The internet today is a huge resource for various types of information. Educational research, technical support sites, recreational sites, business and personal web pages, online shopping, forums, blogs, chat sites, messaging programs, and hundreds of other web sites to numerous to name. Most of these sites are fully legitimate. Others are not. These other sites and internet scams are the subject of this article.
Since it is listed first in the title, lets look at phishing sites. These are sites that require you to submit personal information! The thing to keep in mind when submitting information to any site is what could my information be used for? Most sites leave an online paper or data trail. For example, if you google search a web site name or part of the content from the home page, you will find pages and articles related to that web site. If you get results indicating the site is a probable phishing or scam site, be very cautious and wary about submitting your personal information. Many of these sites are in fact semi-legitimate. In other words, they tell you that your information may (or will) be used for “market research” or surveys. Some will offer you something in consideration of you viewing email from thier advertisers. These sites are pretty common and the choice is yours as to if you want to subscribe to the service or offer as stated on the page. For example, fill out 2 of the below offers for a “free” gift card. The gift card is in fact a bonus for subscribing to offers. These sites for the most part are legitimate. The ones you need to watch for are sites that request information such as…
Full name (first, last, and initials) in addition to your social insurance number, bank account information, your complete home and or mailing address, your phone number, drivers license number, credit card numbers (used for age verification… according to the site) and basically any information that you would supply if you were filling out a paper credit card application. One important exception should be noted. If you are actually purchasing something online, be it an item or software, then naturally the business will require this type of information!!! How else would you be paying for it or receive the item you purchased? If you are not making a purchase, then a web site doesn’t need your credit card information, or full mailing or home address. Especially your credit card information. When you do make a purchase, it is a very good idea to use a prepaid credit card, which is what I use. Why? Because the web site company / owner can NOT take more money off your credit card than what you put on it to make your web purchase. If a purchase price is $10 plus $2 for shipping… you put $12 on the card to make the purchase. If they try to bill you at $120.00 even by error, the payment will not process, so not only do you not get scammed, you are even protected against your own error if you filled out the form incorrectly or if for some reason you were accidentally billed incorrectly. (it sometimes happens as a legitimate mistake, which would be rectified gladly by the site owner, but the prepaid card eliminates the hassle of straightening the mess out) So again, the main thing to keep in mind is what is the site going to use my information for? Do they need my information for what I am filling out the application for (a blog or forum will usually not ask you for a credit card) and could the information I am giving be used to apply for credit, a bank loan, or personal identification, such as drivers license, Social Insurance Card, Medicare, or other government ID.
Let’s more on to scams.
A scam is where you are promised something, in consideration of some action required by you, and you never get the promised item. Lets use a common on… The Nigerian Scam. This has many variation, not all originating from Nigeria. Here is how it goes:
You are promised a cash award, lottery pay out, damage award, inhieritance payout, etc. by some organization or individual representing an organization. For example, lets use the Bank of Nigeria. First of all, you will get a spam email (unsolicited email) from someone you do not personally know, and does not originate from a service you subscribed for (like a newsletter, blog, or forum). This email will state something to the effect of you are getting a cash payment and the person sending the email represents some other larger (maybe even legitimate) organization and it is thier job to facilitate the payment. There are several things to check before you even respond to these emails. In fact, you should not respond at all unless you actually have filled in a contest form for the sending organization. Your first clue is this.. the ‘reply to’ email. Just click ‘reply to’ in your email software, on hotmail or yahoo, gmail, or other email service you may use. The reply to address will appear in the ‘to’ line of the email (which you do not actually send). Here is your BIG HINT… if a company is promising to pay you $50,000,000.00 USD, why would the ‘reply to’ address be a FREE email address, such as from hotmail, gmail, yahoo, yahoo.co.uk??? How can they afford to pay that sum if they can’t even afford thier own email address or web domain (web site). Note the address of this blog! www.baddblog.info. I have my own domain, I have 3 in fact. I am NOT a major bank or even a millionaire. Heck, I am not even a thousandaire, not even on payday… ALL legitimate online businesses will have thier own domain and domain email.
