Goodizen :: Scams

Microsoft is linking malicious software analysts with online advertising fraud experts in an effort to disrupt click fraud, a scam where advertisers pay for worthless clicks. The Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) will work with the online forensics team within Bing Ads, the company's online advertising system formerly known as adCenter, said Nikola Livic, a MMPC software developer. Large data sets on malware will be correlated with clicks on advertising in order to detect potentially fraudulent behaviour, Livic said. "We are taking two relatively disparate domains of expertise and tools, namely malware and online advertising, and creating prevention systems and processes for identifying the entire chain of benefactors of click-fraud malware," Livic said. "In this way, we're stopping the flow of illicit money at the adCenter level." Microsoft cited statistics from NSS Labs, a company that evaluates and tests security systems, that some 60...

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - 1:55pm Related How did viral Facebook privacy hoax capitalize on privacy fears? How did viral Facebook privacy hoax capitalize on privacy fears? Facebook Privacy Facebook to let advertisers republish user posts Facebook settles with FTC over deception charges UNDATED — Something about the Facebook privacy hoax has gotten people to click "share." First, the faux copyright legalese spread like wildfire across the social networking site. Many users recently found their news feeds awash with postings suggesting that the users who displayed them would get extra copyright and privacy protection. Then came the predictable backlash, as the Internet rushed in to debunk this latest theory. Even still, some people kept posting the message and it continued to spread on Tuesday morning. Facebook has issued a statement saying the text posts are a hoax: "Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and informatio...

A hoax message has been rattling around popular instant messaging app WhatsApp, urging people who use the app to forward a message to all their contacts or face having their accounts deleted, Indian tech site Firstpost reports. The viral message appears to be from the CEO of WhatsApp, one 'Jim Balsamic', and reads, "We have had an over usage of user names on whatsapp Messenger. We are requesting all users to forward this message to their entire contact list. "If you do not forward this message," the shady message continues, "we will take it as your account is invalid and it will be deleted within the next 48 hours. "Please DO NOT ignore this message or whatsapp will no longer recognise your activation," the fake communcation orders, warning, "If you wish to re-activate your account after it has been deleted, a charge of 25.00 will be added to your monthly bill." The message followed a glitch that sprung up earlier this wee...

  52,598 News Articles By Chris Martin | PC Advisor | 29 November 12 WhatsApp error message prompts hoax spam message Related Articles WhatsApp Android app review WhatsApp confirms message regarding charges is a hoax WhatsApp confirms message regarding charges is a hoax Warning over 'Virgin Atlantic' malware emails WhatsApp to roll out stronger fixes for messaging vulnerability Messaging service WhatsApp has suffered from a hoax message following an error with the app. WhatsApp users were this week treated to a message stating everyone in their contact listed was "error: unknown". Following this bug, a spam message did the rounds claiming to be from the CEO asking forward it on or be considered an inactive user. The message read: "Message from Jim Balsamic (CEO of Whatsapp): we have had an over usage of user names on whatsapp Messenger. We are requesting all users to forward this message to their entire contact li...

A woman says she received a fake job offer and promises of a great payday after submitting her resumé on a job search website – a scam the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says happens regularly. Atalide Messina has been unemployed for 11 months, ever since her employer of 26 years closed down. She said she is struggling to find work and decided to join websites like Jobboom.com and the Emploi Québec page. "Nothing's come up," she said. "I'm starting to go from management [jobs] down to dishwashing. I'd love to have a dishwashing job right now." To her surprise, Messina received an email congratulating her on her new position as a mystery shopper for Regency Solution, a fake company. She was sent a $ 1,500 cheque and told to cash it at Western Union or Moneygram services. She was then asked to send $ 1,300 to Spain. This is a common scam — by the time the money is off to Spain, the cheque bounces and the funds are gone. The Canadian anti-fr...

What made a viral hoax about privacy spread so easily on Facebook? Share your thoughts below. The Facebook copyright hoax became the talk of the Internet, but what does it say about online privacy? Tell us what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments below or post a video on CNN iReport (CNN) -- Something about the Facebook privacy hoax has gotten people to click "share." First, the faux copyright legalese spread like wildfire across the social networking site. Many users recently found their news feeds awash with postings suggesting that the users who displayed them would get extra copyright and privacy protection. Then came the predictable backlash, as the Internet rushed in to debunk this latest theory. Even still, some people kept posting the message and it continued to spread on Tuesday morning. Facebook has issued a statement saying the text posts are a hoax: "Anyone who uses Facebook owns and controls the content and informa...

