Kattt
Ancient of Mu-Mu
- May 18, 2021
- 796
One of the more obvious side effects of this Pandemic is the economic fallout. People are desperate, often finding themselves and their families homeless, with literally nobody and nowhere to turn to. People who would never normally cross the road anywhere other than the official crossing are finding themselves turning to means that would never have done so before, just to get by. We've all seen the scammers upping their game,but the most obvious increase has been the risk to th the internet for financial purposes, be it banking, shopping or sending money (paypal, Moneygram etc).
Even those of us that routinely pay for internet security have found it insufficient (at best) or a total scam (at worst). Scammers have taken to copying, in great detail, virus protection software, such as McAfee and Norton. So you think you're being protected, whereas every word you type, is actually being logged and transferred to the eager hands of the highest bidder.
It is the inability to physically walk into your bank or buy what you need at a shop that is leaving us so vulnerable to those that will take advantage of our inevitable sloppiness . Yes! I am not too ashamed to say my laziness got me a nasty dose of malware . Having a phone more powerful than the PC didn't help either. Not only did McAffee pro notice nothing , but when I contacted their "Support", they were worse than useless. And when I did eventually write and complain , they didn't even bother to reply. Despite having paid for 2 years service, I dropped them like a hot potato. Ran right back to Malwarebytes, cap in hand, who carefully walked me through each step, much of which was surely just paranoia anyway,but like a terrified child, they held my hand, with specialists checking every inch of the PC and the phone until I once again felt confident enough to let go again.
Here are a few of the mistakes I made over time, due to complacency and laziness that can hopefully help others not end up in the same mess.
* Over the decades that I had used the same email address, not only had I used the same passwords, but I had also fallen into the fatal habit of letting the computer save them for me. Fortunately, I had not fallen into the trap (as I have seen so many others do-of letting it store financial details). It had been quite a challenge ,but I had actually managed to close my Amazon account entirely-they really don't like you doing it and it took a good bit of arguing and fibbing about moving house and having no forwarding address and my bank account being connected to the uncertain employment before they reluctantly agreed to close the account.
* Even eBay now shun the protective buffer of Paypal and insist on linking your account directly to your bank. So my advise would be to have an account, preferably with a totally different and unrelated bank,with a debit/credit card that is used soley for that purpose. It might be a pain in the arse, but write the entire details in fresh every time. Same goes for passwords . Have them physically written down in a book (or whatever), make at least three copies and NEVER let your computer try and save them. NOTE; Microsoft edge often does this without informing you .
* The first thing you might notice is that your avatar doesn't look 100%. But that can be hard to see,especially on a tiny phone screen. Plenty of people have responded with "What's an avatar ?". We have taken online security for granted . but believe me, when something like this happens,ou question absolutely everything. I was completely losing my mind at one point.
* Don't be fooled by the notion that just because it's attached to your body, your fingerprint is any safer. Same goes for biometrics . Nothing is as safe as a unique, strong password .
* For quality protection from viruses, malware, trojans and ransomware and personal treatment (This coming from the idiot that paid for four years of extra support from Dell, to do what I can do by myself thankyouverymuch), go to: https://try.malwarebytes.com/tax-time-sale/
* Scams like this were once reserved for the elderly and technical "Jeffs". Now because of Covid, we are all on that list , so as soon as you are able, get up and go to your bank, use your local shops...because if we don't, they will be gone.
* It does well to remember how rich Jeff Bezos has gotten from all this misery. when you buy from Amazon,you sure pay your tax. But Bezos,rather than pay it on to your government to pay for all the public services etc,stuffs even more into his ever bulging pockets. This is the richest guy on Earth,yet doesn't think he needs to pay tax. Unlike his employees, who wear nappies/diapers or piss in a bottle for fear of losing their jobs.
I don't think I will ever go back to using a phone app for banking. Think of it this way ..who walks around with their worldly wealth in their pocket ?? That's insanity. I was lucky . many people have lost everything .and the banks aren't paying it back. I truly hope that my stupidity can save someone else .
Even those of us that routinely pay for internet security have found it insufficient (at best) or a total scam (at worst). Scammers have taken to copying, in great detail, virus protection software, such as McAfee and Norton. So you think you're being protected, whereas every word you type, is actually being logged and transferred to the eager hands of the highest bidder.
It is the inability to physically walk into your bank or buy what you need at a shop that is leaving us so vulnerable to those that will take advantage of our inevitable sloppiness . Yes! I am not too ashamed to say my laziness got me a nasty dose of malware . Having a phone more powerful than the PC didn't help either. Not only did McAffee pro notice nothing , but when I contacted their "Support", they were worse than useless. And when I did eventually write and complain , they didn't even bother to reply. Despite having paid for 2 years service, I dropped them like a hot potato. Ran right back to Malwarebytes, cap in hand, who carefully walked me through each step, much of which was surely just paranoia anyway,but like a terrified child, they held my hand, with specialists checking every inch of the PC and the phone until I once again felt confident enough to let go again.
Here are a few of the mistakes I made over time, due to complacency and laziness that can hopefully help others not end up in the same mess.
* Over the decades that I had used the same email address, not only had I used the same passwords, but I had also fallen into the fatal habit of letting the computer save them for me. Fortunately, I had not fallen into the trap (as I have seen so many others do-of letting it store financial details). It had been quite a challenge ,but I had actually managed to close my Amazon account entirely-they really don't like you doing it and it took a good bit of arguing and fibbing about moving house and having no forwarding address and my bank account being connected to the uncertain employment before they reluctantly agreed to close the account.
* Even eBay now shun the protective buffer of Paypal and insist on linking your account directly to your bank. So my advise would be to have an account, preferably with a totally different and unrelated bank,with a debit/credit card that is used soley for that purpose. It might be a pain in the arse, but write the entire details in fresh every time. Same goes for passwords . Have them physically written down in a book (or whatever), make at least three copies and NEVER let your computer try and save them. NOTE; Microsoft edge often does this without informing you .
* The first thing you might notice is that your avatar doesn't look 100%. But that can be hard to see,especially on a tiny phone screen. Plenty of people have responded with "What's an avatar ?". We have taken online security for granted . but believe me, when something like this happens,ou question absolutely everything. I was completely losing my mind at one point.
* Don't be fooled by the notion that just because it's attached to your body, your fingerprint is any safer. Same goes for biometrics . Nothing is as safe as a unique, strong password .
* For quality protection from viruses, malware, trojans and ransomware and personal treatment (This coming from the idiot that paid for four years of extra support from Dell, to do what I can do by myself thankyouverymuch), go to: https://try.malwarebytes.com/tax-time-sale/
* Scams like this were once reserved for the elderly and technical "Jeffs". Now because of Covid, we are all on that list , so as soon as you are able, get up and go to your bank, use your local shops...because if we don't, they will be gone.
* It does well to remember how rich Jeff Bezos has gotten from all this misery. when you buy from Amazon,you sure pay your tax. But Bezos,rather than pay it on to your government to pay for all the public services etc,stuffs even more into his ever bulging pockets. This is the richest guy on Earth,yet doesn't think he needs to pay tax. Unlike his employees, who wear nappies/diapers or piss in a bottle for fear of losing their jobs.
I don't think I will ever go back to using a phone app for banking. Think of it this way ..who walks around with their worldly wealth in their pocket ?? That's insanity. I was lucky . many people have lost everything .and the banks aren't paying it back. I truly hope that my stupidity can save someone else .
