t the end of the free six-month period, McAfee will be offering a special discount to users that choose to continue their subscriptions.

There are, however, two small catches: the subscription is available only for Windows-based computers, and in order to download the software users are required to provide a credit card or Paypal ID along with their billing address, so that at the end of the six months McAfee can automatically bill them to continue their subscriptions.  Users can, of course, cancel before the initial six months is up and pay nothing.

Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/it/article/facebook-and-mcafee-partnership-provides-free/#ixzz0zR4NTV2B

‘…intercepted and are holding in custody a woman at JFK airport in NYC whom claims she was acting as a delegate courier and that she was apprehended with a large sealed box of cash intended for delivery to me.’

The e-mail further stated that the woman did not know that the parcel she was carrying contained a large sum of undeclared cash. The e-mail states that her instruction was to deliver this diplomatic parcel directly to my doorstep (in Toronto, Canada via JFK in NYC? -Like we don’t have major airports in Toronto! d-UH!)

The e-mail further states that I have three business days to respond with a note stating that this money is mine or else they (the FBI) will keep the money for themselves and furthermore, arrest and charge me with money laundering.
Me, and the woman will will be charged with this illegal activity? Do I look scared? However, the e-mail offers an amicable way out.

-If I respond within the next three business days and ‘claim’ that the money is mine and that it is legit (apparently just my word will be sufficient ‘proof,’) she shall be set free and allowed to continue her delivery of said diplomatic package of cash directly to me. The e-mail provides an e-mail address of the lady apprehended for me to respond directly to, and she will show this e-mail confirmation to the FBI… -Sounds fishy and obtuse to you too, yes?

More Phishing E-mails

I also received two more e-mails today from Chase Bank marked “URGENT” requesting that I refresh and re-verify my account information with them immediately, -never mind the fact that I don’t even have an account with Chase Bank. I get those from Chase just about every week. C’mon really, -are these inbred idiotic scammers really as dumb as this? Oddly enough, yes. Too many demands, to much urgency, too often!

When you receive any communiqué from any institution (and this include e-mail providers,) you area advised to be immediately wary if the instruction requests you do any of (and not limited to) the following:

• Provide personal information directly, or via any link provided in the e-mail;
• If they threaten or insinuate account closure or suspension if you fail to take immediate action
  in regards to forwarding the personal information they request;
• Claim that your account has been ‘compromised’ or ‘accessed’ by a third-party and thus
  require that you ‘confirm’ your account data with them;
• Claim that they have spotted unauthorized activity or charges on your account. Again, asking
  for verification of your account information;
• Phishing emails often use generic salutations like “Dear Customer,” “Dearest” or “Dear account holder” instead of your full legal name
• The address from which the email was sent is often not one from the company it claims to be (e.g., chasebank@hotmail, etc.)
  
• Asks you for your User ID, Password or any account information, billing information or
  numbers, -even if they have already some information about you that may be
  correct such as your full name, a former address or employer which can be found
  in public records and be used by scammer to trick you into providing more
  information than they already have.

Any of these requests are an automatic flag to be wary of. Do not click any link on that page, even if the company is one familiar to you (e-bay, PayPal, your e-mail providers, Chase Bank or any financial institution, etc.) still, do not click any link on that page! You should close that e-mail, open a new client window and go directly to the site, the REAL site, and check your status there. Also, -credible institutions will not ‘attach files’ to their e-mails either. So an e-mail from any institution that has an ‘attached file’ is probably suspicious; the attached file could be a virus payload that if clicked, will attempt to examine your private data. This is why it is important to have an anti-virus program resident, and to also not click on links in suspicious e-mails.

An actual (and VERY INEPT) Nigerian Scam E-mail I received:

1st floor, Metro Police Head Quarters Building 118 Church Street, Pretoria West
Abuja Nigeria   

Hello Sir/Madam,

We bring to your notice to inform you the news after the crusade with the President Good Luck Jonathan and others President in Africa in conjunction (UN) ageist corruptions in Nigeria and fraud alert going around the nation, base on this information you are hereby to stop every further communication with any office or bank here in Nigeria Africa for you not to be a victim of scam till we have done with our investigation from the right source on how you will receive your funds from this country.

We do advice all the foreigners to follow the right source and the better way to receive your funds from this country and if there is, we are on our searching to find out if you are the really Beneficiary to the said funds so that you will not be deceived by any one again and after our investigation if you are the rightful person to receive the said funds we will advice you the better way you can receive your funds without any further delay.

To help us in fasting this searching and investigation you are advised to give us this information bellow.

