[NewYorkPost] How to avoid these 5 popular gift card scams this holiday season
Gift cards are a very popular and convenient way to give a gift this holiday season to your friends or family, but they can also...
[Fox News] 5 gift card tricks targeting you this holiday season
Gift cards are a very popular and convenient way to give a gift this holiday season to your friends or family, but they can also be a target for scammers who want to steal your money or personal information.
According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) 50% more people reported gift card fraud this year compared to last year.
So, what are the sneaky tricks scammers and hackers are using to deceive you? How do you spot their awful tricks and avoid them? Here are the five most common gift card scams aimed at you this time of year.
1. Display rack gift card trick
One of the latest gift card tricks involves tampering with the gift cards on the display racks at retail stores. Scammers will record the activation code on the card or place a custom bar code sticker over the real bar code, which allows them to secretly load the cash onto their own card immediately after you purchase the gift card. This means that when you or your recipient try to use the gift card, it will be empty or invalid.
How to avoid this scam
Check the packaging of the gift card before buying it. Look for signs of tampering, such as the wrapping being torn or resealed, or stickers placed over the bar code or card number. Also, choose a card from the back of the rack, as scammers often place their fraudulent cards at the front of the display.
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2. Impersonation gift card trick
Another common gift card trick scammers use involves impersonating someone you know or trust, such as a family member, a romantic interest, a company or the government. Scammers will contact you by phone, text, email or social media and create a fake story or emergency that requires you to send them money urgently.
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They will ask you to buy a gift card or multiple gift cards and then send them a photo of the card or the numbers on the back of the card. Once they have the gift card information, they will disappear with your money and cut off contact.
How to avoid this scam
Never send money or gift cards to anyone you don’t know personally or haven’t met in person. If someone claims to be someone you know or trust, verify their identity by contacting them directly through a different channel.
Don’t trust caller ID, as scammers can spoof phone numbers. Don’t be pressured by threats or promises, as scammers use emotional manipulation to get you to act quickly and without thinking. And remember, no legitimate company or government agency will ever ask you to pay them with a gift card.
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3. Resale gift card trick
Another gift card trick involves buying or selling gift cards on online platforms, such as websites, apps or social media groups. Scammers will offer to sell you gift cards at a discounted price or buy your unwanted gift cards for cash.
However, they will either send you a fake or empty gift card or take your gift card information and money without sending you anything in return. They may also use stolen credit cards or hacked accounts to buy or sell gift cards, which can put you at risk of fraud or identity theft.
How to avoid this scam
Only buy or sell gift cards from reputable sources, such as official retailers, authorized resellers or trusted friends and family. Avoid buying or selling gift cards from strangers online, especially if they offer a deal that sounds too good to be true.
Don’t share your gift card information or personal details with anyone you don’t know or trust. And use a secure payment method that offers protection, such as a credit card or PayPal, instead of a gift card, wire transfer or cash.
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4. Phishing gift card trick
A very popular gift card trick this holiday season involves phishing, which is a type of online fraud that tries to trick you into revealing your personal or financial information. Scammers will send you an email, text or pop-up message that looks like it comes from a legitimate company, such as a retailer, a bank or a tech support service.
They will claim that there is a problem with your account, your order, your device or your security and that you need to verify your identity, update your information or fix an issue. They will then ask you to click on a link, open an attachment or call a number and then request that you pay them with a gift card or provide them with your gift card information.
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How to avoid this scam
Never click on links, open attachments or call numbers from unsolicited messages, as they may lead to fake or malicious websites or software. Don’t provide any personal or financial information, such as your passwords, PINs, account numbers or gift card numbers to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly.
Don’t trust messages that create a sense of urgency, pressure or fear. They are designed to make you act without thinking. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of a message, contact the company directly using a verified website, phone number or email address.
Using antivirus protection will help to protect you against scammers and hackers who try to steal your money and personal information using gift cards tricks, especially through through phishing.
The best way to protect yourself from clicking on any malicious links, fake websites and phishing emails and text messages is to have antivirus protection installed and actively running on all your devices. It’s the best way to stop and alert you of any malware in your system and ultimately protect you from being hacked.
See my expert review of the best antivirus protection for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices.
5. Loyalty program gift card trick
This gift card trick involves loyalty programs, which are rewards programs that offer you points, discounts or freebies for being a loyal customer. Scammers will pretend to be representatives of a loyalty program that you are a member of or that you are eligible to join.
They will tell you that you have won a prize, a sweepstakes or a promotion and that you need to pay a fee, a tax or a shipping cost to claim it. They will then ask you to pay them with a gift card or provide them with your gift card information.
