The Frist Five Scams of Christmas Are:

The holidays are near – prime time for crooks to send out “holiday greetings” in the form of spyware and viruses, in effort to put your money into their own stocking.

Today McAfee released the“12 Scams of Christmas,” or, the most popular scams cybercriminals are using to trick people into handing over millions of dollars this holiday season.

Among the top of this year’s most popular online scams for holiday are:

Charity Phishing Scams – Be Careful Who You Give To
During the holiday season, hackers take advantage of citizens’ generosity by sending e-mails that appear to be from legitimate charitable organizations. In reality, they are fake Web sites designed to steal donations, credit card information and the identities of donors.

Fake Invoices from Delivery Services to Steal Your Money
During the holidays, cybercriminals often send fake invoices and delivery notifications appearing to be from FedEx, UPS or the U.S. Customs Service. They e-mail consumers asking for credit card details to credit back the account, or require users to open an online invoice or customs form to receive the package. Once completed, the person’s information is stolen or malware is automatically installed on their computer.

Social Networking – “A Cybercriminal Wants to be Your Friend”
Cybercriminals take advantage of this social time of the year by sending authentic-looking “New Friend Request” e-mails from social networking sites. Internet users should beware that clicking on links in these e-mails can automatically install malware on computers and steal personal information.

The Dangers of Holiday E-Cards
Cyber thieves cash in on consumers who send holiday e-cards in an effort to be environmentally conscious. Last holiday season, McAfee Labs discovered a worm masked as Hallmark e-cards and McDonald’s and Coca-Cola holiday promotions. Holiday-themed PowerPoint e-mail attachments are also popular among cybercriminals. Be careful what you click on.

“Luxury” Holiday Jewelry Comes at a High Price
McAfee Labs recently uncovered a new holiday campaign that leads shoppers to malware-ridden sites offering “discounted” luxury gifts from Cartier, Gucci, and Tag Heuer. Cybercriminals even use fraudulent logos of the Better Business Bureau to trick shoppers into buying the products they never receive.

Contest "What Makes A Good American Citizen?"

Jason Wilson and his nonprofit association sponsors a yearly contest for 9th thru
12th grade students to write an essay on how they feel about what makes a good citizen of the United States. Applications for the contest remain opened until December 31. Check it out. Listen and take action. First place prize is $5,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C.

http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/634cc116-7b93-9f64-a833-92b9917bf4dc.mp3

Get the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Today, I learned a very important lesson curtesy of AT&T.
When you sign up for a service with any phone company, make sure that the sales reps tell you everything. If not, you'll wind up like I did when I received my monthly phone bill.

My hair dropped out of my scalp. My blood pressure hit the ceiling. I'm still in shock. Who has that kind of money to pay those kind of bills when that particular company doesn't tell you "the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Nail those sales rep to the floor and make sure you ask every conceivable question you can think of, cuz if you don't you'll be hit by a whopper of a bill that you didn't ask for and certainly didn't plan on paying.

If you do receive a surprise from that company or phone company, make sure you pick up the phone and call them and get a live person to help you out. That's what I did. And, I'm bringing down the total amount of that bill because they failed to tell me certain things I needed to know before I signed up with their service.

Get it in writing. In blood if you must, but make sure that you've got all the facts ma'mam or you'll be having more than just heart palpitations. Trust me on this.

Look Out When Bartering

Before your company does a barter with another company or individual, make sure you know the value of what you're giving away. For example, PIVTR is an Internet talk radio station. The station incurs a series of costs to keep the station running. One must remember that thirty minutes of time for an authors interview costs $36 per show when considering the talk show host's or interviewer's time for preparation and actual interview of that individual.
You must then add in the media stream services that picks up the live broadcast and inserts it into another server and then is broadcasted worldwide. That cost runs $90 per month.
You then add it how much the recording equipment is, $25.
Then you add in the DSL cost, the phone line service cost, utility costs, media equipment and the cost of running the computer. When you add in all of those factors, a typical thirty minute interview costs the host about $75 to $100 per thirty minute show.
When you start adding in extras like a power point slide show, the cost goes up by $25 plus the amount of jpgs used in presenting that particular slide show.
When you offer a barter of doing a interview for an author or a series of author, make sure you do all the necessary calculations before shaking that hand or signing on the dotted line. You just might fine that you're losing more than what you're receiving.