Your full name

Your address

Your country

Direct phone line

Occupation

Age

Amount you have spent so far and how long you have been dealing with, the name of the person you are dealing with his information you may have, we do this to protect the image of this great country Nigeria .

Thanks for your understanding I will look forward to receive your prompt respond immediately.  

Sir Ogbnna O. Onovo OON, NPM

(INSPECTOR GENERAL OF NIGERIA POLICE FORCE)

Seriously, -my first thought was that a Triond writer wrote this and e-mailed it to me! You tenured Triond writers back me up on this; you know what I’m talking about. The grammar is terrible.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, it is addressed to the ubiquitous ‘Sir/Madam’ which is an immediate give-away that this is bulk and that this is fraud.

Several times now I have received e-mails that my ‘PayPal account is suspended due to suspicious activity’ and the e-mail instruct me to click the link provided and ’sign-in to re-verify’ my status. I do not do so.

You should always instead open a NEW WINDOW in your browser and visit the REAL site in question, sign-in and verify your status that way.

Avoid Phishing Scams

Report suspicious e-mails directly to “abuse@(provider_name).com,” and also remember to ‘flag’ the suspicious e-mail using your local e-mail client under “phishing atempt.” Stop these thieves and scammers before they steal your money, your credit, your reputation and your personal identity.

If you’re anything like a lot of people in the world, you will have used a search engine to search your own name before. While this might seem like harmless fun, and you are rather amused at what you can find out about yourself, do you ever stop to think what might happen if other people searched your name and found the same amount of information?

If you think about your online accounts to emails, all that you would need to change your password would be the answer to your secret question. These questions are sometimes things that people who knew you might know anyway, and people who didn’t would probably be able to get from your online blogs or profiles, all of which appear when you enter your name into a search engine.

Once someone has your password, take a second or two to think about what you might have to lose. Firstly, all of your social networking accounts could be hacked. This might not seem like a huge deal to you, as you can always change the passwords back, however some people use such an opportunity to send messages to people’s friends on these sites, many of which contain links to harmful viruses, meaning that they might be the next people to get hacked, too.

Do you use online banking? If you do, your account may be able to be accessed to anyone who has hold of the password to your email account. If this is the case, think about what they might be able to do with your money. They would be able to transfer it all to one of their own accounts, and chances are, you would never see it again.

So, how can this be helped? First of all, you should make sure that your passwords don’t mean anything. A random string of letters/numbers/symbols tend to work best, as there is no way that anyone would be able to take a guess at them. Secondly, you should ensure that the answer to your secret question is not a real answer. If anything, it should have nothing to do with the question at all. Have the answers and passwords written down somewhere in your home, well away from your computer, where you know that they will be should you need them at any point during the future.  If you do this, then you should be able to make things a lot harder for anyone who might try to steal any of your information from you.

Records with private information are leaked more than we know. Medical forms, financial documents, Social Security information either in paper or electronically are at risk and leaks are not always revealed to the public. The Identity Theft Resource Center says dozens of breaches are delayed from publication or not disclosed at all. They add that a lot of breaches are kept from the public eye and dealt with internally. If you do get a notice that your personal information is at risk, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are a victim of identity theft. If it’s a credit card you only need deal with the credit card company. If it’s your Social Security put a fraud alert on it and make sure to renew it a few times when the fraud alert expires.

Image by Don Hankins via Flickr

Federal law requires that medical breaches involving more than 500 people must be listed with the Health and Human services breach list. But hospitals and Health Services are allowed to keep anything off the list that they think isn’t a risk. Georgia doesn’t keep a list, but the state requires businesses and agencies to notify consumers if their information has been exposed. This year in Georgia incidents include credit card numbers exposed at a Augusta Dollar Store and a criminal organization from Bulgaria stealing bank card numbers and passwords at Bank of America. 94 percent of all compromised records in 2009 were attributed to financial services.

Here are some tips to help you protect your personal information.

1.If you suspect your personal information is at risk, request the three credit bureaus freeze access to your credit files, which will prevent thieves from opening credit with your information.

2. Use unique passwords for each website you visit, including shopping sites and online banking. That will limit any breach to one website if thieves steal a password.

3.Check your bank or retailers security measures for online transitions. They should have policies to prevent online hacking.

Image via Wikipedia

4. Always review credit card and banking statements when you receive them. Some thieves steal small amounts over time from thousands of accounts in hopes of going unnoticed longer.

5. Given the choice of using a bank card or credit card, use a credit card. They offer more protection to the consumer. Thieves who get your debit card information can quickly empty your account.