How to avoid this scam
Be wary of any unsolicited offers or notifications that claim that you have won something, especially if you don’t remember entering or signing up for anything. Don’t pay any money or fees to receive a prize, as legitimate loyalty programs will never ask you to do that. Don’t provide any personal or financial information, such as your passwords, account numbers or gift card numbers to anyone who contacts you unexpectedly.
Don’t trust messages that create a sense of excitement, curiosity or greed, as they are designed to make you act impulsively. If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of a message, contact the loyalty program directly using a verified website, phone number or email address.
MORE: HOW TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST DEBIT CARD HACKERS WHO ARE AFTER YOUR MONEY
How to safely give and receive gift cards
I’ve been scammed! What to do next?
Below are some next steps if you find you or your loved one is a victim of identity theft as a result of a gift card trick by scammers or hackers.
1) If you can regain control of your accounts, change your passwords and inform the account provider
2) Look through bank statements and checking account transactions to see where outlier activity started
3) Use an Identity Theft protection service: Identity Theft companies can monitor personal information like your Social Security Number, phone number and email address and alert you if it is being sold on the dark web or being used to open an account. They can also assist you in freezing your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by criminals. See my review for Best identity theft protection services 2023 here.
4) Report any breaches to official government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the gift card company.
5) Get the professional advice of a lawyer before speaking to law enforcement, especially when you are dealing with criminal identity theft and if being a victim of criminal identity theft leaves you unable to secure employment or housing.
6) Alert all three major credit bureaus and possibly place a fraud alert on your credit report.
7) Run your own background check or request a copy of one if that is how you discovered your information has been used by a criminal.
If you are a victim of identity theft because of a gift card scam, the most important thing to do is to take immediate action to mitigate the damage and prevent further harm.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Gift card scams are a serious and growing problem that can cause you to lose money, personal information or both. However, you can protect yourself and your loved ones by being aware of the common types of gift card scams we outlined and by following the simple tips to spot them and avoid them.
Have you ever fallen victim to a gift card scam? If so, how did it happen, and what did you do? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter
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Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:
CyberGuy Best Holiday Gift Guide
Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
[Fox News] Can AI make photos of you look better than you do in real life?
We all have photos that capture our precious moments in life. Whether it’s a family vacation, a graduation ceremony or a birthday party, we want to preserve these memories and share them with others.
But sometimes our photos are not perfect. They might be blurry, overexposed or have unwanted objects in the background. That’s where photo editing tools come in handy.
With a few clicks, we can crop, rotate, adjust and enhance our photos to make them look more appealing. But what if we could do more than that? What if we could use artificial intelligence (AI) to change the content of our photos and make them look even better?
How AI-powered photo editing tools make photos look better
AI-powered photo editing tools are becoming more advanced and accessible. These tools use generative AI, a branch of AI that can create new content from scratch or modify existing content based on some input. Here are some mobile apps where you can use generative AI to enhance your photos.
Adobe, renowned for Photoshop, introduces Adobe Firefly, a generative AI engine that revolutionizes photo editing. With Firefly, you can edit photos and insert new content through simple text-based prompts.
For instance, you can type commands like “add some clouds” or “change the season to winter,” and Firefly will generate realistic images that match your request. Firefly’s Generative Fill can also miraculously repair old and or heavily damaged photos while removing unwanted elements. You can use Adobe Firefly to make those photos look like new again.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Canva is an AI-powered design app that lets you create stunning graphics, logos, flyers, posters and more. You can use its auto-enhancement features and Magic Edit tool to improve your photos with one click. You can also choose from millions of templates, fonts, icons and images to customize your designs.
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Facetune is the world’s most popular selfie editor, powered by AI. You can edit, enhance and retouch your photos and videos with just a few taps. You can also try on different makeup, hair colors and clothes and even transform your selfies into stunning versions of yourself.
MORE:5 SURPRISING THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR PHOTOS IN IOS 17
Lensa is a mobile AI photo editor that specializes in portrait editing. You can use it to smooth your skin, whiten your teeth, change your eye color and apply makeup effects. You can also adjust the lighting, contrast and saturation of your photos to make them more flattering.
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Autoenhance.ai is an AI photo editor that automatically optimizes your photos for different purposes. You can use it to enhance your photos for social media, e-commerce, real estate and more. It also provides sky replacement, perspective correction and image relighting features to make your photos look more professional.
Google’s Magic Editor is an AI-powered photo editing tool that lets users make professional-level edits on their smartphone. Users can remove unwanted parts of photos, such as backgrounds, objects, or people, to create stunning images. Magic Editor also allows users to edit videos and audio with just a few taps, using AI to adjust the quality and effects.
