Many people laugh at scams. We see an email from a mysterious stranger. The note is full of odd phrases and terrible misspellings. We instantly share it on social media. “The Prince of Nigeria wants to send me bars and bars of gold!” we write, along with laughing emoji. “Should I take it?”
But not all scams are so easy to spot. Spammers get more sinister every day, and they use real-sounding email addresses, personal data, well-phrased letters, and actual corporate logos to lure their victims. The savviest con artists work remotely, coaxing money out of people they’ve never met in person. Related: Learn more about a convincing tech support scam that people are falling for. In this era of rampant data theft and cyber-crime, it’s more important than ever to be aware of swindlers’ stories because the effects can be felt for months or years. Most cons want to score fast money, but you’ll want to protect all your information from fraud, not just your credit numbers and bank accounts. Here are some common scams and ways to defend yourself against them. You’ll want to share this know-how with your family members and friends on social media. It’s so easy to be taken by the swindlers. 1. Job scam Some people joke about being “between jobs,” but there’s nothing funny about unemployment. Looking for a new job is stressful, and as the weeks turn into months, you may jump at any opportunity, no matter how dubious or grim. Scammers know this, and they prey on desperate people. They send emails with headings like, “Your Résumé” or “Work From Home Job.” At first, these sound like exciting opportunities. Can you really make $1,200 a week sitting on your couch? Employment scams are common, and you don’t have to be jobless to find their offers enticing. Many of their targets are the unemployed or underpaid eager for a change of pace. No matter what the location or time of year, scammers find a needy victim with bills to pay. This year, I’ve noticed a rise in two different types of job-related scams. These can look very convincing if you don’t know how to watch out for them. Mailed Check: In this scam, you apply for a job and get a response. Your potential employer mails you a check. It'll be made out to you for $500 or so. Of course, that should be a red flag. Why would they pay you before you start working? Reputable companies won't do that. But scammers will call you or email you to say the mailed check was their mistake. They ask you to wire the funds back to them. If you fall for it, their bad check won't cover the funds so that the money will come out of your bank account. Upfront Fees: Some fake companies will require an “activation fee,” or even upfront costs for “training” and “materials.” If you’re dying for work, you might convince yourself that this is normal because you need to “spend money to make money.” Don’t rationalize. Legitimate employers should not require fees. 2. Vacation scam Many Americans get morose about vacations. They don’t have much time off, travel is expensive and complicated, and they’ll only return to mountains of unfinished work, so why bother? So when you receive an email about an all-expenses-paid vacation package to Hawaii, you may do a double-take. Did you win some sweepstakes? Have you truly been randomly selected? Is this hotel handing out astonishing promotions? Yes, it’s possible to win a vacation, but if you don’t remember entering a contest, run an online check. If you’ve never heard of the company offering you round-trip flights and luxury resorts, be skeptical. In this case, scammers will initiate contact with you. They may call you, send you an email or post a vacation package on Facebook. Then they’ll ask for personal data, like a credit card number to “hold the reservation.” Never give this information away unless you know for a fact that the company is legitimate. In the meantime, vacations are healthy and life-affirming, but they are best handled on your own or through a respected travel agency. Related: One mistake people make using public Wi-Fi 3. Concert and theater scams Similar to vacation scams, these scams start with someone contacting you, or you respond to an advertisement that you see posted online. The scammer says they're selling tickets for a band you've been following for years or a hot show. They'll excitedly tell you about the venue and the great value you're getting. The tickets aren’t free, but they are theoretically discounted. Once they ask you to wire money or submit credit card information, you may not even know it’s a hoax. Tickets can be easy to reproduce with the right gear. You may not know you’ve been taken until you’re turned away at the event because the tickets were fake. 4. Moving scam Late summer is one of the busiest times of year to move into a new home. Whether you’re a student switching apartments or a parent moving to a better school district, you’ll probably find yourself migrating on a sunny weekend in August. Fake moving companies may call you, or drop you an email, or leave a flyer on your doorstep. In the ugliest situations, the company will quote a number verbally, move you into your new home, and then demand far more money than you expected. There are some cases of “movers” packing all your worldly possessions into a truck and then driving off with it. Related: 3 new scams that are popular on Craigslist. Do not fall for this scam. Most moving companies will offer to come to your home to see how much furniture they’ll need to move. They will give you a written estimate. They are bonded and have insurance. You get the point. Here's how to stay safe: Check BBB.org to see if the moving company is a reputable business. Then, have the movers come to your house before the move. Ask them for a final estimate before you pay. 5. Owed money scam Everybody loves automatic payments because they save time writing checks or looking up charges. But as the years wear on, you may have forgotten to pay up. Cards expire, payments fail to go through, and we forget about them. We may even miscalculate our taxes, resulting in a bill and monthly fine. So when we receive a letter in the mail marked “Urgent: Payment Requested,” we often think we’ve done something wrong. Did you forget to pay a cable bill in 2007, and should you send a check for $72.89 now? The information is so specific, why should doubt the letter’s sender? The last thing you want is a collections agency on your tail, so why not just pay the fee and get it over with? In this case, you should make sure the collector is real. It is perfectly reasonable to receive a letter from a collections agency, especially if you’ve moved a lot or are forgetful about paperwork. But before you send any money, spend a few minutes to see whether this company is legit. Speaking of money, there is one legitimate way you may get money back that you totally forgot about. Bonus: No scam! Find your unclaimed money Right now, there's an estimated $41.7 billion currently held in government unclaimed property programs, and some of that unclaimed money could be yours. Maybe you forgot to get that deposit back from the electric utility when you rented your first apartment. An insurance company may have issued you a refund on a policy but couldn't find you. You might have been enrolled in a pension plan that was discontinued. In addition to utility refunds and insurance payments, unclaimed property includes abandoned savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler's checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates (in some states), annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments, mineral royalty payments and contents of safe deposit boxes. Whew! Related: 7 ways to find unclaimed money USA TODAY Kim Komando
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These picks have major nutritional payoffs.
