Some free, helpful apps and new scams
“Tunein Radio” at the App Store lets you listen to all your favorite radio stations anywhere.
“Fareness” is an app for when and where to go for cheap air flights.
“Sideline” will add a second phone number to your iPhone. I tried it – it actually works.
E-mail spam tips: if you keep getting maddening e-mail that shows up every day, be careful clicking on the small message that says “unsubscribe” and has a blank space for you to type in your e-mail address. What this does is show the spammer that you are alive and to send more. Just send it to junk instead, and maybe they’ll think you’re dead. Scammers buy phone numbers from companies that sell data.
If you’ve been scammed or are a victim of fraud, you’ve already been put on a “sucker list” bought and sold among scammers that think you will fall for it again.
Scammers will call you up claiming that they can recover your money (and pretend to be from a law enforcement agency) for a small fee.
Giveaways, sweepstakes or filling out surveys and giving your personal information is a disaster in the making.
Tech support calls late at night from Microsoft or Windows Tech Support, saying they found a virus on your computer and speaking in a foreign language, is a big red flag.
Did you ever get a phone call and hear nothing? Nobody on the line? This is a new scam called Robocall from an automated computer system making tens of thousands of calls to build a list of humans to target for theft.
Another is the IRS imposter scam. Just call (800) 829-1040 to talk to a real IRS agent. There are cancer rip-offs, like Cancer Fund of America, Children’s Cancer Fund of America and the Breast Cancer Society – all frauds. Go to charitynavigator.org to check out their rating.
Beware of online giving sites like Gofundme.com. Be careful of the chip card scam that all the new credit cards have in them. Scammers using the name of American Express will call you up asking for personal information; no credit card company will do this.
Faith dating sites like BigChurch, ChristianMingle and Jdate will steal your money and your heart. Use Spokeo.com to research the person who wants to marry you.
Be careful of free health checks offered at shopping malls, fitness clubs and retirement homes, which are called rolling labs. Grieving widows are vulnerable after the loss of a loved one to scammers reading the obituaries.
Gift vouchers from McDonald’s or Subway offer a free gift card if you click a link to activate it, but you’ll get more than a gift and won’t like it.
Mark from Lahaina News e-mailed me about getting weird telephone number calls with extra digits and even one short a digit. Be careful, because answering them from places like Nigeria could charge you $90 a minute.
One last good one: Google just launched a new FIND MY PHONE. Here’s how it works. If you lost your phone, open up a laptop or desktop computer. Click on Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox or any other browser, and type in the search bar “myaccount.google.com,” or hit the microphone button and speak “My Account.” Type in your user name and password for your Gmail account if needed, and a page opens up. Scroll down to the bottom and click on “Find your Phone,” “Get Started.”
Send your computer-related questions to mauimist8669@yahoo.com.