Category: Morally Wrong

The Operator Billing Scam

Many people have reported mysterious mobile phone charges that appeared on their monthly bills. They only realise they’ve been signed up to a service like a gaming or fitness app, at a cost of several pounds a week, when they check their bills. Some of them didn’t notice the payments for months or years.

Phone paid services often use pop ups that appear, for example when the consumer is watching a video on the internet. The consumer will click a button that says something like ‘subscribe now’, then another button that says something like ‘confirm’.

The Phone-Paid Services Authority (PSA) state that a minimum of two clicks are required in order to subscribe to a phone paid service.

Regulations also require that the subscription is confirmed via email or text. Some people say they were sent a text- but thought it was a spam message as they hadn’t signed up to any service.

The scams work through so-called direct carrier billing, a system operated by the four major networks – O2, Vodafone, EE and Three – that allows consumers to purchase goods or services on their mobiles at the click of a button without entering any card details.

The PSA’s own annual review showed that around a third of the 22.5 million people who used the system in the last year had lost trust in the service.

An estimated £220m was paid for services through phone bills last year and the amount is expected to grow by 26 per cent a year.

How to Block These Charges

You can tell your operator that you want a “charge-to-bill bar” placed on your account. You may already have a “premium-rate services” bar but that does not stop these charges.

Mobile operators Three and GiffGaff do not allow customers to bar charge-to-bill so if you are with those providers you should be extra vigilant for pop-ups online that mention signing up to any kind of service and for any signs of charges on your mobile bills.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

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Stupidest Scam of the Week – Gun Magnets

“Store your gun safely and securely on any surface with this gun magnet that holds up to 25 lbs.”

This is a serious advert and suggests you can keep your guns anywhere – under your desk, on the side of a bed, in your car, under a table etc.

“The IronClad gun magnet provides gun owners the ability to conceal their weapon and to fast draw it in seconds when needed”.

Maybe people like spies need to have guns hidden under tables, on the side of a bed or in their car, but no-one else.

Apart from law enforcement professionals, having guns available outside of locked containers – ready for fast draw is to invite accidents and death.

Are people really this crazy? Perhaps so. The people selling such devices must know they are contributing to the death rate but presumably don’t care as long as they make money.

That’s very sad.

If you do have guns then keep them securely locked away.

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How to become a Scammer

Millions of people around the world have decided to steal from others rather than trying to make money by legitimate means.

Here’s the process they may go through in making that decision.

  1. You assess yourself and realise that you are a lying, cheating, repulsive human being. You are a first class scumbag and have no soul. Without this realisation you won’t become a scammer.
  2. You decide that you are going to steal from others to get what you want – you don’t care if your victims are rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick. Any victim is fine and statistically victims are more likely to be older, less wealthy and less healthy than the average.
  3. Next, you decide on the method of scam to use:-
    1. Face-to-face
    2. By post
    3. By email
    4. By text message
    5. Create fake websites
    6. On social media
    7. Any combination of the above
  4. Then you select the scam you want to use. There are thousands but most scammers stick to the tried and trusted ones rather than being creative enough to find a new scam. The simplest way is to directly copy other scammers.
    1. Investment / Pump and dump
    2. Phishing then sell the details to other scammers
    3. Identity Theft
    4. 419 scams i.e. promise something valuable but never deliver
    5. Miracle health products that don’t exist or are cheap rubbish
    6. Retail of fake products
    7. Malware distribution
    8. Computer support calls
    9. Cyber currencies
    10. Job Offers
    11. Fake loans
    12. Scareware
    13. Travel scams etc.

etc.

  1. You carry out the scams
  2. You enjoy the benefits of theft until you are caught and imprisoned and hopefully suffer a great deal for the misery you have caused other people

Give yourself a worthwhile life – don’t be a scammer.

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Facebook Shares Data with 150 Companies

Facebook shares dropped significantly when the New York Times reported that the social media company allowed more than 150 companies (including Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify) to access more users’ personal data than it had previously disclosed.

According to the report, the social network had allowed Microsoft’s Bing search engine to see names of virtually all Facebook users’ friends without consent, and allowed other companies to read Facebook users’ private messages.

Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s director of privacy and public policy, claimed that none of the partnerships violated users’ privacy, or a 2011 agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to require explicit permission from members before sharing their data.

Facebook has admitted it allowed other big tech companies to read users’ private messages, but denies it did so without consent.

Facebook said it shut down its “instant personalisation” process in 2014, which allowed users to link their Facebook accounts with other services to see public information their friends shared. But it admitted the software components for the service were left in place after it shut down, potentially allowing developers to continue accessing users’ personal information. Facebook said it has “no evidence data was used or misused after the program was shut down.”

This is pretty bad for Facebook as it’s yet another case where the company has shown little regard for its users and prioritised money above privacy.

But, it’s not as bad as it may seem as the other companies involved appear to have had APPS and services that used specific data from Facebook and users had given permission although they may not have known exactly what they were giving permission for.

One day, Facebook may start treating its users properly – we can only hope for that miracle.

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