Hoax debunked ... Facebook copyright. Photo: AP Following a hoax post that went viral, Facebook has reassured its users that they, not the company, own the copyright to the content they post on the social network. This weekend, a number of users on the site began re-posting the viral status update proclaiming that users, not Facebook, own the copyrights to their content. The viral post implies that Facebook owns the copyright. When you delete a photo, we delete it too.   Facebook "In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details," the viral post says. "For commercial use of the above, my written consent is needed at all times!" The post is very similar to those that have floated around in the past, particularly earlier this year after Facebook became a public company. What appears to have set off the latest viral post was an announcement by Facebook last week that it was propo...

Tony Bradley @TheTonyBradley Tony Bradley , PCWorld Putting technology expertise to work for your business. More by Tony Bradley Have you posted the notice to your Facebook timeline to proclaim your copyright ownership of all content? Have you seen others from your social network posting such a notice? If you haven't already, don't bother. It's a hoax. It's not even a new hoax. It's a resurgence of an old hoax that many users fell for earlier this year when Facebook became a publicly-traded company. The previous hoax implied that the change from a private company to a public one somehow changed the rules of the privacy agreement and put your posts and photos at risk unless you posted a copy and paste of a disclaimer establishing your copyright ownership. You can't change the Facebook legal terms by posting on your timeline. The new one reads: "In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attac...

Do not stay at the Aria Resort and Casino. It's a rip-off. Now, why would this seasoned travel writer say such a nasty thing? First, there's the Aria front desk. It's modern and colorful in a 1990s Spago way. However, as with any deceptively labeled 5-star loser hotel front desk, once there, you learn that there all sorts of hidden fees you were never overtly, let alone covertly, told about when you booked a room online. For example, there's the $ 25 "Aria resort fee." Essentially this covers wireless and use of pool and gym. In a genuine customer-friendly world, this fee should be part of the price you paid upfront. Then there's the tax that comes with the resort fee. Then, after this hijacking, you learn that Aria pool hours end at 5PM. And workout room hours end at 8PM. Super 8 has 24-7 workout hours, why can't a putative five-star esort? Clearly, the greedy, declasse folks at MGM Resorts International -- which owns Las Vegas...

24 November 2012 Last updated at 13:12 ET A number of families were moved from their homes due to a security alert in south Belfast on Friday night. It followed the discovery of a suspicious object in Frenchpark Street. Olympia leisure centre was opened to accommodate the affected residents. After the object was examined by Army bomb disposal experts the alert was declared an elaborate hoax. Read More @ Source Steve Quayle on Alex Jones Tv 3/6:Red Dawn in American!! Alex also talks with Stephen Quayle, former talk show host and author of several books, including Breathe No Evil and Genesis 6 Giants: Master Builders of Prehistoric and Ancient Civilizations. prisonplanet.tv www.stevequayle.com Video Rating: 4 / 5 Fraudulent Stories Here

Madeleine Pulver's relief at seeing her attacker jailed is "incredible", her dad says, but she may never know why she was targeted by the hoax collar bomber. Paul Douglas Peters, who cornered the teenager in her bedroom last year, was on Tuesday sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in jail, and must serve at least 10 of them. It marks the end of a bizarre and puzzling crime, but many questions remain unanswered. Sentencing Peters in Sydney's District Court, Judge Peter Zahra noted: "There will always remain some uncertainty as to the reasons he decided to engage in an act of extortion involving violence of substantial gravity". On August 3 last year, Peters - a wealthy businessman based mainly in the US - entered the Pulver family home in Mosman on Sydney's north shore, wearing a multi-coloured balaclava and armed with a baseball bat. Ms Pulver was studying in her room for her HSC when he placed the hoax bomb around her neck. A document att...

The following is an excerpt from "Outsmarting the Scam Artists: How to Protect Yourself From the Most Clever Cons" by Doug Shadel, as told by "Jim," who was convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Shadel is a former fraud investigator for Washington state's attorney general's office. This provides excellent insights both into the mind of the con artists as well as the vulnerabilities that expose us to being ripped off. "Swindling is really acting, and you play a character who will help you appear legitimate, confident and successful, even when you are not. The persona explains how a barrel of dented-can drug addicts can persuade successful businesspeople to write big checks without reading the paperwork. On the outside you will see nothing but charm, an engaging personality and swagger. On the inside lies a predator. "The business needs to have a persona, too, to look legitimate and trustworthy. So we'd run television c...

