Category: Hazards (Page 3 of 12)

Recurring Facebook Scams

October 21, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Here’s a (hopefully? for a while?) final run-down on recurring Facebook scams I’m seeing out there. Don’t fall for any of these, please!

Celebrity Impersonation Pages

Johnny Depp is not going to private-message you on Facebook. Lori Loughlin will not respond to your comments and Likes. Margot Robbie would never send you a Friend request. Celebrities live in a different world than us and have handlers and layers of protection that separate us from them. If an ultra-famous person on Facebook is giving you explicit attention or asking you for things, please suspect a scam. You are almost certainly dealing with a con artist.

Creepers in the Comments

This should be a no-brainer, but I have to mention it. There arelurkers & creepers on Facebook and they manifest unexpectedly in the comments of Reviews and Public Posts.

Don’t ever respond to these characters. Block them or report their comments, but don’t initiate any contact. They’re just looking to start a private conversation, and try to take advantage of you after that begins.

Puppy Adoptions

Legitimate people will try to adopt out their puppies or other baby animals. And then there’s the scammers:

These scams can often be spotted with ease. The scammer will be out-of-the-area, or pressure you for a down payment before seeing the animals. As with most internet offers, don’t hand over money before seeing firsthand what’s for sale.

Car Detailing Offers

I’ve written at length about this type of service scam, but it merits a special mention here. Bogus car detailing offers persist in many Facebook groups, and I recommend you avoid them.

Much like the duct cleaning offers, you might actually get your car cleaned through one of these posts. But you’re not dealing with a local company. If you comment on one of these posts, someone from Pakistan, using a sock puppet account, will contact you to schedule your car detailing. S/he will send some unknown person to your house to “take care” of your car.

That person may actually clean your car, or not. If anything suspicious or illegal occurs, that person is going to vanish. The individual from Pakistan will block you. And you will have no one to hold accountable, the police will be unable to assist. It’s best to report these posts and find a truly local company to clean your car for you. Shop local!

Bargain Offers for TV Streaming

I’ll be breaking this out into a separate, detailed post soon, but for now, watch out for this nonsense:

Avoid these offers, as they are too good to be true. If these were legitimate, everyone would be flocking to them, and no one would ever pay for cable TV again. People who have a go at this type of streaming might actually get to watch some of their favorite shows. But the service will be spotty. The support will be non-existent. And then suddenly, the law will catch up to the copyright infringers at the top. Suddenly, the streaming service will wink out of existence as the top executives quit the country with whatever money they still have. Spoiler alert: these companies are not paying for or obtaining licenses for the shows they allow you to stream. That’s IP theft!

Facebook Account Help

If you’ve ever been locked out of your Facebook account, you know then how decidedly unhelpful Facebook is. You cannot call Facebook for help. They don’t offer any email or chat support. It’s just crickets and tumbleweed. This creates a perfect void for the scammers to fill:

Cybercriminals have crawled all over Facebook and other social media sites, creating posts, comments and even Group Pages, promising to help recover lost Facebook accounts. And anyone who comes to them for help? These bad guys will take whatever they can: your money, your Facebook account, your email and its password, and more.

These dreadful people are also constantly scanning public posts and comments for anyone looking for this kind of help. Sometimes, they will just pop up and comment back on people’s comments, promoting fake-help scammers on Instagram.

If you’ve lost access to your Facebook, check out what I’ve written on this blog post, or head straight to the legitimate Facebook article on this topic. You’re welcome to reach out to me for further advice. But please: Avoid or ignore any strangers that claim to have magic recovery powers. They don’t.

Quishing

October 20, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

That’s not a typo. The title is not missing an ‘S’. Quishing is a new term, made by combining “QR code” and “phishing”. Like smishing, it’s yet another deceptive practice that scammers are using to take advantage of people. Here’s what you need to know, to be safe out there:

QR Codes

this is not a quish, my QR code is safe to use!

QR (quick response) Codes are those delightful Bladerunner-esque hieroglyphics that you see on windows and doors of businesses. Scan a QR code, and it will quickly take you to a website, an app download, or some other useful internet function. And as society gets more comfortable with using them, they’re coming into play in many more places:

Restaurants, for viewing menus
Parking meters, for instant/electronic payments
Hospitals, for health app downloads
Storefronts, for advertising/promotional offers
Malls and public space, for connecting to free municipal Wi-Fi
Product packaging, for access to nutrition/safety info

I’ve previously blogged about using your camera on QR codes, and also how easy it is to make your own QR code, for free. Well, as QR codes become more commonplace, scammers are looking for their angle. These opportunists are finding it handy to use QR codes as they phish, because a QR code hides the URL or true intent from the human eye.

