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Is your kid already a web savvy? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how many web trends and novelties he’s familiar with? Sure, you must be proud of him, but aren’t you a bit concerned about his internet security? With all the fun “toys” the online environment provides, most kids tend to overlook security measures. But you shouldn’t!

And what about grandma – is she still learning the computer ABC? Enough reason for you to make sure she doesn’t fall victim to online scams.

Every day, web specialists come up with new fun apps, social networks, games and other web tools that make our web experience lighter and more fun. But as they become more and more popular, cybercrooks start exploiting them to make some dirty money. This means, no matter the age or level of tech savviness, web users often become direct or collateral victims in ever-more sophisticated internet security attacks. And the web users could be you and your family members.

15 essential internet security and privacy rules

So here are some rules you might want to comply with if you want to keep your whole family safe in the digital world:

1. Secure your home Wi-Fi network.
Your home Wi-fi allows your kids to access the internet from all over your house, which makes it harder for you to keep an eye on them. If it’s not secured, intruders might use your bandwidth, or worse, compromise your internet security by infecting your PC with malware or sending their malware attacks from your system. So what to do? Make sure your Wi-Fi highly secured: use a strong password for your router (see rule #7); enable wireless encryption to prevent strangers from “seeing” your network and restrict access to it.

2. Read online privacy policies carefully.
Social networks or websites that require basic information from you when you create an account with them – Facebook, Google+, Pinterest etc. – have privacy policies. Every time you (or a family member) want to join a new network, read the privacy policy carefully so that you know how/if its creators intend to use your information in any way, and what measures they take to prevent internet security dangers such as phishing and identity theft.

3. Teach your kids and even grandma safe social networking.
First off, if your kid is under 13, don’t let him/her subscribe to social networks, unless they’re for kids. Secondly, teach your family members not to use their full names, birthdays and addresses on their profiles. The less personal info, the better for their internet security. Do not talk about your vacation plans prior to leaving, do not share photos with identifiable details (home street, car licence plate etc.) and do not “check in” to public places. Advise your kids to do the same and talk to them about cyberbullying, predators and stalkers.

4. Ensure safe live online gaming for your kids.
Live online games, such as Xbox Live, enable kids or teens to interact with their friends in a fun way, but can also expose them to internet security dangers such as: bullying, harassment, and predators. Make sure your kid doesn’t reveal his identity while playing games – have him use a nickname and an avatar; monitor his play and always check who he’s playing with; turn on the safety measures in the game consoles – use the parental controls they offer.

5. Make sure your teenage kid blogs safely.
Nowadays, all kids do some form of blogging, if not on blogging platforms, on social networks. While blogging improves writing skills and communication, it may compromise your kid’s internet security and physical security if they keep their posts too personal – stalkers and predators’ favourite type of read. So, find out if your kid blogs, evaluate the blogging service (read the privacy policy and make sure it’s private and password-protected), check and review your kid’s blog and posts on social networks regularly.

6. Install Parental Control on your family computers, just in case.
It’s always best to foster open communication with kids, trust them and make them trust you. But extra caution doesn’t hurt. Using a Parental Control tool, just as the one in BullGuard Internet Security, you can block access to inappropriate websites and monitor their activity. Remember: it’s not about spying on your kids, it’s about keeping them safe from online dangers!

7. Create safe passwords for your accounts.
A weak password can be easily cracked by any hacker who wants to breach your online accounts and steal precious information or your identity. A basic internet security rule is to create a strong unique password for each online account and change it regularly: make it long (at least eight characters), mix letters, numbers and symbols, and opt for security questions (whenever the possibility is provided) to which only you know the answer. Teach your family members to do the same.

8. Ensure safe browsing for everyone, even for grandma!
Web browsing is probably the one thing everybody’s good at in the online world. But bear in mind that cybercrooks know and use this fact to their advantage. They can push up fake web addresses in your search results to make you visit their malicious websites and trick you into giving up personal details or downloading spyware and malware. This is why you need to install an effective Safe Browsing tool, as the one included in BullGuard’s internet security suite – it flags out every malicious link in search results and even on Facebook walls; and whenever that happens, it makes a statement! Grandma would surely be pleased with all the prevention details it offers.

