By now, all people, young and old, know better than to give their credit card information out over the phone.  The thieves, knowing that this well has gone dry, have a new approach, which has them conning you into giving out the card security number.  Although this approach has been around for at least seven years now, it’s new to me, so I’m passing it on to you.  Check it out and be aware.

From The Weekly Standard:

With the release of hundreds of emails by scientists advocates of global warming showing obvious and entirely inappropriate collusion by the authors — including attempts to suppress dissent, to punish journals that publish peer-reviewed studies casting doubt on global warming, and to manipulate data to bolster their own arguments — even the New York Times is forced to concede that “the documents will undoubtedly raise questions about the quality of research on some specific questions and the actions of some scientists.” But apparently the paper’s environmental blog, Dot Earth, is taking a pass on publishing any of the documents and emails that are now circulating. Andrew Revkin, the author of that blog, writes,

The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.

This is the position of the New York Times when given the chance to publish sensitive information that might hinder the liberal agenda. Of course, when the choice is between publishing classified information that might endanger the lives of U.S. troops in the field or intelligence programs vital to national security, that information is published without hesitation by the nation’s paper of record. But in this case — the documents were “never intended for the public eye,” so the New York Times will take a pass. I guess that policy wasn’t in place when Neil Sheehan was working at the paper.

(Read the rest here.)

My thoughts exactly.

ExPreacherman sent along to me a warning about a credit card scam that’s a bit more sophisticated than the usual scam, because the victim is never asked to provide a credit card number.  Instead, it appears that, by trolling garbage cans, the scammers get hold of copies of old credit card statements, so they already have the cardholder’s name, address and credit card number.  All the scammer needs, therefore, is the three or four digit security code, and that’s what the call, which purports to come from the credit card company, is all about.  Of course, the credit card company already has that security code, so the company would never actually seek this info.  Anyway, you can read all about it here and, as always, beware.