Chris Lawell Talks About Making Money Scams

Greetings, Chris Lawell here to talk to you about something that actually hit some of my friends online. As economic times become worse for many individuals and families they are starting to see the benefit of working online. You see the sad thing here is the scammers are already preying on this group of individuals. However as they promise wealth and riches to these people they are draining their bank accounts dry. How are they able to do this, well they do it all legally mainly from help from Washington D.C. of all places. A couple of years ago Washington decided that companies could withdraw funds electronically from your bank account as long as a contract was in place.

Well let's get down to the nitty gritty of this particular scam. Through one way or another people find themselves on a web site claiming they can make a lot of money simply by working online. They will use flashy pictures and text to get your attention and considering most people are desperate when it comes to earning money they jump. Well what you are going to see is usually they are going to offer you a CD that usually sells for $99, however they want to help you so they are giving it to you for free. But you need to act very fast because the offer will only be available for the next half hour.

The only catch is that they are going to have to charge you the small shipping and handling fee. The cost to send this CD usually varies from around $2 to $7. Since there is no charge for this CD they say it is only fair that you pay for shipping and handling. So far nothing so bad right? Seems like it is so far a win-win situation for you doesn't it. Well I know no red flags have popped out yet, but they will and that is what we are going to look at right now.

You see this is actually a trial offer, and if you look over the web site you will find the terms stating that. These free trial offers will usually last around 15 to 30 days. The trick to these trial offers especially when CD's are concerned is they are giving you access to their team of live experts absolutely free. This is just in case your CD doesn't answer all your questions. Now the problem with this service is it is rare that many of these representatives speak English and most aren't experts at all.

No here comes the fun part, most people who sign up for these free trials or just about anything online never, ever read the terms of service. If you were to read the TOS it would have stated that you can use this software for 15-20 days at no charge, if you decide you do not like it return it and you will owe nothing. However if you do not unsubscribe before the end of the trial period you will be billed a set amount every month. Now you may be wondering how the heck does that constitute a contract or agreement of any kind.

Well before you can have your CD shipped out to you, you need to check off a little box that will basically state that you agree to all the terms of service of this web site. By just clicking that small box allows them to withdraw from your credit card for as long as they like. This check constitutes a signature under the electronic signature legislation that we discussed earlier. Once checked that web page becomes a legal document and authorizes that company to bill you for services for the rest of your life or until you are able to cancel.

Well let me ask you another question, how often do you think most people check all the charges on their credit card bills. Most statements are many pages long and it is very easy for a $30 dollar charge to get lost. So many people will be paying these charges for months and never even realize it.

My main piece of advice is to never sign anything electronically, unless you have read all the terms of service and yes even the fine print. Once you have clicked that box and hit send you have entered a fully binding legal contract. There are many ethical and legal ways to make a living online that you shouldn't have to pay for any.

Chris Lawell Talks About The Dangers of Phishing

Hello, Chris Lawell coming to you with another report to hopefully save you some grief and money.Did you realize that everyday you log into the internet there are people just falling over themselves to get a hold of your financial and personal information? The business of stolen information is huge online and very dangerous for you the consumer. Most of us are savvy enough to recognize a phony email from a financial institution. There have been days that I have gotten e-mails from institutions that I don't even bank at, telling me my account is in danger! It would be nice to say that all phishing scams would be that easy to notice, however they are becoming more sophisticated and harder to identify.

All phishing scams have the same goal and that is to rob you of your identity and bank accounts. So I want to take a look at the various phishing attempts out there. Before I do that though I would like to just give out this one vital piece of advice, never give out any information online. Take the few extra minutes and just do it on the phone. This is even more imperative if you have gotten any type of email, just go ahead and call the institution first. Although you may lose some of the convenience of online banking you may save yourself a whole bunch of headaches down the line.

One of the most famous phishing scams that I think we have all encountered at one time or another is the Nigerian scam. This emails is usually from a Nigerian prince who is need of transferring money into a state side account. Once he knows his money is safe he will eventually come and claim it at a later date.

The way this scam usually works is you send your information, account number, routing number etc back to the person. A small amount of money will be placed in your account only to have your account wiped clean a few days later. Many people fall victim to this scam every single day even though it is probably one of the simplest and oldest phishing scams out there. I think one of the hardest things to accept is the fact that these people were actually trying to do the right thing and help another person out.

The next method that is very popular and getting increasingly hard to recognize as fakes is the emails from financial institutions. You may receive an email from your bank, PayPal or even stock service saying that your account is in danger and you need to verify it or change the password. One these emails there will be a link for you to verify your information. Always be aware of the site that these links will take you to, more often than not the address will not match the actual name of the institution. It may be along the lines of paypalverification.com instead of PayPal.com. As stated earlier these phishing scams are highly sophisticated and many many people fall prey to them each day. Just remember that no financial institution is going to ask for any vital information from you via an e-mail. If you have any questions about your account, call your local branch or their customer service number.

The last type of phishing scam I would like to talk about is ones that seem to come from service providers. You may receive an email from Netflix or AOL saying that your credit card could not be verified to retry it. You click on the link and are brought to a page that has you reenter your credit card information. However this information is not going to Netflix it is either going to be used by a third party scammer or sold. Again just realize that many companies will not send an email with a link in it asking for credit card information. Most of the time they will send you an official email stating that you need to go to their homepage and update your information.

The best advice I can give you is to be vigilant and always read and verify any emails you may get asking for any personal or financial information. You may also want to make the real company aware of any types of emails like this so they can look into it and also warn their customers as well.

