Retailers aren't the only ones gearing up for the holiday season. Criminals are also out in force.
To highlight the increased crime during the holidays, security company McAfee has come up with the "12 Scams of Christmas" ranging from bogus electronic greeting cards that deliver malware instead of cheer to fake charities that steal your money and your identity.
It's especially important to be extra careful this time of year, says McAfee's David Marcus. "The bad guys know people are spending more time online, they're paying more bills online so [the criminals] stand a chance of being a bit more successful this time of year.
In a podcast interview (scroll down to listen), Marcus counted down the 12 scams of Christmas starting with:
- Charitable phishing scams: Marcus warns consumers to be wary of e-mails that appear to be from legitimate charities. Not only will they take your money and deprive charities of needed funds, but they will also steal your credit card information and identity.
- Fake invoices from delivery services: During this period, scammers will send out fake invoices and delivery notifications appearing to come from Federal Express, UPS, the U.S. Postal Service or even the U.S. Customs Service saying that they were unable to deliver a package to your address. They ask you to confirm your address and give them credit card information to pay for delivery.
- Social networking friend requests: Bad guys take advantage of this social time of year by sending out authentic looking friend requests via e-mail. Marcus recommends that you not click on those links but sign into Facebook and other services and look for friend requests from the site itself. Clicking on a link could install malware on your computer or trick you into revealing your password.
- Holiday e-cards: Be careful before clicking on a holiday e-card, especially if it's from a site you haven't heard of. This is a way to deliver malware, pop-ups, and other forms of unwanted advertising. Some fake e-cards will look like they come from Hallmark or other legitimate companies, so pay close attention and make sure it's from someone you know. If you're going to send an e-card, be sure you're dealing with a reputable service lest you risk infecting yourself and your friends.
- Fake "luxury" jewelry: If you see an offer for luxury gifts from companies like Cartier, Gucci, and Tag Heuer at a price that's too good to be true, it probably isn't true. These links could lead you to malware and take your money or merchandise that will probably never arrive (or be fake if it does). Some of these sites, according to McAfee, even display the logos of the Better Business Bureau.
- Practice safe holiday shopping. Make sure your wireless network is secure and be sure you're shopping on sites that are secure. Though it isn't an iron clad guarantee, you should look for the lock icon in the lower right corner of your browser and make sure the Web page starts with https. The "s" stands for "secure."
- Christmas carol lyrics can be dangerous: Bad guys know that people are searching for holiday related sites for music, holiday graphics, and other festive media. During this time, they create fraudulent holiday related sites.
- Job search related scams: With the unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, there are plenty of job seekers looking for work. Beware of online offers for high paying jobs or at-home money making schemes. Some of these sites ask for money up front, which is a good way for criminals not only to steal your "set up fee" but misuse your credit card too. Marcus said that some "get rich quick" sites are all about money laundering, asking you to accept an inbound financial transfer and pay them.
- Auction site fraud: McAfee has observed a rise in fake auction sites during the holidays. Make sure you're actually going to eBay or whatever site you plan to deal with.
- Password stealing scams: Criminals use low-cost tools to uncover passwords, in some cases planting key logger software to record keystrokes. Once they get your passwords, they gain access to bank accounts and credit card accounts and send spam from your e-mail accounts.
- E-mail banking scams: A common type of phishing scam is sending out official looking e-mails that appear to come from your bank. Don't click on any links but type in your bank's Web address manually if you need to access your account.
- Files for ransom: Hackers use malware to gain control of your computer and lock your data files. To access your own data you have to pay them ransom.
Listen to Larry's interview with McAfee's David Marcus
Listen now: Download today's podcast
Earth Day may or may not appeal to your eco-conscience, but keeping the reins steady on your computer's carbon footprint and energy consumption makes good technological and financial sense. Reducing your energy output can prolong the life of your hardware--especially a laptop or Netbook--and can help save cash, which we all know is the 'greenest' motivation around.
This collection of environmentally friendly software lassos together these apps, plus a few others to help understand and appreciate our planet's cities, flora, and outer space neighbors.
