Logo Design Scams on Facebook

Logo Design scams on Facebook are the latest to appear on group pages. These scams are brought to you by the same people who offer duct cleaning, mobile car detailing and more. Here are the deets:

What This Scam Looks Like

Again, this scam usually appears inside of Facebook Groups. The wording may vary, and can actually be a bit engaging:

This time around, the scammers are onto something. The forthright statements and proud attitude is a good hook, and holds the readers’ attention. I see a lot of these posts, full of comments from people who want to contribute their own opinions and attitudes on the subject. And their conversation makes the posts more credible!

But it’s still a scheme, and I recommend you shy away from these offers.

How This Is a Scam

Once again, I have to remind everyone that appearances are often not what they seem on the internet. The people posting these offers use Western names and American-looking photos. They look like they could be your neighbors, but they aren’t. When I chat with these folks, I send them links to click on. And when they do, I get to see their location in the world:

Almost all of these service-type scams are posted by people in Pakistan. I have nothing against the people of Pakistan. But I do have misgivings about dealing with a Pakistani who uses a sock puppet account on Facebook to present themselves as an American.

Incidentally, I am very forthright with these people, as I chat them up. I ask them plainly about their location in Pakistan. They either use coarse language at me, or block me. I do not ever get a civil response from them.

How These Scams Play Out

I would have to give these scammers some money to be sure of how the scam finishes. I’m not going to do that. So, here are my educated guesses on what happens to people who fall for these schemes:

  • The scammer plays you long enough to get an initial payment, and then blocks you.
  • The person actually gets you some logos and design options. But they are quickly whipped up, using free sites and AI tools, and certainly not worth $200.
  • They offer to help with your website design, which will give them access to your professional email and domain. Your passwords could be sold to a higher-level scammer who can abuse your email address and identity.

If you have dealt with these scammers, please share your story with me. I would love to update this post with more details!

However these ploys go down, you need to know that you will have no recourse. Whether you lose time, money or your entire website, these people are in another country, where our police cannot address them. These scammers will quickly block you on Facebook, and Meta will not assist you, even if you report the matter to them.

What You Can Do

It can be tricky to recognize these scams. Their verbiage gets better every year. But one useful trick is simply to search Facebook for the scam. Specifically, click and highlight one or two sentences in a suspicious post. Copy that text and paste it into the search field at the top of Facebook. You will know you have found a scam, if your search turns up similar posts from all over the country:

logo design scams on facebook

Next, report the scam posts. But understand that when you report things, you have a choice. You can report them to Facebook, but little to nothing will occur. Or, you can report them to the Group’s Admins. That is much more likely to help. The very real and local people that take care of that group will see your report and probably take action against the poster.

It’s quick and easy to report a post to the group’s admin!

Lastly, I do not recommend that you criticize or attack these scammers on their posts. They will simply block you. Once you have been blocked by them, you will be unable to see their posts or report anything that they do.

The Beekeeper

the beekeeper a movie review

You can tell what kind of movie The Beekeeper is before you watch it.  If its star Jason Statham isn’t a dead giveaway, then the movie trailers surely reveal this as a “lone-killer-out-for-vengeance” film.  You may have seen one or two of these already: John Wick, The Equalizer, Nobody.  Kingsman, Taken, Hardcore Henry.  The Professional, Collateral, The Accountant.  The Beekeeper follows the trope well, and will deliver gratuitous, creative and merciless violence for 105 minutes.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, then I recommend you check out this movie!  I don’t want to label (most) movies as good or bad, and, despite my opening, I think this is an enjoyable film.  Plus, it brings an important issue to the big screen: tech scams.

The Beekeeper’s story begins with a common technology scam, much like those that I write about so often on my blog: A pop-up appears on someone’s computer. They believe the scammy message and dial the on-screen telephone number. Cybercriminals answer the call and trick the person into allowing remote-access of their computer and bank accounts. All of the money is quickly stolen and the victim is shook to their core.

In true Hollywood-fashion, the movie plays fast and loose with the truth and details. But here I didn’t mind it so much. The core of the scam is accurate enough, and I am so very satisfied to see this crime shown in a mainstream film. Representation is important! I appreciate director David Ayer for this, because his film could help “ring a bell” and save someone from falling for a real-life computer scam.

