Scammers and hackers often originate from Ghana, Nigeria, Romania, Korea, Israel, Columbia, Argentina, Philippines, Malaysia, and, of course, China and the good old USA. These developing countries breed MIT-like hackers who spend all their days targeting consumers and Internet users like you and me. But Râmnicu Vâlcea is different. Wired describes the odd contrast between…
While criminal hackers are cracking databases and stealing millions of electronic records every year, street level identity thieves are a more insidious element of the identity theft epidemic. Thieves of this nature live in your neighborhood. In some parts of the country, local identity thieves tend to be meth heads. Local identity thieves understand all…
The songstress wasn’t home at the time, but her security team was. Madonna’s London manse worth an estimated $10 million is equipped with security guards, cameras and a home alarm system. And while these are all effective layers of security and are often good deterrents they didn’t stop her stalker from breaking a window and…
Applications on mobile phones are all the rage. I spend more time on my apps than I do making calls. That time spent is often with those I connect with on social media. Twitter and Facebook are the major players in social media and applications for them are a plenty. TweetDeck FREE. TweetDeck is your…
Keeping up on the latest advances in technology has always been my thing. I once had a beeper the size of a pack of cigarettes, and a mobile phone bigger than a shoebox. I’m something of a gadget geek and a wannabe innovator. I like new and shiny. . You probably haven’t run across the…
Do you gamble online? Millions outside the U.S. do and love it. My gaming experience consists of online Solitaire and Tetris, which shows you how adventurous I am. But for those who gamble online, there can be significant risks. The same cyber criminals targeting banks and retailers working hard to collect and sell stolen personal…
The Securities and Exchange Commission defines a Ponzi scheme as “an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi scheme organizers often solicit new investors by promising to invest funds in opportunities claimed to generate high returns with little or no risk. In many…
In Buffalo New York WBEN reports “Buffalo Police are investigating a home invasion at a Sussex Street home. The male victim told police the suspects accosted him, wearing what appeared to be FBI badges and jackets.” “The victim reported that he was driving down Welker Street at around 8:45 AM, when four or five black males wearing “FBI”…
Social media security issues involve identity theft, brand hijacking, privacy issues, online reputation management, and users’ physical security. Social media provides opportunities for criminals to “friend” their potential victims, creating a false sense of trust they can use against their victims through phishing or other scams. Register your full name on the most trafficked social…
Friendly fraud occurs when a customer makes an online purchase with a credit card and then, once the merchandise has arrived, calls the credit card company, claims never to have received the item, and requests a chargeback. The merchant has no way of proving the legitimacy of this card-not-present transaction, and is forced to refund…