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This unique technology not only fixes discolored or unfocused images but also performs something exceptional. It uses AI to bring together individuals from different images and seamlessly merge them into a single picture. Imagine reuniting grandparents with grandchildren they’ve never met or rectifying a family photo when a family member couldn’t be present.
You can also use Photomyne to scan and digitize your old photos and slides and create beautiful albums and slideshows to share with your loved ones. Photomyne preserves your precious memories and makes them easy to access and enjoy anytime, anywhere.
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The impact of AI photo editing on our memories
While AI-powered photo editing tools can offer us many benefits, they also raise some ethical and psychological questions. How do these tools affect our perception of reality and our sense of self? How do they influence our memory and our emotions? And how do they affect our relationships and our trust in others?
One of the main concerns is that AI can photoshop our memories and make them look different from what they really were. When we edit our photos with AI, we might alter our memories as well. We might remember things that did not happen, forget things that did happen or mix up things that happened at different times or places. We might also change our emotional attachment to our memories, making them more positive or negative than they actually were.
Kurt’s key takeaways
AI-powered photo editing tools are here to stay, and they will likely become more sophisticated and widespread in the future. While they have the potential to enhance our photos and our memories, they also pose some risks and challenges.
We need to be aware of the impact of these tools on our psychology and our society, and we need to use them responsibly and ethically. We also need to balance our desire for perfection and creativity with our respect for reality and authenticity. Remember, our photos are not just images, but representations of our lives and ourselves.
How do you feel about using AI to edit your photos? Do you think it enhances or diminishes your memories? Should people tell you when they doctor their photos? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter
Ask Kurt a question or let us know what stories you’d like us to cover.
Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:
CyberGuy Best Holiday Gift Guide
Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
[NewYorkPost] Apple releases urgent iOS security update: ‘Recommended for all users’
Apple discovered security gaps in WebKit, the company's web browser engine. Read More
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[Fox News] ‘Too massive for its star’: Scientists discover enormous planet that changes what we know about red dwarfs
Our Milky Way galaxy’s most common type of star is called a red dwarf – much smaller and less luminous than our sun. These stars – or so it was thought – simply are not big enough to host planets much larger than Earth.
But the discovery of a planet at least 13 times Earth’s mass orbiting very close to a red dwarf only 11% of the sun’s mass has astronomers going back to the drawing board on planetary formation theory involving this prevalent type of star. The mass ratio of this planet with its star is more than 100 times greater than that of Earth and the sun.
“We discovered a planet that is too massive for its star,” said Penn State astronomer Suvrath Mahadevan, one of the leaders of the study published this week in the journal Science.
The star, called LHS 3154, is relatively close to us, about 50 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles.
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The sun is about a thousand times more luminous than this star.
“It is barely a star,” said Princeton University astronomer Guðmundur Stefánsson, the study’s lead author. “It has a mass just above the cutoff of supporting hydrogen fusion to be considered a star.”
The planet, called LHS 3154 b, orbits at about 2.3% of Earth’s orbital distance from the sun, circling its star every 3.7 days. It is much closer even than our solar system’s innermost planet Mercury is to the sun.
The planet may be similar in size and composition to Neptune, the smallest of our solar system’s four gas planets. Neptune’s diameter is about four times that of Earth. The method employed to study the planet did not enable the researchers to measure its diameter, but they suspect it is about three to four times that of Earth.
Neptune, which lacks a solid surface, possesses a dynamic atmosphere mainly of hydrogen and helium, atop a mantle mostly of slushy ammonia and water and a solid core. Based on its probable Neptune-like composition and closeness to its star, it is unlikely to support life, Stefánsson said.
Stars form when dense clumps of interstellar gas and dust collapse under their own gravitational pull. Once a star is born at the center of such a cloud, leftover material forms a swirling disk around it that feeds stellar growth and often gives rise to planets.
So why should a red dwarf not be able to host a planet the size of the newly described one?
“The planet-forming disk around stars is only a small fraction of the stellar mass, and is expected to scale with that mass. So a very low mass star should have a disk that is also low mass. Such a disk should not be heavy enough to birth the planet we discovered,” Mahadevan said.
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“This planet raises questions of how planets form around the lowest mass stars, because such stars were previously thought to primarily only be able to form small terrestrial planets similar in mass to Earth,” Stefánsson said.
The researchers discovered LHS 3154 b by detecting a subtle wobble in the host star caused by the planet’s gravitational effects during its orbit. They used an instrument called the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF), built by a team led by Mahadevan, on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory.
It was designed to find planets that orbit relatively cool stars and have the potential for liquid water on their surfaces, a key factor for life.
“As we build new instruments, and as our measurement precision increases, we see the universe in new, unexpected ways,” Mahadevan said. “We built HPF to detect terrestrial planets around these cool stars. This discovery is another in the constant stream of surprises showing how much we still have to learn about planets and planet formation.”
