Fw: WARNING FROM POLICE

So it seems like it's that time again. I recently got another email that I've seen circulating around. I had done my research on it earlier, but the third time I got it, I figured it was time, yet again, to show how awesome some emails are.

WARNING FROM POLICE THIS APPLIES TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE--NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS (NOT A JOKE!!!) Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating.... You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You start the engine and shift into reverse. When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. So, you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car. And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car. So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are now compromised! BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED. If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands. Please keep this going and tell all your friends

Well, as you may have guessed this isn't totally real. Sure you could always add the line, "Proved by SNOPES" to add some street cred next time you pass this message along, but this has no real conclusive evidence of being an issue. Certainly something to keep an eye out for IF you do happen to see a note on your back windshield. For the most part, this is a plausible scenario, but is simply fabricated (maybe it happened once and no one really knows).

Got the info from here.

It's that time again...

Yup, I have another hoax/scam to watch out for. This one is more like the last one I wrote about in that it's a real thing you need to watch out for.

Apparently certain crooks will get your cell phone number and send it a message saying that your debit card is locked, and you need to call to unlock it. Please don't test it out to see if this is real or not (not smart), but call your bank to make sure your cards are all ok.

That's it for now!

Happy Holidays!

__________________
image and info from lifehacker

A real threat

Maybe you saw that I had written an earlier post on "Hoax Emails"? Well it's time another one! Except this one is a threat!

So I've never personally received this one, but know this one has a particularly high success rate at scamming people because of it's credibility. Maybe you've heard it...

It says that a friend of yours is out travelling in a foreign land and are mugged. From there, they have no way of getting money and need you and the rest of the victim's friends to wire it to them through "their" Western Union account. This new scam is smart enough to create an email address for you using your first and last name and maybe even birthday as numbers, and send it out to the hacked person's contacts based on social networks and their friends. Typically the victim gets hacked through what's called "clickjacking" (I think). So be wary of clicking on a stray add when on Facebook.

Pretty intense and crazy! If you happen to see this email notify your friend that sent you this. If you want to read more about where I heard it from, there's an article here (it's ok... that link is not a scam, I promise!)

PLEASE READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've all gotten them, and maybe even been duped by them... hoaxes! They've been around for a long time. With the advent of the internet, spreading the word has become all too easy. Sometimes things get a little out of hand, but it is up to us to determine what is real and what seems out of place.

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like there is a stereotype that Grandma's forward on hoax emails a lot (this stereotype may have arisen and been bolstered by my own Grandma). Well I happen to receive emails about crazy things that are going on in this world... like the worst virus announced by CNN, or last minute photo of the World Trade Center from the observation deck. Typically they are latent with words like, "You will not believe this..." or "Please tell EVERYONE" or "You will DIE if you don't forward" (ok, maybe not that drastic).

Even though I seem to get one of these emails once or twice a week from co-workers or my grandma, I find them rather entertaining because I like to see what kind of things people come up with to circulate. Be prepared to find different entries that I get from time to time....

The most recent one I got is from my Grandma regarding thieves using your VIN to request a duplicate key from the dealership and then stealing your car. What's interesting is that apparently this is based on true events, but if you think about it, is something the average person won't need to watch out for. As the Snopes article points out, the criminals used this tactic to steal cars from used car lots. Reason being the thief first has to get your VIN from the car, then forge documents, request and obtain key, then go back to the car to steal.

This would most likely take a few days (although, I'm sure if you thought about this very issue, and wished extremely hard for it NOT to happen to you, Murphy's law might work for the thief and they will have your car in an hour or less). So, unless the criminal really has it out for you and your car, you're probably safe.

So there ya go Grandma (and other people too)... as the Mythbusters would say: