Stupidest Spam of the Week Alzheimer’s Word

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, suffered by millions across the world.

There are drugs that help but nothing yet that can reverse the damage to the brain caused by Alzheimer’s so scammers invent their own ridiculous miracles – exotic plant extracts from the Himalayas, minerals from the Atacama desert, strange North American Indian rituals or Japanese folklore remedies etc.

All lies, perpetrated by greedy evil scammers trying to make money from other people’s suffering.

There have also been a series of such emails claiming that there are quick simple ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s, such as by reading out a piece of text or walking in a certain way etc.

This latest set of scam messages claim “This breakthrough discovery is causing riots among brain doctors”.

It claims there is a single word and anyone who says it in a specific way will show Alzheimer’s symptoms and lose their memory within 4 weeks.

It’s obviously untrue – just a scammer’s way to get you to click a link to watch a random video as the scammer gets paid for finding people to click it.

Evil scammers.

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November 13, 2021

Time-Wasters Update

Another magic health remedy offered by scammers. This one supposedly cures tinnitus through the use of two very rare ingredients. But then it says the ingredients come from common vegetables, so they cannot be that rare. Together they ‘destroy’ tinnitus. That’s a phrase no scientist or doctor would ever use. A typical scam.

The email warns me that my Coinbase account has been limited and the reference number is Ref: 6184144745688234117652128615687289772. That’s the longest reference number ever but its is made up and the scammer clearly got a little carried away. The email wants me to click a link to verify my account i.e. to type in my login and password so they can steal from my account. But I don’t have such an account so they not going to get anything from me.

There are endless scam emails offering free electricity machines, devices and magical methods. Everyone would like free electricity but it’s not so easy to get. This latest one is about a new ‘weird yet childish-simple 3D solar array’. There is a picture of a stacked solar panel system but it’s a toy – looks like a science experiment from a kids toy box. The stack design is actually designed for multiple light sources indoors – it wouldn’t work well for sunshine where all the panels need to point towards the sun for maximum results. It claims to need no maintenance and to take up little space – but that’s because it’s a toy. A ridiculous email.

You might wonder how criminals manage to send out so many scam and spam emails. Largely it’s because of stupid, greedy individuals who make it possible. A recent spam email listed prices for sending out such emails starting at $99 for sending out 1 million emails up to $500 for sending out 100 million such email messages. They should be ashamed of the level of garbage and illegality they are enabling on the Internet.

“A new breakthrough completely restores memory and elevates mood naturally”. This is the claim of a scammer offering a magical answer to memory problems. It is fake of course as these things always are. The message is from a ridiculous email address trygenteeersers.work and is sent to an email address only used by scammers. Sad rubbish.

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November 12, 2021

Netsafe in New Zealand

https://www.netsafe.org.nz/

Netsafe is New Zealand’s independent, non-profit online safety organisation. It provides online safety help, support, expertise and education to people in New Zealand. But that information is useful to people of every country.

Netsafe was founded in 1998 to help New Zealand internet users stay safe online.

After noticing the growing influence of technology in their respective areas, the New Zealand Police, Ministry of Education and several not for profits teamed up with telecommunication organisations and IT industry partners to create an independent body focussed on online safety.

Together they created the Internet Safety Group which was rebranded Netsafe in 2008.

Netsafe was given the remit to build an internet safety organisation that didn’t scare people away from technology, but instead encouraged people to adopt it by promoting the tools and techniques they could use to minimise their online risks.

Today Netsafe is an internationally renowned organisation with a focus on online safety practice.

As digital technology use grows and evolves at a rapid pace in society, it becomes more important for Netsafe to help people manage and reduce the risk of online harm, so that they feel more confident being online.

Netsafe’s remit is wider than just online security. They aim to cover Online Bullying & Harassment, Scams, Security, Parenting, Business. Educators and Young People.

There is a reporting tool for anyone wishing to report an online incident that happened to themselves or someone close to them.

There is a wealth of information about common online scams and those in New Zealand are pretty much the same as in other advanced countries. (Developing countries typically face different types of scams.)

There is a lot of security advice but also advice for parents and education workers and sections for young people.

This is a great service offered in New Zealand but also useful to everyone, wherever they live, as scams and other online problems exist the world over.

