We all get scam phone calls, but the newest one is meant to scare. When you pick up the phone, you get a message that your Social Security number is suspended due to suspicious activity, and then prompts the victim to speak with an agent to get help.
The FTC makes something very clear: your ... Views: 637
An unsurprising study was recently released that found even when a portable USB drive is erased, not all of the documents and images are always removed. That, of course, is frightening.
Here’s how the research was done:
Researchers went online to sites like eBay, to second-hand shops, ... Views: 464
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Office Depot, along with a tech support firm, must come up with $35 million to settle a lawsuit over claims that both organizations were part of a computer repair service scam, which involved a fake malware scan.
In the FTC complaint, it was ... Views: 502
My interview with CNN has been trending all over the internet, and that makes me so happy because we talked about a very important topic–personal security. I’m so passionate about this subject that I wanted to provide some followup commentary. Use this link to view my most ... Views: 451
I recently had the opportunity to join Tron Jordheim on his podcast hosted on stitcher.com. We talked about digital security and how to watch out for yourself in our digital landscape. I was able to share advice on privacy, information security and why it is so important to take control of your ... Views: 453
Evaldas Rimasauskas, a Lithuanian man, became very rich. How? He is a criminal who used his lying skills to get more than $100 million from companies such as Facebook and Google between 2013 and 2015.
He’s now in jail, but during his trial, Rimasauskas admitted that he was guilty of ... Views: 483
Any industry involving wiring transfers of large sums of money is vulnerable to this new type of hack. Purchasing a car, home or piece of art are large transactions and are not usually done in cash. In well-established industries like real estate, there are some checks and balances, but while ... Views: 535
Yes that title is awful and yes you should be offended. Real estate agents often find themselves in dangerous situations. And for 20 years, I’ve been screaming this, doing something about it, and it keeps happening. And the real estate agents and industries response?
Thots and prayers. ... Views: 616
Have you ever wondered if you could access your old email accounts? You might want to look for some old files, or maybe need information about an old contact. Whatever the reason, there is good and bad news when it comes to accessing old email accounts.
The best thing that you can do is to ... Views: 622
You should definitely pay attention to your mobile phone security. Most of us don’t, which makes it easy for hackers and ID thieves to target us. Here are some tips to protect yourself from becoming a target for thieves.
Use a Passcode
One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are not ... Views: 494
Do you fancy yourself a spy and wondering how you can monitor someone else’s cell phone? You won’t get that information here, but there is some good info on cell phone monitoring if you keep reading:
The Legalities of Tracking Cell Phones
Generally, it is not legal to monitor a ... Views: 609
Gone are the days when hackers would only target retailers. These days, the bad guys an target businesses in any industry, especially those that aren’t quite up on cyber security.
The real estate industry is one such group, and according to a recent survey, about half of businesses in ... Views: 564
Are you getting a lot of scammy, spammy telemarketing calls? If you are, you know how annoying they can here. Fortunately, there are some apps out there that can help. Here are a few worth looking into:
CallApp
You can use CallApp to lookup numbers, and then decide if you want to answer it ... Views: 540
There are a lot of scammers out there, and one of the things they do is create fake websites to try to trick you into giving them personal information. Here are some ways that you can determine if a website is fake or not:
How Did I Get Here?
Ask yourself how you got to the site. Did you ... Views: 520
If you have a teenager, you probably have a battle in play: do you or do you not manage your teens mobile devices. Though some parents see this as an invasion of their child’s privacy,(which, frankly, is stupid) there are many reasons why you should start managing what they are doing ... Views: 448
If you are thinking of buying a house, and you start going to open houses, you might be surprised to learn an interesting fact: the real estate agent might be carrying a gun. Some of you reading this might have jumped to this article looking for a fight, because in M’erka guns are a ... Views: 607
This story is entirely messed up. A man was recently convicted of three murders in California, and he is suspected of being involved in several more. He claims that he has been involved in killing 90 people across the county over almost 40 years.
