charges

Windows users are being targeted by a new scam that extorts money through long-distance telephone calls, racking up heavy charges. After a victim mistakenly downloads and installs a Trojan onto their PC, the following message is displayed on a ... Windows PC: "This copy of Windows is locked. You may be a victim of fraud or there may be an internal error". While similar messages have appeared before and related to scareware and ransomware scams, the fact that the Windows operating system will not reboot (either in normal mode or safe mode) adds validity to the alleged crisis situation. Victims ... (view more)

If regulators have their way, cellphone companies will have to warn customers before they incur unusually high charges. It's a new program designed to prevent situations where a customer unexpectedly receives a bill for $68,505, as was the case for ... one customer in the first quarter of 2010. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees the mobile industry, is proposing three new rules regarding how and when companies should tell users about potential charges beyond their normal fees. Cell Phone Bill Shock: Shocking Statistics In May, the FCC released a report suggesting that ... (view more)

Verizon will issue refunds to around 15 million customers after mistakenly charging them for non-existent data use. But the company may wind up paying a bigger price for the error. Phone Users Victims of 'Technical Errors' in Billing In a statement ... attributed to deputy chief counsel Mary Coyne, the company said the mistaken bills were issued over the past several years. It said the customers did not have data plans, but were victims of technical errors, either with phone software sending and receiving "minor" data, or being billed for following web links that shouldn't have incurred data ... (view more)

Apple's iTunes Store has reportedly been hacked, with a developer named Thuat Nguyen using the opportunity to propel his own applications into 40 of the top 50 spots on the iTunes iBook section. The hack included unauthorized charges to hundreds, ... perhaps thousands of iTunes accounts. The story broke over tech blog TheNextWeb during the long weekend. Nguyen reportedly took advantage of a posted hack to the iTunes system and charged unsuspecting users for his own applications. The majority of these charges came for a set of books called Conan, Thuy Hu, and Vien Ngoc Rong, which all sell for $4. ... (view more)

Record-breaking hacker Albert Gonzalez has pleaded guilty to the largest credit card heist scheme ever. The 28 year old Miami man recently admitted to hacking various computer networks and swiping millions of credit card numbers. Gonzalez, who ... pleaded guilty to a total of nineteen counts of computer fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft, was not alone in the scheme. He, along with about ten others from across Europe, China, and the United States, had been accused of breaking into computer networks in order to swipe an astounding 130 million credit ... (view more)

Six Pennsylvania high school students are among the latest teens facing child pornography charges also known as sexting : the act of sending or receiving nude or semi-nude pictures on cell phones and sharing them with others. The term 'sexting' ... comes from 'texting', which is text-messaging over a cell phone. Three teenage girls aged 14 and 15 are facing charges for taking nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves and sending them via their cell phones to three boys aged 16 and 17. The boys are facing charges of possession. The photos were discovered in October after school officials ... (view more)