As a member of this list, you are also entitled to free email tech support. Have a computer-related question or Internet-commerce question? Looking for the best place to buy something, particularly digital cameras? Just email.
This is not a spam list. We post this newsletter once a month. We don't sell, trade or in any way make your information available to anyone else. We don't accept paid advertising. The web sites we tell you about (other than ours) are sites we have personally tried. No one paid us to disseminate this information. There are thousands of sites offering incentives for referring people. You won't find them here. We only present sites (whether or not they have affiliate programs) that we have tried ourselves and feel you would benefit from visiting. We present information that will help you make the most of your Internet experience.
Inside this issue:
Internet Scams
Credit Card Scam
Escrow Service Fraud
Woman Convicted of Auction Fraud
FTC Goes After Spammers and Scammers
Stop the Paranoia - Internet Credit Card Fraud
Clever Anti-Spam Tricks
Viruses, Trojan Horses and Spyware
Anti-Virus Software Can Be Fooled
Prevent A Word or Excel Trojan Horse from Stealing Your Data
Iwon - You Won the Loss of Your Privacy
No minimum merchant accounts
Internet Sales Tax Clearing Hurdles
Ebay Sellers Voice Displeasure
Patent Disputes
Company Claims Patent On Shopping Carts
IBM Drops Patent on Restroom Reservation System
Paypal Fined In MN for Unlicensed Activity
Software and Sites Section
Free Registry Cleaner
Everything you need to know about USB
Uninstall Anything
All-in-one Web Utility
Graphic Display
Create Boot Disks
Capture and Print Screens in Multiple Sizes
-always get the phone number of the issuing bank and the CVV code of the card and use a credit card account which validates these
-only ship to the cardholder's address no matter what excuse the customer uses ("No one is at home. Please ship it to my work address.")
Note that payment services do not validate CVV codes (and often don't do a great job on validating the address either). Propay, which lets you pretend that you have a merchant account, does a miserable job of address verification. In at least a dozen transactions, every one of them returned an invalid zip code message, AFTER completing the transaction. I even tried my own zip code and it failed. Yet Propay insists that it is not their problem. They'rer right. If the card turns out to be fraudulent - it becomes yours.
It may surprise you to learn that the most common forms of credit card and account theft that occur online have nothing--- nothing at all--- to do with people snooping on your connection to a remote site.
Rather, the most common problem is when people voluntarily give out information to unknown or bogus sites or persons. The most classic form of deception here is something like the old AOL scam where someone sends out a note that looks like (but isn't) an official AOL email. The note says something like "...our database crashed and we need to rebuild it. To keep your account active, click here and re-enter your account info..." The link leads the gullible to a non-AOL site where they dutifully enter their private account info, thus giving the data-thieves everything they need to make fraudulent purchases, using the victim's credit card info. Note that the victims could have *perfect* browser security, and it wouldn't matter: The problem here is gullibility, not browser security.
That's the most common form of data theft, but it affects people only one at a time. A most serious problem occurs when crackers break into the server at an e-commerce site, and simply steal the database that contains all account data; one such theft can affect literally tens of thousands of accounts at once. But this is exactly analogous to a thief in the physical world breaking into a store or restaurant, and stealing the credit-card slips or records filed there.
Thus, the cracking of e-commerce sites also isn't a browser security issue. E-commerce sites must use good security practices to keep out crackers just as brick-and-mortar businesses must use good physical security to keep out thieves. The kind of browser you use to visit an online merchant's site has zero--- zero!--- effect on a cracker's ability to break into the site and steal the database.
I'm NOT suggesting that it's unimportant to keep your guard up online--- it is. By all means keep your own PC and browser security strong and up to date. But after that, your best protection against credit card fraud and account theft is (1) to pick carefully the people with whom you choose to do business; (2) to stay alert (avoid offers that seem too good to be true or that otherwise set off your BS detectors); and (3) to choose a credit-card provider that offers full fraud protection. Then, even if someone steals your card or account info or otherwise abuses your account, it's between the thief and the bank--- not you.
