If you receive a letter hiring you to be a “secret shopper” at a big-name store, please understand it is almost certainly a scam. The letter may be extremely detailed, and it may be accompanied by a cashable bank check. But both are illegitimate and you stand to lose a lot of money if you … Read more
A modern boarding pass (plane ticket) has a QR or Bar Code on it. Quickly scanning that code makes it easy for an airport employee to check you in and get you on your plane. But some people warn about those QR codes and their security. USA Today and other news stories have been circulating … Read more
This is a pretty scary topic, but let’s go through the scope of this problem. It may not affect you at all, but if it does, I’ve got some advice for you. Reformatted from Afar Yesterday it was reported that some people’s Western Digital external hard drives were erased! And the attack is not the … Read more
At least, not with some copy-and-paste wodge of text. So if you see this kind of post, don’t bother with it: It is not harmful to post this sort of thing. And you may truly see more posts from long-lost FB Friends afterwards. But that’s because Facebook shows you more of the people you interact … Read more
Too Much Info Recently I commented on YouTube that we should be very careful about what we share on social media. Specifically, I mentioned that we should avoid posting personal or sensitive facts about ourselves. Consider this ubiquitous example: I see this post repeated all over Facebook, sometimes with over 500,000 comments. My jaw drops … Read more
This scam has whiskers on it, but because it returns every 6 months or so to claim new victims, I want to describe it so you can be on the lookout: A Facebook Friend contacts you through Facebook Messenger, saying: “Is it you in this video?!” Below the message is a link to YouTube or … Read more
I just saw some really bad advice on Reddit. Someone suggested that when you take a call from a scammer, you should put some effort into complaining, to waste their time and convince them to not call anymore. Please do not do this. Do not harass a phone scammer. The chance of you convincing a … Read more
Data breaches are so frequent, that it’s quite likely your email or phone number has been involved in one. It’s usually not your fault. When hackers get through a big company’s security, they may take a copy of whatever valuable account data they can. That can include your name, email, phone number, password… Even worse, … Read more
Many people get annual emails that announce upcoming antivirus auto-renewal charges. So the Norton Auto-Renewal Scam tends to works well, because it lines up with people’s expectations: There is nothing true about this message, yet it still grabs people and compels them reach for the phone. The urge to undo that $500+ charge almost blocks … Read more
Shentel Email users, beware the latest email scam coming to your inboxes!: This message is not from Shentel! If you look closely, you’ll see it came from an odd address ending in “buckeye-express.com”. DO NOT CLICK the Update button, as it will take you to a deceptive website. I’ll show that website here, without putting … Read more