This man, Samuel Little, is now 78-years old, ... Views: 1414
If you have a contactless card, you might have worries about skimming. A contactless card or “frictionless” or “tap and go” is a card that has technology in it that allows payment over secure wireless like Apple Pay, Android Pay etc. Basically, this is where a criminal ... Views: 491
USPSID stands for U.S. Postal Service Informed Delivery. It is a good thing to sign up for because it informs you of your expected deliveries.
But there’s a problem: Someone ELSE could pose as you and sign up for this service, getting your mail before you have a chance to.
In fact, it ... Views: 530
It is a hassle to keep track of all of your passwords. So, many people use the same username and password combination for all of their accounts. This, however, is a big mistake. All it takes is one hacker getting ahold of one of your accounts, and the rest of your accounts are now compromised. ... Views: 492
Humans have evolved a new body part: the cell phone. One day it will be part of anatomical illustrations of the body in health and medical books probably an appendage on your head. I’m not a Dr. so don’t quote me.
For now, we have to figure out a way to keep this appendage juiced ... Views: 625
So maybe Christmas now means the very predictable gift card swap, but hey, who can’t use a gift card? But beware, there are a ton of scams. This includes physical, not just digital, gift cards.
Regardless of who gave you the card, you should always practice security measures. Below are ... Views: 547
Mass shootings. They happen so often these days, they are hardly making headlines, and when they do, they are soon pushed out of the news cycle thanks to what’s going on in the White House or in Russia. There are many red flags that show what crazy mass shooters look like.
Look at ... Views: 700
Social Security numbers and credit card numbers are not the only types of data that hackers are after. Now, they are looking at frequent flyer accounts, and they are stealing reward miles, and then selling them online.
How do Hackers Steal Frequent Flyer Miles?
As with other types of ID ... Views: 714
You probably have a few usernames, or you might have just one that you use for every site. Either way, your user names can be used not just to identify you online, but it can also be used to track you and find out information about you. How do people track you based on your user name? They do ... Views: 625
Eddie Leal, 23, was an up-and-coming professional boxer who gave free boxing lessons in his garage to down-and-out neighborhood teens. He was a good guy. And like most young men, was looking for a girlfriend.
One day he saw that a young woman, Rebecca Santhiago, was asking for a friend ... Views: 648
You have probably heard that it’s important to be prepared for a disaster. You might have a first aid kit set aside, food and water, or a battery-operated radio. But, are you financially prepared?
Creating an Emergency Fund
It might be tough but try to set aside some money a little at ... Views: 502
If only. But that’ll never be.
Brandi Hicks, 17, and her high school friend, Liz Reiser, exited a video store at 9:30 pm, where they were approached by Matthew Vaca, a creepy acting stranger.
He asked them for a ride to his house. At first they refused, but then he offered $20 for gas. ... Views: 661
Who does this?
Morna Brennen did this when she was 22. She and a few friends went to a bar and stayed there late.
At some point while they were there, a man took an interest in Morna. But she was creeped out by him and pretty much ignored him.
Later when it was time to leave, Morna and one ... Views: 979
Lois Riess is a woman from Minnesota who police say shot her husband, went on the run, and then killed a woman in order to take on her identity. Here are some shocking facts about her:
Riess Looked Like her Victim
The woman Lois Riess killed, Pamela Hutchinson, looked like her. This is why ... Views: 500
Have you ever used Facebook to sign onto another site? Many of us do this pretty blindly simply because it is very convenient. But, this convenience could come at a cost.
You know the drill. You go to a website and it says “Log In With Facebook.” or Google. Usually, it just takes ... Views: 503
You have a mobile phone, you might think it’s pretty safe, but what you might not realize is that these devices can have spyware on them. Keep in mind, many of the “signs” listed below are everyday normal phone behaviors. But combined, might mean spyware. Here are some of the ... Views: 585
Where should you live in the world? What Game of Thrones family are you in? What is the food that best describes your personality? All of these answers are given and found by doing quizzes on Facebook. You have surely seen them if you use Facebook, and have may have taken these quizzes, but you ... Views: 486
In 1996, a 12-year-old Washington state girl was raped and murdered. However, it wasn’t until June 2018, that an arrest was made in the case. How did this happen? DNA technology.