For the rest of the movie, I recommend you relax and don’t think too much. The Beekeeper is meant to be entertaining and not cerebral. The score tells you when a bad guy has entered the frame. All of the actors, even the scammers, are good-looking. Villains shoot up some beehives and escape unscathed. (My beekeeper wife would surely roll her eyes at such silliness, but we’d have a much shorter movie if all the bad guys perished in the first act to a swarm of angry bees.)

I did notice that The Beekeeper missed the opportunity of using an uncapping knife in battle. Those things are dreadfully sharp, and would’ve fit the bee-motif in a clever way.

Overall, though, I appreciated the moral core that surfaced from behind all of the coarse language and brutality. I thought The Beekeeper had great camerawork and set-pieces. It’s no perfect film, by any means, but I’m sure to rewatch it someday. I’ll give it a Bee-Plus.

Shentel/Mail2World’s 2024 Spam Problem

If you still use a Shentel email address, you should know that there’s a problem with Mail2World’s spam filter right now. Some (but not all) Shentel.net email inboxes are getting a lot more junk email than is normal. After talking with Shentel tech support, I can’t say that I know what the problem is. I don’t know when it will be fixed. I can’t say with certainty that Mail2World is anything more than 3 children in a trenchcoat. But what I can do is teach you how to cope with Shentel/Mailworld’s 2024 Spam Problem in this blog post.

Shentel/Mail2World’s 2024 Spam Problem
Some people are getting several copies of EACH of these spam messages in their inboxes, every day!

What NOT to Do

First of all, don’t call Shentel expecting a quick fix. This problem is out of their hands, because Remember: Shentel doesn’t manage their email addresses anymore. They offshored their Shentel.net addresses to a company called Mail2World. And that company is really hard to get a hold of. But Shentel assures me that M2W knows about the problem and is working on it…

Next, do NOT unsubscribe from any spam! Clicking on unsubscribe (or any other links) in an unwanted message is asking for trouble. If you click on links in spam, you could attract more spam or lead your computer to a malicious website or download.

While you’re at it, don’t bother trying to use Block Sender on spam. It can’t hurt, but it isn’t likely to help. Block Sender is typically useful only for someone who always uses the same email address. Like that annoying relative who always forwards tacky joke emails to everyone he knows. Or the neighborhood Tupperware salesperson. Or a mentally questionable ex-boyfriend. Block those people to keep your inbox stress-free, but spammers change their email on every message they send. Blocking a spammer won’t work!

What to Do

Your best tool against spam coming to your Shentel inbox is the Mark as Spam function. This is not easy to find! Let me run through some steps on how to find this:

  • Visit the Shentel Webmail site and sign in with your email credentials
  • Identify any spam messages in your inbox, and check the box(es) to the left of each one
  • Above and to the right of your inbox email, click More and then click Mark as Spam
Shentel/Mail2World’s 2024 Spam Problem

Using this feature removes the spam from the inbox and also sends a message back to Mail2World (and their anti-spam vendor) that these types of messages are spam. It should eventually help them block more spam, which benefits everyone.

Other Problems with Shentel Spam

The Shentel Spam Filter is misfiring in other ways, right now.

Some users are reporting that good email is winding up in the Spam folder. If you feel you are missing any expected message, you’ll want to check your Spam folder. As described above, it is best if you visit the Shentel Webmail page, and then click the Spam folder in the left-hand column. If you find a trustworthy message in Spam, check the box next to it, click the More menu and then click Not Spam.

Also, you may begin seeing some other cryptic emails in your Inbox or Spam folder like these:

I don’t think these messages are spam or harmful in nature. They may be intended for Mail2World and their anti-spam software team, but are being misdelivered to us end-users. Don’t worry about them, and just delete them if you feel any kind of way about them.

Taking It to the Next Level

If we wait this out long enough, the hope is that Mail2World will figure things out, kick their spam filter into gear, and things will go back to … normal. A normal amount of spam, reliable email coming and going, etc.

But what if that doesn’t happen? What if this problem persists for much longer, or how about if new problems emerge as this one resolves? Mail2World doesn’t have the best track record and I am not prepared to assure you of their capabilities.

If you can’t abide anymore, then your next option would be to create a new email address. Gmail, Outlook.com, ProtonMail and a variety of other email offerings exist. You can create a new address with them at the drop of a hat, and for free.

I realize that concept is intimidating. Switching your email address, in some ways, is more of a labor than changing your mailing address. Not only are you faced with notifying all of your friends and family, but you must reach out to companies with the new email info. And then you get to log into all of your important websites, one by one, to convince each to update your email info.

