ABCMouse was recently punished by the FTC, to the tune of $10 million. They were fined for a variety of deceptive practices, including recurring charges to customer credit cards for membership renewals that were either not disclosed or difficult to terminate. Auto-renewal traps are nothing new. ABCMouse is certainly a big name, but many other … Read more
1TB or 2TB flash drives are not cheap! If you’ve seen an ad or an offer for a Terabyte Flash Drive for a low price ($20-30), it is a scam. While terabyte-sized flash drives are finally coming to market, they are still expensive (~$150-200). “Fake” flash drives are for sale, though, on Amazon and similar … Read more
A common email scam starts with a message, stating you made a purchase, when you truly didn’t. The Thank-You-for-Your-Purchase Scam may appear to come from Microsoft or any number of well-known companies. Click here or here to view some examples of this scam. $500 for “Microsoft Windows Defender Firewall Online”? Many people will miss that … Read more
When a child is in danger, we all want to help. I get it. It’s part of the human condition. But when you see Missing Child alerts on social media, I need to warn you that you should pause and remain dubious. Do Not Share or spread that Post yet! Missing Child posts may not … Read more
When shopping online, most people rely on product reviews to determine whether to buy something. But some sellers seek to game the system and generate (numerous!) fake reviews on their product listings. Maybe they do this to offset negative reviews or to create false demand; regardless, it amounts to deception. And it’s such a widespread … Read more
Norton Power Eraser is another one-time scan tool for Windows computers. Similar to AdwCleaner and Stinger, it will scour your PC for malware and other baddies and offer to remove them. If you are concerned that something got past your full-time antivirus, this is another good tool to run. https://support.norton.com/sp/static/external/tools/npe.html NPE is a little different … Read more
If you’ve seen a Lowe’s $6000 Giveaway on Facebook, know that it is a scam. Please don’t Like it, don’t Share it. If possible, report it to Facebook, and then don’t interact with that Giveaway Page any further. How do I know it’s a scam? There’s a few details to look out for. First, visit … Read more
A lot of you are receiving an alarming email, alerting you to an App Store purchase you didn’t make. This is the Apple App Store Purchase Scam, and you should review this, so that you don’t fall victim to it. Scam Details It starts with an email: The email’s intent is to worry you into … Read more
AdwCleaner is a tool that I commonly use to check computers for malware. You can too, for free! It performs one-time scan that won’t interfere with your current antivirus. Simply download it, let it scan, and allow it to remove whatever it deems suspicious. It will also offer to disable unnecessary junk software after it … Read more
This scam from 2 years ago is making a comeback right now, keep your eyes out for: An email states that someone has tracked your activity on an adult website. For the right price, they will not release video obtained from your computer’s webcam. Supposedly, if you give them money/Bitcoin/giftcards, they will not embarrass you … Read more