So if you do not have a domain email to send email to, be cautious. Why would someone in Nigeria be sending you money for any reason, especially if no body in your family has ever been to Nigeria. Think about it, why would a country that relies on foreign aide be sending millions of dollars out of the country???
The next thing you can do, is simple, just copy and paste the first paragraph of the email and google it. Regardless of if you get an exact match, not the number of hits reporting the content as a fraud. There are variations of these emails, but the basics never change. Usually the only change is the name of the sender, senders email address and maybe the supposed organization being represented.
Third, google the company that is supposed to be represented, see if they have a web site. If they do, I gaurentee you, they will send all email from that domain, and not from any hotmail, gmail, or yahoo address. (note, if the reply to comes from an isp account or from some account that is in say.. russian, count it as a free account)
If the reply to does actually come from a domain you do not recognise as a ‘free email provider’ use this tool… go to www.who.is and do a free search on the domain. (the part of the email address that comes after the @ symbol such as @hotmail.com. This will tell you who owns the domain and a lot of information you can use a little common sense to determine the legitimacy of the site. (mostly, to determine if they offer free email service). The most important thing to remember when dealing with scams, is that these scammers are appealing to YOUR GREED! If you KNOW you are not entitled to something and take any action to get it anyway, you are just begging to be scammed. You become the victim rather than the victimizer (yes, you were attempting to defraud a company by attempting to get something which you knew you were not entitled to). I rather like the part in these scam emails advising ‘confidentiality’ and ‘trusting you’ (a total stranger) to handle a multimillion dollar transaction be it for a fee or because you ‘closely matched’ a legitimate beneficiary and the ’scammer’ was trying to basically, take the issue off his desk and clear it from the accounts. (sometimes they will even say they are keeping a percentage for themselves). In all of these cases you are required to send payment, in degrees for various ‘fees’ be it courier fees, or bribes to officials. These scammers often get hundreds or even thousands of dollars before the victim either runs out of money or wakes up to the fact that the promised payment will never come! So now that you have this information, if you do get scammed, mainly because of your own greed, you can send me a certified check, bank draft or money order equal to what you were scammed out of. Hey, at least I am being honest enough to say you aren’t getting a damn thing for your money! I figure, if you are stupid enough to get scammed now, you are probably stupid enough to send me that check! Rule of thumb… Do your homework, check things out, and don’t expect something for nothing or to ‘get rich quick’!
Now, on to spam email. Spam is email you get that is not from somebody you know, that you did not ask to receive, and you did not give permission to any company to send you, either directly or from affiliate companies. Have you gotten “Male enhancement” email offers? Are you even a MALE to begin with? Maybe, you are already “enhanced” enough naturally. I mean, good lord, what did you want, something to club a bear to death? If you are not naturally ‘blessed’ then see your doctor or get counseling, or.. find a ‘tiny’ girl friend! This is just one example. Others include online drug companies, offers for ’stamina enhancing’ drugs, or thing like online groups. For this example, I will use facebook, myspace, and myyearbook. Now, these sites do not spam to my knowledge, someone you know submits your email and they send you an invitation to join at your friend’s request. This is not spam, because someone you know is sending you the email, but they are sending it via for example, facebook’s email client. This blog has the ability to do the same thing, to members, upon request or at admin request.
Viewers of this post may also find this web site of interest http://www.id10-t.info/forum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=f3ab6814fdfc6f2502f07bca993ab224 as it has details of several email scams. Feel free to join either this site or the site listed.
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There are many people in the world who will try to beat you down.
There are many reasons for this. Either to make themselves feel more important, to build themselves up in their mind by tearing you down, bringing you down to their level.
It could also be so that they can establish a type of control over you. This is a key factor in abusive relationships, to belittle the partner into thinking she (or he) is so worthless as a person, that nobody else would want them or put up with them. It is a lot easier to control somebody if they feel they are trapped in a situation and it is out of their control. Once that stripping of self worth is set in place, the abusive person can establish more control, through physical violence, intimidation, threats against the other persons life or lives of their family members. This develops to the point where the victim is to terrified for themselves or loved ones that they endure the verbal and physical abuse rather than risk the lives and well being of their family members.
