DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Lawmakers tell Live Nation CEO they want answers on the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Taylor Swift accepts an award onstage during the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022 held at PSD Bank Dome on November 13, 2022 in Duesseldorf, Germany. Lawmakers have some questions for Live Nation's CEO after Ticketmaster bungled the recent sale of Taylor Swift tour tickets. Ticketmaster was supposed to open up sales for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans last month ahead of general public ticket sales. Ultimately, 2 million tickets were sold during the presale and the general public sale was canceled, company representatives said. Eras tour tickets were priced from $49 to $450, with VIP packages starting at $199 and reaching $899.

☆ Increasing tech innovation also brings increasing fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Banks are coming under fire for weak security controls which are leaving consumers more vulnerable to spoofs, scams, and hackers. Elsewhere, UK banks aren’t taking full advantage of resources that can prevent their customers from falling victim to authorized push payment (APP) fraud , per FinExtra. APIs power open banking: In partnering with fintechs, banks rely heavily on APIs to create quick and easy connections with third-party providers. The practice is common in the UK, where open banking is part of a national mandate. US banks aren’t yet required to implement open banking solutions, though requirements are likely coming .

☆ Stolen checks, fraudulent activity: three major trade association PACs fell victim to theft in what's become a political epidemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

An Insider review of FEC filings shows that the National Association of Manufacturers' PAC reported eight instances of stolen and fraudulent checks and bank transfers, amounting to more than $10,000 in losses. Federal Election CommissionAnother trade association, the National Association of Home Builders, reported three instances of "fraudulent debit" during the 2021-2022 election cycle, amounting to more than $20,000 in lost funds. A filing with the FEC from the PAC of the National Association of Home Builders that details money lost from fraudulent disbursements. Federal Election CommissionThe National Association of Home Builders represents more than 140,000 members who construct close to 80% of all the new homes built in the US, per the association's website. The National Association of Home Builders did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Medicare open enrollment ends Dec. 7. Here's why it's important to evaluate your 2023 coverage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In between eating leftover turkey and hunting for bargains amid holiday sales, be sure to review your Medicare coverage, if you haven't already. The program's annual open enrollment period, which began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, is when you can make changes, which will take effect Jan. 1. Although you aren't required to take action — your current plan generally would renew automatically — experts recommend determining whether it still is the best fit. Despite how prevalent changes are to plans each year, most beneficiaries do not compare their current coverage with other available plans. Just 29% did in 2020, according to a recent study from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

☆ Watch out for Black Friday and Cyber Monday scams—here's how to avoid 5 of the most common ones
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

You'll probably spend some time this weekend going through Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Shoppers spent nearly $20 billion online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2021, making the shopping weekend prime territory for internet scammers. Here is Proxyrack's advice for avoiding five of the most common Black Friday scams you'll see this weekend. Most Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals will be advertised up front on retailer's websites, Proxyrack said. As you're scouring different websites, double-check each website's URL to make sure it's legitimate before entering any personal information, Proxyrack advised.

☆ The Twitter Blue relaunch is on hold until the platform can sort out impersonation issues with 'high confidence,' Elon Musk says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk says Twitter Blue's relaunch is on hold until it can deal with impersonation issues. "Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation," Musk tweeted late on Monday. Musk's announcement comes after the social media platform halted its relaunch of Twitter Blue — which gives users a blue tick if they pay $8 a month — due to widespread impersonation issues. The billionaire's latest update also supersedes his earlier announcement that Twitter Blue would return on November 29. Twitter suspended its verification relaunch on November 11, and started focusing on solving impersonation issues, per Platformer's Zoe Schiffer, who cited an internal note.

☆ Microsoft's latest data on hacks and why you may need new login, passwords fast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

That's a 74% rise in one year, according to the latest Microsoft Digital Defense Report. But many people still rely on passwords, and don't even use the two-factor authentication now considered critical. "As long as passwords are still part of the equation, they're vulnerable," Joy Chik, Microsoft's vice president of identity, wrote in a September 2021 company blog post. Based on a sample of more than 39 million IoT and OT devices, about 20% used identical usernames and passwords, according to the Microsoft report. Even if a provider doesn't require it to be used, multi-factor authentication is a valuable security tool that's underutilized, according to security professionals.

☆ With Student Loan Forgiveness in Legal Limbo, Scammers Pounce
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Julia Carpenter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A federal judge struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on Nov. 10. The ruling is being challenged, but that hasn’t stopped scammers eager to capitalize on borrowers’ confusion and frustration. Scams targeting Americans impatient for debt forgiveness surged in the first 10 months of 2022, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The agency received 76,000 complaints of scams related to student loans through the end of October, compared with 46,243 for all of 2021.

☆ Taylor Swift public ticket sale on Friday is canceled, Ticketmaster says. But the secondary market can be 'buyer beware'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Kevin Mazur | Wireimage | Getty ImagesDeals for hot tickets, you're virtually not going to find one. Why concert tickets are a 'buyer beware' marketSome Taylor Swift fans who bought seemingly legitimate tickets have already discovered they were duped. Buying tickets on the "secondary market" poses an elevated risk of fraud and/or exorbitant prices for consumers, entertainment-industry experts warned. "There are almost so many [secondary sellers] that you just can't keep up," Cobb said. Of course, this isn't to say secondary sellers are grifters in all circumstances.

