Dose of Paranoia - March 31, 2025
It gets worse before it gets worse...
Yes, I know… the Dose is late this week, but I have been busy with (amongst other things) helping to organize my town’s HANDS OFF! March next Saturday. (Or according to people on Nextdoor, “ruining the neighborhood.”) You should be ruining your neighborhood as well by attending your local Hands Off March on Saturday April 5th to let the criminals currently running this country that their time is limited. Anyway, on with the show…
InfoSec/Scam Stuff
Bad dog! - OK, if you are stupid enough to buy a robot dog, I really don’t have much empathy for you when it turns out the pup can be used as a spy device. Robot dog owners really need to take a look at their life choices. However, this does serve as a teachable moment when it comes to the many internet connected devices in our homes and on our persons. And anyway, this spying stuff seems much more in the wheelhouse of cats.
And speaking of cats - Here is a new scam from China involving the little sociopathic narcissists. The cats aren’t doing the scamming (although they would if they could) - it is humans offering free cats to other (not very bright) humans who then sign contracts to buy pet supplies for said cat from the adoption company. You see whats coming here - sick kittens die leaving grieving pet owners on the hook. Overpriced cat food and accessories. Don’t these people know that cats are a dime a dozen?
La China - As the economy gets worse, people get more desperate, and scammers thrive in an unregulated economy, you get things like this. I would expect to see more stories like this in the coming months and years as the Trump regime chips away at regulation and enforcement.
Get off the phone, grandpa! - People on their phone at the ATM is a definite yellow flag for scammy activity. And Osaka prefecture in Japan is taking action aimed at protecting senior citizens from being victimized by scammers by requiring warning posters at ATMs, limiting daily cash transfers by seniors, and requiring places selling gift cards to make sure that senior purchasers are not buying cards for scammy purposes. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the age discrimination here - while seniors tend to lose more money to fraud, those Gen Z whippersnappers are more likely to be defrauded (at least here in ‘Murica).
A bit up comeuppance - Fakey fakey scammy coupon (not) finding browser extension Honey seems to be having a bit of a comeuppance, having lost 4 million users since a viral video blowing the lid off this Paypal owned fraud was published. Chalk one up for the good guys.
But don’t worry about scams… if you send White House “faith adviser” $1000 before Easter, you get your very own angel! Sign me up for 3! Yes, these are the people in your White House, folks. You can’t make this shit up.
Tech Stuff
Assault with a battery - Airlines are not taking any chances when it comes to lithium ion battery fires, as evidenced by this story about how a lost phone caused a transatlantic flight to turn around and return to Paris. Battery fires are no joke - especially on board an airplane in flight. And when you consider that the average passenger brings 4 rechargeable devices with them on a flight, there could be over 1000 batteries on that 777 you are flying on. The FAA has a fact sheet about traveling with rechargeable batteries - take a look at it before Elon Musk decides it is somehow “woke” not to burn to death in mid air.
Show us your papers and your phone - Sticking with the travel theme… when you return to the US (even as a citizen), you are in a legal limbo zone at passport control. The nice people at ICE can request to see your phones and other electronic devices and it is important to know about your options regarding this request. Here’s some good advice. Welcome to the Golden Age of America.
Amateur hour at the Pentagon - Surprisingly enough, it turns out that the US Government has systems even more secure than a Signal group chat that top leaders have been using since the beginning of the Cold War to coordinate secret thingies like wars.
Fun Stuff
Ever wonder what is on TV in, say, Aruba? Or Greenland? Or Djibouti? Well, if so, TV Garden is for you - it gives you links to online streams of TV stations all around the world. Like Song TV Armenia to get your daily dose of Armenian music videos. Or Nepal Capital TV from Katmandu. And I find watching the news in a language I simply cannot understand to be much more tolerable these days.
Yikes! What can be worse than an accident that douses an Eternal Flame? When that accident is caused by Holy Water!
Tax Day is coming here in the US - and you can feel good as an American that your tax dollars are being well spent by a government focused on cutting waste and efficency. (Where is a good old biblical bolt of lightning when you need one?)