What the victim fails to realize is that they are a person. They have rights! The law provides protection for people in this situation. Once the victim takes a stand and files a complaint, the abuser is prohibited from any contact. Should the abuser attempt to make contact, call the authorities. They will put the abuser under arrest and hold them until a hearing can be held before a judge.
Normally, where the abuser violates the undertaking (prohibiting contact with the victim or victims family members) they are put held until the trial, with additional charges laid by the court. In most areas, informing the authorities will enable an intervention, they authorities will help you get out the abusive surroundings or remove the abusive person from the dwelling. There is a special law inforcement division known as “Victim Services” that handles the details. Providing SAFE lodging, food, clothing, everything a person needs to get themselves out of a dangerous and abusive relationship.
People should always keep in mind that they deserver better, they can do better, and not all relationships are abusive. They should be aware that a partner should be nurturing, trying to build them up, boister their self esteem, help the person see themselves as they see them.
I”ve been in a relationship with someone, who when I first met her, thought she was fat, ugly and stupid, because that is what she was always told. Eventually, she started to see herself as I saw her, sexy, beautiful, smart, funny, and as she told me “You always make me feel like a Princess“, like she mattered to me, like her being in my life made my life better, and in truth, she did.
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Soliciting ‘Camming’ or ‘Cam Chat’ on Alamak.com!
According to Google search, the search query “anyone wanna cam” returns many results. ALL as in every last single one refers to sex in one form or another. Usually, masturbating using web cams to expose yourself to another person.These ‘persons’ could be same or opposite sex, old people, or minors. Some, *COMM in particular*, would argue that it is not the responsibility of ops to look out for the children who chat on alamak.
As parents well know, you cannot watch your child 24/7/365. It’s hard enough to make sure they are safe in the local playground. In the home, yes, parents have 1st responsibility to monitor and regulate which content a child views. But, parents can’t follow the kids to the mall, sit with them in the classroom or school library or computer lab. They cannot follow them through the streets, monitoring what they view at internet cafes.
THEREFORE, it IS the responsibility of every webmaster, chat op/mod site owner, site admin, and anyone who has the means to do so, to ensure that the children that visit their respective web sites are safe from corruption.
I am focusing this on the kids, they are young, curious, and impressionable. How many of you parents would knowingly allow their child to visit a ‘chat friend’ that was 20 or more years older alone and unsupervised? Grown women are sometimes taken in by smooth talkers, saying all the right things at just the right time. Telling them what they want to hear most. With an adult intellect, women rationalize the facts and STILL fall victim to online predators. What chance does a child, with an immature mind have against an adult, considering that since birth they are taught to trust adults, not question them or talk back?Regarding Alamak, if comm don’t want to accept the responsibilities that come with the appointment, they should step down, and let someone who isn’t concerned with winning a popularity contest, who does take a personal interest in the well-being of the chatters and children that frequent the site.
I’m not opening doors to ops abuse, but ops until recently have always been allowed to use their best judgment regarding the welfare of the chat and the chatters. If a kick or ban is clearly abusive, fine, take action. BUT if there is stuffiest evidence to support said kick or ban, don’t argue “Oh, he/she COULD have maybe meant this or might have meant something else” If something LOOKS like a duck, and sounds like a duck, and has duck feathers, waddles, has web feet, it MIGHT be a deformed chicken, but i would bet my last dollar that IT IS A GOD DAMNED DUCK! So don’t try to argue that it could maybe be a chicken. According to MY best judgment, IT’S A DUCK.
Further, Alamak is not now, nor has ever been a Cam Chat. I don’t see a button or command that says “start my web cam” If i posted “anyone wanna see my dick?” I’ld be kicked. And rightly so. Since every web site regarding “Anyone wanna cam” has to do with exactly that, showing one privates, how is asking to ‘cam’ any different? Except a pic is much less graphic. Stores display Playboy on the magazine shelves, but the XXX films are in an “Adult admittance only” room, with a closed door, in the back.
Maybe with enough comments we can get the comm, admin and owner of this chat to take their head out of the sand, and step aside and let some ops who will enforce policy, and will make policy on the site according to the best interest of the people visiting and of the chat itself.
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