Skylarking

Ever get one of those automated phone calls with the taped (okay, recorded) voice? Most of the time its telling you about something you have no interest in, and you can tell right away you’re not interested, and now you have the added aggravation as you realize the “person” at the other end doesn’t even want to talk to you about it personally.

Well, many, many, many of those calls become history today. Sept. 1 marks the end of the pre-recorded telemarketing “robocall “.

The Federal Trade Commission** said it is banning “robocalls” to consumers, unless the telemarketer has “written permission” from a customer that they want to receive these calls. (Ooo! Ooo! Sign me up, please! …Not!)

Now, perhaps you noticed, I said “many” and not “all”. Did you see that? No? You didn’t? … Oh … you did? Yeah, well, don’t worry, there’s no catch, … really. There will be some automated calls that are allowed without written permission. For example, informative calls like flight cancellations, prescriptions from your doctor or pharmacist, delivery notices, and debt collectors calls will be allowed.

Hmm. I can happily live with the first three, but can I opt out of the last one? (Probably not).

Franly, there are a lot of other annoying calls that are still permitted, and those also include calls from politicians, charities, banks, insurers, phone companies, and survey calls. Why aren’t they banned, too? Because this is an FTC or Federal Trade Commission ruling, and not an FCC or Federal Communications Commission ruling. The FTC deals with trade and sales, not communications. Since the latter calls aren’t selling anything (at least not for money) they they aren’t part of the FTC’s jurisdiction.

Rats! What a difference one letter makes.

By the way, this kinda does away with the do-not-call list, and as of tomorrow no one should be receiving these “most” of these calls anymore; and if you do, now you can file a complaint with the commission at www.FTC.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. Under the new rules violators can expect to pay a $16,000 fine.

Loophole: This doesn’t put an end to annoying “live” calls. The robots may have lost some jobs here; but humans are still permitted to pick up the phone and personally annoy their fellow man (or woman).

** Think about who put this out. It’s important later.

An oldie but a goody has been making the rounds again. The old “postcard from a friend” warning hoax. This one has been circulating in one form or another since 2001. Every three or four years it gets reinvented. Once upon a time it was the “Olympic Torch” hoax. Now, it’s the “Postcard from Hallmark” and the “Postcard from a friend” hoax. Here’s what it looks like as of August and November 2008:

Postcard from Hallmark Warning Hoax

There’s a few tipoffs that this message isn’t to be taken seriously. First off, the Subject line (not shown) has the text “FWD”which means my friend forwarded it to me, and didn’t actually write the message. In some cases you have to open attachments to get to the message, which means it’s been forwarded many times.

Another tipoff is that there are no datesmentioned. When did they check Norton? Norton usually issues updates in less than 24 hours to fight these viruses, so it may be a dead issue by the time I get this email. By the way, Norton doesn’t “gear up”. They just issue a fix and that’s it. Same goes for McAfee, AVG, TrendMicro, and Alwil Avast. they all want to be the first to defeat any new virus, so these things are usually non-issues in less than 24 hours.

Tip: If I saw my friend sent this to me more than a day ago, or that he received it more than a day ago, I’d assume the virus was dead by now. Most of these things have a shelf life of 48 hours. If you renew your antivirus subscriptions every year, then your antivirus gets updated automatically any where from 4 to 12 times per day. That’s about every 2 to 4 hours.

Another tipoff this message is a hoaxis the fact that though they mention “I checked with Snopes (URL above), and it is for real!!”, but there is no URL (web address) in the message. If you take the time to check Snopes you find out this email began popping up again in August and November 2008. That’s 6 months ago. The antivirus companies blocked this virus before Thanksgiving.

Here’s another tip. Here’s what a real email notice from Hallmark looks like as of today:

A Genuine Email Notice From Hallmark

Here’s how to recognize a genuine email notice from Hallmark:

1. The “From” includes Hallmark’s “hallmarkonline.com” email address and your friend’s email address. These messages don’t come anonymously. In your Inbox you would see your friend’s email address or name.

2. The genuine Hallmark email shows your email address in the “To” box. It’s not going to show more than one email address.

3. The genuine Hallmark notice shows your friend’s name in the Subject line with their first and last name. The same goes for the inside of the email message where they boldly display your friend’s full name (red circle area). As a matter of fact, I sent this message to myself from the Hallmark web site, and Hallmark wouldn’t even send the message without a First and last name in the mail form.

Another thing to watch out for is attachments. Hallmark doesn’t send attachments.  If I got a message claiming to be from hallmark from an anonymous friend, and I saw an attachment, I’d know it was a fake. Tap the Delete key.

Best Protection

The best protection from these hoaxes is antivirus software. Get a quality antivirus program, and make sure you renew your antivirus subscriptions every year. The best antivirus programs are from McAfee, Symantec/Norton, TrendMicro, and my personal favorite Avast from Alwil Software at www.avast.com. It’s free, and it works. Check out my post about Avast from last month. it tells you how to best install and set it up.

