Archive for February, 2010

How to Protect Yourself From ATM Identity Theft Skimmers

Friday, February 26th, 2010

I met a charismatic gent on FOX and Friends named Sean Seibel. Sean has a unique job title at Microsoft: User Experience Evangelist. Sean’s job is to be on top of what’s new and what’s next in technology, in the next 5-7 years. He’s a futurist. He and I spoke in the green room of the show before we appeared together on a segment regarding ATM skimming. ATM skimming often results in forms of identity theft, credit card fraud or bank fraud. To be a User Experience Evangelist requires a certain vision, insight and the ability to go beyond what’s current or obvious. Sean proved his ability to see “more” by trumping a gang of identity thieves who set out to steal millions from ATMs but “only” got away with $500,000. Sean stopped at an ATM to get some cash to pay his barber. When he inserted his ATM card in the machine, he noticed a bit of resistance. Most people wouldn’t think twice about this. But Sean doesn’t think like most people. Then the screen said the machine was unable to read his card so he tried again. The second time, the machine gave him an error message. Before he tried again, he thought about a report he had heard about devices that fraudsters attach to the outside of card readers on ATM machines and wondered if that was the source of his problem.

He says, “I’m looking at the thing and thinking, this can’t be. No way. There are all these stories and myths about it, but I actually found one in the wild.” Sean was face to face with an ATM skimmer, one that he had just swiped his card through. His heart started pounding. Adrenalin was rushing through his body. He was concerned, not just that he might be scammed, but that criminals might be very close by, maybe even behind him or watching him. However, that did not deter him. Sean says, “I tried to pull on the green plastic surrounding the card slot and found that it peeled right off.” This plastic ATM skimmer had an SD card built into it to store all the stolen data. Sean went into the bank and notified the branch manager, who had never seen an ATM skimmer and didn’t know what to do. She took the skimmer and thanked Sean. Then Sean remembered, from numerous reports about ATM skimming, that there are usually 2 parts to the ATM skimmer. One is the skimming device itself, the second is a micro-camera placed somewhere on the machine, where it records the user’s PIN. The camera is often installed in a false brochure holder that taped to the ATM.

In this case, it was behind a small mirror that alerts the ATM user to beware of “shoulder surfers.” Sean went back to the still operational ATM, where people were waiting in line for their cash, and noticed a tiny video camera behind an extra mirror attached to the machine, positioned right over the key pad where it could record user’s PINs. Not being a bank employee and not wanting to alarm any of the people iwaiting, he actually got in line, waited his turn (knowing that the skimmer was gone and nobody was in danger) and pulled the camera off the ATM. He brought the camera to the bank manager, who replied by saying, “Maybe we should shut that machine down, huh?” Sean said, “I think that’s a good idea.” The bank manager contacted bank security, shut down the machine and alerted other area banks. The identity thieves netted $500,000 from their scam, rather than the millions they might have stolen had Sean Seibel not foiled their operation.

Bank branch manager…ZERO;  Identity Thieves…$500,000;  Sean Seibel foiling their operation and becoming a hero to many….Priceless! Skimming has been and will continue to be the most common type of ATM-related fraud. Criminals attach skimming devices over card slots on ATMs to steal data as the machine reads the card’s magnetic strip. Hidden cameras record victims typing in their PIN codes. More sophisticated criminals use wireless keypad overlays, which transmit PINs to a nearby laptop, instead of cameras. The U.S. Secret Service estimates that annual losses from ATM skimming total about $1 billion each year, or $350,000 a day. Bank ATMs are more vulnerable than standalone ATMs. Standalone ATMs in grocery stores or on the street use technology that encrypts the PIN pad, making them more difficult for criminals to hack. Standalone ATMs are often positioned near the watchful eye of cashiers or store owners, so it’s harder to install skimmers without being caught. Bank ATMs are also more highly trafficked, which means a bigger potential payoff for the criminals.

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Online Casino

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

The trend of internet is addicted to everyone. With internet connection, you can search for almost every informations. And since the whole world is connected into internet, as long as you recognize the web address, you can search info originally from Iceland.

Gamers are wellknown for their ability to adapt to the latest technology easily. No wonder that many kinds of games are available on the internet. Online casino is one of the most famous game on the internet. It has many kinds of games, such as roulettes, fruit machine or slot, video poker, blackjacks, and so on. To get the software of it, you may click the web of Casinogamblingindex.com. they offers you not only ready to be downloaded software, but also instant play application. This is the right choice if you want to play online roulette then. This USA casino also provide you with tricks and strategies to make you the winner in every competition of casino online.  Thus, not only play online casino games, here you can find more than games. Updated reviews are available for you to know what game has the best reputation to be played.

If you wish to be a winner in every competition, never hesitates to visit this web.

