First Citizens Bank scam, emergency preparedness tips, and getting great deals on cruises: Internet ScamBusters #95
Welcome to today's Internet ScamBusters Snippets issue. We'll cover 4 topics:
- This Week's Top Phishing Scam - First Citizens Bank
- More Emergency Preparedness Tips
- How To Get Truly Great Deals On Top Quality Cruises
- Today's ScamBusters Fashion Tip (which also contains some important scam prevention advice). 😉
Let's get right to it...
This Week's Top Phishing Scam - First Citizens Bank
This week's 'prize' for the most common phishing scam (which is also fairly new) is the email that supposedly comes from First Citizens Bank. The examples we've seen all talk about a 'planned software upgrade.'
Don't fall for it. Don't click on the link.
To read more about phishing scams like this one, click here now.
More Emergency Preparedness Tips
It's interesting -- we got more reprint requests for last week's issue than for any other previous issue. On our website, we broadened the topic from terrorist attacks to emergency preparedness more generally. This seemed like a good idea, especially given all the hurricanes we've been experiencing lately!
A number of subscribers sent us some excellent suggestions we'd like to share with you. Here are a few of the best:
- Don't forget to include pet food in your emergency kit.
- Keep an emergency kit in each car, as well as easily accessible at home. Make sure you include flares in your car emergency kits.
- During an emergency, be on guard against price gauging and scam artists. Both have been significant problems in the Caribbean and Florida (and other places hard-hit by the hurricanes) over the past 6 weeks.
- Combination rechargeable-crank radios and flashlights are better alternatives than simple battery-operated radios or flashlights. The chances of these devices working are much higher since the batteries are much less likely to go dead. Some radios also include a solar panel.
- Make sure you have fire extinguishers strategically placed in your home.
- If you haven't already done so, install smoke detectors in your home. Change the batteries regularly.
How To Get Truly Great Deals On Top Quality Cruises
Are you thinking of taking a cruise somewhere this year? Click here for five important tips on how to get truly great deals on top quality cruises and avoid getting scammed.
Today's ScamBusters Fashion Tip
We decided to offer you our first ScamBusters fashion tip. 😉
According to the New York Times, thumb drives (which are officially called U.S.B. flash drives) are now being used as a fashion accessory. You'll see them worn as pendants, as well as dangling from backpacks and key chains.
Our advice: Select some other item with which to make your fashion statement. Thumb drives are extremely useful for backup -- but do you really want to give thieves easy access to your most valuable data? It's not a smart idea.
Time to wrap up. Have a great week.