Where Quishing Occurs

Quishing is when a bad guy creates a QR code of his own, and places it somewhere (often in public), to get unsuspecting people to scan it. Since a QR code can link to anywhere on the internet, a quish could lead your phone to:

a phishing (impostor) website
a dangerous app download
a bogus Wi-Fi hotspot
malicious sites or advertisements

There’s not a lot of data yet on how common quishing attacks are, but there are reports of specific incidents out there. Austin, TX had a scam last year, where a quisher put his own QR code stickers on their parking meters. When people scanned those bad codes, they were taken to a fraudulent app that tricked them into paying the quisher. Another BBB article references where a student received a bogus financial aid letter in the mail. The printed QR code linked to a phishing website, bent on stealing his money.

Besides quishing stickers appearing in public, unsafe QR codes are also being used in phishing emails. These messages present as if your account needs attention and that you can scan the included QR code to sign in. But scanning that QR code leads the victim to a convincing fake website that asks for your email and password. Someone tricked in this manner will deliver their login info directly to cybercriminals.

For more quishing examples, check out this BBB article.

How to Be Safe Against Quishing

Don’t Panic. Quishing, while dangerous, is probably not going to shanghai if you remain mindful as you use QR codes.

Before scanning a QR sticker, judge it for legitimacy. Does it look clean and professional? Is there anything sloppy or suspicious about it? If so, trust your gut and look for a URL to type in or some other way to access the info/website/function. Or ask a legitimate employee about the QR code.
After scanning a QR code, confirm that you are where you expected to be. If you’re in a bakery, scanning a QR code for a chance to win a free cheesecake, you should be alarmed if instead you see an ad for dating hot singles in your area. If any weird pop-ups or downloads jump onto your screen, do not cooperate with them. Close those apps, or reboot your phone to get away from them!
Notice the URL of any website that comes up from a QR code. Does it match what you expected? Scanning a code at Starbucks should take you to a URL with “starbucks.com” in it, not “starb-buckss.tw”.
Do not sign-in to any unexpected password prompts, after using a QR code. Only enter sensitive information if you are 100% certain of the QR code’s trustworthiness. Double-check with anyone in authority where the code is posted, for peace of mind.

Everyday Facebook Scams

October 4, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 1 Comment

I’ve posted recently about several scams on Facebook; here are some more! Since Meta is so negligent at policing its platforms, bad actors and their schemes thrive on their social media platform. I may often have some new everyday Facebook scams to tell you about.

Catalytic Converter Theft

If you see post about catalytic converter theft, be suspicious. They’ll have some interesting photos but no real details about the crime or who to contact. They just want you to Share the post and boost the signal.

But don’t do it! Don’t Like the post, don’t Share it. There’s no real scam to these posts, but that comes later. These posts serve as gullibility checks. The scammers watch and notice who is spreading their nonsense info, and may PM those people later with targeted scams.

Giving Away a MacBook

This is the same plan as when the scammer tries to give away a PS5. They’ll privately message you and ask you to cover their Fedex shipping costs. If you pay that, they’ll disappear with the money and you’ll then learn that there is no such thing as a free MacBook.

Amazon Work from Home Opportunities

Amazon does offer a lot of job opportunities, and some of them are work-from-home. But you won’t find them in posts that look like these:

These posts are not associated with Amazon in any way. They often direct you to click on a Google Sites URL, which would take you to a scammy site that tries to collect all of your PII. Don’t click the links! Don’t fill out any forms on these sites! You won’t get a job, but you will become inundated with spam email and junk postal mail and other scammy offers.

If you want to peruse legitimate jobs with the Amazon company, check out the real Amazon Jobs website.

Duct Cleaning Offers

I think most people know by now that these things are suspicious. But since they remain pervasive, I thought I should remind you to beware these nameless duct cleaning offers.

I’ve written at length on how these things work, but in short: The poster is in Pakistan, ready to take your info. He will schedule your duct cleaning with a mystery person in your region, and collect a commission. An unlicensed worker will come to your house and perform some kind of duct cleaning procedure. But the work may be lousy, or the bill may turn out higher than what was agreed upon. Play it safe and hire a local, licensed company for this type of work.

