Beware of Scams. . .

Let us talk phone sacams.  You probably know the one about the IRS.  They call and it is someone speaking with a harsh accent and they tell you they are with the IRS.  They do not say the Internal Revenue Service, which should be your first clue.  Next, the IRS does not call you about anything.  They send certified or registered letters.  They will never call you and ask for money over the phone.   I must say when I got that call many months ago a shiver went down my spine at the sound of "this is the IRS," that is what they want.  They want to scare you into sending them money.  Please, please, never send anyone money or give out your information over the phone.  These people are criminals and are praying on your fear.  If you are not home and they leave a message it is usually a mechanical sounding voice telling you to call a number or they will send the sheriff  to arrest you.  The IRS does not send your county officials to arrest anyone. 
Now they are calling saying they are Windows and they want to connect to your computer.  I am not sure what they expect to accomplish by getting on my computer other than maybe locking it up and holding it for ransom.   I have heard of this being done too.  They could also steal any pertinent financial information from your computer or even your identity.  These folks made a big mistake calling me this morning at 7am, especially since I was woken up at 5am to be told school was cancelled.   I ripped into this guy but good, he did not have a chance to get a word in.  He said hello and that he was from Windows and that was all it took.  I told him it was 7 am and that it was illegal to call before 9 am and that what he was doing was fraud and I was tracing his call.  I never did let him say what he wanted me to do.  I told him plenty of what I was going to do though.   Windows will not call you to assist you with your computer if you have not called them first. 
Please think before you act on such crazy phone calls, if it feels odd it probably is a scam.  If they say they are with your local government check the number, hang up and call the number that you know to be true.  Your local authorities are aware that these scumbags are out there and they would rather you call to confirm than call to file a report that you have been defrauded.   Please tell your friends, especially elderly family that could fall victim to such fraud.

Cybercrime. . . and the Holidays

As our Christmas season is fast approaching please do not forget your good sense when shopping.  If it looks and sounds to good to be true it probably is.  Don't click on that banner to win a new ipad mini or car or whatever they are touting you can win.  It is probably a virus, malware or spyware, either way you will be in for trouble.  If you get an email about a hot deal from somewhere you have shopped before don't click on that link in the email it very well could be a phishing attempt.  If you really want to check out the deal re-type the address for the website given in the email in your address bar and see what happens.  These are a few of the things I have been reading about for my cybercrime classes I am taking this session.  I want everyone to be safe this wonderful Christmas season.  Another trick is smishing, this is text messaging you might receive saying their is a problem with your bank account.  Do not respond to this, call your bank with the number you have and know is your bank.  Never text bank information to anyone.  Your bank is probably not going to text you if they have a problem with your account.   Think before you act and like I said before if it sounds too good to be true it probably is, even on Black Friday.  Be safe online shopping.

Update on Shark Week. . . .

So I posted about how much our family loved Shark Week, hosted by Discovery Channel.  We always tune in to learn more about sharks and to see all the video footage they have.  They always show such beautiful video.  I told you about how disappointed I was in Tuesday nights episode and how it was just not good.   Hubby and I have still been talking about the Megalodon episode.  He has been listening to the different radio talk shows hashing it out.  Hubby looked up the oceanographer that was the lead person on this hunt and he could not be found on google except associated to this episode.  I told him to look it up on Snopes, so he pulled it up and snopes is calling it a farce.  www.snopes.com  check it out for yourself.
I am a little disappointed in Discovery Channel ethics.  Some channels you depend on to be honest and report the truth, this just goes to show you, you cannot believe everything you see or hear on TV.   They should really know better in this day and age of google.  According to Snopes several people have asked about this and have looked it up.  One thing Snopes pointed out was that the South African press did not report the boat being capsized and the three people dead.  That does raise a few questions.
Shame on Discovery Channel for stooping to such a level of deception.