6.If your Social Security number is at risk, place a fraud alert with the three major credit bureaus. The alert expires every three months so renew it several times. Criminals will sometimes wait before using your information to avoid such alerts.

Publish your articles and earn income.

More articles on personal finance:

http://gomestic.com/personal-finance/take-charge-of-your-money/

http://gomestic.com/personal-finance/yes-you-can-save-money/

http://gomestic.com/personal-finances/get-financially-healthy/

http://gomestic.com/personal-finance/save-money-on-almost-everything/

http://gomestic.com/consumer-information/how-to-deal-with-credit-card-report-errors

By Joseph Parish

Do you post negative remarks about President Obama on your website? Do you question the wisdom of our political leader’s judgment? Do you speak trash online pertaining to bills which the government is currently passing? If so then the Transportation Security Administration is likely banning your website from being viewed on their government computers. Internet usage is deemed a major predicament in that our government no longer considers it appropriate to have an opinion that isn’t sanctioned by our government itself.

The above types of remarks are considered to be “controversial opinion” according to the federal government. This administration does not like being advised that they are wrong by either the voters or the workers, therefore as a federal worker you have a choice simply do as they say or walk away.

Naturally TSA has every conceivable right to limit the Internet to its employees during their working hours since these people are using the government’s computer networks however it is also conveying a message to the people. In authorizing this ruling the TSA is loudly proclaiming to it employees that individual intellect or opinion is not acceptable. If you disagree with their ideology there is nothing you can do but resign. The dilemma presented with that idea is that with our countries current economic downfall you risk not being able to pay your bills or even finds another position.

Obama, Lieberman and their various henchmen want to completely control freedom of speech. They are currently running scared and are fearful of losing control of the government come the November elections of this year. Could this perhaps be Mr. Obama’s major power grab in order to remain in his current office indefinitely? According to new legislation, Obama now has within his grasp the ability to literally shut down the internet if he deems it an emergency.

In case you are wondering when the TSA rulings will become effective wonder no longer for they are already active. The new rulings were initiated on July 1, 2010. No one has of yet managed to explain what is considered to be controversial and what is not, however we can imagine that it is anti-Obama content which is at risk. In the near future they will likely add any sites which condemn the governments handling of events such as the Gulf oil spill or the war overseas.  

We can all thank Senator Joe Lieberman (hopefully at election time as well) for this condemnation of our freedom of speech for it was he who pushed the recent National Asset Act to protect cyberspace. This is the bill which handed Obama the right to turn off the internet as he deems fit. This ‘kill switch’ bill was approved by our Homeland Security Committee and is currently awaiting final approval by the Senate.

I theorize that this censorship will initially start with the federal computers and once it has been determined that the authorities can effectively get away with it they will turn their attention to the private sector and eventually to the home computers. If you think for one moment this will not happen please think again. It’s one thing to have a company block websites and internet due to business related reasons however; it’s a completely different issue when public facilities are being blocked for specific sites because they do not agree with the opinion expressed. That sort of policy appears biased and totally unfair. I know a person who is assigned to a military base in Kentucky and it is virtually impossible to send that person any sort of email which may happen to mention Obama’s name in it as it will not go through the censor system. It is automatically blocked.

With this move in effect things can only get worse for you will not likely see future news stories concerning government abuse of power. After all, look at all the abuse that has been taking place at the nations airports by our TSA agents. In the future we simply will not hear about those issues. When our government places controls on what we are allowed to see and hear then it is nothing more then a massive Fascist indoctrination campaign. Granted the law states that the only computers that will be affected are those federal computers under TSA control but mark my word it’s only at matter of time before the cancer spreads. If they can block data in private networks they can do the same to the Public Networks.

Copyright @2010 Joseph Parish

www.survival-training.info

If you use a word which someone could associate with you, then people you know (who you wouldn’t always even suspect) could be getting into your accounts, without you even knowing. A friend of mine was a famous pianist in her town, and her password for everything was ‘piano’. One of the people who she thought were her friends guessed this password, and used it to read her private emails for many months.

You shouldn’t use your name, your partner’s name, or any of the names of family members. You shouldn’t even use the names of your pets, and it would be unsafe to have your password as the type of animal which you own.

Pick a random word

The best way to do this is to open a dictionary at a random page, and close your eyes and point to a word. If the word is shorter than eight characters long, pick again, and keep doing so until you find one.

If there are any letters in the word which correspond with numbers (eg i=1, e=3) randomly substitute SOME (but not all) of these letters into your password. This way, even if anyone guesses what the word is, they would never be able to work out which letters you had substituted.

