scam Archives - Page 20 of 27 - Rick's Daily Tips

If you use any of these apps from the Microsoft Store, delete them NOW!

Posted on February 18, 2019

Microsoft encourages Windows users to only download Windows apps from the official Microsoft Store because there’s no way to ensure the safety of apps that are available from third-party download sites.

Well, it appears that Microsoft needs to pick up their game a bit if they want to maintain the Microsoft Store’s reputation as a source for safe app downloads.

Security firm Symantec has just discovered that at least eight apps available from the Microsoft Store start engaging in crypto jacking operations immediately after they are downloaded and installed on a user’s Windows machine.

[Read more…]

Q&A: I was kicked out of my own Facebook group. How can I regain control of it?

Posted on January 24, 2019

Question from Daniel: I’m in desperate need of your help with recovering a Facebook group that was stolen from me.

Back in 2015 I started a group about camping. I worked real hard at promoting the group and over time it grew to over 32,000 members.

I used this group to sell camping gear that I would ship directly to the customers from my brick and mortar store.

About 7 months ago I was approached by a woman who runs a fitness website asking if we could cross-promote each other’s products in our two groups.

I agreed and granted her admin access to my group and she reciprocated by granting me admin access to her group.

Her group only has about 12,000 members but I was making several sales a week from my posts in there.

All was well until this morning when I discovered that I’m no longer a member of either group.

I tried logging in with my email address and password and neither group will accept them.

It appears that this person has hijacked my group and kicked me completely out of it. Can you tell me what I need to do in order to regain control of it?

I reported the theft to Facebook but so far I haven’t heard anything back from them.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Scam alert: Beware the ‘iTunes has overcharged you!’ phishing scam

Posted on August 4, 2018

Apple’s popular iTunes service has millions of active customers, and that make them a favorite target of scammers.

Well, an old iTunes-related scam that tries to trick you into disclosing your iTunes login information by trying to claim a bogus refund from Apple is making the rounds once again.

The scam works something like this: [Read more…]

Scam alert: Beware the free VPN app ‘S5Mark’ – It’s actually malware!

Posted on June 19, 2018

As you probably know, many free download sites attach additional “drive-by” downloads to the files you download from their sites to your PC.

A relative handful of those “add-on” programs are actually beneficial, but the vast majority of them are simply junk that will bloat your system and slow it down.

Even worse, some add-ons that claim to provide a useful service are actually malware that will spy on you and/or do nefarious things and make it look like you’re the culprit.

One of the most insidious “drive-by” add-ons that you’re likely to ever encounter is a program called S5Mark. [Read more…]

Scam alert: Hackers have stolen your info if you have an account on PaneraBread.com.

Posted on April 3, 2018

Are you a Panera Bread customer who has opened an account on their website so you can place orders online?

If so, your information has likely been stolen by hackers.

Our friends at KrebsOnSecurity have announced that PaneraBread.com has been leaking customer information to hackers for at least 8 months.

The breach apparently affects over 37 million Panera customers.

If you are affected by the breach (and you almost certainly are if you ordered online at PaneraBread.com at any time during the last 8 months), hackers now have the following information on you: [Read more…]