15 Break-ins at Boston Area Churches – Nothing is Sacred
Last year around the holidays I wrote about burglars preying on churches.
This year is no different. The Boston Globe reports “You know things are bad when they start knocking off churches. And judging by the number of churches knocked off recently, things are very bad indeed.”
“I’m seeing levels of desperation out there I haven’t seen for a long while,’’ said the churches Priest. “Like most priests and ministers, he sees a lot of people who live on the margins. They come to the three churches he oversees for food and laundry money and help with the rent. They come because they don’t belong anywhere else.
And sometimes they come to steal. There have been 15 break-ins at Boston area churches in the last few months. And that’s just the Catholic ones.”
It doesn’t matter where, when or who, a burglar will go where there is easy access and easy money, or goods to be resold.
Often, it is those on the inside that have knowledge of how things work and where they are. So, it is important to
Twitter Crime on the Rise
Spammers, scammers, and thieves are paying attention.
In the physical world, when communities become larger and more densely populated, crime rises. This also applies to online communities, like Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter’s “direct messages” and “mention” functions are laden with spam, often prompting users to click various links. Why anyone would want me to “Take a Good Look at Hypnotherapy” is beyond me, but someone must be buying because the spam keeps coming.
Common Twitter scams include:
Hijacked Accounts: Numerous Twitter (and Facebook) accounts, including those of President Obama, Britney Spears, Fox News and others have been taken over and used to ridicule, harass, or commit fraud.
Social Media Identity Theft: Hundreds of imposter accounts are set up every day. Sarah Palin, St. Louis Cardina Full Post…
Foreign Cyber Cafes Track Customers to Prevent Cyber Crime
While many cyber cafes — especially in Brooklyn — have become a key destination for the young, hip and creative, in developing countries they are the breeding ground for international cyber crime. Since anyone can walk into these Internet parlors and begin a hacking rampage often aimed at U.S. interests, it’s the ideal place for the shady and nefarious.
Well, Nepal is taking some very simple, yet innovative steps that may help fight the scourge that is international cyber crime. In Nepal’s biggest metropolitan city, Kathmandu, cyber cafes are now required to ID customers. Users will have to provide personal information, such as names, addresses, phone numbers and signatures.
And it seems to be working. According to the Himalayan Times, police units have already recorded 13 cases of cyber crime, with nine being resolved and four still under investigation.
Full Post…
Payday loans and their benefits
The Internet advent has made our life so much easier in many ways. We can now shop from the comfort of our homes, pay our bills online and keep in touch with our friends and family over the Internet. Another major advantage provided by the Internet is that we can get money online with our computers at home. Earlier payday loans were provided only by traditional banks, which require us going to a bank and explaining why the loan was necessary. Now you can apply for payday loans online from home at any time of day or night, seven days a week. There’s no easier way to borrow money then online mode of application.
Online payday loans are a lifesaver if you need money fast and if you are sure you can repay the amount on your next payday. You can use these loans for emergency medical and dental bills, tuition, car repairs and much more. Full Post…
“Flash Attacks” Make Big Money for Debit and Credit Card Scammers
Once a victim’s debit card number has been successfully skimmed, the card can be cloned, say, 100 times, and the cloned cards can be distributed to 100 people. All 100 people can then use the cloned cards to withdraw cash from 100 different ATMs within a brief window of five or ten minutes. If 100 people withdraw $200 each from the same account, at the same time, the scam nets $20,000 in almost no time.
Your credit or debit card number can be skimmed in a number of different ways:
Wedge Skimming: The most common type of skimming occurs when a salesperson or waiter takes your credit or debit card and runs it through a card reader, which copies the information contained in the card’s magnetic stripe. Once the thief has obtained the credit or debit card data, he can then burn the card number to a blank card, or simply use the number to make purchases online or over the phone.
POS Swaps: Many people pay for goods or services by swiping a credit or debit card through the in-store point of sale machines. EFT