Category: Phones

Valentine Awkwardness

Posted on by freyja91t

It’s that time of year again!!! A time to reminisce on love, young and old alike, a time for the stores to push their products labelled in red and pink, a time to not remember the past hurts, but to look forward to the future…Except when you get a text from your ex on Valentine’s that was sent MONTHS AGO!!! Last year, in the night leading up to Valentine’s, an internal maintenance cycle was run, and 168,149 previously undelivered text messages were inadvertently sent to multiple mobile operators’ subscribers, which made it very awkward for people who received or were accused of sending bizarre messages, many of which appear to be from February….

I’m curious to know what would you have done if you were one of these people who ended up receiving, or was blamed for sending these?? Or, if you were one of those people, what was the text you got?? Let’s get the comments going below!!

Happy Valentine’s!

Tiktok – Secretly a Spy Tool

Posted on by freyja91t

Many of you in the Cosplayer world have either heard of or used Tik-Tok. If this is you, please uninstall it, or at least be aware of what this Tool is actually doing.

Friday January 10th – 00:38 am I got the below notification:

(1 of 2) Koodo: You’ve used 100% of your 5120MB of data. To help manage costs, your data has been paused until the end of your bill cycle at 11:59pm on 2020-02-01.
(2 of 2) To unpause your data, reply with one of the following data options which is valid until the end of your bill cycle:

22YES to get 1GB at $22.00

12YES to get 300MB at $12.00

YES to get 100MB of data for $5.

Or visit koodo.com/datatopups

This notification raised many flags, and I did a quick Google Search which brought to light the following:

Poor Security Measures Allowing Users to be Hacked

Spy Tool

Why it is a Spy Tool

The US has even opened a National Security Review into Tik-Tok

In Conclusion – This App asks for use of your camera and microphone, and doesn’t have limits as to where this data goes!!!!! Watch what apps ask for, and be safe out there friends!

Research Your Apps – Free Doesn’t Mean Free

Posted on by freyja91t

I’m quite fond of the fact that in our technical day and age, it is becoming more and more common place to ‘Have an App for that!’ Apps make our lives easier, from helping cutting down extraneous tasks to graphic editing. For Android users, many apps are free, made by other users, which can include options such as either ‘Pay to use better options’ or ‘Pay to get rid of ads’.

That being said, an easily downloaded application has become scammers next target. A Toronto Security company has discovered an App called ‘Xhelper’ which is now termed as a malware that is impossible to remove, as it has the ability to reinstall itself and is designed to remain hidden! It even has code to ensure it isn’t deleted when a Factory Reset is prompted, and performs malicious actions such as “showing advertisements to the users, downloading and executing more malicious payloads from its remote server onto the users device”

My advice as a tech user is to research your apps before downloading! Look through those Reviews, weed out the Automated replies, make sure this app is right for you, and if it looks suspicious, DON’T DOWNLOAD!!!! And as an extra layer of protection, or to ensure that you haven’t already succumbed to this malware, install a malware detector.

Stay safe out there my friends!

Original Article

Received Spam Call from 16312907408 – A Call from New York to Talk About my Credit

Posted on by freyja91t

I received a phone call from this number saying press 2 to learn more about 250,000 worth in possible available credit. I hung up, and called back via Pop-Tox.

When I phoned back, I was greeted by a real person, oddly enough sounded like the person who had made the pre-recorded message. He said ‘Hi, if you were just on the previous call, you’ll know I’m wanting to talk about credit options for your business, and other options for the business…-‘ He went on to say ‘the business’ a few more times before he paused and I was able to ask him how he ‘knew this number was a business number?’, to which He hung up immediately.

16263774256 – Spam Caller Using?

Posted on by freyja91t

I received an automated call from ‘Pasadena’ at 16263774256, calling to update my Google listing. I hung up, and called back via POP-TOX, and it sent me through to UEI college – I found this strange, so I looked them up online, their phone number listed is 1 424-286-9990. I called this number, and was surprised to hear both the menus for these numbers was the same.

I tried to speak with their staff in an effort to make sure both menus were in fact the same, but the person who answered refused to give their name and said that they were unable to transfer calls within their call center.

Unable to recreate the automated call from ‘Pasadena’ claiming to be Google, I can only assume they were able to use the number somehow via an automated dialing service, or, on a long shot, that students at UEI have an interesting sense of humor.

**SPAM/SCAM** 17023595643

Posted on by freyja91t

When I said hello, they immediately hung up, red flag 1.

When I called them back on POPTOX I got this message:

“Thank you for returning our call regarding your property. To speak to a representative press 1, to be removed from the mailing list press 9.”

I pressed 1, it immediately replayed the message. I pressed 1 again, it repeated it, then when I pressed it a third time it hung up. Red Flag 2.