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November 11, 2021

Bereavement Scams

The death of a loved one is a distressing time and there are scumbags who may try to take advantage of the bereaved at their most vulnerable.

Typical Scams Targeting the Bereaved:

Debt Claims

Scammers call or write claiming to be owed some money or to be from a debt collection firm.

They may make threats and will pressure for immediate payment.

If in doubt as to whether such a debt exists or whether you may be liable for any debt, check the details before making any payment and the Citizens Advice consumer helpline can offer guidance.

Life Insurance

A scammer contacts you in order to pay you the life insurance, but in order to do this they need your personal information, bank details etc.

Never hand over such information unless you are certain it is genuine.

If the caller or letters demand a final payment, release amount or any other payment similar then it is almost certainly a scam.

Identity Theft

People search obituaries for information they can use to forge identities. Please be careful of the information you put in an obituary and do not include details like date or place of birth or give out full addresses.

Long Lost Relative Scams

Funerals are a time to reconnect with family, but watch out for ‘long lost relatives’ who come out of the woodwork to claim they are owed something or should share in any inheritance.

If they want money, then confirm their identity with other relatives or the authorities.

If they insist they were owed money or an inheritance, a debt or property, consult a solicitor.

Register a Death

You may need to update various authorities e.g. local council, register of voters etc.

Scammers setup fake websites and advertise on Google to try to get you to use them for such registration. Typically they might charge you for this when it should be free or they just steal your payment information.

Always make sure you are using the official websites and don’t simply click on whatever is top of a Google search.

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

November 10, 2021

What is Digital Money

Digital Money / Cyber Currency / Blockchain / Bitcoin etc

Digital money (or digital currency) refers to any means of payment that exists in a purely electronic form. Digital money is not physically tangible like a dollar bill or a coin and Bitcoin is probably the best known digital money in use.

Digital money can also represent standard currencies, such as dollars or euros. Digital money is exchanged using technologies such as smartphones, credit cards, and online cryptocurrency exchanges.

Digital money has the potential to streamline the financial infrastructure of the world, making it cheaper and faster to conduct monetary transactions, easier to store money and legal to avoid the gaze of central banks and taxmen.

But it has severe limitations, many attempts at digital money will fail, criminals love cyber currencies, some varieties of digital money create instability in the markets and it is possible that the huge tech companies will come to dominate this space.

The money held in your online bank account can be called digital money – it’s just numbers on a computer.

The world is moving away from cash to digital money and Sweden is probably the furthest ahead in this move.

Sweden is expected to reach ‘cashless’ society by 2025, although they do admit that some retailers will continue to accept cash beyond that date.

Types of Digital Money

Central Bank Digital Currencies

Many governments around the world are struggling to understand digital currencies and how they can used without causing destabilisation.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are the most common digital currencies and are based on cryptography. This is used to allow for anonymity, public ledger transactions and safe storage.

The most popular cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cryptocurrencies are becoming fashionable investments and the overall market capitalization of crypto markets had by July 2021 surpassed $2 trillion.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a variation of cryptocurrencies and were developed to counter the price volatility of regular cryptocurrencies. The price is tied to that of a standard currency or a basket of goods to ensure that they remain stable. They can be a proxy for standard currencies, except they are not backed by governmental authority. The market for stablecoins has been growing rapidly.

The Advantages of Digital Money

The current financial infrastructure is very complex and every time money is transferred or changes hands there are costs involved.

Digital money eliminates the need for physical storage and safekeeping that is a characteristic of cash-intensive systems. You don’t need to worry about your digital money being stolen or lost (not strictly true)
Digital money simplifies accounting and record-keeping for transactions through technology. Therefore, manual accounting and separate entity-specific ledgers are not necessary to maintain records of transactions.
Digital money has the potential to revolutionize the payment industry by eliminating intermediaries and further reducing the costs associated with cross-border transfers.
Digital money makes it possible to include groups of people who were previously excluded from the economy by not having access to bank accounts. They can use digital money instead.

Digital money is a major innovation in financial technology. It makes payment systems faster and cheaper. But it has the attendant problems of technology, as digital money can be hacked and can erode privacy. While it is still early days for digital money, it will play an important part in the future of finance.

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