|
Scam Baiting
Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scam, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to waste the time and resources of scammers, gather information useful to authorities, and publicly expose scammers. They may document scammers' tools and methods, warn potential victims, provide discussion forums, disrupt scammers' devices and systems using remote access trojans and computer viruses, or take down fraudulent webpages. Some scambaiters are motivated by a sense of civic duty, some simply engage for their own Schadenfreude, amusement, or a combination of both. Methodology For scams conducted via written communication, baiters may answer Confidence trick, scam emails using disposable email address, throwaway email accounts, pretending to be receptive to scammers' offers. Popular methods of accomplishing the first objective are to a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Vigilantism
Internet vigilantism is the act of carrying out vigilante activities through the Internet. The term encompasses vigilantism against alleged scams, crimes, and non-Internet related behavior. The expanding scope of media savvy and online interaction has enabled vigilantes to utilize methods specific to the internet in order to distribute justice to parties they consider to be corrupt, but who have not committed a formal crime or have not been held accountable by the criminal justice system. Internet Vigilantism originated in the early 2000s and has since evolved to include a variety of methods such as hacking, baiting, and public shaming. Internet vigilantism changes in cultural and political drive depending on location, and has varying relationships to state authority depending on context. There are many internet vigilante groups as well as individuals. Description The term internet vigilantism describes punitive public denunciations, aimed at swaying public opinion in order to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Utne Reader
''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and DVDs. The magazine's writers and editors contribute book, film, and music reviews and original articles that tend to focus on emerging cultural trends. The magazine's website produces ten blogs covering politics, environment, media, spirituality, science and technology, great writing, and the arts. The publication takes its name from founder Eric Utne. "Utne" rhymes with the English word "chutney". Eric Utne's surname is ultimately derived from the Norwegian village of Utne, which loosely translates as "far out". History The magazine was founded in 1984 by Eric Utne as the ''Utne Reader''. Its tagline was "the best of the alternative press." For its first 20 years Jay Walljasper was editor; Julie Ristau was its publisher. During thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basta (TV Series)
''Basta'' was a Flemish television show aired in January and February 2011 on the Belgian channel Eén. The show was hosted by Neveneffecten and produced by Woestijnvis. It was a mix between comedy, current affairs and crime. The show tried to give some of one's own medicine. Although the show was a blockbuster, a second season was not made as Neveneffecten thought their approach would most probably not work anymore as they became famous. Subjects Recharge money from bank In 2008 many Belgian banks got money from the government following the financial crisis of 2007–2008. This was however paid with tax money. ''Basta'' contacted all those banks and requested if they could recharge their money, which was estimated at 250 euros for each Belgian inhabitant. No bank did pay them, so ''Basta'' decided to take another approach: they stole staplers, hole punchers etc. from the desks. Later, ''Basta'' founded a new bank: Fides Bank with a limited amount of money (only €150). Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, as ''The Atlantic Monthly'', a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Its founders included Francis H. Underwood and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier. James Russell Lowell was its first editor. In addition, ''The Atlantic Monthly Almanac'' was an annual almanac published for ''Atlantic Monthly'' readers during the 19th and 20th centuries. A change of name was not officially announced when the format first changed from a strict monthly (appearing 12 times a year) to a slightly lower frequency. It was a mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for . Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware. The C64 dominated the low-end computer market (except in the UK and Japan, lasting only about six months in Japan) for most of the later years of the 1980s. For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
419eater
419eater.com is a scam baiting website which focuses on advance-fee fraud. The name 419 comes from "419 fraud", another name for advance fee fraud, and itself derived from the relevant section of the Nigerian criminal code. The website founder, Michael Berry, goes by the alias Shiver Metimbers. As of 2013, the 419 Eater forum had over 55,000 registered accounts. According to one member, "Every minute the scammer I'm communicating with is spending on me is a minute he is not scamming a real potential victim." Concept The website chronicles various reverse scams, known as "baits," with e-mail exchanges between the baiters and the scammers, and commentary by the participants. The site hosts photographs of individuals reported to be scammers in humorous poses, or holding signs such as "I recommend 419eater". These photographs, according to the members who post them, were in most cases obtained during the process of a bait: the baiter, posing as an actual victim, will request the pho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telepolis
