Wednesday Newsbytes: Holiday Scams – How Thieves Steal Your Money; Was Amazon Hacked?; The Most Popular Google Searches for 2023; The Pink Screen of Death… and more!
Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a very happy Holiday Season!
Every day we scan the tech world for interesting news in the world of technology and sometimes from outside the world of technology. Every Wednesday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Wednesday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Holiday scams: How thieves can steal your money and identity through fake websites and phishing
Tis’ the season for holiday scams, and the I-Team has a warning about the most popular holiday rip-offs this year.
“We found out that nearly one third of Americans, 29%, have been targeted by scammers when shopping online for holidays with actually half of them falling victim and losing an average of $1,500,” said Norton security expert Iskander Sanchez-Rola.
Scam 1: Fake websites
Fake websites can take your money and not deliver gifts, or sending consumers an inferior, fake product. Consumers can stumble onto these false websites though a bad Google search, social media direct message or other messages sent online or through texts.
“Especially if someone has emailed you or texted you a link, don’t go to that link, go directly to the company’s website,” said Kevin Brasle, executive editor of Consumers’ Checkbook.
Security experts say those fake links are the biggest scam to watch out for this holiday season…
‘Amazon Got Hacked’: Viral Rumor Says Criminals Added Fake Locker Addresses to Account
By email, a spokesperson for Amazon told Snopes that the issue was an “error” and that they were “working to fix the issue.”
In early December 2023, we received emails from readers who asked about a Facebook rumor (or possibly a scam) associated with Amazon.com that began with the words, “Amazon got hacked.”
The text of the posts said that criminals had added to users’ accounts one or more mailing addresses that were labeled as alternative pickup locations named Amazon Locker, Amazon Hub Locker, Amazon Fresh or Amazon Counter (e.g., Whole Foods Market). (Usually, a one-time, six-digit code or a user’s phone is needed to retrieve packages from such locations.)
According to the rumor, the added addresses were fraudulently labeled and were not actually official Amazon pickup locations. The rumor appeared to say that the actual number and street name for each address led to locations that could be accessed by criminals, which would allow them to order products and then receive them, all on an innocent Amazon user’s dime…
The most popular Google searches of 2023 – including the songs we hummed the most
It proved to be a Barbie world in search this year
Google has revealed the top searches for 2023 in various categories, which includes the most searched-for movies, TV shows, music and much more.
So, let’s start with the world of film, with the movie that was Googled the most being Barbie – which just edged out Oppenheimer (you might have guessed that’d follow in second, given the whole ‘Barbenheimer’ thing).
The third placed movie was Jawan, followed by Sound of Freedom, and then taking fifth spot was John Wick: Chapter 4, just keeping Avatar: The Way of Water out of the top five.
Onto the TV shows, where we have The Last of Us as the most popular search, followed by Wednesday – no surprises there given the stir created by the latter (which was excellent), and the game connection with the former (which was also excellent).
Following that we have Ginny & Georgia, One Piece, and in fifth position Kaleidoscope.
In the world of music – this is the bit that makes us feel really old…
What Windows’ Pink Screen Of Death Means And How To Deal With It
Although Windows has come a long way, users still dread error, and the “Pink Screen of Death” is one of them. It is one of the most frustrating Windows errors and occurs when the operating system fails to boot properly, and all users can see is an unresponsive pink screen.
It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, but a couple of things can result in this phenomenon. Usually, you would encounter the error when something’s wrong with your computer’s hardware, like faulty peripherals, motherboard, RAM, CPU or GPU overheating, etc. Outdated drivers or corrupt programs can also trigger the issue. So what does that mean about fixing it? Turns out, there are a few things that you can try, without seeking expert help. The first thing you need to do is bring your PC back in a responsive state; for that, you must reboot it.
Depending on whether you’re using a laptop or a PC, rebooting your device includes pressing/holding the power button to shut it down and then pressing again to boot up. If your PC turns on, start with uninstalling recently installed programs. If not, consider removing all the external peripherals, such as keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc., and plug them back in….
Avira update is causing Windows PCs to freeze up, no fix in sight
The only way out right now is to uninstall the app altogether
Avira is one of the most popular antivirus programs for Windows PCs, used by millions of people around the world. However, just like any software, it can experience the occasional bug that causes unexpected problems for users. That’s exactly what seems to be happening right now, with a recent update to the AV reportedly causing many Windows PCs to freeze completely.
Over the past few days, many users have been pouring onto social media platforms and online message boards, complaining that their PC is freezing up randomly if they are running Avira as their AV software of choice. One affected user is Redditor u/kiiniiwiinii, who says that their PC with Avira antivirus keeps freezing on startup. To troubleshoot the issue, they tried disabling all background apps, but the problem was only fixed after they uninstalled Avira for good.
The Redditor also claimed to know at least two other people facing the exact same issue, both with Avira security software on their computer. Other people also replied to the thread confirming the problem, with some claiming to know even more users facing the same issue with their PC while running Avira. The only common thread in all the cases is the AV software, and the problem seems to go away after uninstalling it. According to reports, the issue seems to be affecting both Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices…
Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful. Merry Christmas! Darcy & TC