RV & Tiny Home Giveaways

This is another one that I’ve gone over, but deserves a mention since they are still commonplace. These posts claim that there was a lottery for a free RV or other small home, and the winner did not claim the prize! They offer the chance for someone else to step up and be a winner.

This scam presses people to Share, Share, Share their post, but please don’t do that. Don’t help the scammer get this rubbish in front of more faces. And don’t Like the post or Message the poster. They’ll just tell you that you’ve won the prize, and then try to collect a “transport fee” from you. And then, they’ll ghost you.

More Telltale Signs of a Facebook Scam

The poster Likes their own post.
The first comment is also from the poster, urging you to message them or click a URL.
The language seems off, for example: “Kindly check your private messaging.”
They ask you to text them, email them or otherwise go off-platform (away from Facebook messages).
They claim they are licensed, but won’t produce a license number or other hard details for you to verify.

Caller ID Spoofing

September 21, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Caller ID spoofing, or phone number spoofing, is important to understand. If you’re not familiar with this practice, let me explain:

Caller ID Is Fallible

When you receive a phone call, most phones display some identification about the inbound call. You may see:

First Name, Last Name, Area Code and Phone Number
Business Name, Area Code and Phone Number
Private
Unknown Caller

You need to know: The info shown on your Caller ID can be altered. Both the number and the name on your Caller ID display could be inaccurate or untrue. It is easy and often free for someone to change (spoof) their Caller ID info.

Legality

Phone call spoofing, as a practice, is legal in our country. But using spoofing to defraud or cause harm is illegal. If this gives you some pause, if you’re wondering why spoofing is legal at all, consider some possible legitimate uses:

Law enforcement may need to alter their identity as they investigate crimes.
Collections agents might spoof their Caller ID info so that a debtor won’t avoid their calls.
A doctor or counselor may spoof their number when calling a patient to maintain a crucial level of privacy.
Friends might use Caller ID spoofing for pranking each other, without causing harm.

Scammers!

Of course, the main point of this post is to talk about scams, and make you alert to them. Scammers love to use Caller ID spoofing when they call their potential victims. They know that people tend to believe what they read, especially when it flashes by quickly. Robocallers and spammers also use phone spoofing, but the biggest danger is from scams like these:

Caller ID shows the name of a US Court System or the IRS, and the caller says you need to pay off your fine/charges now, or be incarcerated.
Apple/Microsoft/Amazon/Facebook Support shows on the Caller ID, and a robocall tells you that your account has had suspicious activity on it. Press 1 to be connected to an agent who will help (steal) your account.
Your bank shows on the Caller ID, and they are calling to reset your PIN and password, as someone has tried to hack into your accounts.

To be absolutely clear, the above examples are scams. The IRS, Microsoft, your bank, etc. are NOT going to call you for account changes or payments. Please hang up if you ever answer a call like these!

Scams of all kinds use spoofing to make their calls show the same area code and exchange as your number. This is called Neighbor Spoofing. They make their number look very close to your number, so that you think it is someone local to you and might answer more quickly.

It is also possible for someone to spoof your exact phone number. This can be done to confuse you and get you to answer. But it can also be done to deflect blame to you. If you ever get angry calls from other people, telling you to stop with the spam calls, understand that a bad actor may be using your number in their spoofing scheme.

How to Defend Against Call Spoofing

You’re doing it right now. Maintaining awareness that Caller ID is not to be trusted is the best defense against Caller ID spoofing. After that, you can consider some extra tactics:

Talk to your phone provider and see if they offer/recommend any particular call screening options or apps with spoofing protection.
Put your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry.
Don’t answer unfamiliar numbers. Let every unexpected mystery call roll to voicemail.
Report persistent spoofing problems to your phone carrier and/or the police.

Commonplace Facebook Scams

September 18, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

There is no end to the scams I see on Facebook. I know I’ve posted at length about specific FB scams, but in this post, I want to run down quickly on a bunch of commonplace Facebook scams. Watch out for these, don’t fall for these, definitely report these:

(Don’t) Buy This Shirt!

This offer may tug at your heartstrings, because they’ve mentioned their son is autistic. But there is no son, and the poster is from another country. The URL will take you to a web-storefront, where you can pay money for a shirt. But it’s at an online marketplace where anyone can quickly open up a shop and have shirts printed:

You might actually get a (lousy) shirt, but please realize that you’re giving your card info to a stranger who may be halfway around the world. The big risk here is getting mystery charges on your card, later on.

