BookRix

hello

i agree with you

Which? Consumer Rights

It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between a scam and a dubious offer. If you've been misled by an offer, you have rights which providers can’t breach.

For something to be considered an offence under the Fraud Act the perpetrator must intend to steal from their victim or have intent to perpetrate a fraud. For example, if you pay for a service that doesn't exist because the provider is running a fake company, this is a scam and is definitely considered to be fraudulent activity.

DELIBERATELY MISLEADING INFORMATION

However, if the provider is not intending to steal but is deliberately misleading you or is grossly negligent, they could be in breach of contract.

Although this isn't considered to be a scam (or fraudulent activity) it's still considered to be questionable practice.

The Consumer Rights Act (which replaced the Sale of Goods Act on 1 October 2015) stipulates that goods sold must be as described, of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose.

Fit for purpose means that products must be fit for both their everyday purpose and also any specific purpose you agreed with the seller.

If these criteria are not met, then the seller could be in breach of the Consumer Rights Act.

FALSE INFORMATION OR OMISSIONS

Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, a company must not deliberately mislead you by providing false information or by omitting key information.
If a company does this, you can make a complaint of mis-selling.

As of 1st October 2014 if a company or trader deliberately misleads or pressures you into signing a contract you can seek financial redress.

This includes the right to undo a contract and receive a refund, the right to a discount and an entitlement to seek damages.

In order for these new rights to apply, you must be able to show that a misleading action or aggressive practice was a significant factor in you entering into the contract.

It's important to note that misleading omissions are not covered by these new rights.

GENUINE PRICES

If a company is advertising a sale, then it has to follow government guidelines in order to ensure the sale is genuine.

There are three key things to look out for:

*Before reducing prices in a sale, items must have been sold at the higher price for 28 consecutive days immediately before the sale, unless a sign explains the terms of the offer

*Items shouldn't be on offer at the sale price for longer than being sold at the higher price unless the shop displays a sign explaining how the sale differs from these rules

*The original price must be clearly displayed along with the sale price. A sign shouldn't just say 'sale £15' – it must say something like 'was £50, sale price £15'.

UNFAIR TERMS

In general, companies are free to use whatever contractual terms and conditions they consider to be reasonable.

But, the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations say these terms and conditions cannot be unfair.

Only a court can decide whether a term is unfair.

But, you can report an unfair contract term to your local trading standards department or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which took over from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in April 2014.

PHONE OR TEXT COMPETITIONS

Competitions requiring you to make a premium rate phone call or send texts to see what you've won may be considered unfair but it's unlikely to be fraud if it’s possible to win a prize.

But they could breach the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations if the terms and conditions aren't clear.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations makes it an offence for traders to treat consumers unfairly through misleading actions, misleading omissions or aggressive practices.

FAKE OR COUNTERFEIT GOODS

Fake or counterfeit goods can help fund crime, and can also harm your health.

https://www.grahamcluley.com/2016/04/advertising-trojan-100-android-apps-google-play-store/

Trojan found in more than 100 Android apps on Google Play Store Poisoned apps steal confidential information and serve up ads

Researchers have uncovered a new strain of advertising spyware in more than 100 Android apps downloadable from the official Google Play Store.

The research team at Russian security firm Doctor Web first added the trojan, which they called Android.Spy.277.origin, to its virus database on April 1st, 2016.

"A Trojan for Android that steals confidential information and delivers advertisements. It is distributed via bogus versions of popular Android applications on the Google Play store."

Specifically, the malware experts found the trojan in 104 Android applications available for download on the Google Play Store. Those apps claim to offer photo editing services, animated wallpaper themes, and other programs... but in most cases, they don't work as they claim.

In total, the apps affected by Android.Spy.277.origin are believed to have been downloaded by a staggering 3.2 million users.

The infection process works as follows.

Once a user has installed one of the malicious apps, the trojan collects nearly 30 different pieces of information about the user's device and transmits them to a remote server operated by a attacker.