Use Punctuation

If at all possible, include at least one punctuation mark in your password. You should try to use it somewhere in the middle of your password, as using it at the beginning or end is predictable. Some sites won’t let you use punctuation in passwords, but plenty do, and you should take the opportunity when it arises. You should use a completely random punctuation mark, and steer clear of the over used ones like full stops and commas.

Don’t use the same password for anything

Although it might seem hard to remember a lot of different passwords, you shouldn’t use the same password for more than one account. This is because if a hacker manages to get hold of one of your passwords, chances are they will be able to access every account you own if you use the same one. This is dangerous, as it could lead to them claiming your bank details if you use online banking, or getting access to your paypal account or other online banking system.

Never tell anyone your passwords

Even if you think you trust someone 100%, you should keep your passwords to yourself. Unless there is any major reason that they have to get into one of your accounts, they have no reason to know these, so it makes sense to protect yourself by not telling them to anyone.

Change your passwords periodically

Some people never change their passwords. Even changing them every couple of months is better than never changing them at all, so bear this in mind. The longer you go without changing them, the higher risk there is of somebody getting into your account and having access to a lot of your personal data.

With more and more information being sent over the internet now than ever before, this advice is more important than ever. Please stay safe, and always make sure you don’t write your passwords down anywhere for somebody else to find them.

What is Phishing?
Phishing scams are usually distributed through emails, and as the name suggests, “phishing” is a form of fishing – for sensitive information stored on your computer, such as information about your credit card, driver’s licence, identity details, etc.

Phishing generally consists of someone sending you an email that is almost identical with those you may receive from your banking institution, or, for that matter from Microsoft, or similar. Usually, on the face of it, as in the actual email you are looking at, there is no way of telling that this is a bogus email – until you click on the link provided. Often these links will take you to a disreputable site, generally something porn, dating site, or viagra related. However, clever phishers have the link take you to a website that also looks like it is from whom the email claimed to be.

You are then informed that there is some problem with your account and could you please log-in and make sure that your information is correct. Sometimes, the call to action may be for you to download a file, under the pretense of needing you to confirm the information. The information you input is then collected and used to gain access to your accounts and private information – without your knowledge.

Why would somebody want your information?
To begin with, if some unscrupulous person has your personal information, such as your account number and password, they are then able to access your assets – by stealing your identity, possibly opening credit accounts in your name (which you are liable for), or using a current credit card and building up enormous debt in your name.

Identity theft can be used to obtain a driver’s license or passport that would display their photo but your name and information. Fraudulent income tax returns could be filed, travel documents, insurance claims filed, let us not forget that your personal details could be used as I.D in criminal activities.

Why are they picking on you?
Well, it’s nothing personal, identity thieves send out thousands of fake emails on a daily basis. Your email address was probably obtained through the use of some software, that scours the internet gathering emails. When sending out these fake emails, the methodology used is that of chance – if you throw enough crap at a wall, sooner or later, some of it will stick. Out of 10,000 emails sent, it only takes one person to be taken in and the criminal may well be rolling in money thereafter – your money.

What clues are there that you have received a bogus email?

Regardless of how official, or genuine an email appears, remember this:

• Financial institutions, government agencies, etc, will contact you through surface mail, not via email, unless you have requested them to do so.
• Windows, on your PC, posts updated security patches regularly, through your computer’s in-built update program – microsoft does not send emails, nor do they hold competitions offering thousands of dollars in prize money.

What can you do to prevent phishing scams?

• Make sure your computer is up to date with security patches from windows.
• Make sure your  is up to date and set to run on a regular basis.
• Use a browser such as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer 8, or similar. These browsers have anti-phishing devices installed.
• Most Important: Pay Attention to what you are looking at, or downloading!

Should you be the recipient of one of these bogus emails, maybe informing you of a pending tax refund, are under investigation, or from your financial institution telling you that inexplicably, all your information has been lost – do not go there. Phishing can affect anyone unprepared.

It seems that the article had a good number of visits, but at the same time I saw that I kept receiving more and more spam of this kind. CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE.

Almost all of the emails were coming from people in my list. That is because these contacts had their computers infected with malware that was distributing these messages. Many of these sites have not found themselves in the “black lists” of anti virus software companies.

A new threat on the block is http://why-do-they-block.com/ (ATTENTION !!! DO NOT FOLLOW THIS LINK)

The domain name is registered to a Chinese name and address , and if you have been a victim of this site, here are the details they have registered (found through a public domain WHOIS service)

The Data in Paycenter’s WHOIS database is provided by Paycenter
for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining
information about or related to a domain name registration record.

