Number Portability March 3, 2009

By Mel Metts

Last month while looking for ways to cut business expenses, I gave some thought to eliminating my business phone line and using my cell phone exclusively.

I work out of my house. Until now, my system was to use my business landline when at home, and forward that to my cell phone whenever I was away from home. By eliminating my business landline, how would I be able to forward calls to my cell?

At first I considered signing up with Vonage, a service that uses VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) over broadband (high speed Internet connection). Our investment group uses Vonage even though we don’t have our own broadband connection. After logging into our Vonage account, we have the ability to forward the phone to any number. The phone is setup to forward to a board member.

While investigating the Vonage option, I kept seeing the phrase, “number portability.” I already knew that I could switch cell phone providers and keep my cell phone number. I had not been aware that I could port my landline to a non-landline service.

After thinking about a switch to Vonage (cheapr than AT&T) so I could forward my business number to my cell phone, I realized I might be able to skip Vonage altogether and port my number to my cell.

I called Verizon and asked if this was possible. Sure, no problem; there’s no charge to switch and the process can take up to ten business days. I gave Verizon the go-ahead.

Over the following days I would frequently check my landline for a dial tone. Several days later the dial tone was gone and I knew that those calls were going to my cell phone.

There was one hiccup during the transition. After Verizon made the switch, my cell phone was unable to send or receive calls. One call to Verizon customer service solved the problem; they gave me instructions to reset my phone (system reset) and I was back in business.

During the glitch, incoming calls went directly to my voicemail. After resetting my phone I was able to retrieve my voicemail messages. Apparently none were lost.

In summary, number portability applies to landlines as well as cell phones.

Mel Metts is a landlord and Realtor, serving fellow investors. His book, “Do it Yourself Evictions” is available for purchase at http://www.melmetts.com.

Scam Victims Redux August 22, 2008

Amazingly, some of the most vulnerable scam victims are those who have been victimized previously.

No surprise, then, that the following scam is appearing in mailboxes:

2007/2008 SCAM VICTIMS COMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS

• Subject: 2007/2008 SCAM VICTIMS COMPENSATIONS PAYMENTS
• From: “CHIEF OJO MADUEKWE”<foreignaffairsminister.payment@googlemail.com>
• Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:19:37 -0700
• Delivered-to: 423-melmetts@graffrealty.com
• Reply-to: <foreignaffairsminister2payment@googlemail.com>

Popcorn, anyone? June 9, 2008

Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings May 26, 2008

Santa Fe | KOB-TV | 05/21/2008

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they’re allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones.

“I get chest pain and it doesn’t go away right away,” he said.

Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is now checking to see if putting up Wi-Fi could be considered discrimination.

But City Councilor Ron Trujillo says the areas are already saturated with wireless Internet.

“It’s not 1692, it’s 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it’s not going away,” Trujillo said.

The city attorney hopes to have a legal recommendation by the end of the month.

Phishing ring busted May 19, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thirty-eight people were charged Monday with stealing names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and other personal information from unsuspecting Internet users as part of a global crime ring.

More than half of the people charged are Romanian, but the scam also operated in the United States.

The Romanian-based phishing scams sought to rip off thousands of consumers and hundreds of financial institutions, according to indictments unsealed in Los Angeles and New Haven, Connecticut.

The two related cases marked the latest example of what the Justice Department describes as a growing worldwide threat posed by organized crime.

“International organized crime poses a serious threat not only to the United States and Romania, but to all nations,” Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip said in a statement from Bucharest, where he announced the charges. “Criminals who exploit the power and convenience of the Internet do not recognize national borders; therefore our efforts to prevent their attacks cannot end at our borders either.”

The practice known as phishing typically involves sending fraudulent e-mails that include links directing recipients to fake Web sites where they are asked to input sensitive data.

Phishers may also include attachments that, when clicked, secretly install “spyware” that can capture personal information and send it to third parties over the Internet.