Neon for Free

Want a neon sign? You’re not going to get one from these jokers. Their plan is to privately message you, gently guilt you towards making a small donation, and then disappear with any money you’ve sent them.

Vendor Fee for Non-Existent Fair

Looking to sell your hand-crafted art in your region? Community fairs and festivals are the way to go, but beware generic scam posts as shown below.

While at first glance, these may look legitimate, it’s a lie and a trap. The poster has used Google to find an address commonly used for public events. Any email or phone number provided is not connected to the stated address; they go straight to the scammer. They’ve crafted this post so that people will contact the scammer and not the venue. And if you contact the scammer, they’ll take your “reservation fee” and disappear with it.

Egg Sales

I’ve picked this scam apart before, but it deserves a mention, since I’ve seen it often this month. It’s similar to the above scam, in that they want to privately message you and get an advance payment for eggs. But you’ll be sitting by the door waiting forever for that henfruit. The poster is just using a sock puppet account, as they sit in an internet cafe in Kenya.

Giving Away a Gaming Console

Those PS5’s are super-expensive, so seeing someone giving away one for free on Facebook may seem like a miracle. And even more convincing is to see someone local, someone believable!, posting about how you can have their unwanted video game hardware:

But this type of scam is usually carried out using a stolen Facebook account. If you contact them for the console, they’ll say that they moved to another state, but can Fedex the device to you, as long as you cover their shipping. Once again, if you send them any money, they’ll ghost you and you’ll never get anything in return.

Moving, Everything Must Go

If a real person has to move and sell off a lot of stuff, they’ll give you an address to visit, and a phone number to reach them at. But some posts only lead to private messages, where you are urged to pay a small amount to “hold” the item for you. I think by now you know what’ll happen if you give them any money.

And other “moving” posts lead you to other weird websites or private Facebook groups, where you’ll meet with other scams and attempts at collecting your personal information.

Fake Job Listing

If you think you’ve found your dreamjob on Facebook, think again. Many of them are traps:

A real job listing should state a well-known company name, and will refer you to Indeed.com or some other corporate website. This scam job listing has no real contact info, and will only lead to a fake job interview over chat, and then they’ll try to get your bank account info or worse.

Telltale Signs of a Facebook Scam

The poster has a locked account, or has turned off Comments to their post.
They need you to pay them a little bit of money first, to prove that you are not scamming them!
They won’t meet you in person for a transaction.
You cannot call to speak with them.
They want you to use Venmo or CashApp instead of a credit card.
You meet with resistance when asking for basic info, like a website URL or address or phone number.
They comment a link to a website, but the URL shows a Google sites address, or something that just doesn’t look relevant.

Rental Scams

August 31, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Rental scams are common on the internet. And they pertain to those looking for a place to rent, as well as landlords looking to rent out their property. Consider this info and be careful out there!

If You Are Looking to Rent as a Tenant

When you reach out to a landlord and inquire about a rental, pay attention to how they communicate and what they offer. There are a lot of warning signs for a rental scam:

The listing photos have a watermark from another website (because the pictures have been copied/stolen)
They ask to send you a code, for you to repeat back to them, “to prove your identity.” This is either the Google Voice Verification Scam, or an attempt to steal your Facebook or other social media account. Do not give any verification codes to anyone!
They ask you to make a deposit:
- urgently, immediately, before other offers come in!
- before you can tour the property
- before you’ve met the owner/landlord face-to-face
- through a wire transfer or gift card purchase
- by going off-platform. Example: you’ve responded to an AirBnB listing, and the owner asks you to pay him through Venmo for a lower price
The rental price is too-good-to-be-true
They don’t check your background or credit history

Please understand that rental listing scams are very easy to concoct. You may encounter them on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, AirBnb and other public sites. Cybercriminals can easily look over legitimate real estate listings, and copy them in very convincing ways. Sometimes, they’ll copy every single detail from a listing, and then only change the phone number and email address.

If your gut tells you something, listen to it and do your due diligence before handing over any money. And if you feel like you’re in over your head, find a real estate professional. A seasoned Realtor^® will protect you from all the scams out there, and many will help you find your next place to live without charging you for their service.

If You Are Renting Property as a Landlord

Landlords also have to watch out. That person reaching out to you about your apartment? They could be a scammer, too.

