Don’t get scammed: friends edition

This is an urgent message for all: beware of this email scam. I’ve taken calls from multiple people this week about this.

Here’s how it plays out:

  1. Person A (a friend of yours; not you, hopefully) gets their email account hacked (possibly by clicking a link in another spam message that looks like it’s coming from Verizon support or something).
  2. Once the hacker is in their account, he can harvest all of the email contacts, or use messages in the mailboxes to mine for addresses. They may set up filters to redirect incoming mail, so Person A won’t initially notice the hack.
  3. You then get a message like this:
Hi, Hope you're good. May I ask a favor, Do you shop on Amazon. Thanks
[Person A's name]
  1. Don’t reply! It’s a scam! Call/text your friend, Person A, and let them know they’ve been hacked. For you, that’s the end of it. Delete the email. If you reply—whether you say yes or no—you may get a reply like this:
I've been trying to purchase a $300 Amazon E-Gift by email, but it says they are having issues charging my card. I contacted my bank and they told me it would take a couple of days to get it sorted. I intend to buy it for my Niece whose birthday is today. Can you purchase it from your end for me or maybe you can get it for me in any store around you, I'll refund it to you once my bank sorts the issue out. Thanks [Person A's name]
  1.  Don’t reply! It’s a scam! And now the hacker has your address, maybe on a list of people to target in the future.

Stop at step 4. Don’t get scammed!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Tip: how not to email a change of address

So it’s time to change your email address and let everyone know you’ve moved. Here are a few things to avoid when you’re sending out that notice

email-change-highlight

Case in point: bad email change

Sending from your old address: Sending the message from your old address is a bad idea because it reinforces your presence at the old address. If someone replies to your message, their reply goes to the old address. It also tends to make it harder for your recipients to add your new address to their contacts. Some people do this because they haven’t imported their contacts to their new account yet. Continue reading

Free/open Apple Classes at BestBuy

Apple classes at BestBuyDo you have a Mac or an iPad and struggle with the basics? I’m always happy to help, but you might think about checking out these free classes. The BestBuy store on Independence Blvd. in Virginia Beach has an Apple rep regularly in the store offering free classes in things like “Mac Basics” and “iPad Basics.” Help build your foundation of knowledge—for free! If there’s another BestBuy closer to you, you might ask if they offer something similar. But if you live in Hampton Roads and the Independence store is not too far from you, this might be just the thing for you!

Tip: Look before you leap

search-results

Canon support? Mostly not.

Here’s my big tip of the day: When you do Internet searches, look before you leap!
Look the picture here, taken from Google search results for Canon Support.
The blue underlined “links” are what you click to go to any of the results.
The green parts are how you look before you leap; they show the URL, or the web address, of each search result.
All of these may look like Canon Support, but only one of them is! Continue reading