But consider this: Changing your email address doesn’t have to be accomplished all in one weekend. You can create a new address and migrate things over to it at your pace. You can check two email addresses for as long as you want. Maybe you decide to keep and maintain both addresses?

Also, some email users create a new email address and forward their Shentel mail into it. This is a safeguard against people who “don’t get the memo” about your new address. And it can help with spam! For example, let’s say that you create a new Gmail, and route your Shentel mail into it. All inbound Shentel mail passes through their subpar junk filter, and then gets bounced over to Google. Then Gmail runs it all through their superlative spam filter, and the worthwhile messages arrive in your new Googly inbox.

2024 Facebook Outage

Update: Starting at around 12PM EST, many users are able to login and use Meta/Facebook products again. Here’s hoping the 2024 Facebook Outage is over. Whew, that wasn’t as bad as the 2021 Outage!


If you cannot access Facebook right now, it’s not you. It’s Facebook. Facebook is down, possibly for many people. I think this is big enough we’ll be referring to it as the 2024 Facebook Outage.

The outage began around 10AM EST on March 5, 2024. Users everywhere have been logged out of the Facebook website, the mobile app, Messenger and possibly more. Ah, now I see that Instagram is also down. I’m even having trouble loading the Meta Status page!

For now, it might be best if you sit tight, retry Facebook every now and then, and watch the news for more details as to when this outage has passed.

Outage websites, like DownDetector and DownForeveryoneOrJustMe, might show useful trends and comments about this outage. And a Wikipedia page for this event has already started to form.

So far, the only thing that Meta has said is “a technical issue” caused the difficulty. While more details would be appreciated, this might be the most explanation we’re going to get.

2024 facebook outage

Download Maps for Offline Use

Many of us use our cellphones for mapping, exploring and generally finding our way around. But there are times when you can’t or won’t be able to rely on your cellular connection for pulling up instant GPS directions. In certain situations, you’ll want to plan ahead and download maps for offline use.

Before you leave home, you’ll want to open your maps-app of choice, and load up the region that you plan on travelling to. Your app will have the ability to pre-download all the mapping info for that territory, while you are on your Wi-Fi or connected to regular cellular signal. Later, while travelling, your GPS directions will work using the data stored on your phone.

Apple has instructions for their Maps app, under iOS, here. And if you are using Google Maps, check out this article.

There are a variety of reasons you might want to proactively download your maps in this way:

  • You are going to travel through a region with poor cellular signal.
  • Your cellular plan has a very low data allowance and you are trying to avoid going over and incurring fees.
  • Your trip is taking you through a country where your plan may not allow you data usage.

Laptop Swelling

It’s uncommon to see, but laptops can get swollen. If you ever think your laptop is swelling, then you need to address a problem with its battery, stat!

laptop swelling

Usually, the laptop’s battery is a boring little brick that stays in one shape. But a manufacturing defect, extreme age or abuse could cause acid leakage, inside the battery’s main casing. If this happens, the rupture is usually still contained, but that boring brick will change shape. It may start to resemble a wallet or a beanbag.

If this ever happens to you, you’ll start to notice that your laptop is warping. Perhaps the keyboard is arcing upwards, or the sides of the laptop are starting to gap. You may have trouble closing the lid because things just don’t fit anymore. And it could be that the distended tech feels warmer than usual.

Again: this is not common, but if you notice this, you do need to take prompt action. Ignoring a turgid laptop is a risk to your computer’s lifespan and your personal safety! Shut off the laptop and disconnect the power cord. Take your computer to a repair store, and they’ll know how to safely replace your battery.

Alternatively, if the laptop is no longer needed, you can take it to a computer recycler.

The Girl Scout Cookie Scam

There’s always another scam just around the corner. And with these jokers in Scamdinavia, nothing is sacred. Please watch out for the Girl Scout Cookie Scam, circulating on Facebook and possibly other social media.

The Scam

You might already know this scam, but it’s still worth broadcasting. Because the Girl Scout brand is so endearing and trustworthy, some people are getting fooled by this nonsense. Check out these examples of the scam I’ve collected from Facebook:

Let me be clear: These posts are not legitimate, not endorsed by The Girl Scouts of America and not created by anyone in this country. People in Kenya or Pakistan have created sock puppet accounts on Facebook, stolen a bunch of photos with kids and cookies in them, and are simply posing and fishing for quick money.