ENERGY-SAVERS
Edison
(Credit:
CNET)
Edison for XP and Windows Vista is the newest one-stop app for monitoring how much energy and money you save when you tighten up your computer's sleep and shutdown schedules. A slider lets you decide after how many minutes you want to shut down your computer's display and hard drive during the peak work day. You can program differing criteria for off hours. Manual customization is also possible if you need to ease into greener computing.
... Read more
(Credit:
Delfyn Software)
It's that time of year in the U.S. when frenzied Christmas shoppers flood the malls, winter storms wreak havoc throughout the country, and singles fret about finding the perfect date for New Year's Eve.
Like you, the staffers at CNET Download.com aren't immune to our own year-end holiday distractions, but we hope to lighten your seasonal load with helpful gift ideas, winter desktop treats, and do-it-yourself tech projects perfect for family gatherings.
First off, there's only one week left until Christmas, but whatever you do, don't panic! If you've got someone on your list who is a Web junkie, Jessica Dolcourt has compiled a gallery of gift suggestions for friends and family who spend all of their time online.
If you're not in the holiday spirit yet, there are oodles of free downloads to turn your Scrooge frown upside down. Find puppies, Mr. Hankey, Festivus, and New Year's from Times Square diversions in a gallery of seasonal winter screensavers.
The holidays are great for bringing friends and family together, but finding a common project or recreation can be difficult. If you're loaded with video clips from the previous year, Molly Wood shows you how to compile them into a holiday video for distributing to the masses.
What are you downloading this holiday season, or are you taking a break from the computer? Tell me about it in the comments. (If you are taking a break from the computer, are you reading this on your fancy phone or something?)
(Credit:
American Greetings)
In the lane, snow is definitely glistening. 'Tis the time of the year to make your PC look like a snow globe, or at least that's what my Great-Uncle Boomer used to say. (At least it's true for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.)
It's fine to add a little pizazz to your desktop with a seasonal screensavers, but be warned: Some of the holiday screensavers are oozing with cheese...and not the good kind. Those disco-dancing snowmen will haunt your dreams!
To avoid your computer (and you) looking like a corn dog in a cubicle this holiday season, frolic and play through our collection of safe and secure seasonal screensavers selected to fit a wide range of year-end revelers and Scrooges. Ooh, puppies!
Join CNET TV on Friday, November 23 for the Holiday Help Desk our live, 10-hour call-in show. Whether you need advice on software, games, electronics, gadgets, computers, or anything else technological under the sun, experts will be answering your holiday tech shopping questions live from 8 a.m. PST to 6 p.m. PST.
Call 1-888-900-CNET with your questions on Friday or e-mail them in advance to holidayhelp@cnet.com. If your call is answered on the air, you'll be entered into a drawing to win one of eight Nintendo Wii Holiday Mega Bundles valued at $600. Included in the bundle: a Nintendo Wii System with Wii Sports, Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 8, Mario Strikers Charged, Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Drawings will be held every hour starting at 10 a.m. PST.
We'll also have live reports from the streets of New York and San Francisco, and we'll check in with Amazon.com and Buy.com to check out their hottest sellers. Don't think of making a holiday tech purchase without calling the Holiday Help Desk first.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
With Thanksgiving only two days away, people are bringing out their favorite recipes for turkey, gravy, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. How do you keep your recipes from year to year? My father's method was to put his favorite recipes into notebooks that would be brought out every year. But even with laminated pages, eventually his notebooks got pretty messy. My mother used index cards to store recipes, but over time the ingredients would fade, especially if the recipe was popular with the family.
In the search for a better method through software, I discovered some good recipe database programs anyone can use. These handy apps let you store all your favorite Thanksgiving recipes (along with all your other recipes) in a searchable database which you can quickly print out for easy access in the kitchen. You can also catalog things like spices and ingredients on hand, and then search for results using those and other parameters. Some of these apps let you explore other databases online with countless recipe variations and varieties of foods to choose from.... Read more
- prev
- 1
- next
