A “fly by night” business is one that quickly appears and disappears, without concern for the quality of their product or service, or for legal regulations. These untrustworthy businesses often operate fraudulently. On the Internet, a fly by night business is called a “phantom website.” Phantom websites exist to collect personal and credit card information.…
Shopping online is unquestionably more convenient and efficient than traditional commerce. But is it safer? We face risk everywhere we go. We risk car accidents on the way to the mall. Muggers and thieves present a risk. Heck, you risk catching a cold from a sniffling salesclerk! Similarly, shopping online creates another set of pitfalls,…
A close friend called to tell me a man knocked on her door to sell her on repaving her driveway. In the process, he requested she invite him in to discuss it further and go over different options. The man was persistent and if my friend was anyone else, he may have gotten in. However,…
In Greek mythology, Zeus is the father of all gods and men. Today in the tech world, Zeus is the father of all computer viruses. The Zeus Trojan virus, which has been around since 2007, has been described as one of the most powerful, sophisticated, and evasive viruses ever. Many antivirus programs have had difficulty…
Here are 11 tips to have a safe online shopping experience during the holiday season: Avoid spoofed websites. Common sense says any time you receive an offer via an e-mail automatically be suspicious. The same goes with offers via tweets and messages received in any social media site. Don’t click the links in e-mails. Especially…
Electronic funds transfers at the point of sale (or EFTPOS) skimming is a relatively new scam that has become more prevalent over the past few years. This form of skimming involves swapping out the self-swipe point of sale terminals at cash registers, and replacing them with devices that record credit and debit card data. Fast…
Robbery as defined in Wikipedia is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Robbery differs from simple theft, a break-in or burglary on its use…
You may have noticed that the Internet is expanding. Major newspapers are publishing all their content online, because the readers expect and demand it. 23 of the 25 largest newspapers are seeing declines in readership. And if people aren’t buying newspapers, advertisers won’t place ads in them. Newspapers hire journalists to investigate the issues that…
Last year around the holidays I wrote about burglars preying on churches. This year is no different. The Boston Globe reports “You know things are bad when they start knocking off churches. And judging by the number of churches knocked off recently, things are very bad indeed.” “I’m seeing levels of desperation out there I…
Twitter is now beginning to see a substantial rise in active users. A recent report found that the percentage of Twitter users who have tweeted ten or more times, have more than ten followers, and follow more than ten people rose from 21% to 29% in the first half of 2010. Spammers, scammers, and thieves…
