Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
According to this recent report from the folks at Motherboard, several popular email apps are scanning user emails and then selling the data scraped from those messages to third party companies.
That sold data is then used by the purchasers to bombard the unsuspecting users with SPAM emails and even send physical junk mail to their homes or office mail boxes.
It seems like a new scam pops up on Facebook every day, and others seem to come and go in cycles.
Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous Facebook scams you’re likely to encounter is making the rounds yet again.
It’s called the ‘You’re tagged in this video!‘ scam, and although there are several subtle variations of it, they all work something like this:
Someone either makes a post on your timeline or sends you a private message stating that one of your friends has tagged you in a video. Naturally, you’re intrigued as to who the friend is and what the video is about, so you click the link to watch it.
After you click the link to view the video you receive a pop-up message stating that in order to see the video, you’ll need to download a software update or browser extension. Without giving it a second thought, you click the link to complete the download.
Congratulations! Your computer is now infected with one or more viruses, trojans and/or other forms of malware!
As always, the only way to truly protect yourself from falling victim to the criminals who perpetrate these scams is to be diligent and use extreme caution when deciding whether or not to click a link. Here are a few tips: [Read more…]
Unless you’ve just returned from an extended vacation on a deserted island you’re probably aware of the Cambridge Analytica scandal that resulted in millions of Facebook users having their personal information leaked or sold to a third party.
Well, truth be told, Cambridge Analytica was just the tip of the iceberg. [Read more…]
Well, it’s that time of year again. Lots of folks have gotten into the Christmas spirit and started looking for great deals on gift items.
Unfortunately, the scammers of the world are also getting into the Christmas spirit, and they’re hoping to take advantage of yours by scamming you out of a few bucks (or in this case some merchandise).
Unfortunately, the insidious “Secret Sisters Gift Exchange” scam is once again making the rounds on Facebook. [Read more…]
It used to be that hackers targeted online retailers a lot more often than local “brick-and-mortar” establishments, but that’s no longer the case.
In fact there are actually fewer successful online breaches nowadays than “local” hacks.
The latest “brick-and-mortar” company to fall victim to a successful hack is Krystal, the ultra-popular “mini-burger” restaurant chain.