scam

Alternative payment methods enable developers to monetize significantly larger portions of their user base, according to a study released Wednesday.

Fifty-three percent of social gamers surveyed for the study, overseen by ComScore and Offerpal Media, said they are enthusiastic about alternative, or indirect, payment methods as a way to earn virtual currency for free, rather than having to pay for it directly.

These alternative forms of payment take many forms, including filling out a survey, watching a video, shopping at online retailers, or signing up for a subscription in order to get points for the games they play on leading … Read more

If you've ever seen a message pop up on your computer telling you that your machine has a virus and offering to fix it for a fee, be careful. You might be a victim of "scareware."

If so you will be in good company. Security firm McAfee that says that worldwide a million people are victimized by scareware daily. There are 69,000 daily cases in the United States, according to the company.

McAfee Labs reports that "scareware has increased more than 600 percent in the last two years." The company says that criminals make &… Read more

I have to fly to the hallowed depths of Texas in a couple of days in order to be at the marriage of the noted musician and Web designing guru Parker Todd Brooks to someone far smarter.

So I have immediate knowledge of how seriously people still take these wedding things. These are the occasions where hope triumphs over experience, if only for a day.

My neural ecosystem is, therefore, filled with a searing anguish on hearing about the Boston 411 Bridal & Home Show 2010. It's not that brides will be forced to mud-wrestle each other for a … Read more

Good heavens! If your Twitter followers include Ed Miliband, the U.K. secretary of state for energy, there's a chance that you received a direct message from him early on Friday that read, "Hhey, i've been having better sex and longer with this here." CNET sincerely hopes you did not click on the link that followed. Miliband might be an expert on energy, but presumably not that kind of energy.

The cabinet minister, rather, had fallen victim to a particularly voracious Twitter phishing attack that's been making the rounds this week, one which steals users' … Read more

Twitter has revealed the back story on why it reset passwords this week for many of its users.

The phishing attacks that forced Twitter to change account passwords stemmed from discovery of a scam being run by a torrent Web site creator, explained Del Harvey, Twitter's director of trust and safety, in a blog post Tuesday evening.

Twitter had found that someone for the past few years had been building torrent sites and forums requiring a log-in and password. This person then sold these Web sites and forums to people interested in starting their own torrent download sites.

Unknown … Read more

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an investigation into the marketing practices of 22 online retailers, including Staples, 1-800-Flowers.com, and Orbitz.

Cuomo's office said Wednesday it issued subpoenas to the merchants and requested information about the retailers' relationships with three marketing companies, Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue. These firms have allegedly misled consumers for years into joining membership programs and paying monthly fees.

Webloyalty and the other companies are so-called post-transaction marketers that have compiled a long history of consumer complaints and class-action lawsuits. Typically, the three firms present pop-up ads to online shoppers when they're … Read more

The harrowing images of victims of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in the impoverished island nation of Haiti on Tuesday have left many wondering how they can most effectively contribute money to help. Unfortunately, with any urgent call for donations often comes a rash of scams that can pilfer cash or result in identity theft.

"Whenever there is a major natural disaster, be it home or abroad, there are two things you can count on," Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance president Art Taylor said in a release on the organization's Web site. "The first is the … Read more

Affinion Group, one of three Web marketers accused of misleading consumers into signing up for membership programs and paying monthly fees, has vowed to do away with some of its most controversial practices.

The post-transaction marketing firm informed the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that it will no longer acquire credit-card numbers and other information from anyone else but a card owner, the Commerce Committee announced Friday. From now on, Affinion will require a consumer to input their own transaction before the company will sign them up to a membership program or charge their card.

Affinion and competitors Vertrue and … Read more

Representatives from some of the post-transaction marketing firms now under government scrutiny for allegedly duping consumers into signing up for membership programs are trying to whip up support on Capitol Hill.

According to my sources in Washington, D.C., some of the marketers have sent representatives to meet with individual lawmakers about taking up their side as the U.S. Senate commerce committee continues to investigate the practices of three firms: Webloyalty, Affinion, and Vertrue.

These companies, all based in Connecticut, are accused by Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.V.), the committee's chairman, of misleading as many as 30 million … Read more