Have you ever been the victim of a scam? It happens to the best of us, and these scams are all over the Internet. I’ve been seeing a lot more in my email than in recent years, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about online scams and people phishing for passwords.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is trying to obtain otherwise guarded information about accounts from someone by fraudulent or deceptive means. Typically, you’ll get an email claiming to be from your bank, PayPal, Facebook, etc., asking you to log in to perform some action. Usually, that action is said to be critical to keep your account open or help with a security audit, etc. Once you’ve fallen for the bait, the scammer either uses your online account in nefarious ways or gains access to your finances and drains you of all that pesky money you had. Either way, these guys have plenty of tricks.
Phishing examples
I get a lot of this kind of thing, so here’s some examples to help you recognize these emails:
The Lottery
I actually won several things online before I ever got one of these. When I got my first one, I was excited, but then I thought, “I never entered any Australian lottery”. I discarded it as a scam and have since seen the same thing ove and over. If I got $100 for every one of these I’ve received, I wouldn’t need to win. This is a pretty simple scam to get you to part with some private information that they can then either sell or use to open accounts in your name.
OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY “A” CYBER LOTTO DRAWS
Dear Winner
We are pleased to inform you of results of our cyber lottery draw of the Lotto.nl Promotional Draws.
The online electronic-raffle draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 250,000 international emails accounts picked by our Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) from an exclusive list However, no tickets were sold.
After the automated computer ballot collection, your e-mail address emerged as a winner category “A” with the following numbers attached:
(i) Reference Number:MSP 91104 EL 7612
(ii) Batch Number: 563881545-NL/2009
(iii)Ticket Number: PA 3502 /8707-01
You are therefore to receive a cash prize of 2,500,000.00. (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) from the total payout sum.
The payout of this cash prize to you will be subject to the final validations and satisfactory report that you are the owner of the winning email address. In line with the Governing rules of claim, you are required to establish contact with your designated claims agent via email or telephone with the particulars below:
Mr. Soresen Holms jr
Foreign claims agent Netherlands Office.
Contact Email: soresenholms09@yahoo.cn
Tel: +31 619 970 279
Fax: +31 847 455 835
You are advised to provide him with the following information:
DATA PROFILE
First name:
Last Name:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:
We ask that you keep your Winning information confidential until your claims have been processed. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participant.
Endeavour to include your email address when sending a fax for verification purpose. Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible. Congratulations!!! And thank you for being a user of the World Wide Web.
Limited account
This scam lures you in by claiming that your account will is or will soon be suspended for one reason or another. To get things cleared up, all you have to do is log in. The link goes to http://phce.org/westpac/index.html, NOT any bank. In this case, it looks like phce.org was hacked and aren’t aware of it yet. I’m emailing them.
Dear customer,
Please pay attention that your online banking account is suspended because of missing information. In order for it to remain active,please pass the account authorization process.
Email Support scam
This one just comes right out and asks for your information. It said it came from info@helpdesk.org (that was faked), but the reply-to goes to supportteams2009@live.com, who will surely get lots of passwords before Live.com shuts them down. I’m emailing abuse@live.com just to be sure.
Dear Webmail User,
This message was sent automatically by a program on Webmail which
periodically checks the size of inboxes, where new messages are
received.
The program is run weekly to ensure no one’s inbox grows too large. If
your inbox becomes too large, you will be unable to receive new email.
Just before this message was sent, you had 18 Megabytes (MB) or more of
messages stored in your inbox on your Webmail. To help us re-set your
SPACE on our database prior to maintain your INBOX, you must reply to
this e-mail and enter your
Current User name (_________)
and Password(________ )
You will continue to receive this warning message periodically if your
inbox size continues to be between 18 and 20 MB. If your inbox size
grows to 20 MB, then a program on Bates Webmaiwill move your oldest email
to a
folder in your home directory to ensure that you will continue to be
able to receive incoming email. You will be notified by email that this
has taken place. If your inbox grows to 25 MB, you will be unable to
receive new email as it will be returned to the sender.
After you read a message, it is best to REPLY and SAVE it to another
folder.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Webmail Help Desk
Update Required
This is a common one with MySpace, Facebook, etc. You’re told you need to perform some kind of update to your account to continue using it. Once you give them your login info (by logging into a fake MySpace page), they’ll go in your account and spam all your friends. Many times, they’ll include real site links or email addresses like the privacy@myspace.com address here, just to lend to the credibility.
Dear MySpace user!
Please be informed that you are required to update your MySpace account.
Please update your MySpace account by clicking here:
Type it yourself – Always type the site URL into the browser yourself before logging in. Most of these scams prompt you to click a link to log in or confirm information. Some are crafty and make the URL look pretty close to the URL you would expect for the site you think you’re logging into, but many times, you end up at a .cn or .ru domain or some other variant.
