SCAMS

Ponzi schemes, ripping off older people, internet viruses, British lottery, Nigerian prince, big banks, Wall Street and religion are among the many perpetrators of scams.

I get them daily…as I am sure you do as well, those pesky little requests for donations, those suspect letters that I won the British lottery or that some obscure deposed African prince needs me to help him launder his money out of his forsaken country.

There are many odious if not downright nasty schemes to make you part with your money. 

There are of course the traditional ones like religion and politics. Both work by scaring the shit our of you, the first with the fear of eternal damnation and the latter that if you don’t contribute to their campaign and elect one of their right wing assholes America and the world are doomed.

Then there are those unsolicited and intruding viruses that sneak into your computer via some e-mail or by visiting some site. These are by far the most destructive and odious of all because they take over your computer, compromise your privacy and steal your information. Among these are those that impregnate your computer and in order to get rid of it you must buy their anti-virus software. This in my book is a form of blackmail 

One such rogue and odious virus is Vista Security 2012 that is not just pesky but very hard to rid your computer of it. 

Vista Security 2012 Description

Vista Security 2012 is a rogue security application that can’t provide real threat detection, but instead, Vista Security 2012 uses false positives in its pop-ups and system scans to fake usefulness. While serving as a fake security product, Vista Security 2012 will also attack your browser and other programs directly to control your website content, and prevent you from using security-related software. Since Vista Security 2012 is an active threat to any computer’s security, you should delete Vista Security 2012 by making use of any high-quality anti-malware product that’s available.

The Real Vista Security 2012 Features to Worry About

Vista Security 2012 looks like a standard anti-virus program, and, in fact, shares the majority of its appearance with other recent threats like Win 7 Security 2012, XP Security 2012, Win 7 Anti-Virus 2012, XP Anti-Spyware 2012 and XP Internet Security 2012. Beneath Vista Security 2012′s appearance, however, lies a series of concealed traps that attack different programs to make it feel like countless infections are infesting your PC.

Vista Security 2012 and related threats can hijack your web browser, an attack that seeks to control which websites you can visit whenever you use a well-known browser. Vista Security 2012 hijacks can change your search engine results or homepage, create fake error pages, spawn countless pop-up windows and redirect you to or from various sites.

A secondary Vista Security 2012 attack is its ability to prevent you from using other programs. Vista Security 2012 is particularly likely to prevent you from using real security software or programs that can help you remove Vista Security 2012, but programs that don’t fit the above descriptions can also be blocked.

The Fake Features That Vista Security 2012 Uses to Hide Its Tracks

The above attacks are just part of an overall campaign that Vista Security 2012 implements, to make you give your credit card information over to its fraudulent website. Vista Security 2012 makes this more desirable by creating fake alerts about infections, implying that the only way to get rid of them is to purchase a Vista Security 2012 registration key.

Vista Security 2012 may create system scans that automatically detect fake infections on your PC, as well as use pop-up windows. The latter can appear at random, or Vista Security 2012 may create them when it blocks a program to make you believe that Vista Security 2012 isn’t the guilty culprit.
Examples of Vista Security 2012 fake warnings can include:
System warning!
Continue working in unprotected mode is very dangerous. Viruses can damage your confidential data and work on your computer. Click here to protect your computer.
System warning!
Security Essentials Ultimate Pack software detects programs that may compromise your privacy and harm your systems. It is highly recommended you scan your PC right now. Click here to start.
Security Alert!
Your computer is being attacked from a remote machine !
Block Internet access to your computer to prevent system infection.
Critical Warning!
Critical System Warning! Your system is probably infected with a version of Trojan-Spy.HTML.Visafraud.a. This may result in website access passwords being stolen from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Outlook etc. Click Yes to scan and remove threats. (recommended)

As noted before, Vista Security 2012 can’t detect threats on your PC, and you can ignore these warnings without any harm coming to your computer. However, Vista Security 2012 itself should be removed as soon as possible, although manual removal methods may have undesired side effects. For this reason, it’s suggested that you use updated security software to scan your PC while in Safe Mode. This will prevent Vista Security 2012 from being able to run automatically, which would let it interfere with your ability to delete Vista Security 2012 for good.

We also see our share of these fucking magazine subscription scams…they primarily prey on the elderly and when push comes to shove they will harass and torment these poor elderly until they give up from answering their threatening phone calls and pay the ransom money for shitty magazines you could just as easily buy at the supermarket.

Mrs. Buckley came to live with us after her son went to get her at a hospice in South Carolina. They had given her six months to live. She has a heart condition but has been with us now for more than five years. She has recuperated and we hope she can live for a long time.

She ordered two magazines from this outfit named Heartland, Inc. out of Des Moines Iowa. The cost would have been $3.00 a piece. While she spoke to them to place the order they never told her that it was a five year contract nor that there would be a $99.00 “initiation” fee. 

She did give them her credit card number and waited for the magazines to arrive. Some magazines did arrive but they were not what she had ordered. She got one on PARENTING and another one on SAILING, rather than the cooking and baking she had ordered. (would a 70 year old woman be interested in Parenting or Sailing?)

When she saw that they had fraudulently removed $99.00 from her account, she called them to cancel the subscription. She was told she had to do it in writing. She did and sent them the cancellation. Before she even knew it, they had already extracted an additional $49.00 from her account. When she called them again they claimed they had never received the cancellation.

