Maride

I feel so bad. I see my kid going on-line all the time and finding all sort of offers that are scams. He is now 16 and I don't monitor his every move in the computer any more, but have to keep warning him about this all the time. He gets tons of offers for free I-pods that require you to enter your credit card number in at least ten places and he gets mad. My friend's Facabook page was hacked and we got an e-mail saying that our computer was not protected, to click on a link to get protection...of course, another huge scam. I am happy I was the one on line when that happened and was able to stop the virus from coming to my computer. I am trying to trach him to be aware, but is so difficult. How do you protect your kids agains this kind of things?

By the way, I was the one who posted about the Bernina 730 for sale in NYC for $1000. I couldn't buy it even if it was real, but was curious after reading all the answers and contacted the seller. I received back a story about receiving it as a gift, not needed, had to sell it and priced it well to sell quick. I was told the person was in Toronto, to wire Western Union to them. They claimed they could set up the sale with e-bay to get into the buyers protection program. I did some more research and went to ebay to find out their rules and found out it was indeed another scam. E-bay only protects you if the trasaction originates on e-bay as a Buy it now transaction and you pay with Paypal or some other escrows listed on their site. No Western Union or any other form of money wired covered.

Please accept my apologies for posting it. I thought it would be a local trasaction and someone could go pick it up locally. I never meant to put anybody at risk of a scammer.

shaverg

Hate scams. I wish there was more regulation on the net.

Chasing Hawk

I really don't know how well one can protect them when they click on anything that moves..lol Just be aware of what your teen is doing.
You don't don't need to be a "vulture" perched above him while he surfs, just be mindful.

A good virus program should help, Avast is what we use and it sets off a siren if a virus or a Trojan worm sneezes near the computer.

With the invention of Craigslist and other sites like that the scammers always find a way to make it hard for legitimate sellers to use the site.

shaverg

The only way I would buy from Craigs List is locally and then I would take someone with me to pick up the item and never give them any of my personal info. Too Scarry. Love Ebay, they have so many protections, even when things slip through, they fix it.

RatherB Quilting

[quote=shaverg] Love Ebay, they have so many protections, even when things slip through, they fix it.[quote=Chasing Hawk]

As a word of caution, Ebay isn't all it's cracked up to be either. I had an account for years. Had perfect reviews for buying. Somebody hacked into it, set it up as a sellers account and proceeded to scam people into buying some knockoff purses. Then I started recieving bad reviews as a bad seller since nobody recieved thier purses. Then Ebay started sending me notices that my "sellers fees" were overdue and they were going to shut down my account. I didn't realize the emails were legit until I tried to log onto my account and I was locked out. I contacted Ebay and I managed to get back into my account and set up a new password (which I have totally forgotten) Then it happened again where they locked me out. I called them again, they got me in. When I told them I wanted them to remove the sellers account they told me they couldn't. once it's set up, it's set up. They wouldn't remove the bad reviews or anything. They basically told me I had to suffer. Needless to say, I don't remember my password because I don't ever get on ebay anymore. :(

shaverg

They caught a person hacking my ebay account and stopped it. They were tracking my transactions and realized I didn't sell bicycles and someone was trying to use my account to do that, so they let me know, but had already shut down my account. I have used them since the beginning and they are constantly upgrading. I know they have had problems off and on, but still fill they are the safest site out there. Nothing is hack proof, much to all of our sorrow.

I had a similar experience to yours with hacking on Facebook and won't ever use them again. It was a nightmare to get them to remove me, not just deactivate. But finally it was done. Just let them know you are going to the media.

k3n

We have skype and I am set up so that ONLY ppl on my list can msg me but I still get occasional invitations from total strangers to join their contact list. We always put a block on them and report the abuse to skype, who knows if anything gets done about it!

Candace

It's all buyer beware. At least if you pay through ebay via paypal, there's protection. Craigs list is a haven for scam artists because anyone can post anything if they have an e-mail addy. No info. needed etc. I've bought several things via Craigslist, locally only. That's the safest route and taking someone with you is always best.

shaverg

I get the same with MSN messenger, I block them too. It is really scarry, when someone you don't know just pops up.

littlehud

The internet has opened up a whole new world and some of it is very bad, but most is good.