Don’t accept payment for more than the agreed-upon amount. If someone wants to send too much money, so that you can refund them the overage, that’s an overpayment scam.
Run the credit/employment checks yourself. If the tenant offers their own copies, that might seem kind of them, but those could be fakes. Trust but verify!
They ask to send you a code, for you to repeat back to them, “to prove your identity.” This is either the Google Voice Verification Scam, or an attempt to steal your Facebook or other social media account. Do not give any verification codes to anyone! (Yes, landlords have to deal with this, too!)

Traptops in 2023 v2.0

August 26, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 3 Comments

Just last month, I went on at length about traptops on this blog. I’m sorry to say that I have to return to this topic, as people are bringing to my attention some even sneakier traptops. Let’s pull open the drapes on these shenanigans, so fewer people get taken by this trickery. Here we go with Traptops in 2023 v2.0:

I Was Almost Fooled

This new type of traptop almost fooled me. I recommend you check out this listing over at Amazon. Here’s another comparable listing, also on Amazon. If I go digging, they’re on Wal*Mart, as well. I had to stare at these for a few minutes; I truly doubted my spidey-sense at first, because these products really look good. They feature:

a big name brand (HP)
shipped quickly through Amazon’s Prime program
sold as a New item, with Windows 11
tons of storage space and RAM
a reasonable price

But I think the tip-off to me was that these computers sport too much RAM. 8GB is enough, 16GB is a lot, but you don’t typically see 32GB of RAM in a $500 computer 32GB of RAM is only expected inside of professional-grade or top-tier gaming computers.

Next, I noticed the processors: Intel Pentium and Silver CPUs. The same bargain-basement, ultra-low-powered chips found in those sub-$200 traptops I’m always going on about. The combination of amazing RAM/storage with a low-rent processor caused my facial tic to act up. So I dug in further.

The Plot Sickens

Reading the finer print, other details stuck out to me:

These computers are sold by mystery companies (Oydisen, Snow Bell, etc.) and not HP or Dell.
They are “new” in the sense that no other consumers have used them before. But these computers have been opened, unboxed, dissected, and “upgraded” with components from other sources.

I had to sit with this and imagine the path of one of these computers, from its birth to arriving at my doorstep. Here’s my hot-take on how this happens:

HP manufactures too many computers, and they are left with some extra pallets of traptops from last year. They sell them off cheap through remainder programs or other ersatz methods, to companies like Oydisen. These fringe companies crack open the laptops, take out the 128GB SSDs and swap in 1TB SSDs, take out the 4GB of RAM and put in 32GB, slap it all back together and try to move them on Amazon, eBay and Wal*Mart, where the return policies will discourage anything from being sent back. The newish computers are then sold off at a big profit, and they also get to sell off the harvested parts in bulk, too.

If I had to guess, they likely bought these 2022 traptops for less than $200 a pop. If they buy the SSDs in bulk, they could be less than $40 apiece. And RAM also can be found cheaply, for under $50. All told, these outfits could be moving $250 computers for $500 or more.

Now, I don’t want you to get angry about them making money. This is America, and everyone marks up every piece of merchandise. What I want you to focus on are the problems and dangers with the computers they’re cranking out.

What Can Go Wrong

As I’ve detailed before, traptops are built to go wrong. They’re underpowered, deliberately hobbled, have insufficient cooling and are largely non-upgradeable. Adding an unbelievable amount of RAM and massive storage does not change this.

In fact, it increases the risk of problems. More RAM creates more heat. The laptop was designed with its original hardware in mind, and it may not be able to exhaust the heat created by the upgrades heaped upon it.

Please consider also: What happens if you have any hardware problems with this computer? Are you going to call HP Support? Let me stop you right there: HP will not help you with this “new” computer. The warranty was voided by the company that cracked the seal and removed the HP parts. If you have any warranty, it’s now with Oysiden or whoever sent you the computer.

And if you are upset or disappointed after buying such a computer, the deck is stacked against you for returning it. Even if you are well within the return-window, Amazon or Wal*mart may resist accepting the computer back. Because: Can you truly prove there’s anything wrong with it? They’ll help you with defective merch, but not with anything they think is buyer’s remorse.

And finally, good luck tracking down these seller, for support or complaints or anything. I went looking for Oydisen and never found a website or phone number. I can find their warehouse in Delaware, and their awful BBB profile, but no sensible way of calling them. Another seller, Snow Bell, tracks back to a lovely $1M residential home in Fairfax, VA, but I have a feeling they don’t welcome customers or calls there.

