The BBB warns of increased Debt Collection Scams

By Tim McBride

The Better Business Bureau and the FCC are warning consumers about phone calls from phony debt collectors. In the past couple of months, there has been an outbreak of telemarketing calls from phony debt collectors attempting to solicit private information for the purposes of identity theft.

Government agencies such as the FCC or FTC have reported an increase in consumer complaints about fraudulent telephone calls and identity theft. You can visit either the FCC or the FTC's official website to obtain up to date information about the techniques used by these fraudulent callers by clicking on the information section of each website. Additionally, the Better Business Bureau has a wealth of information about how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.

One recommendation is to ask the caller to call them back and then perform a lookup of the telephone number of the caller. That way you can review what others have said about the caller to help you confirm if they are a legitimate agency or not.

It is also suggested that you do not provide personal information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers and other financial information over the telephone.

Do not provide any personal information or financial information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers or other information over the telephone. Rarely is this information required by a legitimate debt collector.

Don't fall victim to identity theft, do your homework the next time you get a suspicious telephone call make sure that you know whose calling you before you provide any personal details, financial information or other personal information that can be used to steal your identity. - 31837

About the Author:

Did you get a call from a telemarketer or some other spam caller? Then be sure to find out who calls you at EveryCall.us, a free service to lookup unknown callers and report telemarketers. Blackberry owners can download Call Control, the best blacklist application for Blackberry to block telemarketers quickly and easily.

Learning To Use A Registry Cleaner

By David Smith

The Microsoft Windows registry is a directory which stores your PC's hardware and software settings and user preferences. When working properly, these settings enable your computer to function smoothly in order to give you a positive user experience. In essence, the registry is the central nervous system of your computer's operations. Every time anything happens on your computer, it is recorded in the registry.

Sometimes the registry gets cluttered and loaded down with redundant directories and unwanted and unneeded instructions, and may need to be cleaned with a registry cleaner. A registry cleaner scans the registry of your system and finds broken files, links, and any other details that are not needed or used by the PC. These may be irrelevant or even harmful entries that take up disk space and slow down your registry's operations. In this context, a registry cleaner should be used every few weeks, depending on how often you use your PC.

There are many different types of registry cleaner available on the market, and each one functions differently. You might want to look into the range of registry cleaners that are available to select the one you feel will assist you the most. Equally, it is advisable to seek advice to find out what is the best registry cleaner for your computer's set up.

There are many websites that compare and rate the top registry cleaners, and these make your decision much easier. The best registry cleaners will give you the chance to make backups of your registry before making any changes. Some of the top registry cleaners are RegCure, Registry Easy, Registry Smart, Registry Fix, and Error Nuker.

Installing a registry cleaner is simple and safe, and the advice on how to use them is extremely easy to follow. Once launched, each scan will take approximately five minutes and will then display the information the cleaner believes is redundant and not needed, giving you the option to erase it. Once finished, your computer will run smoother and operate more efficiently. - 31837

About the Author:

Read some truly impartial reports on the best registry cleaners available online today.

How to Avoid Problems When Advertising Online

By Doug Stewart

If you place an advertisement online, there are a number of potential problems which you should be aware of. This article discusses the most common ones and simple methods to avoid them.

1) Buyer does not pay

Perhaps the most common issue is buyers not paying. Before sending any product, ensure that you've received full payment, that the payment has cleared, and that it has been deposited in your account. This should be done for any payment type, including credit cards and cheques.

For items which are sent by post, a related issue is buyers who claim that they have not received the item and consequently refuse payment or demand a refund. The vast majority of such claims are false but proving this is difficult unless the goods are sent by registered mail. Consequently, one needs to balance the additional costs of registered post against the risk of fraudulent claims of non-delivery.

2) E-Mail Theft

To place your online advertisement, you will need to provide a contact EMAIL address. Unfortunately, there are various software programmes which collect EMAIL addresses from websites. They may get this direct from your advertisement, or breach the website security and steal it direct from the website databases. Alternatively, some programmes randomly complete the advertisement contact forms and send off messages, so that when you reply your EMAIL address can be collected from your reply.

Your EMAIL address will then be used for SPAM, fraud, or both. To prevent this, do not use your personal or business EMAIL address. Instead, get an address from one of the free EMAIL services and use this for the advertisement. When you no longer need the EMAIL, just delete it.

3) The Over-payment Scam

A 'buyer' will overpay you for an item and then ask you to refund the overpayment. For example, if an item costs $100 he might send $200, and then claim that he overpaid by mistake, requesting you to send him the extra $100 back.

In this scam, the original payment is fraudulent (e.g. counterfeit cheque or stolen credit card). The 'buyer' will simply disappear with any refund and since the payment to you will not clear, you will be out of pocket the amount of the refund. To prevent this, instead of refunding, cancel the original payment and request a new payment. Never ship goods or provide refunds before payments have fully cleared and been deposited in your account.

4) Meeting in Distant City

On very expensive items (e.g. house advertised for sale), the 'buyer' may insist on a private meeting to complete the deal, usually at a distant location (another city or country) and away from the public (e.g. in a hotel room). If you go, there are a number of problems which can occur, from your house been robbed (as they know when you will be away) or a straight-forward scam (e.g. they try to purchase the item in cash, using counterfeit money) or an attempt to get you alone and force you to give them money.