Sydney, Nov. 20 ( ANI ): Fake collar bomber Paul Douglas Peters has been sentenced to 10 years in jail after being accused of fixing a mock collar-bomb on the neck of a Sydney teenager. Madeleine Pulver and her family remained composed as the sentence was announced to Peters . He will be eligible for parole in August 2021. Peters during his hearing had said that he was left "distraught" by the breakdown of his marriage and career trouble, and believed "he had lost everything." He told a psychiatrist that he had to find "an ingenious way to trap myself" because he was drinking heavily and knew he needed help, Thetelegraph.com.au reports. "I had to catch myself out. I had to lay evidence along the way to trap myself," Peters had said during his trial. According to the paper, during sentencing submissions the court heard from three psychiatrists who provided varying accounts of Peters' state of mind on August 3, 2011- the day he ...

The man who strapped a hoax collar bomb around Sydney teenager Madeleine Pulver's neck has been jailed for at least 10 years. Paul Douglas Peters had no reaction as Judge Peter Zahra imposed a maximum sentence of 13 years and six months in the District Court in Sydney on Tuesday. Peters, 52, had pleaded guilty to aggravated breaking and entering and detaining with advantage over the incident on August 3 last year. He entered the Pulver family home at Mosman, on Sydney's lower north shore, armed with an aluminium baseball bat and the fake bomb, which he attached around Ms Pulver's neck after cornering her in her bedroom. A document attached to the fake device demanded an unspecified sum of money and said tampering with it would cause it to explode. The incident sparked a 10-hour police operation before the device was confirmed as a hoax. Peters has been in custody since he was arrested in the US a couple of weeks later and extradited to NSW. During sentence...

Madeleine Pulver's relief at seeing her attacker jailed is "incredible", her dad says, but she may never know why she was targeted by the hoax collar bomber. Paul Douglas Peters, who cornered the teenager in her bedroom last year, was on Tuesday sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in jail, and must serve at least 10 of them. It marks the end of a bizarre and puzzling crime, but many questions remain unanswered. Sentencing Peters in Sydney's District Court, Judge Peter Zahra noted: "There will always remain some uncertainty as to the reasons he decided to engage in an act of extortion involving violence of substantial gravity". On August 3 last year, Peters - a wealthy businessman based mainly in the US - entered the Pulver family home in Mosman on Sydney's north shore, wearing a multi-coloured balaclava and armed with a baseball bat. Ms Pulver was studying in her room for her HSC when he placed the hoax bomb around her neck. A document att...

Users of Facebook were warned Friday against an 11-year-old virus hoax that has been resurrected and is now making the rounds of the social networking site. In a blog post, security vendor GFI Labs said the old "Windows Live Virus" urged recipients to circulate the "Red Alert for Your Computer" to their friends. "Don't panic. Raise a skeptical eyebrow. It's okay," it said. GFI said the "Windows Live Virus" hoax is the latest variant of similar "deceptive notices" dating back to as early as 2001. Such a hoax had already been debunked in site such as Snopes.com, it noted. "As responsible users of social networking and media sites, it is important that we do some fact checks first before we share news, announcements and warnings to those reading our feed," it said. The so-called "Red Alert" advises recipients not to open any message with an attachment called Archive (Windows live), saying it is a...

Small Text Medium Text Large Text Cameras catch scam suspects in act PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. - Local 10 cameras catch two men who police said rip off drivers as part of an auto repair scam. Undercover detectives identified one of the men as 24-year-old Santino Mitchell. An undercover detective who specializes in scams said he recognized Mitchell. "This is one of the scams he does on a regular basis. I have seen him doing it before," said the undercover detective. Police records show Mitchell was arrested in 2010 for an auto repair scam in New York. "These individuals are transient offenders. They move from place to place committing these types of scams," added the undercover detective. Mitchell and another man, identified by police as Vinny Uwich, approached a driver at the Race Trac on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembroke Park. The victim said Mitchell showed him a minor dent in the ho...