9. Download and install software from trusted sources only.
Free games, music, movies etc. are up for download all over the internet. They are also very tempting for children. But some of them contain spyware and other types of malware that can compromise your whole family’s internet security. Make a list of trusted downloading sources and have your whole family stick to it. Also, read carefully the licence agreement before installing a new piece of software and make sure your kids ask for your permission before they download or install something.

10. Look for https:// in the URLs of the websites you make online transactions from.
“S” in “https” stands for “secure” and should appear in every bank or online shop address. If grandma or any other family member is a keen online shopper, advise them to always look for this internet security sign and shop from trusted sources. If they find a new cool online shop, have them research it. Also, if you/they bank or shop from your home Wi-fi, make sure it’s secured (see rule #1).

11. Learn how to recognize and avoid phishing scams.
Usernames, passwords, bank account numbers, PINs, full credit card numbers and your birthday are the “commodities” cybercrooks are after. They devise all sorts of scam messages and sent them your way via e-mail, messages, comments and posts on social networks. Be especially wary of alarmist messages and threats of (bank) account closures, requests for charity donations, lottery wins and giveaways. Also look for grammar and spelling mistakes in the messages and links you’d have to click on – if they are poorly written, they are certainly part of an internet security scam (e.g. www.goog.le.com) Teach your family members to do the same.

12. Keep all your computer programs up-to-date.
Out-dated software has security holes that can easily be exploited by hackers and viruses. That’s why you have to make sure that all the programs on the devices you and your family go online from are up-to-date. A Vulnerability Scanner, like the one in BullGuard Internet Security, can spot the out-dated software versions and find the needed updates.

13. Back up every important file on your computer.
You never know when your computer might break down, whether because of malware attacks or some silly accident. You have to make sure that every vital item on it stays safe and sound. Including your precious family photos of your children growing up, family anniversaries and holidays.

14. Have a complete internet security solution installed on your family computers.
In addition to the features mentioned above, BullGuard Internet Security 12 comes with a proactive antivirus engine that spots even the newest forms of malware, thanks to the state-of-the-art technology it uses – Behavioural detection combined with Signature-based detection. It also provides you with 5GB of Online Backup and the possibility to protect 3 computers at the same time.

15. Keep yourself informed about internet security threats.
Only knowing the “enemy” you can set up a proper “defence mechanism” suited to your family. You don’t have to become a computer savvy; you just need some basic knowledge about online dangers, so that you can talk with your family and teach them how to defend themselves. In BullGuard’s Internet Security Centre you can find lots of information about the most common and newest threats in the online world, as well as some specific tips and tricks on how to stay safe from each threat.

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Most of us secure our digital lives with passwords — hopefully different, strong passwords for each service we use. But the inherent weaknesses of passwords are becoming more apparent: this week, Evernote reset 50 million passwords after a breach, and that’s just the latest in a series of high-profile password-related gaffes from Twitter, Sony, Dropbox, Facebook, and others.

Isn’t security a problem that biometrics can solve? Biometric technologies allow access based on unique and immutable characteristics about ourselves — ideally something that can’t be stolen or faked. Although it’s often the stuff of spy movies, big businesses, governments, and even parts of academia have been using biometric authentication like fingerprints, voice recognition, and even facial scans to authenticate users for years.

So why aren’t the rest of us using these tools to guard our devices, apps, and data? It can’t be that hard … can it?

The myth of the fingerprints

For centuries (maybe even millennia), fingerprints have been used to verify identity, and fingerprint scanners have been options in mainstream business computers for about a decade. Typically, users swipe a finger over a narrow one-dimensional scanner, and the system compares the data to an authorized user. The process of scanning and matching is complex, but as the technology has evolved, accuracy has improved and costs have come down.

But fingerprint readers have downsides. The most obvious are injuries like burns and cuts — imagine being locked out of your phone or computer for a week because a potholder slipped. Stains, ink, sunscreen, moisture, dirt, oils, and even lotion can interfere with fingerprint readers, and some fingerprints just can’t be scanned easily. I’m personally a good example — parts of my fingertips are worn smooth (or blistered) from playing instruments, but lots of people who work with their hands often have thin ridges (or none at all) on their fingers. Trained law-enforcement personnel could tease prints off me if I get hauled down to county, but my luck with fingerprint readers in notebooks is abysmal, and I can’t imagine using one on a phone — outside in the rain, since I live in Seattle.