Chris Lawell Talks About Protecting Your Kids Online

Hello, Chris Lawell coming to you again with a very important topic aimed specifically at parents. Today I would like to talk about the importance of protecting your children online from not only sexual predators but bullies as well. At one point cyber crimes were only targeted at older children. However as more young children use the internet on a regular basis they are becoming easy targets. For this reason you need to remain vigilante and protect your children the best you can. There are some very easy and simple to implement steps that I want to discuss today that could honestly save your child's life.

The most important step you can start doing as early as tonight is just to listen to and talk to your child about what they do online. If they talk about someone bullying them or acting overtly sexually, take the time to take it seriously. Don't worry and think that you may be over-reacting the most important step is to just protect your child. Also carefully watch them as they are online and make note of any behavior changes. Please take your child's concerns seriously and don't pass it off as just fun. If you want to protect your children from internet predators and bullies the earlier you stop it, the better for your child.

Make sure that you have a plan implemented with your children in case of they are contacted by any type of online predator. You want to make sure that your children will open up to you by allowing open communication with them. The more open minded and supportive you are, the more they will rely on you for support. Also you want to plan ahead, that if your child ever receives a hurtful or overtly sexual message that there are not to respond to it. We will call this the "no-response" rule, instead they will forward any message like this directly to user even a trusted school teacher or official. When a child is prepared and has good support behind them they will be much better at handling these types of situations.

Also you have to know what your child is doing and that means getting on the computer as well. You will want to be familiar with the types of sites your child is visiting. This can be down be easily checking the history of the sites your child visits. Also learn all the new abbreviations and lingo that is going on in chats. I know there are so many LMAO, ROFL's and BFF's to make your head roll. However it is important to know what your kids are speaking and if you want to protect them you'll need to figure out the code they type.

You need to set limits on the computer as well. Your child doe not need free reign online at all times. You should not only set time limits but put the computer in an open area of the house. You don't want to watch over your child's shoulder all the time, but it is wise to be able to keep an eye on them. The more you monitor them the more likely you be able to stop any type of online harm. The most important thing to realize and understand is you need to set these limits and do it in a way that you are not invading your child's privacy.

Be sure to save any type of evidence as it may be needed down the road. This includes any screen names, chats, e-mails and pictures. This evidence is needed to not only identify the predator or bully but very useful when contacting the authorities. This evidence is important no matter the severity of the incident.

Make sure that you teach your child to be assertive and strong. Children who are shy and quiet tend to be bullied and chosen out more often. Be certain to let them speak their minds and offer opinions on everything. Children who do this this have better coping skills and are able to stand on their own two feet.

Never stop educating your children about what can harm them. This not only includes bullying and predators but all the other dangers that are out there that children need to know about. Continue to include values and responsibility as important lessons in their life.

Lastly never assume your child is going to know what is right and wrong. We all hope our children will do the right thing or even just come to us, but it simply is not that perfect of a world. It is our job to make sure that we teach them how to become responsible young adults and teach them to do the right thing. It is not only our job but our responsibility to teach our kids about internet predators.

Chris Lawell Talks About Auction Fraud

Chris Lawell Talks About Auction Fraud

Hi there Chris Lawell with you and today we are going to
discuss internet auction fraud. Ever since eBay became a
power house online individuals have had to learn the hard way
of bidding online and getting burnt. Of all the complaints
registered with the Internet Crime Complaint Center roughly
three-quarters of them involve some form of online auction
fraud. Can you guess what the most common form of online
auction fraud is. Well it involves finding that one of a kind
item, bidding on it, paying for it and then never receiving
it. The only thing you will be getting out of this bid is a
lot of headaches, grief and time lost.

So here is what happens you end up purchasing an item and it has either been grossly misrepresented or you just never receive it at all. There have been cases where people have ended up buying discount coupons believing it to be something else and numerous knock offs have been sold off in replace to their real life counterparts. However there are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself from getting scammed in online auctions.

The first thing you will want to do is sign up for a PayPal account. PayPal is the account of choice when making purchases online. All your financial information such as credit card and bank account numbers are all protected and the vendor will never see any of that information. Also PayPal will protect you if you never receive your item or it simply was not what was stated. The PayPal resolution center will give you the peace of mind you need when purchasing items from online auctions.

Secondly, always read any fine print in the auction ad. Read every bit of the ad and don't fall in love with the picture. Many times at the end of an auction listing you will see phrases such as "pictures are for representation purposes only". That very well may be your first clue to stay away from that auction. So take your time and make sure the ad is clear on exactly what you will be getting.

Also you really want to be aware of the sellers online reputation. Online auction sites such as eBay have feedback scores which lets buyers leave a score of the service they received. If you see a seller who has a low score and many negative comments you may be best served moving on and doing business with another seller. You may pay a little more of a higher price but in the end you may end up way more satisfied.

Last but not least, stay away from these online auction sites which seem to have popped up over night. Stay with the companies that have a good reputation and many members. There are sites that will lure you in with very cheap prices, only to scam you down the road. They may steal you secure information and sell it or charge you hidden fees for their service.

In the end you really want to use your best common sense and always remember that if it is too good to be true than you should keep on looking. Remember that while you are shopping online the best way to think of things is as you are browsing in a giant world flea market. Would you just drop your money and information with any vendor, no you would look around and choose the one you trusted the most. There are many great deals online, just make sure you are vigilant and you will not become another victim of internet fraud. This has been Chris Lawell, helping you protect yourself from fraud.