Month: July 2007
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Massachusetts Passes ID Theft Legislation
It’s certainly not often that I am able to praise the actions of the government in my former home state of Massachusetts, so I will seize this rare opportunity to report passage on what appears to be a good bill aimed at preventing identity theft. You may recall the well-known data breach a while back…
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NH Attorney General Warns of ‘Cardmember’ Scams
There are reports that some New Hampshire residents are receiving letters that are intended to convince the recipient to send personal information. These letters are often started by addressing the recipient as “Dear Cardmember,” a greeting that has been used by credit card companies in communications with customers. At least on variation of this scam…
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AOL: Be Obnoxious And Make $3000!
According to this report, AOL or America Online as they are otherwise known, has agreed to pay $3 Million to settle with 48 states and Washington, D.C. to avoid lawsuits. The once-mighty Internet giant has been accused of somewhat-less-than-satisfactory customer service when dealing with customers who wished to cancel their AOL service. You may recall…
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Bot Net Used To Promote Pump-And-Dump Stock Scam
I’ve talked here about pump-and-dump stock scams as well as “bot nets” in the past, and this story combines these two subjects nicely and shows how computer hacking has evolved from an activity that was once practiced mostly by teenagers to impress their peers into a huge criminal enterprise where serious money is being made by…
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Texas Crook Sought In Penny Stock Scam
I guess being a crook is just in some people’s blood or something. That appears to be the case for a Houston criminal by the name of Harris Dempsey ”Butch” Ballow. Out on bail and already in trouble for allegedly being involved in a stock market scam, Ballow is now accused of cooking up another…