So far, there’s been only one mainstream smartphone with a fingerprint reader — the Motorola Atrix, which mostly went nowhere along with Motorola’s Webtop technology. But things might be changing: for instance, Apple’s recent acquisition of Authentec last year has fueled speculation future iPhones and iOS devices will offer fingerprint recognition, and long-time fingerprint tech firm Ultra-Scan says they have an ultrasonic reader 100 times more accurate than anything on the market.

“I believe the shift to using fingerprints in consumer electronics is set to happen very fast,” wrote Vance Bjorn, CTO of access management firm Digital Persona. “Passwords are widely regarded as the weakest link of security, and they are becoming even less convenient as consumers need to type them in on smartphones and via touch screens. The use of a fingerprint for authentication solves both problems — security and convenience.”

Your voice is your password

Voice authentication seems well-suited to smartphones: They’re already designed to handle the human voice, and include technologies like noise filtering and signal processing. Just as with fingerprint readers, voice authentication technology has existed for years in high-security facilities, but hasn’t broken into mainstream consumer electronics.

Approaches to speaker identification vary, but they all have to handle variations in speech, background noise, and differences in temperature and air pressure. Some systems compare speakers with pre-recorded phrases from an authorized user, like a PIN number. More sophisticated systems perform complex calculations to work out the acoustic characteristics of a speaker’s vocal tract, and even compare speech patterns and style to determine if someone is (literally) who they say they are.

The first approach is brittle, and can lock out users who have a cold or cough. They’re also vulnerable to recordings. Reformed hacker Kevin Mitnick has spoken of tricking a financial firm’s CEO into saying the numbers zero through nine, recording the numbers, and using them to bypass the bank’s phone-based voice authentication.

More sophisticated approaches can be computationally intensive. These days, the heavy lifting is often done at the receiving end — which means your biometric data gets transferred, often with no protection at all.

“Existing voice technology uses the equivalent of plaintext passwords,” said Manas Pathak, a researcher in privacy-preserving voice authentication who recently completed his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University. “You’re giving part of your identity to the system.”

A voiceprint stored on a remote system can be stolen just like a password file. Moreover, voice data alone can reveal our gender and nationality — even our age and emotional state.

Recent developments aim to work around these problems. A new open standard being developed by the FIDO Alliance would support multiple authentication methods, but biometric data would never leave users’ devices. Pathak and other researchers have developed a sophisticated system that creates a stable representation of a user’s voice (talking about anything), divides it up into similar samples, then cryptographically protects them before performing any comparison. The remote systems never see users’ biometric data, and it can’t be recreated.

“We have about 95 percent accuracy,” said Pathak. “We would need to install it on more phones with wider deployment and testing. That’s outside the realm of academic research, but it’s ready for commercialization.”

Still, it’s hard to discount noise and environmental factors. Traffic noise, conversation, televisions, music, and other sounds can all reduce accuracy. There are times voice recognition is simply not practical: Imagine someone on a bus or subway shouting at their phone to unlock it.

Face the face

Face recognition and iris scans are other common forms of biometric authentication — and could make sense for consumer electronics, since almost all our phones and tablets have high-resolution cameras.

Facial recognition systems work by noting the size, shape, and distances between landmarks on a face, like the eyes, jaw, nose, and cheekbones. Some systems also consider elements like wrinkles and moles, while some high-end gear constructs 3D models — those work even with profile views.

Most of us have seen face recognition technology on Facebook and in applications like Apple’s iPhoto — and the results are pretty uneven. Commercial face recognition systems are more robust, but they struggle with the same things that can make Facebook’s efforts laughable: crappy photos. Bad lighting, glasses, smiles, goofy expressions, hats, and even haircuts can cause problems. Even the best facial recognition systems struggle with angled images, and people’s faces can change radically with age, weight, medical conditions, and injury.