If you're looking for even more ideas for how to work these healthy foods into your diet, check out our collection of healthy snacks. www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/the-30-healthiest-foods-you-could-ever-eat/ss-AAmqzoh?li=BBnbfcL Wear sunscreen, don’t forget eye cream, avoid cigarettes: We all know the drill when it comes to feeling (and looking) our most youthful selves. But what if we told you that late-night binge-watching session wasn’t doing you any favors either? Here, six surprising things that are actually aging you (and what to do about them). Read more: www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/6-surprising-things-that-are-actually-aging-you/ss-BBEGbre?li=BBnb7Kz
The most successful people know to succeed you must take small action daily to have big wins.
Every day, we're surrounded by life lessons--little self-contained bits of truth that can help each of us to be a more successful manager, a greater boss, a superior leader, a better person. It's easy to dismiss these ideas because they're packaged in such small bites, but they can be a great way to positively connect with some of the world's great wisdom. Here are 10 of my favorites: 1. You have to start somewhere. The first step to getting anywhere is deciding you're not willing to stay where you are. The least helpful thing you can do is to wait for perfection before taking action. Start where you are, use what you have and do what you can to succeed. 2. There is always a demand for your supply of respect. Base your attitude in life on how you want to be treated and show respect even to people who don't deserve it. How you treat others is not a reflection of their character but of yours. 3. You win when everybody wins. Prepare to win and expect to win, but remember that to be a real winner you must also make winners of those around you. 4. If your presence doesn't add value, your absence won't be felt. The secret to success is no secret at all--it's finding ways to add value to people's lives. If you want to be rich in the truest sense of the world, it cannot be about you--it has to include adding value to the lives of those around you. 5. Focus your attention on what is important. Learn to be disciplined about what you respond to and react to. Not everyone and everything deserves your time, energy and attention. Make conscious choices about what you want to pay attention to and what you want to let go. 6. All the confidence you will ever need comes from the capabilities you've honed. Here's something I always tell my clients: Confidence comes from believing you are able but competence knows you're able. Believe in yourself and your possibilities, but know what you are already a master of. 7. Love what you do or find something else. If you don't love what you do, you'll spend the rest of your life being miserable. It's really that simple. Love what you do and it will never feel like work. 8. Identify your limits and leverage your fortitude. You will never know your limits unless you push yourself beyond them. The only way to change yourself is to challenge yourself--if you never push, you have direction but no destination. 9. Know when to forge ahead and when to slow down. The faster we live, the busier we get--but the slower we take things, the deeper we can go. We need both action and reflection in the right balance. 10. To learn the best, learn from the best. Everyone you meet knows something you don't. Learning is a treasure, so connect with the expertise of those around you at every opportunity, The biggest difference between successful people and not successful people, are the successful people know that taking small daily actions will lead to big results. Lolly Daskal 7/24/2017 Below is an excerpt on a new piece I a working on titles, Seventies to Eighties. Not sure what it will be yet, book, short story etc. Anyway, was hoping to receive some feedback on this particular excerpt. Have a good Wednesday. Keith.
Television in the seventies consisted of three channels, in the eighties I remember the invention of cable television, and then my life changed, all of our lives changed, the world changed. This change was MTV, aka music television. This was the early eighties. I remember seeing Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA video, and I was fucking mesmerized. Life fucking stopped for four minutes and thirty-eight seconds. I knew about him, but didn’t know who he was or what he represented. I knew his song Hungry Heart, and Born to Run. Those came out before I was ten years old. When Born in the USA released, from that moment on I wanted to know who this man was. I went to TG&Y and bought a compilation album which was his live tracks from nineteen seventy -five to nineteen eighty- five. The first time I heard Thunder Road, I wept. I still do. This man held the answers I needed to get away from the dysfunction in my house, the depression that ate my brain like cancer, and the anguish that destroyed my heart that of what a young boy should never have to endure. That four minute and forty-nine second song changed everything about me. When I played Thunder Road time stopped. Nothing existed between me and the lyrics. I was the lyrics. In this song Mr. Springsteen answered to and described every feeling that had ever passed though my body. “I wept,” is an understatement. Many songs he has written leaves me in tears, but Thunder Road hit my soul deeply. This is not a song, it is an event, a movement, a life shaping connection to universal survival. There are no words in any language written to describe this colossal and ever so important four minutes and thirty-nine seconds. If I had a chance to ever meet him, I would shake his hand and say, “Mr. Springsteen you saved my life.” |
AuthorKeith Kelly currently lives in Rio Rancho New Mexico. Archives
October 2020
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