As cybercriminals begin to take advantage of the holiday season, McAfee Inc. is warning consumers about the "12 Scams of Christmas" -- the 12 most dangerous online scams that computer users should be cautious of.



According to Consumer Reports’ 2009 State of the Net Survey, cybercriminals have bilked $8 billion from consumers in the past two years.

Bing: Worst ID theft cases
"Cybercriminals use their best schemes during the holidays to steal people's money, credit card information, Social Security number and identity," said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. "These thieves follow seasonal trends and create holiday-related Web sites, scams and other convincing e-mails that can trick even the most cautious users."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Smart...

To sum up, I penned a parody Xmas carol for the occasion:

The 12 Scams of Christmas
To the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas”

On the 1st day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
A charity phishing scam

On the 2nd day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
2 fake invoices and a charity phishing scam

On the 3rd day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 4th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
4 Christmas e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 5th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 6th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 7th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam



On the 8th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
8 work-from-home scams
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 9th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
9 auction site frauds
8 work-from-home scams
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 10th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
10 thefts of passwords
9 auction site frauds
8 work-from-home scams
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

On the 11th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
11 email bank frauds
10 thefts of passwords
9 auction site frauds
8 work-from-home scams
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam






On the 12th day of Christmas
Some scammer pulled on me
12 files for ransom
11 email bank frauds
10 thefts of passwords
9 auction site frauds
8 work-from-home scams
7 spyware ringtones
6 ID thefts
5 high-priced rings
4 e-cards, 3 sham friends, 2 fake invoices
And a charity phishing scam

My cat Max is sick with a massive blood blister on his right ear and need to take him to the vet. I am trying to raise money to get him treated at the vet; only problem is that I'm disabled on a fixed income and cannot afford the vet care without outside help. I didn't know about the rule about prior permission from the admins to start a fundraiser. Without the funds to pay for vet treatment I have one of two difficult choices: allow the cat to suffer and face animal cruelty charges, or take him to the shelter and surrender him so he can get treatment--only I'd be minus my big baby. I need to make the payment(s) in full. $100 is all it takes to get him in one piece again. He got some of his spunk back, but he's not 100% and he goes to the vet tomorrow.

The link to the page is http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/group...

Required Disclaimer: The administrators of Democratic Underground have given permission for one discussion thread on this topic. The administrators of Democratic Underground make no claims regarding the legitimacy or illegitimacy of this fundraising effort. Permission was granted by Skinner on 8/26/09, and the moderators have been notified.

Ruby, my beloved little girl, jumped off the window sill this morning, accidentally slammed her left front paw on the lava lamp I kept on the set of drawers right next to my bed, knocking the lamp down. The lamp didn't break, thank God, but it seems as if it landed on her, although I couldn't see it clearly. She has been limping on her left front paw since.

I don't have the transportation nor the upfront money to pay for her to get fixed up (I go to the SPCA to treat my cats). I was toying with going to the store to pick up bandages, both gauze and no-stick tape, to treat her leg at home.

Experts, please give me some help and/or resources.

PM or e-mail me with suggestions. I don't want to lose my Ruby just for the inability to pay for vet treatment.

Animal laws are antiquated, in that they never caught up with the American culture concerning common household pets. Animals are legally regarded as mere property, not as the sentient beings they are. The laws need to catch up with this reality, and this include animal cruelty--people get off too easy with torturing and maliciously killing animals. I believe it's high time for Congress to push a Pet Parent's Bill of Rights, covering everything from encouraging adoption from shelters by giving each pet adopted from a shelter a pet tax ID for the purpose of tax breaks, banning housing discrimination against pet parents, to requiring employers to allow pet sick days to let people take their sick pets to a vet for treatment, to toughening animal cruelty laws nationwide.

I propose the idea that animals should be legally regarded not as mere property, not as humans, but in a legal class by themselves between inanimate property and persons. This should hold true especially for common household pets, e.g., cats, dogs, domesticated species of birds, guinea pigs, domesticated rabbits, etc. Pets should be protected from "murder" by punishing offenders a maximum of 20-35 years in prison; from intentional torture and/or petnapping by imposing a maximum sentence less than that of kidnapping, but more than that of mere theft of inanimate objects. This proposed protection would reflect the nature of pets not as property, but as the family members they're treated like at home.