Renew your antivirus subscriptions every year.

Let me reinforce that point: Renew your antivirus subscriptions every year. If you bought a new computer, chances are you only had a 30 day trial version. It doesn’t update any more after 30 days, so you’re only protected from old viruses after that, not the new ones.

Another Tip: “BCC:” and not “To:”

If you can’t help yourself, and you feel you must notify everyone in your address book, find out how to use the “BCC” (Blind Carbon Copy) feature in your email system instead of the “To” box when addressing your email. All email systems have the BCC feature, but they don’t all display it openly. Using “BCC” instead of  “To” will hide all your friend’s email messages from each other.

Have you heard of six degrees of separation? That’s the theory that we are all separated from one another by 6 people. For example, your friend’s friend’s friend’s friend’s friend is Kevin Bacon. Put another way, your friend six places removed maybe a spammer. The copy of the email warning I received had no less than 268 email addresses in it.  If I was a spammer I would be so very very happy right now to have all those real email addresses.

Conclusions

• “Postcard from Hallmark” warning email is a hoax. It’s been going around for almost 10 years in one form or another.
• Get quality antivirus software such as Avast. (Watch out for the bogus antivirus programs out there).
• Renew your antivirus subscriptions every year. They expire, and expired subscriptions don’t protect you from new viruses.
• Antivirus programs update at least 4 to 12 times a day
• Most viruses are blocked in less than 24 to 48 hours.
• Use BCC instead of To when sending out mass emails. Don’t know where it is? Call your Email Service Providers customer service line or check their Help page. (Don’t know where to look? Contact me or post a comment, and I’ll find out for you.  No charge.)
• Got a question about a potential hoax? Ask Skylarking to investigate or check out http://www.skylarknetworks.com/email-hoaxes.htm#Email_Hoaxes:_How_Spot_Them,_How_To_Check_Them

Post Comments or Questions with the link below. Keep up-to-date with Skylarking: By Email or RSS Newsfeed or on Twitter. You can also send questions with my email form. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Seen those catchy FreeCreditReport.com ads? Pretty funny, eh?

The funny part is that although it is there to allow you to see your credit report from the top three credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — the site is actually owned by Experian. So once you go there you will be exhorted repeatedly to sign up for one of their pay services.

On Friday, March the unlucky number day, I was surfing the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) web site looking for scam alerts, and I found out the following

AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY authorized source to get your free annual credit report under federal law.

AnnualCreditReport.com

Pretty interesting. It’s AnnualCreditReport.com, and not FreeCreditReport.com. The Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees you access to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – every twelve months.

The Federal Trade Commission has received complaints from consumers who thought they were ordering their free annual credit report, but instead paid hidden fees or agreed to unwanted services. Don’t be fooled by TV ads, email offers, or online search results. Go to the authorized source when you request your free report.

So if you’re looking for a real free credit report start by:

• Visiting www.AnnualCreditReport.com online.
• By phone, you can order your free credit report by dialing 1-877-322-8228.
• By mail you can download the Annual Credit Report Request form (PDF) from AnnualCreditReport.com and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

AnnualCreditReport.com even has their own commerical spot which pokes fun at the better known FreeCreditReport.com ads.

Best Way to Check Your Credit Report
The Fair Credit Reporting Act entitles you to a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies every 12 months. Most people order all three at once, but a better approach is to spread them out or stagger them. That is, don’t get them all at once; instead, order one from one agency in January, then from a different one in May or June, and then from a different one in September or October. Then when the new year begins you can repeat the process. This allows you to montior your credit report all year round.

No matter how you request your report, you have the option to request all three reports at once or to order one report at a time. By requesting the reports separately, you can monitor your credit more frequently throughout the year.

Why should you request a credit report?
Because the information in your credit report is used to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, and renting a home, you should be sure the information is accurate and up-to-date. In addition, monitoring your credit is one of the best ways to spot identity theft. Check your credit report at least once a year to correct errors and detect unauthorized activity.

What should I look for when I review my credit report?
If you see accounts you don’t recognize or information that is inaccurate, contact the credit reporting agency and the information provider. For more information, read the FTC’s tips on how to dispute credit errors.

Lastly, if you suspect identity theft, you may need to place a fraud alert on your credit report, close compromised accounts, file a complaint with the FTC, or file a police report. Start by visiting the FTC’s identity theft website.

Check back here at Skylarking for more scam info. Next up: Free Government Grant and Economic Stimulus Scams on TV and Online. You can also watch the FTC news conference on these scams which was recorder earlier this month.

Post Comments or Questions with the link below. Keep up-to-date with Skylarking: By Email or RSS Newsfeed or on Twitter. You can also send questions with my email form.