Hi Everyone,

Too often, I talk with people who have been the victim of what I've dubbed "the phone scam". In the security industry, it is known as Callback Phishing.

Callback Phishing, or "the phone scam", is when a person is tricked into calling a phone number, often thinking it is some kind of tech support, only to be shown bogus information when the "tech support" remotes into their computer. Then the phone scammer attempts to sell expensive "services" or software products as solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

There are lots of ways this can happen, but there's one thing that I recommend to reduce the likelihood of this kind of scam taking advantage of you:

A Content Blocker

Further down, I'll share which one I now recommend.

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I'm interrupting my own newsletter to let you know that I've added an HP mini computer, a Dell laptop and two ThinkPad laptop models to my inventory.

To view the refurbished computers I currently have available, check out:

https://orangecomputer.us/items/

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A content blocker is also known as an ad blocker.

In the past, I've recommended AdBockPlus and installed it on most of the computers I've sold. In the last year or so, I've found that it hasn't been working as well as it used to and in some cases doesn't install correctly.

The replacement is uBlock Origin

https://ublockorigin.com/

It is a free, open-source ad and content blocker... but how does it help prevent "the phone scam" ?

One strategy of scammers is to take out web advertisements with search engines such as "HP Printer Support" with a phone number to call. 

If you search for HP Printer Support when you have a printer problem, if you don't have an ad blocker, promoted or sponsored content will appear above the natural search results. These are frequently scammers and they try all kinds of ways to trick people into calling them. Once they have someone on the phone, they remote into their computer to "help" with their printer problem (in this example). And so the scam begins.

If you had a content blocker like uBlock Origin installed, those ads to fake tech support services wouldn't show up in the first place. Because of that, having a content blocker makes it less likely that you would be taken advantage of a scam like this.

I now install uBlock Origin in the web browsers on the computers I sell and also after I do a Computer Cleanup service to help prevent malware from being installed again.

Oh, and it blocks most ads on Youtube, too!

If you think this information could be helpful to someone you know, feel free to forward this email to them.

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Gift Card Giveaway!
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The winner of a $50 Gift Card for Orange Computer is:

  Faith Miller

Congratulations Faith! Just reply to this email to claim the Gift Card.

I'll be drawing a winner from the subscribers of this email newsletter every time I send out an email.

Thanks so much for all your business and referrals!
 

Until next time,