[Fox News] How to find any recipe with just a photo on iPhone
Have you ever seen a food picture on social media that looked so delicious you just had to figure out how to make it?
Maybe it was a mouth-watering pizza, creamy pasta or a decadent cake.
Whatever it was, you wanted to recreate it in your own kitchen and impress your guests or family. But how do you find the recipe for something you only have a photo of?
Luckily, there is a simple way to do that with your iPhone, using a feature called Visual Look Up.
What is Visual Look Up?
The Look Up Food option on your iPhone uses a technology called Visual Look Up, which is a part of the Photos app. Visual Look Up is a feature that can recognize and identify various foods, objects, animals, plants, landmarks and artworks in your photos and videos. It uses a combination of machine learning, computer vision and internet search to analyze the images and provide you with relevant information and suggestions.
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What happens when you tap the Look Up Food option?
When you tap on the Look Up Food option, your iPhone will try to guess what kind of dish or food is in the photo based on its shape, color, texture and other features. It will then show you a list of possible matches, with the most likely one at the top.
You can tap on any of the options to see more details, such as the name, description, ingredients and nutrition facts of the food. You can also see a list of websites that have recipes for the food and choose one that you like. You can then follow the instructions on the website to make the dish yourself.
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How visual Look Up can improve your cooking skills
Visual Look Up can help you discover new dishes, learn more about different cuisines and improve your cooking skills. You can use it on any photo that you take, save or receive on your iPhone, as long as it has a clear and recognizable food item in it. Here’s how to do it.
How to find any recipe with just a photo
Let’s say you saw this photo of a delicious-looking chicken and rice dish on Instagram, and you wanted to make it for dinner. Here is how you would find the recipe with just a photo:
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Finding any recipe with just a photo is a great way to discover new dishes and try them out in your own kitchen. You can use this method to find recipes for any cuisine, occasion or dietary preference. You can also share your results with your friends and family on social media and inspire them to try new recipes, too. So, the next time you see a food picture that makes you drool, don’t hesitate to find the recipe with just a photo and enjoy the delicious meal. Bon appétit!
What are some of the criteria or features that you look for in a good recipe website? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter
Ask Kurt a question or let us know what stories you’d like us to cover.
Answers to the most asked CyberGuy questions:
CyberGuy Best Holiday Gift Guide
Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
[NewYorkPost] Tesla’s Cybertruck event underwhelms as critics question steep price tag, poor range
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[Fox News] Ozone hole proves smaller than predicted, NASA says
With last year’s undersea volcano injecting massive amounts of water high into the atmosphere, scientists were bracing for a big Antarctica ozone hole this fall. But it didn’t happen.
Instead this year’s ozone hole was about average size for the last 20 years, even a bit smaller than 2022’s, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
From September to mid-October, the ozone hole this year averaged 8.9 million square miles, which is the 16th largest since satellites started tracking in 1979. It peaked this year at 10 million square miles, about the size of North America.
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OZONE HOLE IS THE SMALLEST ON RECORD DUE TO ‘RARE EVENT,’ NASA SAYS
When ozone, three joined oxygen atoms, is 5 to 30 miles high in the atmosphere it protects Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet rays that could cause skin cancer, cataracts and even could sterilize crops. Because of chemicals in aerosol sprays and refrigerants that produce chemicals that munch ozone, Earth’s ozone layer a few decades ago started to thin and even form a large hole over Antarctica during September and October.
“That is massive in scale,” said Paul Newman, NASA’s ozone research leader and chief of Earth sciences at Goddard Flight Center. “That’s pretty bad and bad for folks who have to live in that depleted region” of southernmost South America.
“But it wasn’t as bad as we thought,” Newman said.
When the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano shot millions of tons of water into the southern hemisphere’s atmosphere in January 2022, scientists figured the water, 10% more than usual, would eventually be bad for the ozone layer.
That’s because liquid water in the upper atmosphere gives a place for chlorine and bromine to perch and then eat away at the ozone layer, making the annual fall hole bigger, Newman said. So scientists and computer models predicted a bad ozone season this year.
“We were wrong,” Newman said.
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Researchers will have to figure out where their understanding and computer simulations went wrong, Newman said. He thinks the water froze out higher and earlier, leaving less clouds and liquid water for perching ozone-munching chemicals.
Local weather conditions also cause variations in ozone size.
The ozone hole and thinning ozone layer has improved a bit thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, when countries in the world agreed to stop producing many of the chemicals that deplete ozone, Newman said. The ozone hole was at its biggest in 2000 at nearly 11.6 million square miles, according to NASA data.
But scientists say it will take decades to completely heal.