“A few years ago we had a high-end facial recognition system failing a senior engineer almost every time,” said a security coordinator for a Boston-area firm who didn’t want to be identified. “Why? He looks like a mad scientist, complete with thick glasses, crazy hair, and full beard. But I failed the same system myself after eye surgery when I wore a patch for a couple weeks.”

Iris recognition applies pattern matching technologies to the texture (not color) of a user’s iris, usually with a little help from infrared light.

Iris patterns are probably as unique as fingerprints — and they’re generally much more stable. Moreover, matching iris patterns doesn’t require tons of processing power and (in good conditions) has very low false-match rates.

For years, iris recognition technology was largely locked up by key patents held by Iridian, but those patents expired a few years ago and the field has seen significant new development. However, much of it has been aimed at government-funded identification programs, rather than consumer applications.

Iris recognition also has pitfalls. Users would likely have to hold a device closed to their face, with decent lighting and little to no motion. Most eyewear would have to be removed, and some drugs and medications can deform an iris pattern by dilating or constricting pupils — try passing an iris scan following an eye exam.

Just as voice authentication can be vulnerable to recordings, iris scanners can be fooled by quality photographs, or even contact lenses printed with fake irises. As a result, right now the technology is mostly used in human-supervised situations — like immigration and passport control — rather than automated systems.

Securing ourselves

There’s no doubt passwords are an increasingly feeble way to secure our digital lives, and biometric authentication technologies can lock things down using something we are rather than just something we know. However, none of these technologies are a magic bullet for digital security: They all fail for some people some of the time, and they all carry risks and vulnerabilities. Moreover, if biometric information is ever compromised, there may be no going back. After all, you can change your password, but good luck changing your thumbs.

Nonetheless, biometric technologies seem poised to move into consumer electronics soon, most likely in multi-factor systems offering a layer of security in addition to passwords.

“Passwords will never go away — ‘what you know’ will remain a critical tool for security,” noted Digital Persona’s Vance Bjorn. “But I do see the day soon where that tool is no longer viewed as sufficient for most services consumers or employees access.”

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Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced today a two-count indictment charging conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment charges the following 15 defendants: Pasquale Pappalardo, 60, of Coral Springs, Florida; Pasqualino Agovino, 49, of Coral Springs, Florida; Patride Ditroia, 43, of Coral Springs, Florida; Louis Duany, 64, Wilton Manors, Florida; Michael Bleich, formerly of Boca Raton, Florida, 36; Audwin Lovinsky, of Tamarac, Florida, 35; Ibrahim Al-Dabbas, 47, Deerfield Beach, Florida; Michael Vincent Scheel, 50, of Boca Raton, Florida; Diana Harrington, 65, of Boca Raton, Florida; Ashley Lowton, 24, of Clermont, Florida; Charles Lee, 24, of Coral Springs, Florida; Kenneth Rockmore, 27, of Lauderhill, Florida; Ricardo Davis, 25, of Tamarac, Florida; Milton Oliver, 37, of Boynton Beach, Florida; and Clinton Ross, 57, of Redondo Beach, California. All defendants are charged in count one of the indictment with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. Count two charges defendants Pappalardo, Agovino, Ditroia, and Duany with conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956. Defendants Pappalardo, Ditroia, Lovinsky, Oliver, Agovino, Duany, Lowton, Davis, and Lee all appeared in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow. Bond hearings are scheduled for tomorrow. Arrests are expected to continue during the week.

So far, 41 defendants have been charged to date for their involvement with a timeshare resale telemarketing room called Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group Inc. (TMMMG). The other cases previously filed include Case Nos. 11-60190-CR-Cohn, 11-60247-Cr-Marra, 11-60268-Cr-Hurley, 12-60019-Cr-Scola, 12-60149- Cr- Scola, and 12-mj-6114-RSR.

According to the indictment, in June 2009, Pappalardo incorporated TMMMG, using defendant Duany and Duany’s mother as nominee owners. Pappalardo was a co-owner of TMMMG, and Ditroia, Agovino, and Duany helped run TMMMG for him. According to the allegations in the indictment, the defendants conspired to unlawfully enrich themselves by making false representations over the telephone to individuals who were trying to sell their time-share units. Among the false statements, the defendants would tell customers, most of whom lived outside of the state of Florida, that the defendants had successfully sold their time-share unit and asked the customer to pay a fee to finalize the sale, a which fee would purportedly be refunded at closing. This fee ranged from at least $1,996 to as much as $10,000.