''Telepolis'' is a German Internet magazine, published by the Heinz Heise Verlag since the beginning of 1996. It was founded by journalists Armin Medosch and Florian Rötzer and deals with privacy, science, culture, internet-related and general politics and media. Other contributors include Mathias Bröckers, Gabriele Hooffacker or Burkhard Schröder. ''Telepolis'' received the European prize for online journalism in the category "investigative reporting" in 2000 for its coverage of the Echelon project; in 2002, it received the Online Grimme prize. It periodically releases special issues, the first printed edition (January 2005) being on "Aliens - how researchers and space travellers want to uncover their presence." One of the articles in this edition, perhaps the most daring, described the so-called theory of everything (TOE) proposed by Burkhard Heim and its alleged applications to spacecraft propulsion. (Heim theory is not part of mainstream physics, and few physicist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engadget
''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editorial staff. It has been operated by Yahoo since September 2021. History ''Engadget'' was founded by former '' Gizmodo'' technology weblog editor and co-founder Peter Rojas. ''Engadget'' was the largest blog in Weblogs, Inc., a blog network with over 75 weblogs, including ''Autoblog'' and ''Joystiq,'' which formerly included ''Hackaday''. Weblogs Inc. was purchased by AOL in 2005. Launched in March 2004, ''Engadget'' is updated multiple times a day with articles on gadgets and consumer electronics. It also posts rumors about the technological world, frequently offers opinion within its stories, and produces the weekly Engadget Podcast that covers tech and gadget news stories that happened during the week. On December 30, 2009, ''Engadget' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PowerBook G4
The PowerBook G4 is a series of notebook computers manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer between 2001 and 2006 as part of its PowerBook line of notebooks. The PowerBook G4 runs on the RISC-based PowerPC G4 processor, designed by the AIM (Apple/ IBM/Motorola) development alliance and initially produced by Motorola. It was built later by Freescale, after Motorola spun off its semiconductor business under that name in 2004. The PowerBook G4 has two different designs: one enclosed in a titanium body with a translucent black keyboard and a 15-inch screen; and another in an aluminum body with an aluminum-colored keyboard, in 12-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch sizes. Between 2001 and 2003, Apple produced the titanium PowerBook G4; between 2003 and 2006, the aluminum models were produced. Both models were hailed for their modern design, long battery life, and processing power. When the aluminum PowerBook G4s were first released in January 2003, 12-inch and 17-inch models were intr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple Inc
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company by market capitalization, the fourth-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales and second-largest mobile phone manufacturer. It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. Apple was founded as Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976, by Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne to develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. It was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. in 1977 and the company's next computer, the Apple II, became a best seller and one of the first mass-produced microcomputers. Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial success. The company developed computers featuring innovative graphical user inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a notable success story of the dot-com bubble. eBay is a multibillion-dollar business with operations in about 32 countries, as of 2019. The company manages the eBay website, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a wide variety of goods and services worldwide. The website is free to use for buyers, but sellers are charged fees for listing items after a limited number of free listings, and an additional or separate fee when those items are sold. In addition to eBay's original auction-style sales, the website has evolved and expanded to include: instant "Buy It Now" shopping; shopping by Universal Product Code, ISBN, or other kind of SKU number (via Half.com, which was shut down in 2017); and othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bogus Escrow
The bogus escrow scam is a straightforward confidence trick in which a scammer operates a bogus escrow service. Escrow services are intended to ensure security by acting as a middleman in transactions where the two parties do not trust each other. Rather than sending money or goods directly to the other party (which is insecure, as one or the other party must send its item first, at the risk that the other party may not reciprocate), both parties send their items to the escrow service, which holds them until both items are received, then sends each on to the intended recipient. If either party fails to deliver its part of the deal, the other party's item will be held at the escrow service and eventually returned. In the bogus escrow scam, a scammer sets itself up as the recipient of money or goods and then requests the use of an escrow service which is self-operated. This bogus escrow service assures the victim that the scammer has sent its item and that the victim should send its i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
