Meta/Facebook/Instagram all offer various “badges” to their users and customers. Some are for free, while others you have to pay a subscription fee to get. But please be warned: If you get an email that says you’ve been granted a free badge, it is probably a scam. Here are more details on Facebook Badge phishing: … Read more
A sneaky way of getting people to click on spam is to send a note that claims “your email couldn’t be delivered.” Let me show you some examples of the subtle Undeliverable Phishing that I’m seeing these days: As spam goes, these are pretty convincing. The sender addresses usually look legit, and the undeliverable-verbiage is … Read more
When watching an on-screen progress bar, I often comment to my client that we shouldn’t put too much stock into the information it presents. If it shows a “Time Remaining”, we may see that figure swell and shrink with little rhyme or reason. A Percentage-style progress bar may creep towards 30%, and suddenly surge from … Read more
Meta will take anyone’s money, if they want to pay for ad-space on Facebook. And that’s a problem. Because the scammers of the internet have no problem ponying up a little cash, if it gets their scams in front of thousands of people. Last year, I blogged a bit about this, and in this post, … Read more
A customer recently shared this targeted phishing attempt with me, and I want to walk you through it. As phishing goes, it’s a bit more sophisticated than usual. Check out the details so you’ll be ready to sidestep this if it comes to your inbox. More Tailored than Other Scams I mention “targeted” because the … 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
There’s been a lot of news lately about “Google issuing an alert advising 2.5 billion users to change their passwords.” And you didn’t see me blogging about it, because it simply wasn’t true. Around the globe, news media companies chose to be inciteful, not insightful. And I knew this reporting wasn’t quite right, even when … 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
In the past, HP would install a variety of software and desktop icons, for you to use with your printer. One app in particular was called the HP Print & Scan Doctor. While many of you may still have and appreciate this fix-it tool, I must now recommend you remove it from your PC. Because … Read more