What are scam likely calls? It’s a partial solution to the problem of unsolicited phone calls. It’s probably not the ideal solution and it’s probably not the final solution. But it’s a way for your phone company to warn you that it’s suspicious of the call that’s coming through.

Flagging a suspicious phone call as “scam likely” is T-Mobile’s way of alerting its customers that it has reason to believe the phone call you are receiving isn’t legitimate. If your caller ID says “scam likely,” use caution if you decide to answer the call.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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My computer security buddies have been posting a lot lately on social media about computer scammers, giving advice on how to spot them. But what if I told you that you could block them entirely? Here’s how to block computer scammer calls.

Generally speaking, you can block most computer scams by signing up for a simultaneous ring service, installing a call blocking app on your cell phone, and changing the DNS settings on your computer or router.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Netstat foreign address

What is a netstat foreign address, and is it something to be concerned about? If someone is yammering about it on the phone with you, unsolicited, they’re probably not explaining it correctly.

Netstat is a standard utility to list all the computers your computer is talking to. It’s a normal diagnostic tool, normally used by network professionals to make sure two computers that are supposed to be talking are able. Netstat output is not conclusive evidence that your computer has been hacked.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Spam phone calls, robocalls, or scam calls aren’t quite as common on cell phones as they are on landlines, but they still happen way too often. When I posted advice on blocking robocalls on landlines, immediately people asked me about mobile phones. So here’s how to stop robocalls on my cell phone. And yours.

In May 2018, there were 4.1 billion robocalls in the United States. And it’s not slowing down. Robocallers won’t stop calling you on your own. So here are five things you can do, in order of increasing effectiveness. Many of them don’t cost you anything.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

We’ve all received more than our fair share of them: Phone calls from financial scams, tech support scams, and other dodgy phone calls trying to rip us off. There are actually several things you can do about them. Here’s how to report scam phone calls, so you and others will get fewer of them.

Common types include fake tech support and financial calls. Tech support calls may solicit payment for questionable computer services via credit card or wire transfer. Some scam phone calls may be more interested in getting personal information from you for the purposes of identity theft than money. But it’s important to stop fraud regardless of the motivation, to protect both ourselves and our neighbors.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Getting a spam phone call, robocall, or scam call every 10 minutes makes you a prisoner in your own home. Blocking those calls would be a real quality of life improvement. Phone companies aren’t terribly interested in helping you, though. But you have options. Here’s how to block robocalls on a landline phone.

Arguably, you have more options with your cell phone. But you can still make your landline more peaceful.

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Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net