Look for your name – Almost always, the phishing email doesn’t have your name at the top but instead has something like “Dear member”. Most of the large social sites and banks will greet you by name in an email. No name = probable scam
Don’t Click! – I know it was the first rule, but it’s also the third because it’s THAT important. Never click or open anything in an email you aren’t 100% sure about.
Keep private info private – This goes beyond just email. Never give out private information like your home address, phone number, birth date, and social security number in a communication exchange you didn’t initiate.
You didn’t win – There’s a reason you don’t remember entering that Euro Lottery you just won 143 million euro in… You didn’t enter. They just want your information to try and steal your identity.
Report abuse – Help out the rest of the Internet and forward these emails to the appropriate people. Many sites will have special emails for this. For example, phishing emails that target your PayPal account should get forwarded to spoof@paypal.com. Find out the right address and help stop the scammers.
Have you been the victim of any phishing scam or do you have another tip I may have missed? Drop a comment below and let me know. If you find this article helpful, tweet it or share this link on MySpace or Facebook: http://lnk.gd/qk.
UPDATE:
An email from Microsoft Customer Support showed up today. Here’s the important part:
I have closed the account supportteams2009@live.com that you reported, in accordance with our Terms of Use (TOU).
To view our rules and regulations, visit the following Web site:
This is why you should report it. The scammer will surely find another email account to use, but for now, perhaps the account being closed has stopped the scammer from getting a few username/password combinations that were sent to him.
“Every few days, we bring one product from sketch to store”
That’s the promise of a pretty cool crowd sourcing site, called Quirky.
What is it and how does it work?
Quirky is a site that lets people submit ideas for new products to be developed. Presenting an idea costs about $100, so make sure you really think it’s a good idea and take some time to think out the details before submitting. This is essentially your business proposal for venture capital. Of the ideas submitted, the rest of us get to vote for our favorites and contribute to the product idea. Days later, a product is selected and the process begins to develop the product idea into a product.
Product development consists of a few more steps and like the product selection process, site members get to influence the process by suggesting a product name, designing a logo, etc. It all happens pretty quickly, but email reminders help you keep on top of new product stages. Once a product has completed all of its development stages, Quirky begins taking pre-orders. Depending on the product, they’ll accept pre-orders for, on average, from 300-500 units. Once they fill the pre-order, the product goes into full production.
How to make money The best part about this site is the ability to earn some extra money. The idea originator gets a decent perentage of the sales, of course, but then many of the contributors do, too. It may be a good amount or just pennies per sale, but it’s on every sale. I like to think of it in terms of something like the Slinky or the Rubik’s Cube. Had one of those products started on Quirky, several contributors would be laughing all the way to the bank. The example on the right shows actual earnings for some people on a $15 product. Helping out with a product’s development might not make you filthy rich, but it could bring in some nice Christmas money.
A good example
A pretty good example of this was the first product I helped with, Scratch-n-Scroll, which is currently selling nicely.
Scratch-n-Scroll is a standard mousepad with an added writing surface. This mousepad is for all those times you are working at your desk and cant find a pen to jot down that phone number or list item you know you will forget later on.
Simply, write notes to yourself on your mouse pad using just the pressure from your finger or the built in plastic stylus as a “pen.” Cool thing is, just like your childhood toy the magic slate, you can erase the notes at any time simply by flipping up the semi-transparent top sheet.
When I got to it, it was a really good idea among a list of ideas we had to vote on. It was my first pick of those offered, so I was glad to see it chosen for development. Through all the stages, I think the only thing I did was offer some comments about the design and function. My help was noted and I now get a very small amount of money (I think it’s like 1.5 cents) from every sale. If they sell 10,000 of these things, I’ll make about $150, which is pretty good for having just commented on how to improve the design.
Make the most of it
As someone without a ton of free time, I always look at how to get the most benefit from the time I spend on anything new like this. With Quriky, there’s three ways to earn money. The first two we’ve already gone over: submit your idea or help with someone’s idea. The third is to help sell the finished product. When I linked to the above Scratch-n-Scroll, I did so with a unique affiliate link. On this product, I get a 10% commission on any referred sale, and sold one already by just dropping a link on Twitter. If you choose to help with product development, don’t just help with one product. Help with any product that you like enough. If you help with 10 products that are all in production and selling, you can build up a nice residual income. Finally, when I signed up (and I think they’re still doing it), I got $20 in my account just for signing up to help contribute, so at the very least, go sign up.
If you do sign up, leave a comment here and let me know what you think of the site and what products you assisted in.
With all the fancy (and often expensive) new phones coming out, many people worry about theirs breaking, getting scratched up, etc., and this is a good reason to have a phone case. For a lot of people, being able to have the phone at your hip via a belt clip is also advantageous. Last week, I got a couple cell phone cases with belt clips in the mail to review from FoneGear.