According to the indictment, the defendants knew that TMMMG never had any buyers for any of the sellers of their timeshare units. In this way, during the 10 months that TMMMG was in business, it fraudulently induced customers to send approximately $5,000,000 to TMMMG, of which Pappalardo received at least $300,000 in checks and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash from victims.

If convicted, defendants Pappalardo, Agovino, Ditroia, and Duany each face a possible statutory maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Defendants Bleich, Lovinsky, Al-Dabbas, Scheel, Harrington, Lowton, Lee, Rockmore, Davis, Oliver, and Ross each face a possible statutory maximum sentence of up to twenty years in prison.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. Mr. Ferrer also recognized the assistance provided by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the Federal Trade Commission during this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

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(CNN) – Former President Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law in 1996, is now calling on the Supreme Court to rule the same law unconstitutional.

The law, which defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, denies federal benefits to same-sex couples in the nine states where same-sex couples can now legally wed.

“On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed published online Thursday night by The Washington Post.

He continued: “As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution.”

When it first became law, Clinton wrote “it was a very different time.” He added that many supporters of the bill believed its passage would “defuse a movement to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which would have ended the debate for a generation or more.”

Under those circumstances, he wrote, the bill came to his desk, opposed by 81 out of 535 members of Congress.

Fast forward to 2013, and the climate is much different. Nine states (plus the District of Columbia) have passed laws allowing same-sex marriage and public opinion polls shows a majority of Americans think it should be legal. According to a CBS News poll conducted last month, 54% of Americans think same-sex couples should have the right to legally wed, while 39% oppose same-sex marriage.

Looking back, Clinton said he had hoped DOMA would not provide an excuse for discrimination. “I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory,” he wrote. “It should be overturned.”

Same-sex couples who are legally married in the United States are still denied “more than a thousand federal statutes and programs available to other married couples” because of the law, he wrote.

While he previously opposed same-sex marriage, Clinton went public in 2009 with a change of heart.

“I was against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage nationwide, and I still think that the American people should be able to play this out in debates,” Clinton told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in September 2009. “But me, Bill Clinton personally, I changed my position.”

“I am no longer opposed to that,” he added. “I think if people want to make commitments that last a lifetime, they ought to be able to do it.”

In his op-ed, Clinton wrote that “while our laws may at times lag behind our best natures, in the end they catch up to our core values.”

“I join with the Obama administration, the petitioner Edith Windsor and the many other dedicated men and women who have engaged in this struggle for decades in urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act,” he wrote.

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Scam artists in the U.S. and around the world defraud millions of people each year. They use the phone, email, postal mail, and the internet to trick you into sending money or giving out personal information.

Here are 10 things you can do — or not — to stop a scam.

What to Do

Know who you’re dealing with.
Try to find a seller’s physical address (not a P.O. Box) and phone number. With internet phone services and other web-based technologies, it’s tough to tell where someone is calling from. Do an online search for the company name and website, and look for reviews. If people report negative experiences, you’ll have to decide if the offer is worth the risk. After all, a deal is good only if you get a product that actually works as promised.

Know that wiring money is like sending cash.
Con artists often insist that people wire money, especially overseas, because it’s nearly impossible to reverse the transaction or trace the money. Don’t wire money to strangers, to sellers who insist on wire transfers for payment, or to anyone who claims to be a relative or friend in an emergency and wants to keep the request a secret.

Read your monthly statements.
Scammers steal account information and then run up charges or commit crimes in your name. Dishonest merchants bill you for monthly “membership fees” and other goods or services without your authorization. If you see charges you don’t recognize or didn’t okay, contact your bank, card issuer, or other creditor immediately.

After a disaster, give only to established charities.
In the aftermath of a disaster, give to an established charity, rather than one that has sprung up overnight. Pop-up charities probably don’t have the infrastructure to get help to the affected areas or people, and they could be collecting the money to finance illegal activity. For more donating tips, check out ftc.gov/charityfraud.

