smarter traveling, driving and spending
Scam Alert: The newest plague on our time and privacy is phony phone calls from fake caller ID numbers. When your phone rings and it looks like a local call from a friend or neighbor, you may be more likely to answer. Scammers count on this, and are now actively faking caller ID numbers that
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Yes, we’re all tired of the robocalls and the email spammers. But they aren’t the only unwanted intrusion in our lives. So is the junk mail stuffing up our mailboxes. US households throw out around 40 pounds of unwanted catalogues and other sales and marketing junk mail a year, including from retailers and charities we
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The stats are in, and here are the most popular ecoXplorer posts of 2017. You are a smart group of followers who want to avoid being ripped-off, since most of the top posts are our “scam alert” advisories. And an eclectic bunch, since other top posts ranged from how to help victims of the devastating
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SCAM ALERT Vacations are not the time to relax your personal safety, including taking internet security precautions. Everyday, it seems, we hear about hacking, identity theft or some other invasion of our digital privacy. Here’s how to protect your online life from cyber criminals while you are away from home for the holidays, or any
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Scam alert. Protect yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft or a computer virus like ransomware, by avoiding fraudulent holiday emails from senders claiming to be Amazon, Paypal, Costco, Starbucks, Pandora and other well-known names. I’ve been getting a lot of those lately, as holiday shopping season gears up, and probably so have you.
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Scam Alert: College, and the student loans to pay for it, are expensive enough without being cheated by companies claiming to reduce that loan debt for a fee. Strategic Student Solutions and several related companies have been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission for falsely promising to reduce or eliminate student debt and offering
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SCAM ALERT Everyday, it seems, we hear about hacking, identity theft or some other invasion of our digital privacy. Here’s how to protect your online life from cyber criminals on the road, because vacations are not the time to relax your personal safety, including taking internet security precautions. Before You Go Patch Up. Check all
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Scam alert: Dynamic Currency Conversion. It’s the newest twist on foreign transaction fees, and the newest way way to rip you off when you travel. If an overseas trip on your summer getaway horizon it’s worth knowing, or being reminded of, the best ways to avoid, or at least minimize, foreign transaction fees when you
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If you used a credit card or debit card to purchase anything recently at Chipotle Mexican Grill, you could be a victim of credit card fraud or identity theft. Chipotle is working with authorities to identify customers at risk. At issue is what Chipotle calls “malware” designed to steal information from customer credit cards and
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Scam alert: restaurant upselling. Ever wonder why your restaurant bill is so much more than you expected? It’s probably because restaurant employees are trained to lure you to ordering more, and higher priced menu items, than you planned. What used to be called “bait-and-switch” is now called upselling, and restaurants are not alone in the
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