The One Ring Scam - It Is Alive and Well in Texas

So, what is a one ring scam you ask?  Simple.  A company sets up a a toll charge site, often based in another country.  They set up computers to robo-dial phones (particularly targeting cell phones with regular phone bills).  As soon as the phone registers a ring, the dialer hangs up.

What happens next:  Curiosity gets to a lot of people so they call back the "missed call."  Since it is a toll charge site, you are automatically charged a fee - usually $19.95  (I am not sure why that amount) and of course, if it is international, you are also charged for whatever time you stay on the phone with international charges.  Some international charges are not cheap either.

Simply calling the number back could cost you $30.  How do you avoid it?  Never call back a missed call, unless you know who/where it is from.  Guess what?  I just saved you $30.  And to think I did it for free.

Here is a news story on the calls:

http://www.kltv.com/story/24543509/scam-missed-calls-could-cost-you

Stay Safe!

One More Reason to Turn Off Wi-Fi on Your Phone

I have a habit of turning off my Wi-Fi on my smartphone, mostly because I am gone out and about for most of the day, and when Wi-Fi is turned on it tends to drain the battery much faster as I move about because it is constantly seeking to connect.

Well, a security researcher, Brendan O'Conner, developed a device (which many could make on their own) that can snoop on anyone whoever happens to hook up with unsecured Wi-Fi.

He could pick up the Web sites he browsed when he connected to a public Wi-Fi – say at a cafe – and he scooped up the unique identifier connected to his phone and iPad. Gobs of information traveled over the Internet in the clear, meaning they were entirely unencrypted and simple to scoop up.

 Even when he didn’t connect to a Wi-Fi network, his sensors could track his location through Wi-Fi “pings.”

Not only that, but it could gather email addresses, Id's to social media sites, photos and a lot more.  You can learn more about it by reading A Cheap Spying Tool With a High Creepy Factor

This is not legal to do anywhere, but it can easily be done.  So my tip for you is to turn off Wi-Fi except when you are using a secured server.  Identity thieves can really have a hey day with something like this.
Whatever you do - Stay Safe!

Investigating Theives

Recently I was doing some random checks to see if anyone has been re-posting my information.  I do this from time to time to  thank other blogs for making reference to my articles.

The problem is, I found out that someone was out right stealing from me.  I found that the blog found at http://www.securityblogs.co.uk had plagiarized an entire post of my blog and gave me absolutely no credit.  The owner of that blog, according to the whois database, David Rietman, is a thief for stealing my material.  I wonder if he will copy this entire post verbatim as well with not citation.

David, you have no listed way of contacting you besides a phone number - I may be calling you shortly.

Please correct the issue(s) with the post.