Techish

HOW TO: Spot a Facebook fake trying to scam you

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A few weeks ago, I got a Facebook request from “myself.” Obviously, it wasn’t me and I recognized it right away as a common Facebook cloning scam. The way it works is simple. Cyber-crooks snag a photo of you, usually right from your own profile page, poach any information you’ve made public, then reach out to all your real friends and family. Once anyone you actually know accepts the Fakebook-fakes’ friend-request or engages with them on Messenger, the scammers typically make a play for money, personal info, or even try to infect your computer or phone with malware. When the same thing happened to my mom last year, the scammer (pretending to be my mother) hit up my cousin with a ... Read more

HOW TO: Figure out if your smart TV is spying on you (it’s easy)

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Popular TV-maker Vizio agreed to pay a 2.2 million dollar settlement for spying on viewers programs and selling information to marketers. According to FTC, Vizio installed software on more than 11 million TV’s in order to track what people watched and sell the info to advertisers, all without customers’ knowledge or consent. Turns out, this kind of tracking is pretty common — but TV makers have to tell you about it and give you the chance to opt-out. It all happened between 2011 and March 2016. If you own a Vizio Smart TV, here’s how to make sure those tracking features are turned off: VIZIO: Vizio has instructions on its website. Go into Menu → System → Reset ... Read more

5 easy ways to spot fake news

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Towards the end of 2016 and well into this new year the big social networks like Facebook and Twitter have come under major scrutiny for failing to detect and police fake news stories. It’s a major problem, and completely unknown websites with zero credibility continue to craft their own narratives out of thin air, leading to some extremely serious situations such as the gunman who entered a Washington D.C. pizza shop because he believed children were being held captive inside it. Facebook in particular has announced measures to monitor the spread of these false narratives, but you can also perform your own due diligence to help squash fake stories you see being shared by your friends ... Read more

Facebook Fort Knox: How Secure Is Your Account Really?

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There are certain things you just have to do every year: Get your teeth cleaned. Change the oil in your car. Put fresh batteries in your smoke detectors. Run a security check-up on your Facebook account. Wait, what? That’s right, as your online life evolves, your cyber security risks grow too. But there are tools right at your fingertips that can help maintain some semblance of privacy — if you know where to find them. Privacy Checkup There are now 1.49 billion monthly active users on Facebook, with the average person in America spending nearly 30 hours a month hanging out on this particular site. If you haven’t gone through Facebook’s Privacy Checkup lately (or ever), this is a ... Read more