The man arrested is Gary Hartman, and he is accused of killing and raping 12-year old Michella Welch. Donald ... Views: 571
When is the last time you checked your credit report? If it has been more than a year, you can get a free one. The issue is, however, is how to really understand it. Here’s some information about obtaining and reading your credit report.
Obtaining Your Free Credit Report
Based on US ... Views: 487
If you are thinking of jumping onto the Bitcoin bandwagon, or any type of cryptocurrency, you have to make sure that you are watching out for scams. There are a ton of them out there, including the following:
Fake Bitcoin Exchanges
You have to use a Bitcoin exchange if you want to buy or ... Views: 684
There is a new Social Security scam in the news, and you should definitely know about it. The Acting Inspector General of Social Security, released a statement that warns people of this new scheme. Basically, scammers are impersonating Social Security Administration employees.
The scam ... Views: 597
Javelin Strategy & Research recently released its Identity Fraud Study, and it revealed that the number of identity theft victims rose by 8% in 2017 when compared to 2016. That’s almost 17 million people, which is a record high. Despite more information and industry efforts to make ... Views: 552
When it comes to background checks, the National Crime Information Center is the gold standard. It is only available to law enforcement agencies and is the most accurate and complete database tracking convictions and arrests in the US. That sounds pretty great, right? Unfortunately, it’s ... Views: 573
Cyber criminals are constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the good guys, and there is now another scam out there that you should know about: synthetic identity theft. Basically, the criminals take information from someone, and then make up the rest. They also often use fake Social Security ... Views: 587
It seems like 2017 broke records for all the wrong reasons…one of them being the worst year for data breaches in history.
According to reports, hacking was the most common way to collect this data, but almost 70% of exposures occurred due to accidental leaks or human error. This came ... Views: 602
You have probably heard the story before. Teenage girl takes some scantily clad photos and sends them to her latest boyfriend. “What could go wrong?,” she thinks. Well, a lot could go wrong, and an article on Vice.com really lays that out. You might think that the boyfriend is ... Views: 813
Do you have children? How do you talk to them when something like a mass shooting happens? What about a robbery in your neighborhood? Do you talk about nuclear weapons? If you are like most parents, you don’t know where to start. Here’s 10 tips that you can use to talk to your kids ... Views: 596
Criminals have a reliance on tricking victims to get access to account information, like passwords. This is known as social engineering, and is also called a “confidence crime.” These come in many forms:
Do Not Take the Bait of These Phishermen
A phishing email that targets a ... Views: 509
Though it would be nice to think that you can fix something if you make a mistake, there are some where there is just no going back. And in some cases, these mistakes can be tragic. Here are some of the biggest mistakes that people make with their home security:
Leaving Doors Unlocked ... Views: 752
Hackers are out there, and they have their eyes on YOU! So, you are the first line of defense against them. Do you know how to make your smart phone or computer more difficult for hackers to access? Here’s five tips to help:
Password Information
You would think that these days, ... Views: 567
For the most part, the local police department does not prevent most assaults or burglaries. That would require a cop to be everywhere all at once. Not happening. However, they do their best to capture and arrest those who commit these crimes. And, preventing crimes goes way beyond getting a ... Views: 573
When is the last time you thought about the safety and security of your home? How about thinking about it right now? Do you do the following? If not, start, today:
Do you have propane tanks for a gas grill? Or gasoline cans with gas in them? They aren’t supposed to be stored inside. ... Views: 796
Even if you have the best security on your computer network, you might have noticed that you still seem to get hacked…or worse. Ask Equifax. Why is this happening? It’s probably because a member of your staff has made it easy for cyber criminals to get inside. It’s really ... Views: 614
What do you do if you have a “Plan A” for survival, but you realize that it’s a bad plan. Do you have a “Plan B?”
Forget about doing things like running to the grocery store right before the snow storm of the century hits. Everyone else in your town or city will ... Views: 636