Wild animals, especially endangered species, have more protection than household pets, yet culturally, we regard pets in more esteem than their wild cousins. Wild animals' habitats are better protected by law than the domestic animals with whom we share our homes; for instance, landlords and condo building owners can still legally discriminate against pet guardians either by charging higher rental rates to pet parents than household without cats or dogs; by imposing a high, non-refundable pet fee, ostensibly to cover property damage caused by pets, but in reality, these pet surcharges serve to discourage tenants and/or condo owners from keeping a cat and/or dog. Some landlords or homeowners' assocations even ban pets outright and evict tenants and/or condo owners, forcing the latter either to give up their animals or sell their condos. This discrimination forces human beings to choose between a roof over their heads and their beloved furkids. This injustice must be banned once and for all. Landlords and condo building owners should bear the burden of proof that the pet is antisocial and/or destructive; in other words, a pet should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Any human found guilty of keeping a pet who is proven to be unsocialized, aggressive, destructive, or any and all of the aforementioned should be required to give up the offending animal at his or her own expense. We should put an end to punishing innocent, responsible pet parents along with the guilty, irresponsible sociopaths who use animals as mere objects to be used and abused at will.
Exemptions from complying with the pet anti-discrimination law would be: homeowner is not allowed to keep a pet due to an injunction by a court of law and a tenant is bringing in a pet; if the presence of a pet creates an undue health hardship to the homeowner. Example: the homeowner wants to rent a room yet is severely allergic to cats. The prospective tenant has a cat and wants to move in with the kitty. In this case, the homeowner can tell the tenant he or she has to give up the cat because Boots would make him or her too sick to function.

I think we should be afforded a break on our income taxes if we adopted a cat or dog from a shelter. Each adopted pet would be assigned a tax ID number similar to a Social Security number, only the first character would be an F (feline) for an adopted cat or a C (canine) for an adopted dog. There would be a pet dependent allowance of $500 for each cat and $500-750 for each dog, depending on the size of the dog upon adulthood. For instance, Kitty's Tax ID would look like this: Fxx-xx-xxxx, and Doggie's would be Cxx-xx-xxxx. This number would be used solely for income tax purposes, and can be transferable for a $5.00 fee to a new guardian either upon the death of the human. If the human caregiver can no longer care for the adopted animal due to incarceration or some other reason the people can no longer keep the animal, the pet transfer fee would increase to $20.00. If the animal is brought back to the shelter, or to another shelter, the transfer fee would go up to $50.00.

Nowhere Gal (to the tune of "Nowhere Man" by the Beatles)
Ode to Sarah Palin

She's a real nowhere gal
Hides behind her nowhere pal
Looking with her nowhere scowl at nobody
Has extremist points of view
Knows not where she's going to
She is nowhere near like you and me

Nowhere gal won't listen
She has several screws missin'
Nowhere Gal, witches are at your command
She's as blind as she can be
Just sees what she wants to see
Nowhere Gal, can you see me at all?

Nowhere Gal won't worry
Media are in no hurry
Leaves it all till someone else
Lends her a hand
Has extremist points of view
Knows not where she's going to
She is nowhere near like you and me

Nowhere Gal won't listen
She has several screws missin'
Nowhere Gal, witches are at your command
She's a real nowhere gal
Hides behind her nowhere pal
Looking with her nowhere scowl at nobody
Looking with her nowhere scowl at nobody
Looking with her nowhere scowl at nobody

What if there were a Democratic Secretary of State who was also the leader of Kerry's campaign?

What if that SoS went out of his or her way to stymie the vote in Republican suburbs and/or rural areas by banning the distribution of campaign literature, including the notorious "voter guides", in or within 1000 feet of a church?

What if this Democratic SoS intentionally gave these voters misleading directions to their polling places, so that the voters couldn't find their proper polling spot, for the sole purpose of suppressing the Republican vote?

What if that same SoS put too few--and malfunctioning--voting machines in suburban/rural areas where he or she knew the electorate was predominantly evangelical? What if the malfunctioning machines caused long lines in these polling places, causing white, conservative voters to wait for hours, very far from home?

What if the SoS decreed that a rural or suburban voter had to disclose his or her personal information, including bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and SSN's just to be able to vote?

What if this SoS had connections with a database company with close ties to the Democratic Party, and hired that company to purge voter rolls, which ends up kicking Republicans off the rolls?

I'll tell you how the repukes would react if the shoe were on the other foot. They'd be screaming at the top of their lungs -- ELECTION FRAUD!! ELECTION FRAUD!! THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO STEAL THE ELECTION!!!

If you read the article carefully, you will notice that the bill requires the Federal Trade Commission--part of the executive branch--to define price gouging. Given the massive, rampant corruption of this current executive branch, I wouldn't be surprised to see the FTC define price gouging in a way that punishes small retailers severely while letting Big Oil get off scot-free.

Nothing will change fundamentally unless we use the common definition of price gouging: a price hike of over 10%. I think this bill provides nothing but cosmetic changes, since election-year moderates from the repuke party introduced this watered-down version of a bill Dems have been trying to push since Katrina hit.

That seems to be what I'm hearing today.

And the title of this thread could also have been "the creation of a wedge issue'

'Damn Mexicans'

'Let 'em learn English'

'The anthem should be in English'


Those ignorant anti-everything racists ought to be the first to learn English. Just look on freerepublic.com and you'll see what I mean.

The man considered to be the head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, has been arrested after more than four decades on the run.
Italian police said 73-year-old Provenzano, deemed the country's most wanted man, was arrested near his home town of Corleone in Sicily.

He was sentenced in his absence to life in prison for a string of murders.

Police believe he took over command of the Mafia after the 1993 arrest of ex-boss Salvatore "Toto" Riina.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4898930....