Hidden Scams We May Overlook

Discussions about plagiarism and scam detection has been a lot more prevalent lately, and while I have already discovered the wonders of a tool like Grammarly, it is interesting how people have tried to bend and circumvent the rules in exchange for copying off someone else's work. In the era of social networking (you can refer to my post about the Twitter scam here), it is relatively easy to use someone else's thoughts and ideas and use them as your own. While we are becoming a lot smarter about our choices and action plans in detecting scam, there is a hidden plagiarism trick that a lot of us may not quite recognize. This is what you call plagiarism with the use of various mediums and content!

On the surface, it may seem like no big deal. When you watch your favorite TV show and decide to use a couple of quotes on your research paper, would it count as plagiarism? If you are in the field of science and technology and you come across an experiment that could help strengthen your analysis, will this be heralded as a scam? While the lines of plagiarism here are still not too clear, it is always best to stay on the conservative side rather than risk being accused of scam much later. Although these types of scams are much more difficult to detect, you can always call out anyone who may have stolen content that is not theirs to begin with.

We already know that the Facebook and Twitter era has allowed a huge majority of us to just post, share and upload anything that we want. If you know of someone or have been a victim of plagiarism, do not waste time in reporting it! Sadly, there are just too many writers and creative geniuses who rested on their laurels instead of taking this seriously. A lot of us spend a huge amount of time and effort in making sure that we communicate to a larger audience, and when this is abused, the only way that we can truly help others is when we make a stand and decide to put a stop to it once and for all.

5 Online Scams That Target Kids

More and more kids are online these days, and it's getting to the point that computers are the babysitter my TV was for me back in the 80s. While I couldn't get in too much trouble watching TV (except for becoming absolutely CONVINCED by commercials I needed whatever the hot new toy was) there are some important things parents should know about online scams that target children.

From social networking scams to points-shopping sites to Farmville, Parent Central has a good list of what you should be paying attention to when your kids are online.

Seniors Are Biggest Risk for Online Scams

Looks like I wasn't too far off the mark with my self-serving attempts to get my granparents to use Grammarly as a scam detector, because recent reports say seniors are a huge target for online scammers. My grandparents are pretty paranoid, sending me all kinds of stuff they think they're protecting me from, but they don't know much about being online and often their paranoia is misplaced or out of date.

One thing I thought was really interesting? Moving from online scams to telephoning people. From a Canadian report:

In the RCMP's combat against elderly fraud, Corporal Louis Robertson said he sees a lot of grand-parent scams, whereby a fraudster poses as an elderly person’s grandchild over the phone asking for an urgent loan.

Grandma, Grandpa - I promise I'll never phone you at 2 AM looking for a loan, so don't fall for it, eh? Read the full story here.

5 Scams and Security Threats in 2011

I'm trying to get better about posting about scam and security threats I come across, because helping my grandparents out using Grammarly as a scam detector is great, but it's not even a drop in the barrel. So today I'm setting my sights bigger, to the biggest scam and security threats on the horizon in 2011. Of course, I'm no analyst, so I just pulled all the smart stuff from an article on PCWorld so you don't have to take my word for it...

So what're the big things? You can check out the article for the full boat but it seems the big concerns are a mix of the old (fake antivirus scams and PDF-based attacks), the new (App and Social Media scams) and the plain scary (Hacktivism and other war games - probably only a concern for corporations rather than little old me). I covered one Twitter scam last week, and don't be surprised if you see more on the horizon.

The long and short of protecting yourself from these problems seems to be a) use your head, b) make sure you're protected by antivirus, and c) do your research. That's what I'm trying to do, hence this blog, but like I said - check out PCWorld for the full article and more details.

Grammarly Scam Detector Video

So I decided to make a video outlining how I used Grammarly to detect email scams, as I mentioned in my post My Grandparents: Scam Detectives. It's my first-ever online video so be gentle with me.

Update: I've received a lot of great responses on this Grammarly scam tool I recommended to my family. It was a fun process, and I'm glad so many people stumbled across it. As I'm sure everyone knows, scams are only getting more frequent online, so I guess there are a lot of people looking for a solution. While many of us are able to quickly spot and ignore fraudulent 'junk email', there are many others who are new to the Internet who aren't as familiar with these things.

I think, because of this, people 'in the know' are seeking out tools to actually spot and delete this spam/scam stuff automatically for their loved ones. This will leave them less vulnerable to people trying to take advantage of their unfamiliarity with the web. While my little tool is just a prototype of sorts, I think the interest I received from it indicates that there is a gap in the market for a tool that is more than just an email spam filter. Perhaps combining plagiarism analysis with a good spam filter would be a 'best of both worlds'. For now, however, please enjoy the Grammarly scam detector.



Grammarly Scam Detector

Watch Out for Time-Wasting Twitter Scam

Seems like I've only written about Grammarly scam detection at this point - time to broaden my horizons. Just cuz I have a new toy doesn't mean that's the only thing I can write about right?

The latest thing to hit my radar is a Twitter-based scam that claims to tell you how much time you've been wasting on Twitter, and then tricks you into letting a "rogue application" access your Twitter account. Nefarious.

The app then tweets a message onto a Twitter feed, claiming that victims spent 11.6 hours on Twitter, however little or much time they really have logged up on the micro-blogging service before directing victims to a time-wasting survey that earns money for scammers.

The approach is familiar to the wave of survey scam apps that have bedevilled Facebook users for many months but is new to Twitter. Affected users are advised to revoke the application's access to their Twitter account immediately.

More at The Register

My Grandparents: Scam Detectives

So my grandparents, in their 80s, got a computer recently and I made the mistake of giving them my email address. To them, computers are a brave new terrifying world, and they are suddenly the police of the Internet, forwarding me every email they get about every scam, trick and swindle that lands in their inbox.

Only thing is, most of the emails they're getting are either not really a problem, or they were a huge problem...back in 2002 when the emails first went around. I'm not sure what kind of scam historian keeps pushing these things out to octogenarians, but I hope they cool it soon. My first thought is to say "Grandpa, before you forward me the email, do a search on Snopes to see if it's really a problem," but I'm worried that his head would explode.

That's when I thought of Grammarly - since I've still got my account going. I wondered if they'd be able to use it to calm themselves and stop hyperventilating (I just assume they're doing that) every time someone sends an email about the Melissa virus or whatever.

So, I took the most recent email they sent me, with the subject of "Computer virus going around!!!" Here's a snippet:

HUGE VIRUS COMING ! PLEASE READ & FORWARD!

Hi All,

I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus! I checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP. PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK, 'regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C drive of your computer.

The thing is, I remember this Postcard virus, and it's totally real - but it was a big deal back in '07, and started circulating as this type of email in '08. My grandparents sent it to me in 2010, bless their hearts. I plugged the above text into Grammarly's tool to see what the plagiarism detector would bring back.

First Result (from Joe Levi): A calm blog post announcing that this email is a hoax and telling people not to freak out.

Second Result (from Truth or Fiction): A Snopes-like site, also warning that this virus is no longer a big concern.

Third Result (from Yahoo! Answers): The OP asks, the answers are all validation that they shouldn't worry.

So it turns out Grammarly could be a useful tool for helping my grandparents separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to email scam alerts. Something to have in the hip pocket if they continue to send me stuff like that. Now if I can just get them to stop forwarding me Powerpoint presentations about birds from my crazy great aunt, I'll be all set.