Originally, I was just going to review an Arizona Cardinals case from their NFL line, but they carry more than just the NFL phone cases, so I also grabbed a Michigan case for my friend Greg and a wall charger for my iPhone. As a side note, if you visit the site looking for your team and don’t see it, refresh the page and you’ll get more teams to show up.
NFL themed cases
The first thing I noticed when I opened up the box was the rugged exterior of the Cardinals phone case. As with just about any case, if you throw it on the ground, your delicate phone may suffer, but this thing will protect your phone in the event of a small drop. For that matter, this thing could probably stop knife, though I didn’t try that. The case, itself, consists of two pieces of what feels like leather. The pieces are thick and rugged with a definite texture to them for a good grip. It’s held together with elastic to make a good fit to any bar or flip phone, which is good because it doesn’t help much if your phone falls out of the case.
On the back of this case is a belt clip with swivel and quick release. The swivel is designed so that it doesn’t move around freely, but has stopping points that require some actual intent to get past. This keeps the phone from swiveling all over while you’re walking or running. Some cases swivel freely and although it’s not the end of the world or anything, it’s nicer if they don’t. The quick release is positioned in the right place and releases smoothly when you want it to but keeps your phone in place all other times. The case slides up out of the clip, so even if you accidentally hit the release, you’re fine unless it’s in the middle of a kart wheel or hand stand. The clip was the only part of this case that I think could use improvement. While it holds well (really well, actually), that’s at the cost of not being very easy to clip on. It just doesn’t open wide enough to make it an easy operation with one hand.
At $12.99, these cases cost a lot less than some others without any less quality. It was definitely less than I expected them to cost.
Collegiate smartphone cases
The second case I got was a little different. This one was from the Collegiate series of cell phone cases for smart phones and the logo wasn’t the only difference. While slightly less rugged and textured, this case was still really thick and almost as durable. It looked a little nicer than the Cardinals case (for my tastes, anyway) and seemed well-suited for a smart phone. Of course, I threw my iPhone in it right away and it fit snugly. Both cases have a soft inner lining. This is more important with this case because smartphones generally have their screen exposed.
Like the Cardinals case, this one has a swiveling belt clip and like the previous case, this one swivels only with intent. That is to say, you have to pretty much try to make it move for it to move. Again, this is a good thing. One difference with the belt clip is that this one is more of a pressure clip as opposed to the previous phone’s spring clip. Instead of pinching with two fingers to open it like a clothespin, this one just slides onto your belt or the edge of your pocket, car visor, etc. Normally, I would say that makes it more likely to come loose from your belt, etc., but in this case, it has a firm grip, so that doesn’t seem like a concern. Additionally, this case comes with a snapping loop. With this loop, the case could be attached to a purse, stroller, etc. and just hangs as if it were on a key ring. It’s nice to have options.
At $19.90 (some are $19.99), this case offered a little bit more for a price closer to what I’ve seen with most holster cases.
More cases, chargers, etc.
While I was shopping, I figured I’d get something else that I need, and that’s a good wall outlet charger for my iPhone. There’s really not a lot of features to talk about on a wall charger. The questions here are of price and base functionality. Of course, the most important of the two is the functionality. This charger does what it’s supposed to, so that part of the equation is good. As for the price of $29, this was comparable to other chargers of its quality. There are cheaper chargers, but many of them even look cheaper. In the end, I’ll pay a few bucks more for to feel more comfortable with a better charger.
Ordering experience
Ordering on the site was pretty painless. FoneGEAR has a decent shopping cart and most things were pretty easy to find and add to my cart. The one quirk was the listing of NFL phone cases in that it seems to only list 12 at a time and they are randomly chosen from a much more complete set. I’d prefer to see an alphabetized list. Completing the purchase was pretty straight-forward and everything arrived pretty fast and well-packaged.
Conclusions
I’d love to see more options like the Arizona Cardinals case for a smartphone, but they also have a lot of styles I didn’t mention like NBA, foneGIRL and foneSTAR, to name a few. For the most part, if you’re looking for a new phone case, you should be able to find something you’ll like. They also carry other accessories, gps cases, laptop cases, etc., so there’s a chance you’ll wind up buying more than just a phone case like I did.
The prices were generally pretty good, but they’re having a sale right now, too. At the time of this writing, everything is 20% off, AND they are also offering free shipping on orders over $35.
And because I know you love contests, I can’t forget to tell you about the one FoneGear is having. You can read the official rules, but it all boils down to a simple tweet. Anyone can enter by following @foneGEAR on Twitter and Tweeting out a message containing their favorite NFL or NCAA team with the hashtag #foneGEAR and a link back to this post! Enter today for your chance at some gear for your phone.