Stay Safe Out There

Buying from big box stores is generally safer than buying from Amazon, Wal*Mart and eBay. When you buy from a big name store, the computer is coming from them. But Amazon and Wal*Mart consider themselves “marketplaces”, where anyone can sell anything. And they don’t take much responsibility over what their marketplace sellers’ behavior.
If you do buy from Amazon, take special note of the Sold By info in the product details. “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com” is safer than “Sold by Hot Mess Express Tech Deals”.
I recommend you choose new computers over refurbished/renewed/open box systems. And read the fine-print to make sure they are truly new-in-box, unmolested, all quality seals intact.
Know where your computer warranty lay. If you buy from Costco, that’s where you go with warranty questions and tech help. Best Buy, Staples, MicroCenter will steer your warranty concerns to the original manufacturer’s number. If you find out that the warranty is through some unknown third-party, that should raise a red flag.
Please feel free to email or call me about any computer purchase you are unsure of. I will quickly offer an opinion about any PC you send me details about.

The Facebook Edited-Post Scam

August 14, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 0 Comments

Anyone who posts to Facebook can edit what they’ve posted. You simply go to the post and click the 3-dots button in the corner, and then select Edit Post. It’s a pretty handy tool, but it’s also being abused in what we can call The Facebook Edited-Post Scam.

Innocent Beginning

The scams starts with some harmless-looking posts, usually appearing in Facebook groups. Here are some examples:

These posts don’t seem to ask for much, so they aren’t likely to trigger your spidey-sense for scams. Sometimes they ask that you care & share, others just encourage you to comment with “Got It!” And many people do what is asked, and then move on.

The Switcheroo

But some time later, the scam develops. After the post has been spread through multiple Shares, and/or after many people have commented “Got it” underneath, the scammer makes a big change. Using the Edit Post function, the bad guy deletes the photo of the hurt dog or missing kid, and inserts something altogether different. They also delete the original text and enter in new verbiage:

The benefit (to the scammers) here is that the post retains all of its comments and Shares. That lost puppy post has metamorphosed into a money-lure scam, that has been shared to many other groups and still has many positive comments underneath it. It can really look convincing!

But please know that all of these things are scams. If you interact with the posting account, they will strive to steal money from you. Please don’t play their game. Report them and their posts to Facebook and the group admin or moderator.

How to Defend Against These Scams

One good thing is that you can check for the switcheroo-edit. Remember the 3-dots button in the corner of each post? Click that and select Edit History. That reveals any and all changes that have been made to the post. It becomes very obvious, if you know to use this tool.

That 3-dots button also holds your reporting functions. You can first report the post to Facebook, but don’t expect much of a response. Their bots usually get back to me to state that they saw nothing wrong with the post. What’s most important is that you report the post to the people in charge of the Facebook Group. Those mods and admins are usually good people who care about the group, and will yank the post once they get your report.

If you are in a group where the moderators do NOT fulfill their duties, leave the group. You will know when this is the case, because the group will appear to be overrun with scammy posts! Sure, you can report the group to Facebook, but they will not respond. Your best bet is to save yourself and not be a part of that chaos.

If you’ve accidentally Liked, Shared or Commented on a Facebook Edited-Post Scam, try to undo that action. You can always unLike a post and delete a comment or Share. Having trouble finding what you’ve been doing on Facebook? Use the Activity Log to locate your Likes, Comments and more. And if you see that a friend has interacted with a scammy post, reach out to them to let them know. Encourage them to undo their actions, so that they’re not contributing to the spread or success of the scam.

Last thing: When someone tells you to what to share or type on Facebook, be suspicious. Share and comment what you want to, not when a stranger pushes you to.

Facebook Winner Scams

July 17, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 2 Comments

I imagine most of you have encountered Facebook Winner Scams by now. These posts usually show an eye-catching puzzle, and suggest that if you have the answer, you can comment or PM the poster for some free money. Again, this is a scam.

Using a stolen Facebook account, the scammer is looking for trusting or naive people to contact them. They’ll ask for your CashApp or Zelle account, as if they are going to send you some cash. That’s the ruse. If you cooperate with them, they’re ready to confuse the situation and trick you into exposing your funds.

Do not fall for this and do not reveal your CashApp or other payment account information to these people! Report Facebook Winner Scams to Facebook and the Facebook Group Admin.