Administrative Contact:
Name : Lrq Meu
Organization : Lrq Meu
Address : BaoChun Rd. 623, No. 04, 1F, Apt. 3350
City : Bejing
Province/State : Beijing
Country : CN
Postal Code : 100176
Phone Number : 010-010-01245857-01245857
Fax : 86-010-01245857-01245857
Email : bnneevp@126.com

A lot of tempting messages out there, promising you that you that by logging into a website, using your Hotmail email and password, you can find out who has blocked you on MSN,

The temptation is high for people who suspect that they have been blocked by friends, ex or potential partners.

Once you are tempted, giving away your Hotmail password is just a click away. But what do you get in return? The answer is simple: disaster.

Once you press the SIGN IN button, your email and password are emailed to the person who has set up the trap. They receive your details, and immediately they log in to your email account, change your password and your security questions. You do not realise what happens at the beginning but in a few minutes you see that you are disconnected from MSN Messenger. You try to login and your password is not recognised. Your next instinctive move is to go to the Hotmail website. You get there but you are signed out. You try to sign in again and you get the same error message: your password is not recognised.

Photo 1. Phishing Warning from PC GUARD.

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have updated protection and databases that contain all reported web forgery. The screenshot from Photo 1 is a typical example of a Pc Guard warning. But the responsibility also lays with the user. It is YOUR responsibility to install an up to date Firewall and anti-virus suite. The antivirus suite must have more than the old traditional antivirus.

In our days, the acceptable setup for such a suite would include :

• Anti Virus (for viruses)
• Firewall (for attacks from the web)
• Anti Spyware (protection from stealth spyware code)
• Identity Theft Protection (protect your identity and login details)
• Parental Control (to restrict and control your children’s access)
• Privacy Manager
• Pop Up Blocker

Photo2. A phishing login page in French.

Photo 3. A typical login page of an MSN Messenger phishing scam.

The phishing websites are very often different from the Messenger login, but carry similar logos and colours. Sometimes the web page is almost identical to that of Yahoo! Or Hotmail or any other webmail platform. If that is the case, the easy way to check the validity of the site, is to look at the URL (address) box on your browser.

For Hotmail, the address should look something like:

http://mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0          

and for Yahoo something like this:

http://uk.yahoo.com/?p=us

 where “uk” is relevant to the country you are in (i.e. I am in the UK).

You may ask “why would somebody want your email account”?

There are actually more than one answers to this question; and none of them is any better than the other.

1. In your account you are bound to have kept emails with login details to websites like PayPal.
2. You might have stored “draft” messages with login of your internet banking.
3. You might have sensitive information stored in your account
4. You might need your account urgently so you will be vulnerable to blackmail. If you wonder how will the contact you if you do not have access to your account … the answer is simple. You might have another email address in your account (as alternative email for security) and if you do not, they just login to MSN or Yahoo Messenger and inform your friends!

Once again the key word in protecting yourself is common sense.

1. Do not follow links that look suspect (even if it is from people you know).
2. Do not click on links from emails coming from people you do not know.
3. Do not be tempted to put your email and password to any website. You will just lose your email account.
4. Do not save your webmail, PayPal and e-banking addresses in your Favourites. They may be altered by malware and lead you straight into a trap.

In my professional capacity I see way to often people who lose their email accounts, or people whose computers are infected, and they have no idea about it. It is easier for someone else to spot it, since I receive spam messages from their accounts.

Do not be a victim. Keep your login details safe, and never click on anything that is tempting.

Read more updates on this article by clicking here.

The problem starts with the fact that Nigeria is not on Paypal’s list of countries which can be found here.  It is purely speculation on my part but I would guess it is due Nigeria’s laws, combined with the amount of fraud coming out of Nigeria.

However, if you absolutely must have access to a Paypal account, and use it in Nigeria, here are a few steps you need to take.

1. You must obtain a US proxy IP address
2. You must obtain a US mailing address
3. You must obtain a US issued Debit/Credit card account
4. Make sure the card has the US address for billing

You may use Google to get any info you might need on where to obtain these things.

Also you should use Google to learn how to use a proxy IP if you don’t already know how to do that.

Now you can register for an account using the proxy, and US card, and US address.  Paypal will verify your account via email, and by making a couple small deposits, you will need to know the amounts.

Once that is done, you will have a verified Paypal account.

Never, under any circumstances allow someone else to use your account, or give account details to anyone.  It is estimated that there are over a quarter million people involved in internet fraud in Nigeria. 

Never allow the use of your account by someone else for purchasing, or receiving money, or any purpose.

Be safe, not sorry.