Posted by John Concrane on May 15, 2021 in Internet
Mytrendingstories.com offers tips about avoiding online scams right now? Your computer is infected! (And we can help): How it works: A window pops up about a legitimate-sounding antivirus software program like “Antivirus XP 2010” or “SecurityTool,” alerting you that your machine has been infected with a dangerous bug. You’re prompted to click on a link that will run a scan. Of course, the virus is found—and for a fee, typically about $50, the company promises to clean up your computer. What’s really going on: When you click on the link, the bogus company installs malware—malicious software—on your computer. No surprise, there will be no cleanup. But the thieves have your credit card number, you’re out the money, and your computer is left on life support. Scams are everywhere–you can even become a “doctor” online with just $99. The big picture: “Scareware” like this is predicted to be the most costly Internet scam of 2010, with over a million users affected daily, according to Dave Marcus, director of security and research for McAfee Labs, a producer of antivirus software. “This is a very clever trick,” says Marcus, “because people have been told for the past 20 years to watch out for computer viruses.” Even computer veterans fall prey. Stevie Wilson, a blogger and social-media business consultant in Los Angeles, got a pop-up from a company called Personal Antivirus. “It looked very Microsoft-ish, and it said I had downloaded a virus,” she recalls. “It did a scan and said it found 40 Trojan horses, worms, and viruses. I was concerned that they were infecting emails I was sending to clients, so I paid to upgrade my anti-virus software. Right after I rebooted, my computer stopped working.” Wilson had to wipe her computer hard drive clean and reinstall every-thing. Although most of her files were backed up, she lost personal photos and hundreds of iTunes files. “I felt powerless,” she says.
Latest news with Mytrendingstories.com online portal: Stay Vigilant. You’ll want to keep a close eye out on your credit and financial account statements so you can alert your financial institution as soon as possible if anything appears amiss. If you’ve spent time job searching online lately, it might seem like there are as many scams as legitimate job openings on the job boards. The Better Business Bureau reports that job scams are on the rise and are the No. 1 riskiest scam in terms of prevalence, likelihood of losing money, and monetary loss. Each year, about 14 million people are exposed to job scams. Victims lose more than $2 billion per year, not counting the value of their time or the emotional impact of being defrauded. To safeguard yourself, it pays to learn as much as possible about employment scams.
mytrendingstories.com anti-scam advice: After gaining a person’s trust, scammers often present a story of a personal hardship or struggle to get the victim to send money. And nearly as often, victims fall for the bait out of a mixture of generosity and what they believed was a genuine connection with their online partner. This is a mistake. You should never send money to someone online, particularly someone who you have never met in person. Additional tips to prevent you from becoming a victim of romance scams: Research the person’s photo/profile using online searches (like Google Image) to see if the material has been used elsewhere. Look out for poor grammar, spelling, unusual expressions and flowery language that don’t coincide with the person they are pretending to be. Ask a lot of questions and note any inconsistencies in current or past information they provided. Never provide personal information, including account, passport, social security or credit card numbers. New online scams pop up every week. While the internet has changed the world for the better in many ways, there is a downside. Read extra details at mytrendingstories scam.
MyTrendingStories teaches how to defeat scams: Consider travel insurance. Duquesnel said sites like Vrbo allow you to buy insurance. If you get to the rental and find out you were scammed, Vrbo will work to find some place comparable as quickly as possible if you have the insurance. If you’ve been searching online for vacations and all of a sudden get a text on your phone about a great deal, ignore that. Duquesnel said that’s called “smishing.” Scammers somehow get your number and try to woo you in order to get your credit card information. Don’t fall for it. Check out the BBB’s website for reviews and complaints and use their scam tracker to report any problems. Sound the alarm if a retailer asks you for a wire transfer, a money order or a gift card as payment for your order. In this case, it’s likely that your money will fall directly into the pocket of a scammer and you won’t receive anything for the money you paid. If you want to protect yourself, always pay with a credit card or other secure forms of payment, according to the Better Business Bureau.
However, if you’ve used the same password on other sites, it’s important you reset it on those accounts too. Since stolen data often includes both your email address and password, fraudsters who get hold of it may try and use it to hack into other accounts of yours. To fully protect yourself, use different passwords for all your online accounts and store them in a password manager, or see password help for full info. You then need to take steps to make sure you’ve not suffered any financial harm, and to report it. See what to do if you’ve been scammed for more on this. The safest way to secure your accounts is to use unique passwords for all your online logins. If this sounds impossible to remember, try a password manager. These can generate randomised passwords for your various accounts (or you can set your own), and store them all to be accessed with one master password – the only one you’ll actually need to remember. If you prefer to create your passwords yourself and keep them stored in your own login, see Martin’s Password help blog. See even more details on mytrendingstories.com.