A further note: Many debit cards DO NOT offer fraud protection; if someone steals your account info, they can clean you out. Most credit cards, on the other hand, routinely offer fraud protection that limits your exposure to the first $50 of fraudulent charges; and some banks even waive that modest amount so that you'll owe nothing--- $0--- for fraudulent purchases made with your card or account numbers. In my case, I never, ever use a debit card online, but I routinely make credit card purchases online without worry.
As long as there are thieves in the world, there never will be a 100% secure solution EITHER in paper-based or electronic transactions. But with reasonable precautions, there's no particular extra risk in making credit card purchases online.
I take security even further on my site. When an order is placed, it is immediately broken into two parts, each containing half the credit card information and a few extra numbers thrown in. The numbers are coded according to a formula I invented and the results are emailed to two separate email IDs on two different ISPs. Nothing is left on the site to be stolen, even if a hacker were to get in. I don't believe a hacker would waste the time to monitor all the email of two different ISPs, is able to retrieve the email, put the matching halves together, decode the numbers and figure out which digits to discard. There are much easier ways to steal credit card numbers - like create a fake web site with deals too good to be true and accept credit cards. Or put up great auctions on ebay and accept credit cards. There are too many people who are ready to hand over their credit card information without thinking of the consequences. Yes, in most cases you can do a charge back and the most you would have to pay is $50. But the cost of identity theft is much higher. Having spoken to a couple who lost their dream house because a scammer used their credit card and ruined their credit history, costing them a mortgage, I can assure you their cost was much more than $50. By the time their credit history was corrected, housing prices had climbed by tens of thousands of dollars and they will probably never be able to afford the home that was almost theirs. If you won't trust a seller with a check, don't trust them with your credit card.
Here is another site with some good tips for merchants on how to prevent fraud
Scambusters.
Since the spammers have probably edited their robots to ignore this link, I copied the page to my site and gave it another name. I then put this link in my code: (brackets changed to curly braces so you can see it) {a href="mypage"}{/a}. Since there is no text between the > and <, no one visiting the site would ever see this link but robot software will follow it.
Here's another: Don't put your email on your web site. Instead of {href=mailto:emailid@isp.com}emailid@isp.com{/a} You can use special characters. These will fool a robot, but they will show up properly on the page. For example, here's mine
{a href="mailto:%73%61%6c%65%73%40%63%63%73-%64%69%67%69%74%61%6c%2E%63%6F%6D"}sales @ ccs - digital.com{/a}
The special characters are ascii codes. They are usually used when a special code is needed, like a character that is not on the keyboard. However, every letter has an ascii code, and if you plug in the ones for regular letters, they will also work. So a spam robot would not recognize this as an email ID but on the page it will show up correctly. In the link that is actually shown (the part between the > and the < - remember I am using curly braces instead of regular brackets) I insert extra spaces in the email ID. Some people can't click an email link, so they have to be shown the ID. A spam robot would capture the whole thing, including the extra spaces and this would not work. A human looking it should have the sense to realize that email IDs do not contain spaces.
While anti-virus software won't stop this trojan horse, two mouse clicks will. You can also stop all trojan horses, current or future with the same two clicks.
But that has recently changed. Two companies have seen this need and moved in to fill it. They are offering no minimum merchant accounts. The application fee is $25-$49. There are no statement fees, gateway fees, minimum fees, etc. You pay a slightly higher transaction fee (3.5% plus 40 cents). You can use the account for two months and pay no fees if you cancel. The fees are slightly higher than most payment services, but look at the advantages.