I used Z-reverse look-up, and supposedly this number is not in service, Red flag 3.

Then this number phoned me back and wouldn’t hang up, no noise in the background at all, so I hung up to avoid any charges or data capture they were trying to achieve. Red Flag 4.

Be safe friends!!

Newest Scam – Requests you leave behind your name and phone number for more info

Posted on by freyja91t

Got a call from phone number 16176589070, but instead of an automated call, dead air. Intrigued, I tried to call back on PopTox, but it said it was an invalid number. Using their reverse phone lookup, I found out it was a number in Boston Massachusetts.

Using a public phone, I dialed it and was instantly greeted by an automated message, I’ve put the best quotes below for anyone doing scam research.

“Hi I’m Mark and thanks for calling, I’m going to do you a favor and cut right to the chase.”

“Here’s the truth, i’m being working from home for over 16 years – bragging about kids never seeing me leave for home…”

He then goes on to say you shouldn’t have to and how he went from making barely minimum wage to bragging about his last 8 years where he pulled in a 6 figure income, and how in the last 2 year span he’s made way more and is ready to mentor.

He offers you mentor-ship promising he can help you get rich “In the cold market without pitching your friends and family” something about an “automated lead system that will deliver interested and qualified” promising that “you literally only talk to people that talk to this number”

He then goes on to say he can prove with documentation who he is, and is “looking to mentor people with a simple 2 step system
again no hype or gimmicks, just the facts.”

Now, here’s where the catch is – “Here’s all you have to do, you have to have capital. borrow it from your friends.” Huh, I swore you just said I didn’t have to pitch to my friends and family…

“You’re going to need at least 500 to get started. if you can’t get that money you may as well hang up now. If you agree with me it’s worth to invest a little bit of capital” He tries to press the point of needing money to make money, then provides the final almost seemingly innocent request.

“Give me your name and number after the tone so you can make your own decision.”

Well that sure sent shivers up my spine, I hung up and google searched! And while I haven’t been able to find this exact scam, I’ve found reference to closely related scams where the caller asks for a variety of information that they will then use as they see fit.

Other things I find wrong with this phone call was the lack of proof promised, l and inability to link this number to any actual person online.

Please see below for other scams closely related.

BBB.org

TechCo News

Forbes

Phones and Messaging in the Modern world

Posted on by freyja91t

Remember the good old days when you got 1 LETTER, and that 1 letter you’d carefully reply with a well worded response? This is still how I view anything sent to me in written form, and if I feel I don’t have the time and energy that message deserves to be answered with, I don’t answer until said time and energy arrives.

Now, with our tracking within message apps to ensure someone has seen our message, I must often times refrain from opening a message, because if I do, the person watching that message thinks I am ignoring them (which I rightfully am allowed) and they start the annoying tirade of messages, ‘HELLO’ (MY ALL TIME FAVORITE BTW) ‘Did you see this’, a complete rewording of their first question, 10 more messages I have to answer, or the old timer favorite copy and RESEND.

Wow Sarah, you may say, ‘That’s rude’. Well let me explain to you why I just don’t think you’re right.

When I first got a phone, I watched it like a hawk because I knew anything coming through that was probably important. I was on call for my job, and besides family emergencies, that was all I ever got called about. 

But then, I started texting this one person who would freak out if I didn’t respond right away. I was accused of many things during that period, and I found myself tied to my phone like a ball and chain. If I didn’t respond within a minute of the message being sent, I’d get another one saying I must be cheating or something to that effect. I turned off all message tracking in an effort to stop some of this, but it only got worse, the reality of how ridiculous it had gotten only hit me when I was out with my sister and had to start sending pictures of where I was so I’d stop being accused. 

So maybe I’m a little burned, but maybe I just learned a valuable lesson as to not let somebody have that kind of power over me, to not feel guilty when someone tries to guilt trip me into answering and to allow myself the time required to come up with the answer that person deserves.

The reason I bring this forward is I see the tendencies within many throughout our modern day world, trapping our partners and friends in requiring an answer your every waking moment and thought. That is not a responsibility that should ever be put on anyone, especially if they don’t ask for it. Maybe talk about it with yourself first and see if it’s even worth bringing forward, then if it is, how about you use proper punctuation and spelling instead of flinging off messages  halfheartedly. I get super distracted reading a message that looks like a five-year old sent it to me. If you’re upset and messaging in emotion, maybe take a moment and settle down before firing it off.

Communication is the fastest it’s ever been, but us humans still need to take time to THINK before we respond. So rest assured if you send me a message and it doesn’t get answered right away, that it will get answered with the best part of me in due time.

Maybe if we all allowed each other the time to put our best foot forward, who knows, maybe this world will be one step closer to a better place!