Talk to your doctor before you buy health products or treatments.
Ask about research that supports a product’s claims — and possible risks or side effects. In addition, buy prescription drugs only from licensed U.S. pharmacies. Otherwise, you could end up with products that are fake, expired, or mislabeled — in short, products that could be dangerous to your health. Learn more about buying health products online.

Remember there’s no sure thing in investing.
If someone contacts you with low-risk, high-return investment opportunities, stay away. When you hear pitches that insist you act now, that guarantee big profits, that promise little or no financial risk, or that demand that you send cash immediately, report them at ftc.gov.

What Not to Do

Don’t send money to someone you don’t know.
Not to an online seller you’ve never heard of — or an online love interest who asks for money. It’s best to do business with sites you know and trust. If you buy items through an online auction, consider using a payment option that provides protection, like a credit card.

If you think you’ve found a good deal, but you aren’t familiar with the company, check it out. Type the company or product name into your favorite search engine with terms like “review,” “complaint,” or “scam.” See what comes up — on the first page of results as well as on the later pages.

Never pay fees first for the promise of a big pay-off later — whether it’s for a loan, a job, a grant or a so-called prize.

Don’t agree to deposit a check and wire money back.
By law, banks have to make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. You’re responsible for the checks you deposit: If a check turns out to be a fake, you’re responsible for paying back the bank. No matter how convincing the story, someone who overpays with a check is almost certainly a scam artist.

Don’t reply to messages asking for personal or financial information.
It doesn’t matter whether the message comes as an email, a phone call, a text message, or an ad. Don’t click on links or call phone numbers included in the message, either. It’s called phishing. The crooks behind these messages are trying to trick you into revealing sensitive information. If you got a message like this and you are concerned about your account status, call the number on your credit or debit card — or your statement — and check on it.

Don’t play a foreign lottery.
It’s illegal to play a foreign lottery. And yet messages that tout your chances of winning a foreign lottery, or messages that claim you’ve already won, can be tempting. Inevitably, you have to pay “taxes,” “fees,” or “customs duties” to collect your prize. If you must send money to collect, you haven’t won anything. And if you send any money, you will lose it. You won’t get any money back, either, regardless of promises or guarantees.

Report Scams

If you think you may have been scammed:

-File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. If you are outside the U.S., file a complaint at econsumer.gov.

-Visit ftc.gov/idtheft, where you’ll find out how to minimize your risk of identity theft.

-Report scams to your state Attorney General.

If you get unsolicited email offers or spam, send the messages to spam@uce.gov.

If you get what looks like lottery material from a foreign country through the postal mail, take it to your local postmaster.

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A child’s Social Security number can be used by identity thieves to apply for government benefits, open bank and credit card accounts, apply for a loan or utility service, or rent a place to live. Check for a credit report to see if your child’s information is being misused. Take immediate action if it is.

Many school forms require personal and, sometimes, sensitive information. Find out how your child’s information is collected, used, stored, and thrown away. Your child’s personal information is protected by law. Asking schools and other organizations to safeguard your child’s information can help minimize your child’s risk of identity theft.

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The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is a non-profit association of attorneys and consumer advocates committed to representing customers’ interests. Our members are private and public sector attorneys, legal services attorneys, law professors and law students whose primary focus is the protection and representation of consumers. NACA’s members focus much of their efforts on advocating for individuals who have been victimized by fraudulent, abusive, or predatory business practices. However, NACA is also diligently focusing on innovative educational opportunities designed to prevent consumers from falling victim to these consumer scams. We are pleased to join in celebrating National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) with the Federal Trade Commission the week of March 3rd-9th.

“The goal of any good consumer advocate is our own obsolescence,” states Ira Rheingold, NACA’s Executive Director. Though National Consumer Protection Week comes only once a year, NACA’s educational unit strives year round to provide both attorneys and consumers with the learning resources, opportunities, and forums they need to be effective advocates for themselves and others in the marketplace. To that end, NACA has launched a new initiative aimed at providing consumer advocates with frequent, free-of-charge online webinar courses addressing the latest in substantive legal developments, legislative and regulatory updates, and more. Our goal with these webinars is to provide consumer advocates and educators a forum to absorb and share new and relevant information, and then be able to tailor and implement what they have learned to serve the specific needs of the consumer communities.

