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Terry Ambrose

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Scams & Cons

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Too good to be true: Craigslist scams to look out for

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If you use Craigslist regularly, you’ve probably been the target of a scam. From Nigerian princes to suspect personal checks, scammers see this e-commerce community as a chance to take advantage of users’ trust. Craigslist may never rid itself of fraudulent activity. Here are some of the most common Craigslist scams plaguing this convenient online-classifieds […]

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When we are vulnerable — an email scam tip

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We’re most vulnerable when we’re not paying attention or when coincidence catches us off guard. This would have been an easy scam to fall for had I not been paying attention. First off, we’re doing business with Hawai‘i Life, so it wasn’t unusual to receive an email from them. Second, everything in the email was […]

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Easy tip to avoid tricky Craigslist and PayPal email scam

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One of my beta readers, Celeste G., forwarded news about an article in the New York Post concerning a Craigslist and PayPal email scam. She had two reasons for writing. First, she said the article didn’t make it completely clear how the scam worked. Second, she thought I might be interested in writing about it. […]

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The great garbage disposal caper — 3 plumbers, 14 days

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Trust me. This is not a scam tip. But, if you own an older home and have jobs piling up, this story might help you avoid spending more than you need for service. The great garbage disposal caper began on Memorial Day weekend. The first sign of a problem was when instead of merrily grinding […]

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Will medical identity theft be the next big thing?

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A hacker wants to steal your personal information. Oh, and your health insurance company wants to reduce their costs. These two pieces of information are far more closely tied together than you might realize. First, identity theft is a massive business. Also, if your insurance company can get you to visit a doctor online, you […]

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The new cars are here email scam

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I have to admit, I didn’t pay much attention when the first email advertising new cars from a local Ford dealer came in. Never have bought a Ford. Don’t need one today. When the second email about new cars for sale arrived—this one from a local Mercedes-Benz dealer—I was irritated. How did I get on […]

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The PayPal eBay email scam is hard to spot — almost

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“You sent a payment of…” Have you received this email from PayPal for an eBay purchase you didn’t make? I did. And it stopped me for a few minutes because I don’t shop on Ebay. And I typically don’t send money via PayPal. Normally, I would mark the PayPal eBay email as spam and trash […]

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Is it time to return to checks to avoid ATM theft?

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Just when you thought life couldn’t get any worse for the poor ATM, the bad guys have come up with a nifty new tool—the “deep-insert skimmer.” Similar to the black boxes used by thieves for ATM theft, the deep-insert skimmer cannot be seen by the naked eye. Is it time to say, “Bye, bye, ATM?” […]

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The Starbucks email scam — phishing or for real?

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I’ve been a Starbucks fan for several years now. At least, until they changed their rewards program. The program is now based on how much you spend and, quite frankly, it amounts to about a 5% reward for frequent customers. Five percent isn’t much of a savings, but it does bring me to the Starbucks […]

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If you are about to apply for disability — beware

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Let’s file this week’s scam tip under the “how low can you go?” category. This is another phishing scam. And it’s focused on those filing a disability claim. It’s always bothered me how scammers will go after people when they’re in dire straits, but such is the nature of their business. Here’s what the phishermen […]

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