Many buyers have decided that a seller who has his own merchant account is more reliable than a seller who only accepts payment through a service. Many buyers do not want to join a payment service in order to make a purchase. Many sellers have discovered that having their own merchant account not only gives them a more professional appearance to their buyers, it also gives them more protection against fraud. The charge appears on the customer's card as a charge from the seller - not a third-party service. Payments can not be made into a seller's account against their will - as happens with some payment services. In the event of a dispute, it is handled between the seller and the customer's bank. There is no middle man to drop the ball or complicate matters with a 12-page Terms of Use contract which changes regularly. Short of receiving several complaints for fraud, a seller's merchant account will not be restricted. The seller deals directly with the buyer and must get the buyer's verified information to place the charge. Services often allow scammers to hide their identities or use incorrect addresses which result in the seller getting burned. By the way, free bad check collection service is included with the merchant account.
Remember, these accounts are pay-as-you-go. You can use these accounts for receiving credit card payments and use the services free for receiving other payments. For more details on the no-minimum merchant account, click here.
The sales tax problem is not an internet issue. By law, though a vendor only has to collect taxes from the state in which he does business, the customer is obligated to send in tax on purchases made out of state. A large computer dealer once had State Tax investigators come in and examine the books. The customers from other states were then billed for the sales tax plus interest and penalties.
The problem behind sales tax is greed. Each state wants to regulate its own. When NJ stopped charging sales tax on clothing, NY was too greedy to do the same. So thousands of people went to NJ to buy clothes and NY stores screamed. Evenutally NY lowered its clothing tax and had a few tax-free periods.
Under the current situation, mail order and Internet vendors have a tremendous advantage over local stores. Customers do not pay the tax and therefore they are getting better deals. The Internet didn't cause this problem, it's only making it more apparent. If the states had any common sense, they would have all banded together, come up with one figure that should be charged on ALL sales. This amount should then be sent to some central department which would divide it among all the states. Another idea would be that ALL sales are charged tax which is sent to the state where the sale took place. If I walk into a jewelry store in Chicago and buy something worth $5000, I pay tax. I can show my NY driver's license and claim I am taking it to NY, but I am still charged tax. If I give the store $10 and tell them to ship it to NY, suddenly I save the tax, which could amount to $400. This makes no sense to me. There was a scandal in NY a few years back when jewelry stores were caught shipping empty boxes to other states so they could claim the sales were made to out-of-towners.
As long as the states are being stupid or greedy, they leave this big loophole that Internet vendors can exploit to be cheaper than local stores. At least until shipping rates become higher than sales tax. But it looks like the free ride may soon be ending.
Back in 1994, a company called Open Market came up with a concept where a buyer at his home computer could connect with the computer of a business and place orders. This concept was granted a patent by a Patent Office with little concept of how software functioned and what constituted a genuine, patentable idea. Open Market was bought out in a fire sale by a company called Divine. Divine now claims to hold the patent on the Internet Shopping Cart. How far this will go remains to be seen.
IBM was issued a patent for a restroom reservation system. It was challenged by a claim that the idea is so obvious, no one can patent this. The Patent Office decided to re-examine the patent to see whether it should have been issued. Before it could do so, IBM decided on its own to drop the patent. The article also mentions that among silly patents granted was one for a "method of swinging sideway." Why such a patent was granted and why someone would apply for it raise some questions. Could the patent holder have walked through a school playground and demanded a fee from every child swinging sideways? Maybe that would stop some wild horseplay at the park. But the article does mention that the Patent Office is re-examining some patents and how they were issued. Perhaps some of the ridiculous claims, like the one on shopping carts and on the JPEG format, would be invalidated. (In a previous issue, I mentioned that a company - not the Joint Photographers Group - claims to hold a patent on the way Jpeg files are compressed. They want every program and every site that uses JPEGs to pay them a royalty.)
JV16 Powertools. Some registry cleaners are very meek and afraid to do anything. Others are too agressive and when they have finished, you will find that some apps won't work. JV16 strikes a good balance. It is freeware, though the author does request a donation if you find it useful.
Everything you need to know about USB
The above page is from Fred Langa whose newsletter I highly recommend. Langa Newsletter. Everything you need to know to connect USB under different operating systems and conditions. Some USB devices may not work properly under Windows 98SE when using an AMD CPU of greater than 350 mghz and a VIA controller. Microsoft Support Page.