☆ New Medicare enrollment rules that eliminate coverage gaps take effect in 2023. Here's what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That's poised to change: Beginning next year, current months-long delays in certain Medicare enrollment situations will be eliminated. Additionally, would-be beneficiaries who missed signing up when they were supposed to due to "exceptional circumstances" may qualify for a special enrollment period. Signup rules for Medicare can be confusingMedicare's enrollment rules can be confusing at best and costly at worst, experts say. One change applies to initial enrollment periodsYour initial enrollment period, as it's called, starts three months before your 65th birthday and ends three months after it (seven months total). Additionally, beneficiaries who qualify for the special enrollment period will not face Part B late enrollment penalties.

☆ Twitter's trust and safety team sent Elon Musk a 7-page list of the risks with his paid verification system, and he launched it anyway: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter warned Elon Musk of the dangers in his new badge system before its launch, per Platformer. The trust and safety team said the rework would give rise to impersonation issues and confusion. The warning came from Twitter's trust and safety staff a week before the billionaire implemented his overhauled verification system, per Platformer. In their recommendations, the trust and safety team warned of "impersonation of world leaders, advertisers, brand partners, election officials, and other high profile individuals," according to Platformer. In its memo, the trust and safety team also highlighted the consequences of removing checkmarks from accounts that were already verified before Musk bought Twitter, according to Platformer.

San Francisco-based Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the security situation at the company. He echoed a pessimistic view among some Twitter users this week: The service might go down entirely under Musk's ownership. Verification serviceOn Friday, Twitter paused the rollout of its Twitter Blue verification service, intended to let users pay $8 a month for a verification badge. “The debacle with the Twitter verification is a really strong indicator as to what can go wrong,” Roger said. “When the verified Twitter users got hacked a few months ago, it was only a bitcoin scam, right?” Rogers said.

☆ Opinion: No one is coming to save the crypto industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Emily Parker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old CEO of crypto exchange FTX, helped bail out distressed crypto companies like BlockFi and Voyager. In an industry with a reputation that has been marred by scammers, hackers and sheer greed, Bankman-Fried seemed like a relatively nice guy. The whole point of crypto is that it is supposed to be decentralized and transparent. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance, publicly announced that the exchange would liquidate its FTX holdings. Join us on Twitter and FacebookFor the crypto industry, the lesson here is to stop looking for saviors.

☆ 'Sirens should go off': How to avoid getting duped by Medicare scammers during open enrollment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

You may know that it's open enrollment time for Medicare. The Federal Trade Commission is warning that fraudsters could take advantage of this annual period to impersonate Medicare agents. More from Personal Finance:What to know if dropping Medicare Advantage PlanHow investors can tackle the fear of missing outOp-ed: Don’t reject the 60/40 portfolio. Embrace it"If someone asks for your Medicare identification number, sirens should go off," said Ari Parker, a senior advisor at Chapter, a Medicare advisory firm. During open enrollment, beneficiaries are encouraged by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to review their current coverage and make sure it will still be the best fit for them in the next year.

☆ Twitter suspended comedian Kathy Griffin's account after she changed her name to Elon Musk to make fun of him
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Comedian Kathy Griffin's Twitter account was suspended after she impersonated Elon Musk. Griffin now joins a range of several celebrities and figures who had their Twitter handles suspended for parodying Musk. Any name change at all from a verified account would lead to "temporary loss of verified checkmark," he added. In a similar case, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe had his verified account suspended when he changed its details to match Musk's profile. Too many bird groups fighting each other internally other at Twitter," Musk wrote.

☆ While Elon Musk said 'comedy is now legal' following his acquisition of Twitter, jokes about the new owner and criticism over his takeover are getting users blocked and suspended
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The day after he purchased Twitter, billionaire Elon Musk posted "comedy is now legal" on the platform. In the days since, parody accounts impersonating Musk and joking about the acquisition have been removed. Musk tweeted on Sunday that unlabeled parody accounts will be "permanently suspended" without warning. The day after he purchased Twitter, Musk posted a tweet saying "comedy is now legal" on the platform, but in the days since his takeover, parody accounts impersonating Musk have cropped up across the site, riffing about the new owner, and getting banned in the process. Musk added that going forward, any change in name at all from a verified account would result in a "temporary loss of verified checkmark."

☆ Kathy Griffin suspended from Twitter for impersonating Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Twitter has suspended comedian Kathy Griffin for impersonating the company’s new owner, Elon Musk. Musk has made an $8 Twitter subscription plan his signature bid to bolster the company’s revenue. Comedian Sarah Silverman used her verified account to troll Musk, copying his profile picture, cover image and name. “This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” he tweeted. Musk mocked Griffin Sunday, quipping that “she was suspended for impersonating a comedian.” Musk also tweeted that Griffin could get her account back by paying $8 a month for Twitter Blue, although it wasn’t clear whether Musk was serious.

