Wireless all- In-One for Dummies- P8

Wireless all- In-One for Dummies- P8:I still remember when I got my first cordless phone. Suddenly, I didn’thave to run to the kitchen when the phone rang, I just carried the phonewith me. I could make a phone call from wherever I was. Wireless meantfreedom, and this is just a phone that I’m talking about!
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Wireless all- In-One for Dummies- P8 Avoiding Bad People 189 ✦ Most Web sites that deal with sensitive information post a policy on their Web page describing whether or not they do send such e-mails out and what sort of protections they use. When in doubt, pick up the phone or just delete the e-mail. If you use the Firefox Web browser, or Internet Explorer version 7 or later, it adds some additional phishing protection. Clicking on the link in the previ- ous figure brings you to Figure 1-3.Figure 1-3:Trying toview aphishingsite. This screen is presented by your Web browser, and it indicates that the site in question is known to be a phishing site. It’s not perfect, but it’s an addi- tional layer of protection. Be very careful about what private information you give over the Internet, no matter what format. Scammers are getting cleverer. Identity theft is serious and can cause you a lot of trouble. Rebills The rebill, or the negative option billing scam, is usually legal but very shady. Book IV Chapter 1 The essence of the scam is that you sign up for a free trial of some prod- uct and only have to pay a couple of dollars shipping. What you missed in Looking at Internet the reams of fine print is that after your trial expires, you’ll be charged a hefty sum every month to continue on the program. It’s usually a couple of Threats months before you know and can get off the program. This type of deal has been around for a while, especially for music clubs. The scammy version is different, though: ✦ The terms of the agreement are not made clear. You might have to go to another page or scroll down to see the catch.190 Avoiding Bad People ✦ Often the trial starts from the day you sign up, not from when you get the product. People find that their credit card has been billed for the first month before they’ve even received the trial item. ✦ The product itself is poor, either by not living up to the medical claims made or, in the case of make-money-fast type offers, is simply public domain information. ✦ The company’s contact information is not made clear in case you want to complain or cancel your subscription. ✦ It takes several hours of dialing to get through to customer service to get off the product. These types of scams are all over, from advertising on popular Web sites to spam. Often you see the product on a personal Web site from a person pur- porting to have used the product to lose weight or make thousands of dol- lars. This person probably doesn’t exist; the seller has just made them up to try and get you to sign up for the trial. Beware of anything offering a free trial that requires a shipping charge, and always check the fine print. Check your credit card balance online periodi- cally (having a separate credit card for Internet purchases is also helpful), and call your credit card company at the first sign of abuse. Another version of this involves your cell phone. You are given a free ring tone, or told that you need to provide your cell phone number to get the results of a test you just did. After you provide your cell phone number you are quietly signed up for a service on your cell phone that bills you every month. You won the lottery! Ever got an e-mail like one of the following? ✦ Congratulations! You won the Internet lottery! ✦ You have just inherited $1 million from a long-lost relative. ✦ I need you to help me get $5 million out of my country. You can have 40 percent for your efforts. These are all scams. The way these go is that you chat back and forth with the person, and at some point, they come up with a story for needing a few dollars, such as $50 to process some paperwork. If you pay that, more charges keep piling up for various things until you realize you’ve been had. This is called the advance fee scam. See Figure 1-4 for an example. Avoiding Bad People 191Figure 1-4:Theadvancefee scam. I really don’t think that Mr. Frank has the $6.3 million dollars. Just ignore e-mails like this. These types of scams have been around for years, but the Internet has made it easier for scammers to find their victims. At one point many of the scam- mers were based out of Nigeria, so you will find this called the Nigerian scam or the 419 scam (419 is the section of the Nigerian criminal code dealing with such fraud). An Internet search for these terms uncovers a variety of differ- ent ruses used for the scam, along with some hilarious stories of people get- ting the scammers to do all sorts of silly things. Looking at the amount of spam I get involving this scam, I can only assume that people are still falling for it. Indeed, I have seen a few stories in the news. One person was taken for $150,000, w ...