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Top 3 Home Working Schemes to Avoid

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Whilst there are many good home working ideas available on the internet and many respectable schemes to choose from, there are a few scams to avoid. The most prolific of these fall into these 3 categories. But do not forget, any scheme that offers you a lot of money for very little effort in no time at all is probably either a scam or illegal. Here are three to be avoided.

1) Envelope Stuffing.

Here is a common, scam. You are offered envelope stuffing work, but have to pay a small amount to get started. You might have seen an advert on a search engine, or maybe an advert in the paper or even had a business card shoved onto your car windscreen.

Well, what does your payment get for you? Save yourself parting from your cash and read on. Most of these are probably going to tell you how to place a similar advert to catch other people out. They send you a payment and you send the same instructions to them in an envelope.

2) Home Assembly Jobs

Why would any company want to distribute expensive stock around the country, costing a lot in transport fees and risking losses? Simply because the products they are distributing are worthless, the people doing the job have already paid out to buy the product and no doubt the finished products will all fail quality control and the poor victim will either get nothing back or less than they paid.

So if you are offered home assembly jobs where the company asks you to buy the products first, have a doubt or two before parting with you cash.

3) Typing Jobs

Again, why would a company want to distribute its typing functions to people that it does not know? Probably because the work is simple. The typing is going to an affiliate scheme, maybe their affiliate scheme, then signing up for an AdSense account and typing up the necessary adverts.

All of this is quite simple and if you wanted to do it yourself you could realistically do it all yourself. Just do a few internet searches for suitable affiliate schemes and for basic instructions on how to set up efficient pay per click adverts.

If any work at home scheme that you are looking at is asking for you to part with cash upfront, then I would seriously think again. Search for the company name on the internet and ensure other people seem to have been paid out. And if you do fall for a scheme, do not be afraid of outing the company so others do not suffer the same fate.

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Life Without Internet

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Doing research is enough to know no one can be entertained from people in distant places. Fascinated by the Internet people forget how unrealistic is the net. The web pages cannot replace subsequent roles humans do. These infer how people can use their time to enjoy home entertainments on by the computer. The Internet cannot exchange life when speculating pleasure with tasks done before connecting to the net. Obligating on when the Internet is available is a question. A media productions textbook gives the time and place web surfers have relied on pleasure to induct them into net connections.

Researches have grown the idea to look at the Internet as a natural object that guides every person to education. Educating others takes place on the net. This is reluctant because no one can give support to every item viewed on the net. The intra-net also contains responsible interacting with the web pages and ads by its users. Its degeneration of no ventures in the interests to ratify. Given dreams can’t come true as fast pace as those fulfilled by the Internet. Yet the Internet gives us time to fulill valued possessions and interactions. Living with no Internet cannot postpone labor and indulges us in the struggle to enact the same way over each year.

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Time management strategies

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

The first step in learning how to effectively make use of your time is to do a personal analysis on how you are using your time. Then take the information and see how much of your time actually contributes to meeting specific goals you have. These goals should be in both your professional and personal life There is no doubt that it is very hard to find a balance between your professional life and your personal time. If you can incorporate your own values and the goals you have set for yourself, you can define the amount of energy and time you want to spend in each area.

Take your analysis and identify your most important priorities at work and in your personal life outside of work. Make a list of all activities that are important and urgent versus those that are important but not urgent. Then make a list of things that you have wasted time on and not achieved any goals. When you put this down on a piece of paper the results may surprise you. You will also be able to note areas where you are consistent and areas where you are not consistent.

After you have done your self analysis, create a professional and personal action plan on using your time wisely. This plan should mirror your personal values and goals you have set for yourself. Make time for those items on your list that are important and urgent first. This is the starting point of planning your time and getting it under control. The least important items should be at the bottom of your list. This is just a guideline because things are always changing. If things change so should your professional and personal action plan.

The biggest time wasting activities are due to lack of your own personal organization. Good organizational skills rely on having clearly defined priorities. Time management also requires the use of self discipline. Self discipline is recognizing your limits and knowing when to say no and not feel bad about it. Remember your priorities need to come first and not worry about pleasing everyone in your professional and personal life.

Stress can interfere at any time with time management. If you are having a high dose of stress in either you professional or personal life, or sometimes in both areas, look for what the source of the stress is and come up with a plan to reduce the stress. If you do not get the stress to at least a manageable level, your time management strategies will fall apart. If you can develop goals, perform a personal time analysis, make a list of priorities in both your personal and professional life, and eliminate time wasting activities, you can learn to develop and manage the time management strategies you have identified for yourself.

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Looking for partners to promote your products

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

There are many ways we can do to promote our products. One way that we can take to promote our products is with internet marketing. Affiliate program is one type of internet marketing. With an affiliate programs, we search for partners to promote our products. Those partners may put our ads on their website and the ad is directed to our web site. You can try to take a look about roomster affiliate program. It is an example of an affiliate program.

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