More than half of the people charged in Monday’s cases are Romanian, although the alleged scam also operated from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. The cases were linked by two Romanians who participated in both schemes, authorities said.

In Los Angeles, 33 people faced a 65 counts on a bevy of charges, including racketeering, bank fraud and identity theft. Prosecutors say phishers based in Romania snagged information about thousands of credit and debit card accounts and other personal data from people who answered spam e-mail.

The data were then sent to the U.S. and encoded on magnetic cards that could be used to withdraw money from bank accounts.

One encoder in the scam, identified only as Seuong Wook Lee, pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Los Angeles to racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, access device fraud and unauthorized access of a protected computer.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, seven Romanians allegedly spammed consumers with directions to visit a hacked-in Web site posing as at least a half-dozen legitimate bank sites, including Citibank, Wells Fargo and PayPal.

The seven Romanians — including two also involved in the Los Angeles scheme — were indicted in January in charges that were unsealed only last week. One of them, Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman, was arrested in Bulgaria last summer and extradited to the United States in November.

Light touch May 18, 2008

Click image for video.

MySpace spammers fined $230m May 15, 2008

Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent | guardian.co.uk | Wednesday May 14 2008

A team of notorious American internet spammers has been fined a record $230m for bombarding MySpace users with adverts for pornography and gambling websites.

“Spam king” Sanford Wallace, along with his business partner Walter Rines, were yesterday ordered to pay unprecedented damages to the social networking website – amounting to the strongest punishment ever handed out to a spammer in the US.

A court in Los Angeles heard how Wallace and Rines sent more than 700,000 messages to MySpace users, fooling them into visiting gambling sites or adult-rated pages. Disguised as comments from the user’s friends, the notes in fact contained advertisements that made the pair a small fee every time somebody was fooled into clicking on them.

Although evidence suggested that the pair made around $500,000 from their activities, district judge Audrey Collins used the terms of America’s CAN-SPAM Act – which can levy up to $300 for each infringement of the law.

Wallace has long been one of the world’s most high-profile junk marketers, earning the nickname “Spamford” for his recurring trouble with the law. In the early 1990s he progressed from circulating fax messages to sending internet spam – and rose to prominence as the head of infamous Philadelphia-based spam giant Cyber Promotions.

The duo, who failed to turn up at court for the judgment, were also banned from similar activities in the future – though experts said it may not deter them.

“These two spammers are just the tip of an iceberg,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for internet security company Sophos. “Even if MySpace were to extricate the fine from these two men – which seems unlikely given their past record – there will be plenty more cybercriminals trying to make money from junk email.”

The $230m fine is many times greater than previous records for such activities, and is almost half of the $580m paid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for MySpace itself in 2005. Hemanshu Nigam, the website’s chief security officer, said the company would continue suing spammers who abused its systems.

“MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site,” Nigam said. “We remain committed to punishing those who violate the law and try to harm our members.”

Raves (Yes, It’s True) for New Hearing Aid April 18, 2008

By TARA PARKER-POPE | The New York Times
Published: April 15, 2008

Few products are hated as much as hearing aids.

The devices can squeal with feedback and overamplify background noises like the click of a turn signal or whir of a ceiling fan. They must be removed for showering or sleeping, and their batteries die frequently. Many users, out of exasperation, decide they’d rather live with hearing loss.

But now scientists have come up with a different kind of hearing aid. While the device, called the Lyric, is being used in only 500 patients, it appears to have overcome many of the problems associated with traditional hearing aids — without the expense and uncertainty of surgery and anesthesia.

The Lyric, made by InSound Medical of Newark, Calif., is hidden deep inside the ear canal, just four millimeters (about one-sixth of an inch) from the ear drum. While doctors for years have been implanting hearing devices in the middle ear, the Lyric is not an implant: it can be removed with a small magnet. It is worn 24 hours a day, and its batteries last one to four months.

(more…)