green living, smart 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: 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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The hawksbill sea turtle is critically endangered, but even though there’s an international law against it, that isn’t stopping the sale of turtleshell products, or stopping tourists from buying them. A survey of nine Caribbean and Latin American countries has identified more than 10,000 hawksbill turtleshell items for sale. That’s despite international efforts to halt
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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, which includes taking internet security precautions. Before You Go Patch Up. Check all your
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Now that your home is getting smarter, with internet-connected heating and cooling, webcams to check on the baby and babysitter, lock or unlock your door remotely, it’s more important than ever to keep hackers out. These tips will help keep the digital version of breaking-and-entering from creating mayhem, even endangering the health and safety of
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