Home > Store

Truth About Avoiding Scams, The

Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.

Truth About Avoiding Scams, The

eBook

  • Your Price: $22.39
  • List Price: $27.99
  • About Watermarked eBooks
  • This PDF will be accessible from your Account page after purchase and requires PDF reading software, such as Acrobat® Reader®.

    The eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.

    Watermarked eBook FAQ

Description

  • Copyright 2008
  • Edition: 1st
  • eBook
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-713548-3
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-713548-6

This is the eBook version of the printed book. If the print book includes a CD-ROM, this content is not included within the eBook version.

"You should read this book and take Steve Weisman's advice. And from the money and assets he helps you protect, take a few dollars and buy a copy for a good friend."

--Alan Colmes, Syndicated radio talk show host and co-host of Hannity and Colmes on Fox News Channel

  

Scams are everywhere...now discover exactly how to protect yourself!

·        The truth about recognizing today’s newest scams--online and off

·        The truth about safeguarding your money, health, and reputation

·        The truth about phishing, vishing, pharming, slamming, and more

Scams have always been with us, and they always will be - except now, technology makes scammers' jobs even easier, enabling them to reach out from anywhere around the world, and take advantage of more people than ever before. No matter how smart you think you are, you can easily become a victim: in fact, scammers have discovered that educated, sophisticated individuals are among their best targets. The Truth About Avoiding Scams arms you with everything you need to protect yourself: real, up-to-the-minute knowledge, and the "internal sensors" you need to sniff out even the subtlest, most well-crafted scams. Consumer finance expert and nationally syndicated radio host Steve Weisman offers quick, bite-size, just-the-facts information about every type of fraud, from identity scams to computer-based fraud, travel and health scams to phony educational loans and scholarships. Weisman exposes the new epidemic of "affinity fraud," where "people just like you" target you based on your ethnicity, racial group, church, club, or fraternal organization. You'll find up-to-the-minute guidance on avoiding illegitimate online dating services; "cramming" and other phone frauds; tax and Social Security scams; employment, home repair, and investment scams; and a whole lot more.

Unlike some books on scams, this one's simple to read, simple to use, up to date, and complete: the only guide you need to keep yourself safe!

Sample Content

Table of Contents

Introduction  ix

Part I               The Truth About Identity Theft  1

Truth 1             Identity theft  1

Truth 2             Go phish  5

Truth 3             Vishing down on the pharm  9

Truth 4             Do Not Call Registry, Patriot Act scams  13

Truth 5             Protect yourself from identity theft  15

Part II              The Truth About Computer Scams  19

Truth 6             Trojan horse  19

Truth 7             PayPal, eBay  21

Truth 8             Second chances–eBay  23

Truth 9             Free adult entertainment  25

Truth 10           Two more for the road  27

Part III             The Truth About Classic Scams  29

Truth 11           Ponzi scheme  29

Truth 12           Chain letters  33

Truth 13           A couple of the basics  37

Truth 14           Nigerian scam  41

Truth 15           Who knew? A flurry of old champs  45

Truth 16           More reasons to be wary  49

Truth 17           And you thought you’d heard it all  53

Truth 18           Money lost, borrowed, or gambled  57

Truth 19           Lottery and contest scams  61

Part IV             The Truth About Getting Personal  65

Truth 20           Exercise scams  65

Truth 21           Weight loss scams  67

Truth 22           The CIA medical scam  71

Truth 23           Education scams  73

Truth 24           Romance scams  77

Truth 25           Rental care insurance  81

Truth 26           Personal information privacy  83

Part V              The Truth About Telephone Scams  87

Truth 27           Cramming  87

Truth 28           900 numbers  89

Truth 29           Phony caller ID  93

Truth 30           Area code 809  95

Part VI             The Truth About Tax Scams  97

Truth 31           Fear and loathing of the IRS  97

Truth 32           More tax scams  101

Truth 33           It just doesn’t stop  105

Part VII            The Truth About Government Assistance  109

Truth 34           Social Security   109

Truth 35           Medicare  113

Truth 36           Veteran scams  115

Part VIII           The Truth About Credit Card Scams  119

Truth 37           Credit cards  119

Truth 38           More credit card offers  123

Truth 39           Skimmers and ATM scams  127

Truth 40           Free credit report  133

Truth 41           Credit repair services  139

Truth 42           Credit counseling agencies  143

Truth 43           Credit card rate reduction scam  147

Truth 44           Advance fee credit cards  149

Truth 45           Credit card alarms in the night  153

Part IX            The Truth About Employment Scams  155

Truth 46           Work-at-home schemes  155

Truth 47           Easy money  159

Truth 48           More wrong turns  161

Truth 49           Cruise ship employment scam  165

Truth 50           Get a job online scams  167

Part X             The Truth About Home Scams  169

Truth 51           Home sweet scam  169

Truth 52           Variations on a theme  173

Part XI            The Truth About Investment Scams  177

Truth 53           Stock scams  177

Truth 54           More investment scams  181

Truth 55           Unusual investment opportunities  185

Truth 56           Fees in legitimate investments  189

Truth 57           Free financial seminars  195

Part XII           The Truth About Solutions  197

Truth 58           Some solutions  197

Truth 59           Keeping your computer secure  199

Truth 60           Wi-Fi  205

Truth 61           Due diligence  207

About the Author  210

Updates

Submit Errata

More Information

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020