scam

Google has revealed that it took down more than 93,000 ads linking to scam sites from July to December last year, in response to requests from U.K. consumer protection authorities.

The figures for AdWords-related removals in the last half of 2010 were released as part of the Google Transparency Report on yesterday. In the report, the company tallies the amount of content it has taken off its AdWords service and its search, Google Images, YouTube, Street View, Blogger, and Google Video sites, after receiving submissions from government bodies.

"The U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading requested … Read more

Too busy to keep up with today's tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Friday, June 17.

Apple, Google clouds can't snub publishers The influence of music publishers is growing, and one man is leading them to what they hope is more digital music dollars. More

Keeping up with the hackers This handy chart provides a timeline of the computer attacks and hacks that have happened over the past few months. More

Web apps get ultimate endorsement: Win 8 Web-style programming in the next generation of Windows is a radical break for … Read more

Sure, you know enough to steer clear of Nigerian princes (hopefully), but what about when the hotel desk calls your room because of a problem processing your credit card? Would you know better than to give the "receptionist" your number?

That's just one of the 350-plus scams exposed and explained in Scam Detector for iOS, an informative fraud database that can help you avoid getting ripped off.

The app doesn't "detect" scams so much as educate you about them. The data is divided into five categories: Auto, Face to Face, Internet, Telephone, and Travel. Within Internet you'll find five sub-categories: Social Networking, Financials, Employment Online, Houses & Properties, and Online Auctions & Tech.

In other words, it covers all the bases--and reveals a lot of scams I guarantee you've never heard of. For example, you know the guy standing in line behind you at the register, the one who looks like he's texting on his phone? He might actually be snapping photos, trying to get a readable shot of your credit card as it passes back and forth between you and the cashier.… Read more

Forget e-mail. Criminals are making old-fashioned phone calls and offering free security scans in order to gain access to people's computers, according to Microsoft.

To run the con, criminals pretend to be PC security experts from legitimate companies. They call their intended victims, warning of a risky security threat and offering to run a free security checkup. If the victims take the bait, the scammers gain access to their PCs and often capture passwords or financial information.

Among the 7,000 PC users that Microsoft polled in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Ireland, 15 percent on average … Read more

A new rogue app is spreading on Twitter that purports to tell you how much time you have spent using the microblogging site, but instead tricks you into spreading the scam and appears to harvest e-mail addresses from victims, Sophos said today.

A typical message says: "WOW --> I have spent 38.1 hours on Twitter! See how much you have: [LINK]," according to a Sophos blog post on the scam.

"If you are curious enough to click on the link, which--of course--you might do, seeing as it will appear as if one of your Twitter … Read more

One of the latest scams floating around cyberspace is aimed at people who recently bought items at Apple's App Store.

As described yesterday by security vendor F-Secure, scammers are sending out phony messages to users claiming that a recent order at Apple's App Store has been canceled.

F-Secure's blog post intimated that the scam was specifically targeting actual App Store customers. But instead the scammers seem to be employing the usual shotgun approach, targeting many people in hopes of hitting a certain percentage who actually just bought something through the App Store, Sean Sullivan, a security adviser … Read more

Online scammers have been quick to capitalize on what will undoubtedly be one of the most significant news events this year: the death of Osama bin Laden.

Within hours of the news that the al-Qaeda leader had been killed by U.S. forces on Sunday, malware was found on sites optimized to show up on Web searches related to the event and in scams on Facebook.

Also, the blog site of a Twitter user based in Pakistan who now has more than 66,000 followers and who was posting tweets as the attack on bin Laden was happening, apparently was … Read more

Fans of the "Twilight" movies are falling prey to a scam that can end up hijacking their accounts and sending the scam on to unsuspecting friends.

Facebook updates are circulating that look like promotions of a game related to the upcoming teen vampire movie, "Twilight Breaking Dawn," according to this Sophos blog post.

The link leads to what looks like a Facebook page with a "play now" button that when clicked surreptitiously "likes" the link and spreads it on a visitor's Facebook account.

It doesn't stop there. A dialog box … Read more

It's impossible to spend time online right now and not see pleas to help the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. But whether we're simply trying to watch videos to see the extent of the destruction or looking for ways to donate money, one must click nimbly click to get around the scams and phishing schemes that abound in the wake of tragedy.

My colleague, Elinor Mills, wrote a fantastic article with examples of recent scams and included tips on what you can do to avoid catching a computer virus or losing money to a phony relief … Read more