The Computer Garage-Joe Celona

09/28/2025

If you get one of these don't call the number, its a scam to get you to call for help!

09/21/2025

Common FBI Scams
Government Impersonation: Criminals pose as FBI agents, threatening you with legal trouble, such as having a warrant for your arrest or failing to appear for jury duty, to pressure you into sending money or sensitive information.
Tech Support Scams: Scammers impersonate tech support personnel, claiming your computer has a virus or needs a renewal, to gain remote access to your device or steal your information.
Cryptocurrency Job Scams: Fraudsters pretend to be from legitimate companies, enticing victims to deposit their own money to complete fake job tasks, often leading to significant financial losses.
How to Protect Yourself
Verify the Caller: Do not trust caller ID or other incoming information. If you get a suspicious call claiming to be from the FBI, hang up and call your local field office directly.
Never Pay: Law enforcement, including the FBI, will never ask for payment to avoid arrest or to resolve a supposed legal issue.
Don't Share Personal Information: The FBI will not ask for your bank account details, personal identifying information, or to move your conversation to a private messaging app.
Report Suspicious Messages: Report any scam messages, especially those impersonating the FBI or other government agencies, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
What to Do If You Are Scammed
Contact the FBI: If you are a victim of a fraud that may involve federal violations, report it to the FBI by filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov.
Report to the FTC: You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

03/28/2024

https://nj1015.com/this-scam-is-everywhere-in-new-jersey-how-to-protect-yourself/

Credit card skimmer scams are rising fast in New Jersey. Learn how to spot a card skimmer and how to protect yourself from this scam.

12/04/2023

Meta sued over forcing users to pay to stop tracking
Posted: November 30, 2023 by Pieter Arntz
Meta is required to get users’ consent in Europe in order to show them targeted ads. For this reason, Meta has to provide European users with a way to opt out of behavioral advertising or face fines totalling $100,000 a day.

Behavioral advertising are ads tailored to someone’s browsing habits and other online behavior. A profile of the user is built up over time, as they work their way around the web. Tracking users in this was was ruled as a break of GDPR regulations, so Meta had to find a way out.

Meta’s solution was to charge users for an ad-free experience. The choice for European users was keep using Facebook for free or pay to enjoy the platform without personalized ads. In order to enjoy your fundamental rights under EU law, Meta is essentially now proposing that users pay up to $275 per year.

However, organizations concerned about our privacy say that by doing this, Meta has changed the user’s choices from “yes or no” to “pay or okay.”

To put this into perspective, Meta’s annual revenue in 2022 was $120.18 Billion. If every user that visits Facebook daily (2.037 billion) forked out $275 per year, that would bring in roughly $560 Billion.

09/24/2023

Don't Get Taken by this fake invoice.

08/21/2022

One of the easy ways to quickly get malware on a victim's PC is to trick them into thinking that they are getting something for free and make them install everything themselves. If you happen to receive what looks like a full retail copy of Microsoft Office in the mail and you didn’t order it, it’s probably a bad idea to try and install it. But that’s what people in the UK have done and finding themselves prospective victims of a familiar social engineering scam. The randomized and surprisingly professional approach to this scheme caught the attention of Sky News.

This is how it works you get a package in the mail that looks convincingly like a retail copy of Microsoft Office stored on an engraved thumb drive complete with a product code sticker. You plug the USB drive into your PC and it immediately tells you that you have a virus, and you need to call “Microsoft Support.” Over the phone, the fictitious tech support person encourages you to install a remote access tool, after which the problem is apparently solved, but not before you’ve given up a credit card number for verification purposes. Then, of course, come the fraudulent charges.
Microsoft is aware of the issue but says it is a rare occurrence. However, it is not so rare for Microsoft to be mindful of it and launch an internal investigation. Microsoft prefers to distribute its software via the Internet and advises its customers to visit an appropriate support page to find out how to avoid fraud and scams. Microsoft will not call you and ask you to set up a remote access session, that is a dead giveaway that you are a victim of fraud and that there is a cyber-attack happening.

07/07/2022

If you get an email like this today DO NOT respond it is fake and trying to get you to respond!

Hello User %email%

This is to advise you that your personal PC Protection and Internet Shield Plan was automatically resumed today in response to your request.

The updated account amounts used to pay the membership charge of $397.99 were successfully processed, and the money will soon show on your bill.

Your instalment and membership information is as follows:

Plan Name : Advanced Geek PC Protect + Internet Security Shield
Expiration Date : 06 - July - 2023
Subscribed On : 07 - July - 2022
Billing Period : 12 Months
Renewal Price : $ 397.99

If you want to cancel all charges and get a full refund, Connect the Help Team at +1 (888) 391-2017 if you need additional assistance.

Have questions? From 9 am (EST) to 11 pm (EST), we are pleased to assist you.

06/14/2022

Recognize and avoid fraudulent email to Microsoft customers:
======================================================================================
If you receive an email message that claims to be distributing a Microsoft security
update, it is a hoax that may contain malware or pointers to malicious websites.
Microsoft does not distribute security updates via email.

06/01/2022

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05/27/2022

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/intuit-warns-of-quickbooks-phishing-threatening-to-suspend-accounts/

Tax software vendor Intuit has warned that QuickBooks customers are being targeted in an ongoing series of phishing attacks impersonating the company and trying to lure them with fake account suspension warnings.