Aurelitec - get rid of those unwanted programs even if Control Panel add/remove programs and the uninstall don't work. This program claims to be able to uninstall them anyway and it's Freeware.
Naviscope This program seems to be a very nifty all-in-one web utility. It blocks pop up ads and animation, speeds up your Internet experience in several ways, sets your clock from an atomic clock. You can't beat the price, unless they paid you to take it. It's free.
www.definitivesolutions.com This site has several nifty utilities for displaying different types of graphic files including AVIs, creating film clips and slide shows. BHODemon is a free program which checks your system for Browser Helper Objects. These are subprograms which work with your browser. Some of them can be helpful but others are Spyware, which watch what you do and report back or feed you ads. BHODemon will show you a list of the BHOs on your system so you can decide if you want to remove them.
Bootdisk.com This site is crammed with utilities for every operating system - even the old DOS. It has programs which create boot disks for many operating systems, recovery tools, anti-virus, etc.
Get over 400 megs of photo editing software, utilities and games on CD. We have been posting links to free utilities for well over a year. If you go to our back issues, you will find that some of these links no longer work. Some of these files are large and downloading them over a modem can be time-consuming. Some readers have asked if there is a way to get these on CD. The answer is Yes. We have downloaded and used the utilities mentioned here as well as many others. We have compiled a CD with over 400 megabytes of utilities and games, including several full-featured photo editing suites. Since we did not create this software, we do not sell it. We do however provide the CD for free with any purchase.
Most of the software is fully-functioning freeware. Some of it is shareware, which means it will either run for a limited amount of time or some of the features will be missing or it will nag you to register by sending the author a few dollars. Shareware is a great way to get good software out to the public without spending a fortune on packaging and marketing. Before shareware came along, there were a limited number of word processors and they all cost a few hundred dollars. Now there are products available on the Net free for private use and at low cost for business use that rival those sold by Microsoft and others for hundreds of dollars. Shareware lets you try a product before purchasing it. Support the shareware concept. If you download a product that you find useful, send the author the fee he or she deserves.
eBlaster 3.0 records and automatically forwards email!
eBlaster lets you know EXACTLY what your employees or family members are doing on the Internet, even if you are thousands of miles away. eBlaster records their emails, chats, instant messages, web sites visited and keystrokes typed -- and then automatically sends this recorded information to your own email address. No other product on the market records and instantly forwards emails.
In addition, every 60 minutes, you receive an Activity Report of their latest chats, instant messages, keystrokes and web sites visited, plus a summary of all emails. (If you want to receive reports less frequently than once every 60 minutes, it's easy to change to once every few hours or just once a day.)
Regularly priced at $149.95, eBlaster is on sale for $99.95 and is available for immediate download. eBlaster is fully compatible with all versions of Windows since Windows 95, including Windows XP. eBlaster is 100 percent compatible with AOL 5.0, AOL 6.0 and AOL 7.0.
Spector - available in both Windows and Mac versions.
Awarded PC Magazine Editors' Choice for best Surveillance Software (July 2002).
Now with Web Mail capture! Spector Professional Edition is the newest version of the world's best selling Internet Monitoring and Surveillance software. Spector Pro automatically takes hundreds of snapshots every hour, very much like a surveillance camera. Spector Pro also includes TRUE email capture (SMTP and web-based email), TRUE chat and instant messenger capture, and now includes the world's best Key Logger. In addition, Spector Pro provides IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION when your loved ones encounter dangerous or inappropriate web sites, emails or chats.
Spector Pro is the only program available that will capture web-based email such as Yahoo mail, Hotmail, Excite mail and AOL web based email. With Spector Pro, you will be able to SEE in exact detail what your spouse, kids and employees have been doing online and offline.
Regularly priced at $149.95, Spector Pro is on sale for $99.95 and is available for immediate download. Spector Pro is fully compatible with all versions of Windows since Windows 95, including Windows XP and all versions of AOL and Instant Messenger.
Want to comment? Email sales @ ccs - digital.com