you can’t get it to load, try disabling your ad-blocker. Or, you can right-click the link and open the page in Incognito/InPrivate mode. That should bypass any adblocker woes.

And after all of that reading & signing up & waiting… you might get a dollar or two. Sorry, but the lawyers are going to take a big bite out of that $90M before it trickles down to us. There are 240 million Facebook users in the USA. It all comes down to how many people hear about this and sign up, I suppose.

Zelle and Its Use in Scams

May 3, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

If you’ve been paying attention, you might be familiar with how gift cards are used in scams. Money loaded onto gift cards is hard to trace and even harder to get back after a cybercriminal has obtained the card info. So, now that you know that gift cards are a red flag for scams, please also consider Zelle requests as similar red flags.

What Is Zelle?

Zelle is a payment network and service that is free for all to use. It works with virtually any US bank account, allowing you to instantly send money to someone else. If your bank offers Zelle services, then you can use it to send money to a friend or family, simply by using their phone number or email address. It’s fast and easy!

The Devil’s in the Details

Zelle is intended for lightning-fast money-transmission, but because the dollars move so fast, it is side-stepping a lot of the security checks present in other financial transactions. Once you Zelle some cash to someone, it is gone from your account, in mere minutes! This is great if you’re paying back your friend for lunch, or sending a cash gift to mom for Mother’s Day. It’s really lousy if it happens while a scammer has you in his/her thrall.

This is why scammers try to convince their victims to use Zelle. If their story is good enough to trick you into Zelling them some money, it’s instantly theirs. And if you initiated the transaction, there is little chance of you getting it back.

Zelle May Be Getting Safer

Zelle was created by all the big banks we know in this country. So it has been a bit surprising that they wouldn’t help much, after crime occurs over their Zelle network. Consumer advocates state that Zelle has no fraud protections in place for its transactions. But in some rare cases, some banks are starting to replace funds lost in Zelle-based schemes. And some other banks are starting to limit how much money they allow to pass through Zelle, or putting a small wait-time on when new Zelle accounts can be used.

Treat It Like Cash

Still, the burden of responsibility lay on you. Zelle is similar to Venmo and Cash App, in that it seeks to be a cash-replacement. That means you should think of it and treat it as you would a fistful of dollars.

You can dispute a credit card transaction. You can put a stop-payment on a check. But you can’t get those dollar bills back after you’ve handed them off. Be aware, and only use Zelle with known, trusted people!

If someone is calling you and pressuring you to satisfy a bill or make a payment with Zelle, reframe the situation in your mind: This character is essentially asking me for cash right now. Is this how a legitimate company is supposed to act? The answer is usually NO, and you should shut that scam down!

Finding the Best Gas Prices

March 7, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Here are various ways to use technology to find your best price on gasoline:

Dedicated Gas Search Tools

GasBuddy may be the best-known fuel-savings company, and boy howdy have they added lots of options and gimmicks to their site. You can skip all the hoopla, and just use their search tool or app, if you like.

Gas Guru is another search tool, only available as an app. The Yellow Pages is behind this tool and you can download the Android app here and the iOS app here.

GetUpside is a modified search app, that also grants you gas rebates (money back!) at select stations. So if you’re willing to go where GetUpside recommends to fill up, you can get some cash credited back to you.

GPS & Mapping Services

Mapquest is surprisingly convenient for eyeballing gas prices. Use it to view any map, and use the Gas button in the upper-left corner. Gas stations and gas prices will jump up off the page!

The Waze app (Android, iOS) is very quick to use to see local gas prices. Tap the Where To? field, and then tap Gas Stations. You now have a list of all the gas prices local to you.

Other Websites

Autoblog offers a no-nonsense gas price search tool.

Geico Insurance has a handy and uncluttered page for searching out gas prices.

If you have any other amazing ways to suss out the best fuel prices, please leave a comment or shoot me an email with your suggestions, thank you!

Quickbooks Desktop Tool Hub

January 12, 2022 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

If your Quickbooks desktop software develops a problem, chances are this free download can help. Quickbooks has created the Tool Hub program to automagically fix common glitches in their software.

For example, if you cannot make a PDF invoice, or if your networked computer stopped sharing the company file: the Desktop Tool hub can fix it! To learn more, check out their Help Article about it and use the download link under Step 1 to install it on your computer.

Note: This is just for their desktop software. If you’re using Quickbooks Online, the Tool Hub does not apply. You should take any problems with Quickbooks Online to their support team, by clicking Help in the upper-right corner of the QB Online website.