Time-Wasters Update

An email from Home Depot tells me I have won a Dewalt Extreme Drill. Congratulations to me! It’s not true of course – the email is from 819378265666120019209111@… which is obviously made-up rubbish from a scammer, plus the sender doesn’t know my name plus most of the email is actually copied from a report about a National Forest. The scammer was trying to get the message through the email senders scam check. All rubbish as usual.

Esam Mouly sent me an email saying he has a business proposal for me. Why would someone who doesn’t know me and doesn’t even know my name have a business proposal for me? The proposal is that he wants to con me into paying him money for some fake or non existent thing. I can do without that.

The Bill and Melinda Foundation have spent billions of dollars helping the fight against Covid and now apparently they want to gift me $1.5 million for no apparent reason – just that my email address was randomly selected. I am supposed to reply with my details to cheapnet.it which is definitely not Bill and Melinda Gates. They would certainly not be dumb enough to randomly hand out cash to people they don’t know. There’s no chance of that happening.

Every company gets floods of email offers to build websites, SEO, social media management etc. Many of these are from genuine small businesses or individuals chasing work but most are simple scams. You pay and you get nothing. A latest one is from electricalwire.xyz which should put anyone off. No website business would call itself electricalwire and the only people who use the .xyz domains are either scammers or people with unusual businesses that don’t fit other more common domains.

TransferWise tell me my account has been restricted for my own protection. This is because I haven’t verified my phone number. The email is from pei.sympatico.ca which is obviously not a business called TransferWise. I don’t have an account with TransferWise so no problem.

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September 2, 2022

Cybersecurity Best Practice for Entrepreneurs

A post by Lindsey Weiss

At Fightback Ninja Blog, we know that cyber threats are more common than most people think. While many aspiring entrepreneurs think they don’t have to worry about cybersecurity until their businesses really take off, no one is immune to these threats. In fact, hackers often single out small companies because they’re easier to infiltrate. Small businesses tend to lack the sophisticated cybersecurity systems employed by large companies, and cyber criminals have a better shot at success by targeting weak systems. To ensure your new business is safe from cyber threats, we’re here to share a few essential tips!

Understand Your Vulnerability

Why should you care about cybersecurity? A cyber-attack or data breach at your business can lead to significant losses. A cyber-attack can destroy your reputation and erode your customers’ trust in your brand, leading to loss of customers and loss of sales. Beyond this, a cyber-attack can directly result in financial losses arising from theft of financial information, ransomware demands, and website downtime. Not to mention the costs associated with repairing systems and devices as well as the legal consequences that follow a data breach.

Clearly, there’s a lot at stake. Let’s discuss some ways to prevent these losses and ensure your business is safe from threats.

Save Sensitive Email Information in PDFs

Businesses all over the world send countless emails every day, many of which contain sensitive information like financial data that cybercriminals would love to get their hands on. Email security is essential. To reduce the risk that a criminal can exploit information shared in a business email, try to convert emails to PDF files. Keeping sensitive information in your inbox leaves it vulnerable and prone to data loss. By converting emails to PDFs, you can save important information on your local computer and protect documents with passwords to ensure an additional level of security.

Follow Password Best Practices

We all know that it’s important to create strong passwords, but what does this really mean? Small Business Trends explains that password best practices go beyond the creation of strong passwords through a mix of letters, numbers, symbols, and upper and lowercase characters. While this is an important first line of defence against hackers, there’s more you can do. Use two-factor authentication to ensure you have to verify long-in attempts involving your username and password. This will keep criminals out of your accounts, even if they gain access to your log-in information.

Use Reliable Cybersecurity Software

Antivirus software is crucial for protecting your business from threats. TechForce recommends strongly against relying on the software that came with your computer as this is likely designed to protect consumers rather than businesses. Invest in an antivirus solution that offers the level of protection required for your business. Do your research and read online reviews from other entrepreneurs to make sure the software you choose will meet your needs.

Establish a Recovery Plan

Even if you implement strong safeguards to shield your business from cyber attacks, it’s important to establish a recovery plan so you know what to do in a worst-case scenario. The faster you act after an attack, the more you’ll be able to minimize your losses. First and foremost, be sure to maintain regular backups of your business data so you can get back up and running as soon as possible after a data loss event.

Once you establish a reliable backup and data recovery plan, make note of all the other steps you’ll need to take in the event of an attack. For example, plan how you’re going to identify those affected by the breach and notify your customers. You may also want to consider investing in cyber liability insurance to help you recover from a cyber security attack.