As Doctor Web explains in a blog post, the stolen data includes the device's IMEI number - which phone call management app Truecaller has found out should NEVER be used as the sole means for authenticating user - as well as the device model, OS version, and availability of root access.

"At every launch of any installed application, the Trojan resends all the information mentioned before together with the name of the running application."

Android.Spy.277.origin also requests certain parameters for advertising on a user's device.

For example, the trojan can try to intimidate the user into installing unwanted applications onto their devices.

Alternatively, it can display advertising notifications in an infected device's status bar as well as create shortcuts on the Android home screen leading to sections of the Google Play store.

Doctor Web has notified Google, whose teams have begun to remove some of the malicious apps from the Play Store.

While Google sorts out that problem, Android users are urged to install an anti-virus solution on their devices and to install apps only from trusted app developers.

After all, this is far from the first time that malicious code has made its way into the Google Play store.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAIuYRla1nQ

I know Chris sort of covered this with her wonderful post about 2 weeks ago.

But I gotta say I've been noticing more and more people messaging about their personal information on here. I know Bookrix strives to be a safe place for people to come and read and write and make friends, but when you start giving out phone numbers, and what's up app numbers, and instagram names, etc...I mean some of them even put the info right on their profile page....it's just so dangerous....no matter what website you use. I get if your posting a link to your website that promotes your books, but the rest of the personal info I really don't think is necessary.

It's crazy....I logged off for two days and when I logged back in it showed that I had 30 messages....and 10 of them were filled with personal information.....10 of them! I wish people knew just how much sharing personal information with people you don't know very well....or even over the internet like that can harm them in so many ways. Chris's article covered the issue really well....I just wish more people would take it seriously....for their own safety. I just felt the need to rant a little bit, because 10 out of 30...that is kind of an alarming number to me.

~Starlover412

A fun song:

By Nick Mediati, PCWorld

Drive-by downloads that download/install malware to your pc when you visit a site - without you realizing it. Such downloads can happen just about anywhere. Some sites are built to lure people into a drive-by download; but in a common attack method, criminals will hack a Web page, often on an otherwise legitimate site, and insert code that will download malware to your computer.
If You Have to Go There: The first thing to do is to keep your security software up-to-date, and to run regular malware scans. Many security suites can flag suspicious downloads.

Nick Mediati, PCWorld

As Microsoft has become more serious about Windows security over the past few years, would-be attackers have had to find new ways to infect PCs. Attacking flaws in Adobe Acrobat is one of these newer methods. So-called poisoned PDFs are PDF files that have been crafted in such a manner that they trigger bugs in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat; posted on a hijacked Website, they may let an attacker commandeer your PC and access your files and personal info.
Feeling particularly paranoid? Uncheck 'Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications' (near the top) to head off certain PDF exploits.
A newer variant takes an otherwise innocent-looking PDF document and inserts malware into it. Adobe Reader may pop up an alert asking if you want to run the malware, but hackers can edit those messages to trick you into opening the file.
How serious is this problem? In 2009, attacks using malicious PDFs made up 49 percent of Web-based attacks, according to security firm Symantec.

If You Have to Go There: First, always make sure that you're running the latest version of Adobe Reader.

You can also use a different PDF reader, such as Foxit Reader. This can protect you from attacks on holes in Adobe Reader itself, but it won't make you immune to all PDF attacks, such as the newer ones that embed malware inside the PDFs. Make sure, also, that you update to Adobe Reader 9.3.3 or later (Reader 8 users should update to version 8.3.3 or later); these updates change the way Adobe Reader handles non-PDF attachments and reduce the risk from such attacks.

You can turn off Adobe Reader's ability to open non-PDF attachments by going to Preferences, clicking Trust Manager, and unchecking Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications.

The next major release of Acrobat and Reader will provide a new "protected mode" against these attacks.