She went ahead and cancelled her credit card account and now they started calling, threatening, telling her she was “delinquent”, harassing her and me. The phone calls would be on a daily basis, sometimes two or three times a day.

She has filed complaints with both Florida and Iowa’s State Attorney’s Office and is awaiting an appointment with a lawyer to bring charges of fraud against these people. 

What makes these people think that they can extract money from a person’s account? Do they really think that they are entitled to the money? What is it that they are providing; a service? How exclusive Is this club that they charge a $99.00 initiation fee? What is she getting in return? How can she be delinquent if they have already extracted $148.00 from her account and has received nothing in return?

Of course, America is a country of laws and she is protected from these types of predators, but to hear Republicans talk, they want less regulations, so that unethical schemes like this can take place, just like what we have seen with some of the investors that have cheated millions of people on Ponzi schemes.

Then there are the gold merchants…yes, those that promise you security in the future in case of a devastating economic crisis. Glen Beck is probably the best known of these panderers and he does it with finesse and using all kinds of conspiracy theories…all of which have a right-wing, conservative twist and are totally insane. He is for the most part out of the picture now…but his legacy lives on.

We see the likes of Glen Beck selling gold like the old time elixir salesmen. We see Rush Limbaugh now promoting the idea of food insurance. It is almost laughable and at the same time tragic.

Here are two people whose ideology is so perverse who say they know there will be catastrophic events somewhere down the line. They know this or think they know it and they realize that some kind of crisis is near. So they are squeezing the last drop of profit they can and not even worrying about what lies ahead.

This crisis if it comes, would sadly be as the direct result of greed taking over and driving the economy and the country into a tailspin kamikaze crash. They are aware of it and still will do nothing to stop it, or try to prevent it…on the contrary; they are profiting from it.

The question is simply this: who do they think anybody will be able to sell their gold to if the apocalyptic collapse happens? Will the insurance for food actually pay anybody anything in view of the fact that money will be meaningless and those insurance providers will be certainly out of business?

How naïve…or I should say how perverse it is to be selling gold by scaring people, knowing full well that gold will be worthless and worse yet, even if we don’t have a melt-down, that gold they are selling is way overpriced and a total rip-off.

You hear it every day, frequently and they are very alarming ads. “Buy gold now, protect your wealth, it is an investment that will keep your future safe” and so on; they tell you to be scared. It is almost always followed by some motivation of urgency, the world is coming to an end and you will be holding gold, it will save you from ruin and despair…etc.  It will even help you get through THE RAPTURE.

I couldn’t agree with this at all because gold is as high as you could possibly buy it now. To buy something when it is high is insane. You are constantly told to buy low and sell high, so why should gold be any different?

But that is not the only intricacy of this transaction. What really happens is that you are overwhelmed by all kinds of service charges and costs that are not apparent when you do decide to turn some of your cash into gold. Good luck if you try to convert some of your investments into gold; you are in for the ride of your life. It has been pointed out by many including Rep. Anthony Weiner of NY (D) that in order to make the purchase of gold worthwhile would be if the price went up 200% and that is a practical impossibility.

If you don’t believe me how inflated the price of buying gold is then try to sell some on your own. What you do can do is gather all your old rings, chains, damaged jewelry and any gold you have sitting around and send it to one of these companies that buy this stuff. Then divide the money you got by the weight and compare it to the price you pay when you buy as compared to when you sell. 

Lastly, who the fuck will be able to buy your gold when everyone is broke?

There are things to keep in mind whenever you suspect something is amiss: First of all if the offer is too good to be true then it isn’t true. Second, a sure give away is some foreign address, name or poorly written English. Third, here is the rub – there is always an urgency or a threat, some data that would instill fear to act on the request, and fourth: the scam requests personal info such as phone numbers, address, Social Security numbers, bank account information and the like.

Steps To Report Online Fraud

Step 1: For Reporting Online Scams

If you feel that you’re in immediate dangers, I would encourage you to contact the local police department. However, the first step should be to contact www.ic3.gov, which is the National White Collar Crime Center. They have formed a partnership with the FBI, and aid in stopping online scams. You need to file a report with them, and most importantly stay proactive with your claim. They get hundreds and hundreds of claims each and every day; so do not expect immediate results from them. Do not get discouraged if you have not heard from them in months. They will provide you with a user login with a passwords where you can update your claim whenever needed.

Step 2: For Reporting Online Scams

Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They have a toll free number that you can call. Representatives are standing by the phone. They will type out your story word for word, as well as give you a reference number for your claim. Be sure that write this reference number down and include it in all your other claims. You will receive a conformation letter in the mail with 7-10 days.

Step 3 For Reporting Online Scams

Report your online scam to the local police department. Go up to the police station, and ask to speak with a police officer. Be prepared to wait, because since it is not a life-threatening situation you will be last in line. Once you talk to an officer make sure you give them your National White Collar Crime report, as well as your reference number from the Federal Trade Commission. Go back and update your ic3.gov and report with your police report.

Step 4 For Reporting Online Scams

Report your scam to http://www.report-online-scams.com. This is a free service, and can aid others from making the same mistake. Often, scam sites are shut down within a couple months once reported to http://www.report-online-scams.com.