☆ Twitter delays $8 ‘blue check’ verification plan until after the midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Twitter is delaying the rollout of account verifications for its paid Twitter Blue subscription plan until after the midterm elections, a source with knowledge of the decision confirmed to CNN. A fresh Twitter account created by CNN that opted for the paid feature did not show the checkmark on its public profile. The decision to delay the rollout comes as the entire decision to charge users for verification has faced wide public backlash. Television actress Valerie Bertinelli similarly changed her account name to the Twitter CEO’s, tweeting Friday that “[t]he blue checkmark simply meant your identity was verified. Musk has also said he will limit the company’s content restrictions and require the paid subscription for account verification.

☆ Actress Valerie Bertinelli 'becomes' Elon Musk, trolling the billionaire on Twitter to prove a point about blue check verification system
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Valerie Bertinelli posed as Elon Musk on Twitter this weekend to show flaws in his newly proposed verification system. After changing her display name, she posted dozens of tweets in support of Democratic candidates. Several celebrities — including Shonda Rhimes and Sara Bareilles — have expressed plans to leave Twitter since Musk took over, citing concern with his leadership. "The blue checkmark simply meant your identity was verified," Bertinelli wrote on Twitter after changing her name. As "Elon Musk," she posted hashtags like #VoteBlueToProtectYourRights and shared tweets supporting gubernatorial contenders Gretchen Whitmore in Michigan and Beto O'Rourke in Texas, among others.

☆ How phone scammers tricked Americans out of tens of billions of dollars each year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow phone scammers tricked Americans out of tens of billions of dollars each yearDespite the rise of sophisticated crypto frauds and ransomware plots, phone scams continue to trick Americans out of tens of billions of dollars each year. Phone scams are also on the rise. Truecaller, which makes an app that blocks spam calls, estimates that nearly 70 million Americans have lost money to phone scams in 2022, and that those scammers made off with nearly $40 billion in total. Phone scams include frauds that begin with calls and text messages.Watch the video above to learn more about why phone scams remain so prevalent, how people are fighting back against them and how not to become a victim.

☆ How phone scammers tricked Americans out of tens of billions of dollars in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Anuz Thapa | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Despite the rise of sophisticated crypto frauds and ransomware plots, phone scams continue to trick Americans out of tens of billions of dollars each year. Phone scams are on the rise. Truecaller, which makes an app that blocks spam calls, estimates that nearly 70 million Americans have lost money to phone scams in 2022, and that those scammers made off with nearly $40 billion in total. Phone scams include frauds that begin with calls and text messages. Watch the video above to learn more about why phone scams remain so prevalent, how people are fighting back against them and how not to become a victim.

☆ Captain Marvel actor Robert Kazinsky pushed back against Twitter's new blue check mark fee by tweeting that 'verification is a public service'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kazinsky posted a Twitter thread Wednesday pushing back against Musk's proposed changes to verification. The actor shared personal experiences and argued that verification is a "public service." Right now, around 400,000 Twitter users claim a blue check mark, according to Forbes. Not everyone agrees however, that an amped-up version of Twitter Blue is the right way to combat fake or spam accounts. He added, "Verification is a public service, it is a good deed performed by companies who contribute very little good to the world in my opinion.

Originally reported Sunday by The Verge, a plan to charge verified users to get or keep their blue checks was expected to cost $20 a month. By Tuesday afternoon, Musk had posted a thread on the platform outlining his plan to charge $8 a month instead — part of an overhaul of Twitter’s existing Blue service. Along with the coveted blue check, Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to post longer video and audio clips. Right now, Twitter’s verification system has no cost and is designed to ensure users can identify legitimate accounts and know they’re trustworthy. The blue check makes it harder for verified users to be impersonated and provides them with some additional tools to manage their notifications since many have a lot of followers.

☆ Health insurance open enrollment: How to spot misleading marketing for insurance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Bram Sable-Smith | Kaiser Health News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

Health care sharing ministries are an alternative to health insurance in which members agree to share medical expenses. Nationwide, lawmakers and regulators are taking notice of how health care plans are sold. Rising health care prices can drive up the cost of regulated health plans, such as those that are compliant with the Affordable Care Act. For now, he suggests working with health care navigators, who help consumers enroll in plans through the official health insurance marketplace, healthcare.gov. She is on the market for health insurance again and plans to choose a company she’s heard of before.

Fraudsters will try to get your personal information and answers to security questions on social media. "The reason fraudsters are so interested in social media and social engineering is because they can get answers to those questions." Insider's Featured Identity Theft Protection Services Aura – All-In-One ID Theft ProtectionIDShield 3 Bureau Individual PlanIdentityForce Ultra Secure+Credit Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Editor's Rating 4.6/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 4.7/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 4.8/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Learn more On Aura's website Learn more On IDShield's website Learn more On IdentityForce's websiteHere are five tips to help you avoid identity theft scams on social media. Anytime anyone's asking for personal information, find a different way of getting in contact with that individual," says Lord.

Search resuls for: "Scammers"

25 mentions found