That was fun...

[Deleted]

3 weeks ago, my business got hit by one of the many online extortion scams out there, they post negative reviews on businesses and then contact them, saying they're a "reputation management" company and can have it removed if you sign up for their services. I told them to go to hell and traced the service they were using to spoof their numbers and got their account shut down. That's when the fun began, dozens of daily calls, several pizzas ordered in my name, spam sign ups etc, and not sure how but they got my low security password i use on photo sharing sites and had some fun with them, pretty much have spent the last two week deleting online accounts and setting up new ones and just switched my business phone to answering machine to screen the cranks.

The kicker is when the local police said it was over their head, the Iowa Attorney general said they don't do that kind of thing and the FBI literally told me i wasn't a big enough fish to be concerned about. But when I threatened one of the spoofing services they're using with a personal visit if they didn't block my number, I got a knock on my door from the local police to warn me about making threats.

Welcome to the new "great" America.

[jackrides]

So a spoofing service can sell their service for the intent of committing fraud and restraint of trade? Nettime don't warn them.

[Deleted]

well at least one, spoofcard, takes it seriously, contact them and they'll block your number from being called using their service for you.

[tortoise2]

Jun 27, 2017 14:03:41 GMT -5 peascreek said:

dozens of daily calls

What goes around . . .

[Deleted]

oh look, the troll, thanks for reminding me to add you to the block list

[humanshield]

Man, the Internet (and the whole world) is/are becoming nasty places. Did anyone read about the big mess in the UK over the malware that encrypts your files then demands payment to get them back? Wow.

I back up all my files onto backup multiple backup devices. But it's become difficult to avoid all the stuff going on.

Wanna know how you can tell if you've been hit? Your computer will start getting really laggy all the time and the hard light will blink too much. That's the malware encrypting your data. Watch your hard drive free space.
If you have a lot of data, it can take weeks and weeks to get it all encrypted. Once it's finished, you'll get the ransomeware notification.

What a pain in the arse!

[Deleted]

I worked 10 years in IT and got the hell out, never looked back and i don;t miss it that's for sure.

[dan50]

I was wondering why you're listed as a Noob.

[aeroxbud]

Isn't the internet a wonderful tool. Used properly a great resource. Just seems to be so open to abuse though.
A couple of months ago the NHS got hacked, shut down most of the computers in our hospitals. 😢

[Deleted]

Considering how long it took me to get the valves adjusted on my 250 I may as well be. But I only lost one screw in the process so I got that going for me...

[bluegoatwoods]

Sorry to hear about stuff like this.

About the only other comment that comes to mind is to caution against thinking that people are becoming more dishonest and rotten than before. There's always been too many liars, cheaters, swindlers and so on.

One of the arts of life is learning how to distance ourselves from these jerks while maintaining some contact with those who are trustworthy. And it's not even all that hard to do in terms of face-to-face socialization.

But in the digital world cheaters from everywhere might zero in on you. How do you protect yourself from that?

Some of the answers are obvious, of course. Don't click on anything that's too good to be true. But I wonder if that's enough?

[Elektrey]

I agree with bluegoatwoods

people aren't becoming more dishonest, they're just figuring out new ways to use their dishonesty.

[oldgeek]

Jun 27, 2017 22:50:31 GMT -5 peascreek said:

I worked 10 years in IT and got the hell out, never looked back and i don;t miss it that's for sure.

I hear you man. I did pretty much the same thing, but I got laid off in 2008. It was horrible at the time, but turned out to be a blessing in disguise . I would hate to be a network/security guy in these current times!

[Deleted]

Interesting two calls this afternoon while we were gone, spoofed numbers but the calls originated from the Las Vegas area, one was a message, something about my neighbor. The county attorney has stated he will subpoena the account information from the spoofing services since they're now spoofing active phone numbers in Iowa. This could be very interesting.

[2stroked]

Society seems to be crumbling. Not quite yet end of the world sh!t but still...
People now have the ability to steal an identity in the time it takes to order and receive a cup of coffee. And its mostly due to our own lack of vigilance. We are constantly attached to our devices, our android, Iphones etc. Its not hard for someone with a pen testing build to snake into your phone and copy all of your information. It can be done in a matter of ten minutes with the right (wrong?) individual running the pen.
We have our credit card numbers, our checking accounts social security numbers everything a dirty ass crook needs on our phone. If you use public WiFi you are open to attacks. Anyone on the same network can ping around on your phone until an open port is located. Hell, they can intercept your internet data and redirect it.
Its a sad dangerous world out there these days. I don't believe that there are more crooks or creeps, just that the digital tendacies of our lifestyles lends to them an easy opportunity. The internet is a disgusting place. Has anyone here ever looked at the TOR or .onion web? Disturbing doesn't even cover it.