Purportal.com: The Bunk Stops HereSporadic dispatches from Purportal.com.Always use delivery confirmation!- (Found July 8, 2008 ) There&39;s a new-ish eBayPayPal scam out there -- people buy stuff you are selling on eBay, then claim it never arrived. Unless there is a delivery confirmation that is viewable online (regular USPS insurance doesn&39;t count), PayPal sides with the complainant -- aka the scammer -- and you lose out. More: http:www.kgw.combusinessmoneystorieskgw_053008_news_paypal_scammers.457e8cfa.html June 1st, 2008http://purportal.com/news/115 "Elderly opportunity seekers"- (Found July 8, 2008 ) This article from the New York Times will make you feel dirty and depressed, but it&39;s a must-read if you&39;re interested in the mechanics of scamming. One obvious target of reform emerges from the picture painted by this article: the provision in US banking laws that allows unsigned checks. <blockquote> The thieves would call and pose as government workers or pharmacy employees. They would contend that the Social Security Administration&39;s computers had crashed, or prescription...http://purportal.com/news/102 UFOs... robots in disguise- (Found July 8, 2008 ) Somehow I went a month without hearing about this. Serves me right for not reading <a href="http:boingboing.net">BoingBoing<a> lately. Anyway, many people are quite excited about some Unidentified Fotoshopped Object images that have been circulating. I am a diehard skeptic on these things, so if any aliens are actually on the planet they&39;re going to have to walk right up and buy me a beer before I believe they exist. In this case I feel like some skepticism is fair,...http://purportal.com/news/103 ATM magic- (Found July 8, 2008 ) You may hear this story in the coming days and think it can&39;t be true, but it is -- some yet-to-be-apprehended criminals reprogrammed a convenience store cash machine to dispense $20 bills when it thought it was dispensing $1 bills. (That&39;s silly. Who ever heard of an ATM dispensing $1 bills) <br> <br> It&39;s interesting to read the article, especially if you&39;re not familiar with how typical security breaches happen. It&39;s not about some crazy mastermind who uses his...http://purportal.com/news/104 Need cash Make big money shipping washers and screws for the US military- (Found July 8, 2008 ) <blockquote>A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said. ... The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records...http://purportal.com/news/105 Avoiding scams on Craigslist and elsewhere- (Found July 8, 2008 ) Craigslist, the classifieds site (network of sites, really) has a very useful, concise page of advice on avoiding being scammed when buying or selling online. Their first point: "DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist." Not many internet-based business could give this advice! More: http:www.craigslist.orgaboutscams.html August 25th, 2007http://purportal.com/news/106 Don&39;t believe everything you read on Craigslist- (Found July 8, 2008 ) I love Craigslist, and their emphasis on operating locally does a lot to defuse fraud, but it doesn&39;t enjoy any magical protection from less-than-ethical postings. <blockquote> "Moving out ... House being demolished. Come and take whatever you want, nothing is off limits" .... People, thinking that they could remove whatever they wanted, grabbed the refrigerator, front door and kitchen sink, among other things, according to the documents. <blockquote> More:...http://purportal.com/news/107 How to avoid buying a bogus memory card on eBay- (Found July 8, 2008 ) Here&39;s a helpful guide, with pictures, on the latest skullduggery on eBay from people trying to pass off cheap, slow, or off-brand CF cards as something else. More: http:reviews.ebay.comFugid=10000000001456539 January 27th, 2008http://purportal.com/news/108 Help me make a better Purportal- (Found July 8, 2008 ) These days, Purportal.com pretty much runs itself, as it has for the past seven years. The scammers and spammers of the world provide me a steady stream of material, so there&39;s daily fresh content in the Spam archive. But the site could be much more. I want to keep waging the fight against sleazy scammers and fishy phishers everywhere, and have fun in the process. What kinds of features or information would you like to see I&39;m interested in things that increase user participation andor..http://purportal.com/news/109 The Recruit Who Wasnt Recruited- (Found July 8, 2008 ) It&39;s a little odd that this story has gotten as big as it has -- no pun related to the 6&39;4", 305-pound football player intended. More: http:www.nytimes.com20080206sportsncaafootball06reno.html_r=2&ref=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin February 6th, 2008http://purportal.com/news/110 |