Anyone who messages these schemers will be asked to pay for their cookies using Paypay, Venmo, CashApp, etc.. The poster collects the money and pretends to take down the address, and asks the victim to wait a couple of weeks for delivery. When the delivery day passes and no cookies arrive, the crook will be long gone.

What’s Scammy and What’s Legit?

Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to get your Girl Scout Cookies from a safe source. Here’s what to look out for:

  • A legitimate Girl Scout Cookie post will offer specific details, like:
    • A URL to the Cookie Finder, or a personalized website for ordering, beginning with “gsdigitalcookie.com”
    • The time and location where the kiddos will be setting up to sell their cookies in-person
    • A variety of payment options, and no sense or urgency (pay when the cookies arrive)
  • A scam post will seem fishy, if you take notice:
    • the child’s name or troop is not mentioned
    • the cookie prices are wrong or too low
    • the posting account is no one you know and you have no mutual Facebook friends with them
    • the post has commenting turned off

If you see a scam post on Facebook, report it to the group’s admin or moderator. You can report it to Facebook, too, but they are unlikely to do anything.

For more info on how to get these delicious cookies, check out the Girls Scouts Cookie Program website.

Duct Cleaning Scams v2.0

If you aren’t familiar with the duct cleaning scams that abound on Facebook, I recommend you first check out my 2021 post on this matter. Once you’re up to speed on the basics, it’s time to discuss the new-and-improved duct cleaning scams. Duct Cleaning Scams v2.0 are beginning to spread throughout Facebook. Don’t fall for them and be ready to report them.

Upgrades

Duct cleaning scams are the same as before: People located in Pakistan are posting in American Facebook Groups, trying to sell duct cleaning services.

They use sock puppet accounts that make them look American. Posing as “local companies”, they are really just looking to schedule appointments, which they then resell to unlicensed people near you. The folks in Pakistan collect referral fees for each job s/he schedules. The people in America get suspicious cleaners at their door. Whoever arrives to clean ducts is not connected to any real company, and may overcharge for their service or commit other crimes.

But they’ve upped their game for 2024. The scammers are trying to appear more professional now. Their latest posts show a classy flyer with pricing, a business card, and a real website.

The wording of their posts is much improved, too. Gone are the copy-and-paste phrases that we rolled our eyes at, like “Believe our Work not Words!” Now they present more detailed and personalized posts that closely resemble everyday small businesses in our country.

Their sock puppet accounts are looking better, too. They’ve got dozens of them now, all sporting American names and stolen photos. They’re using the accounts to click Like on each other’s posts and photos, which makes them look active and more legitimate.

Same Tells and Giveaways

I am sure this is still a scam. First, I chat with these people. It’s the same ol’ schtick with them, but I still like to get proof when I can. I ask them where they’re from (Washington!) and then I send them a link to my address. (Oops, that wasn’t a link to my address, it tells me the location of the clicker:)

Karachi isn’t in Washington, good sir.

But there are other hints. Sometimes, I click the poster’s name to view their Facebook profile. And it catches my eye when their profile name doesn’t match with the name hiding in their Facebook URL:

I’ve tried calling some of their numbers (Houston TX area code, probably purchased through Ring Central), and no one ever picks up. But they answer texts and Facebook messages immediately. And they block me quickly, if I mention their home country:

And then there’s their website. The Titan website looks fine, but the devil is in the details. Looking up the domain name, I can see it was registered just 2 months ago, through a Czechoslovakian company. And while the images on the site looks crisp and pleasant, every single one of them tracks back to other, older, legitimate HVAC companies throughout the USA. Google Lens is really nice for doing a quick reverse image search, and it shows that these schemers just lifted their images from real duct cleaning websites.

Advice

  • If you recognize a duct cleaning scam, report it to Facebook, and then also report it to the admin of the group where it was posted. Facebook won’t do anything, but hopefully the group’s moderator will remove the post and/or block the sock puppet account.
  • Verify a service company’s identity with a simple phone call, or getting a referral from a true local. Make sure they have a contact number and address that makes sense for your location. Avoid contracting with any service provider that insists on texts or private messaging only.
  • If someone claims they have a license with the local county or NADCA, get that license number from them and check it out! Scammers will boast about having all their licenses, but won’t give them when asked.

More Facebook Phishing

I never think I’ve seen it all. I’m sorry to report, there’s always another scam, just around the corner. Today, I’m seeing a new take on Facebook phishing, and this time, it’s targeting Facebook Business Pages. The scammers are creating fake profiles AND fake websites, and hoping to fool everyday folk like you and I.