To avoid this scam, ask yourself if the offer is reasonable. Someone who offers to buy your house simply from an online advertisement, without ever seeing it or even trying to negotiate the price, is unrealistic. Further requests, such as meeting in a far away city rather than locally, just add to the unreality of the entire situation. When meeting strangers, always do so in a public place (e.g. a restaurant) and never in an isolated area (e.g. a hotel room). If possible, have a friend with you rather than going alone. Find out who you are dealing with. Ask them their names, where they live and so on. If they are genuine people, they shouldn't mind telling you about themselves.

5) Identity Theft

There are a number of scams which are designed to get your financial details. For example, a bank account number or credit card number, along with sufficient personal information to give them access to the bank account or credit card.

Banks and credit card companies often use personal information as account passwords. For example, when contacting them, they may ask for your birth date or your mother's maiden name. In combination with an account number, such basic information may allow someone to contact your bank or credit card company and pass themselves off as you.

They are a number of reasons which a 'buyer' may give for asking for this information. For example, they may ask your bank details so that they can transfer money to your account and then say they need the personal information for administrative or security reasons.

It is best not to provide either financial information or personal information to strangers. Instead, use a payment method (e.g. cheque or credit card) which does not require that you provide this information. - 31837

About the Author:

Doug Stewart develops website advertising portals and his latest project is Horses for sale.

A Simple Spam Blocking Method That You Can Utilize

By Inel Rahadian

With the invention of email, people now can communicate with others easily. By pressing a button, you can spread a message containing an attachment to your relatives even if they live in different countries.

Unfortunately, there are folks who have taken advantage of this communication medium in the wrong ways. Thousands upon thousands mailboxes are flooded with spams every day. Although this problem cannot be completely eliminated, there is a simple method that can be applied to protect your primary mailbox from spam attacks.

These days, many email hosts like Yahoo!, Gmail or Hotmail come with useful features to filter or block spam emails. Such services can detect any incoming messages and determine whether a message comes from a legitimate sender or a spammer. Some webmail services also allow you to determine yourself whether a message is legitimate or is junk.

After setting up some parameters you can then forward filtered emails to your primary email address, the one that you do not share to public. Depending on the service that you use, mail forwarding feature may be offered for free or for a small fee. This way, the server itself that will block any unwanted, unsolicited emails before being delivered to your email client's inbox. In other words, you will utilize the spam blocker that exists in another machine to detect and block spams before getting to your inbox.

If you use the email address which is provided by your hosting company, you can apply the same technique as long as the company provides you with a webmail program. For instance, Horde provides an input box where you can list spammers' email addresses here. If one of the people in the list send you an email, the message will be simply deleted or moved to a special folder, depending on your choice. You can find this feature in many modern hosting providers today. Just use it to block any unwanted emails targeted to your inbox.

Although simple, this spam blocking method has some great advantages. Firstly, as many spam emails today contain dangerous attachments, it will reduce the chance your PC to be infected by spyware or any other malicious programs. Secondly, blocking spams on the server side will also reduce the amount of bandwidth used. Another advantage of using a web based filtration system is there is no software to download or install on your PC so that you do not have to worry the filtering operations will affect your computer's performance. - 31837

About the Author:

To find out more about various methods on how to block spam emails, then visit Inel Rahadian's site at http://www.cut-spam.com.

Spam - The Wrong Way To Use An Autoresponder

By Kurt Naulaerts

In today's virtual world the spam or unwished-for messages is a real issue. It appears the spammers are using autoresponders to do their dirty work. This is bad for everyone who uses an autoresponder with good motives. Their messages are commonly understood as spam making the owner wonder what's wrong at times. Sometimes a user may also ask why their messages are blocked or reported as spam.

The autoresponders do their job and respond to forged or legitimate emails indiscriminately. Spam messages are invariably forged and they appear to be from a third party. If an autoresponder receives a forged message they will send misdirected e-mails. That's how an autoresponder can become a spam source itself and its messages are blocked or reported. Many times users don't know how to notice if this begins to happen or to handle it.

The usual autoresponder is a straightforward program designed for normal email users to inform their contacts if the user is available to answer a certain question or merely to send the preset message. These messages are sometimes sent to inaccurate people and that is how spam is born. How are you able to fix that? It's reasonably simple. Just stop using this kind of autoresponder and answer the mail yourself for the transitional period. If you're too busy to answer the emails yourself you may have to hire somebody for the present.

A big issue in the spam world is the "misdirected bounces." If a mail server takes a message and can't deliver it, it will send a bounce mail to the original sender but often this message will be misdirected. How are you able to fix that? Upgrade or configure the post server in a way to avoid this problem. You can do this by setting your software to reject the message or accept it permanently . Don't let it take the decision of delivery for you after the software received the message.

Usually the autoresponders are sending messages to their mailing list, but without authorization. The people who receive these messages consider them unsolicited and therefore spam. If you've got a mail sever you must consider these changes because today's spam is a problem. Lots of mail servers have been blacklisted due to spam issues. Fortunately there are methods to prevent your autoresponder from changing into a spam tool. By doing some research online you'll discover new methods that are developed daily. If you actually don't wish to become a spammer the last choice is to stop using an autoresponder, because these programs do an excellent job.

Spam is a huge issue when it comes to internet advertising. If at any moment you're leery of what you're doing, you can always consult with a professional who can advise you in the right direction. Autoresponders were created to ease the life of busy professionals but unfortunately used for the wrong purpose can taint their good use. Do some research and always be a defensive consumer. Know what you're purchasing before you do. - 31837

About the Author:

Do you want to send autoresponder messages to your list? Then you need a newsletter, what we call in Dutch a html nieuwsbrief and you can get help at website bouwers