If you plan on launching your own business in the near future, take the time to learn about cybersecurity. Implementing good cybersecurity practices like using two-factor authentication, converting emails to password-protected PDF files, and purchasing robust anti-virus software will ensure your business will withstand anything cyber criminals throw at it!

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

August 31, 2022

Call Connection Services

Would anyone choose to pay £3.60 to be connected to a phone number that is well-known and free of charge?

The answer to that is that they wouldn’t do it deliberately.

However, imagine for example, your car breaks down and you’re stopped in a difficult place and in a hurry somewhere and it’s dark. A quick check on Google on your phone gives you a number for the RAC breakdown service and you call it.

Only afterwards do you realise that you called a call connect service rather than calling the RAC directly.

They advertise on Google and elsewhere to catch out people who are in a hurry or just inattentive to what’s actually on screen.

Your call will have cost about £10 more than it needed to.

Call connect services offer simply to put your call through to whoever you wanted – in this case the RAC breakdown line but they charge a lot for doing so. The RAC has free numbers but in the rush you missed that and the penalty for lack of attention is a bill you didn’t need.

Some of the call connection companies that place these adverts on Google etc. are up front about the fact you can dial directly and save money but some hide this fact.

Always call direct to save money and beware of ads on Google etc. designed to catch you out.

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August 29, 2022

The Rates Rebate Scam

Various genuine companies offer to review a business’s rates situations to see if there are any rebates possible. Some charge for this service and some do the review without charge but want a share of any reductions they recommend.

One very determinedly spamming sender is thebestbusinessrates.co.uk.

Brooklands Radio keep getting messages from them offering:

“Claim your refund before it’s too late”.

“You may be considerably overpaying your existing business rates”

“You have no active appeal for your address”

“Brooklands radio identified as paying more than 3 neighbouring premises”.

This is just standard lazy Marketing. They have no idea what rates we pay and don’t care – they just send out the same lies to everyone on their purchased spam lists.

In fact, Brooklands Radio don’t pay rates as we rent council offices.

If you have any experiences with these scammers do let me know, by email.

August 28, 2022

Stupidest Scam of the Week Thank You

The email has a catchy title ‘Thank You For Your Payment’.

It claims my subscription to Norton Life has been renewed at a cost of $249.99 which is the wrong price – the scammer couldn’t be bothered checking on the genuine renewal price.

The scammer’s grammar is odd in places and certainly not professional.

e.g. “Much thanks to you”

or “Your membership will be dynamic in the following 24 hours”

or “Derivation Of Sum For Request Affirmation Will Show Up For”

Surely everyone has realised by now that terrible grammar and spelling doesn’t indicate someone using their second language (because they have spell checkers and grammar checkers) but means the message is from a scammer looking for people who fall for ridiculous scams.

“Dear Customer,
Your Order Is Confirmed Now With Id: NN3608541 We Were Unable To Reach You On Your Registered Phone Number. This Email Is Just A Reminder About The Expiry Of Your Subscription Tomorrow. We Will Renew It For You As It’s An Auto Renewal Plan. Please Note That This Plan Will Auto Renewal Automatically After 3 Years, Unless You Cancel The Plan.”

All rubbish.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

August 27, 2022

Time-Wasters Update

Another repulsive set of emails arrives, about a magical diabetes cure. These ones claim that one handful of a little known fruit taken after dinner each day will instantly bring your blood sugar levels back to normal. There’s also the usual conspiracy theory rubbish – this time about the scientist who discovered the fruit being sacked and ‘Big Pharma’ trying to discredit him. All lies of course.

A scammer offers the promise of a complete reversal of any memory or concentration problems by means of Harvard’s new memory loss breakthrough. Get it quick before ‘Big Pharma’ shut down the website. Of course, if you check the website of Harvard University there is no such breakthrough. Only a scammer’s imagination.

An email arrives from Andre Pena – this scammer makes no effort to make the email appear to be from a company email address. It is addressed to undisclosed recipients and says, “Hello Dear”. It claims my order has been processed and I have been charged $170.96 for a Barbour Gold Standard Collection – whatever that is. Just a lazy scammer making little effort.

An email claims that Santander Bank have had trouble verifying my account details so have suspended my access and I need to click the link to have it re-enabled. Seems rather unlikely as the sender’s email address is a random one in Japan, the emails says ‘Dear Customer’ so they have no idea who I am and I don’t even have a Santander account. I won’t be clicking any links in that email.

A very simple and obvious scam email arrives from Henry M. to tell me that his client wants to invest in my company as a silent investor. He doesn’t know my name or anything about me or whether I have a company – just wants to start the contact process leading to one or more scams. What company is that? No thanks loser.

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