The Scam

The scammers are watching and waiting for a legitimate business to post on Facebook. Specifically, they’re looking for giveaway-style posts, where the business is offering something to anyone who comments on or Likes the post. It’s easy for them: They’re just performing a word-search on Facebook posts for “giveaway” or something similar. And when they find what they want, they spring into action.

They quickly create a phishing website that resembles the target company. And they also create a Facebook page, using the name and photos from the real business profile. Then they start commenting to people on their original giveaway post:

more facebook phishing
That comment is not from the real Freeman Foods, it’s an impostor!

Unsuspecting people might see these comments and be fooled into thinking that it is a real comment from the legitimate business. But the comment and link is fraudulent. The URL in the comment leads to a bogus phishing website that asks for your PII. And victims of that fake site will suffer from spam, identity theft or worse.

The Tells

This scam may be obvious to some people, but I should point out how to recognize this as a phishing attempt:

  • The comment links to a strange URL, containing “myfreesites”, “googlesites”, “sitebuilder.com” and not the real URL for the business. These other URLs are using platforms that let anyone create a website, on the fly, for free!
  • The English is a little off, because the scammer is certainly in another country. They could be in Scamdinavia or Carjackistan, but they hide this and pretend to be in the USA.
  • If you click through to the commenter’s page, you can see that it was created very recently and has very few Likes/followers. The legitimate business page would have many Likes and have been created far in the past.
The real Freemans Foods has thousands of followers and created their FB page in 2013.

Reporting the Issue

If you are the real business owner, and the scammer is commenting on your posts, click on the impostor’s name and use the 3-dots button on their profile to report them to Facebook. Then, return to your posts where their comments are, and report those as well. When reporting the comments, look for additional options to Block or Ban them from your Page.

If you are a regular Facebook user, and you see this type of phishing, feel free to report the scammer’s Page and comments to Facebook. The more reports they get, the quicker they may shoot down the impostors.

And if you want to go the extra mile, you can report the phishing website (URL) mentioned in the comments. This can help Google, Microsoft and other big tech in noticing and flagging that website, and it may lead to the site being removed from the internet:

Windows Upgrade Limitations in 2024

It may sound like a dry topic, but some of us really need to understand Windows upgrade limitations in 2024. Microsoft has created some pinch-points, and it affects people who own older computers. Let me break this up into two sections:

Windows 7/8 Can No Longer Be Upgraded to 10

For a long time, Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers could “get” Windows 10. The upgrade might take a long time, but Microsoft would easily detect your old license and morph into a Windows 10 llicense, for free.

Well, last fall, they finally and fully closed that opportunity. Now, if you try to update your Win7 to Win10, you might:

  • meet with failure
  • get a Win10 computer that is plagued with licensing and pirated-software alerts
  • be prompted to pay ($140) for a new license

I don’t like any of these possibilities. Do not attempt to upgrade your Win7/8 computer to Win10!

Your Windows 10 PC Might Not Be Eligible for Windows 11

Microsoft has made an app to tell you if your computer can upgrade to Windows 11, but that’s not really necessary. On a Win10 computer, just click Start -> Settings -> Update & Security. This panel, where you download regular Microsoft updates, will also tell you if this computer can run Windows 11 or not.

If this panel tells you that your computer is not allowed a Windows 11 upgrade, you’ll see this sort of verbiage:

Windows Upgrade Limitations in 2024

Some people are crafting ways around this block. If you go looking, there are steps to upgrade these computers to Windows 11, but I do not recommend them. There are unknown risks in forcing Windows 11 where it shouldn’t go. I wouldn’t accept those risks. I wouldn’t want you to, either.

Other Miscellany

  • If you have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 machine, there is no way that it could ever be upgraded to Windows 11. Do not try it.
  • Remember that Windows 10 reaches its end of life on October 14, 2025. If you have an older, non-Win11 system, you should factor this in to all decisions regarding OS upgrades and tech purchases.
  • If your Windows 10 PC says that it is compatible with Windows 11, great! But no need to rush. You are perfectly safe in holding off on that free upgrade, up until 10/14/2025.
  • Windows 10 computers, that were previously upgraded from Win7/8, should now not be erased/formatted and put through a reinstallation of Windows 10. Because the Windows 10 activation servers have been turned off, an OS reinstallation on these machines might lead to license errors and a block to future updates.
« Older posts

© 2024 BlueScreen Computer

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