After reading one of these sus posts, I had to check things out a little further. Using a sock puppet account, I contacted this scammer:

They clicked my fake CashApp link, which immediately showed me that they were in Lagos, Nigeria. Then I asked them about their location. They responded with a bad word in Yoruba and then blocked me.

An Even Sneakier Variant

Sometimes the scammer alters the post to make this scheme even harder to spot. How this scam works is:

The scammer posts the silly puzzle, telling everyone to search for the hidden item in the picture, and they ask everyone to comment “Got it!” when they find something.
They wait for the comments of “Got it!” to pile up under the post.
They edit the original post, to say something different and show a new photo. The edited info says how you can visit a website for free money or financial aid.

This scam-variant is especially tricky, as the altered post retains the comments from earlier. It shows a lot of replies — from real people, possibly people you know — commenting “Got it!” to this new fake offer for cash. To a trusting first-time viewer, it may appear that all of their friends are truly getting free money.

If you see this, don’t believe it, and definitely report the post. And you might reach out to anyone you recognize in the comments. You can let them know that they might want to delete their comments and report the post, too.

Traptops in 2023

July 13, 2023 / Jesse Mueller / 2 Comments

There is a class of laptop that I refer to as a “traptop”. Buying this class of computer is akin to stepping in a trap, and I have warned my readers about these in past years. And here I am again, writing about Traptops in 2023, because they are changing and still causing harm to my customers.

Traptops lure in people with great, low prices and amazingly positive descriptions. Consider this laptop on special sale right now at Amazon for the Prime Days. It looks like a pretty sweet deal at $287 for a 17″ Windows computer! But it isn’t. Please do not consider buying this dreadful device. As I say often: You will live to regret it.

Here are the criticisms I can levy on this computer:

Storage: These laptops start at 128GB of storage. And that’s not so bad, but please know that Windows 11 and its initial big updates will gobble 30-40GB of space. If you plan on storing much data, you’ll need more storage capacity. And this laptop only offers a slot for a MicroSD card. Those are extra-fragile, and I would not recommend using them for anything important.

Processor: A traptop often comes with a very underpowered processor, like an Intel Celeron. That CPU is not good at handling the weight of Windows 11. It will bog down quickly, if you leave Chrome open for too long, or during a virus scan, or even during a big Windows Update. And you cannot upgrade the processor down the road. If you plan on running Windows, avoid processors with names like Celeron, Silver, Gold and just Pentium. Those are fine for Chromebooks, but not for heavy-lifting.

Deliberately Hobbled: These computers are designed to spare all expense. They cut corners and then they cut corners off of those corners, to drive the cost down as far as is possible. And to the regular consumer, these tactics are invisible. But I and others can describe what’s going on, under the hood.

A traptop’s build cost can be cut if you eliminate the cooling fans. But to eliminate cooling fans, you must also eliminate heat. A processor has to create some heat, though. So to reduce the heat, the motherboard is programmed to throttle the already-pitiful Celeron processor.

Lack of Support: You can get into trouble with any new computer, and your first call might be to the manufacturer. No one wants to call the maker of the computer for help. But at least you can do that with an HP laptop or a Dell desktop. I have a feeling it’s not the same with a SGIN computer.

I’ve looked over the Amazon listing for their cheapest SGIN computer. I’ve done a bit of Googling and other searches. I cannot for the life of me find a website or contact number for SGIN. How would I contact the manufacturer, if I have trouble with this device? Send a message through the Amazon website?

PS: While I do not put much faith in Amazon reviews, they do reveal how bad the support level is with SGIN. Pick a SGIN computer, go to the Reviews and click on the 1-Star ratings. You’ll quickly see the suffering others have gone through.

There are many other traptops out there to beware of, so take this info and apply it wherever you see a computer that has a too-good-to-be-true pricepoint. Amazon is the worst offender that I see right now for traptops. But I should like to heap shame also on Wal*Mart and eBay for permitting these to be sold on their platforms, as well.

In general, I want to see a Windows computer with at least 8GB of RAM, a true Solid State Drive and at least an Intel i3 processor. Less than that is asking for trouble. And stick to the big brand names: HP, Dell, Acer, Asus, Lenovo. Pass over that Liánjià Lèsè Laptop or anything with a similarly curious name.

And please feel free to reach out to me before you buy your next computer. I am happy to give you my opinion on your future PC purchase!