NACA also develops free educational materials and brochures on various consumer protection topics, including Fair Debt Collection, Foreclosure, Military Consumer Justice, and Auto Fraud, which can be found on NACA’s website here. The brochures provide basic information for consumers to learn more about abusive lending and ways to try to avoid it. Some of our publications are available in Spanish. As part of NACA’s Military Consumer Justice Project, we have also developed free educational materials specifically tailored for military servicemembers and their families.

As part of NCPW, NACA helped to kick off this exciting week by participating in the NCPW Congressional Fair on Thursday, February 28th. Additionally, NACA is co-sponsoring the Fair Debt Collection Practices Conference with the National Consumer Law Center in Baltimore during NCPW (March 7th-9th).

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Bogus product! Danger! Health fraud alert!

You’ll never see these warnings on health products, but that’s what you ought to be thinking when you see claims like “miracle cure,” “revolutionary scientific breakthrough,” or “alternative to drugs or surgery.”

Health fraud scams have been around for hundreds of years. The snake oil salesmen of old have morphed into the deceptive, high-tech marketers of today. They prey on people’s desires for easy solutions to difficult health problems—from losing weight to curing serious diseases like cancer.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a health product is fraudulent if it is deceptively promoted as being effective against a disease or health condition but has not been scientifically proven safe and effective for that purpose.

Scammers promote their products through newspapers, magazines, TV infomercials and cyberspace. You can find health fraud scams in retail stores and on countless websites, in popup ads and spam, and on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Not Worth the Risk

Health fraud scams can do more than waste your money. They can cause serious injury or even death, says Gary Coody, R.Ph., FDA’s national health fraud coordinator. “Using unproven treatments can delay getting a potentially life-saving diagnosis and medication that actually works. Also, fraudulent products sometimes contain hidden drug ingredients that can be harmful when unknowingly taken by consumers.”

Coody says fraudulent products often make claims related to:

-weight loss
-sexual performance
-memory loss
-serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s.

A Pervasive Problem

Fraudulent products not only won’t work—they could cause serious injury. In the past few years, FDA laboratories have found more than 100 weight-loss products, illegally marketed as dietary supplements, that contained sibutramine, the active ingredient in the prescription weight-loss drug Meridia. In 2010, Meridia was withdrawn from the U.S. market after studies showed that it was associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Fraudulent products marketed as drugs or dietary supplements are not the only health scams on the market. FDA found a fraudulent and expensive light therapy device with cure-all claims to treat fungal meningitis, Alzheimer’s, skin cancer, concussions and many other unrelated diseases. Generally, making health claims about a medical device without FDA clearance or approval of the device is illegal.

“Health fraud is a pervasive problem,” says Coody, “especially when scammers sell online. It’s difficult to track down the responsible parties. When we do find them and tell them their products are illegal, some will shut down their website. Unfortunately, however, these same products may reappear later on a different website, and sometimes may reappear with a different name.”

Tip-Offs

FDA offers some tip-offs to help you identify rip-offs.

One product does it all. Be suspicious of products that claim to cure a wide range of diseases. A New York firm claimed its products marketed as dietary supplements could treat or cure senile dementia, brain atrophy, atherosclerosis, kidney dysfunction, gangrene, depression, osteoarthritis, dysuria, and lung, cervical and prostate cancer. In October 2012, at FDA’s request, U.S. marshals seized these products.

Personal testimonials. Success stories, such as, “It cured my diabetes” or “My tumors are gone,” are easy to make up and are not a substitute for scientific evidence.

Quick fixes. Few diseases or conditions can be treated quickly, even with legitimate products. Beware of language such as, “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days” or “eliminates skin cancer in days.”

“All natural.” Some plants found in nature (such as poisonous mushrooms) can kill when consumed. Moreover, FDA has found numerous products promoted as “all natural” but that contain hidden and dangerously high doses of prescription drug ingredients or even untested active artificial ingredients.

“Miracle cure.” Alarms should go off when you see this claim or others like it such as, “new discovery,” “scientific breakthrough” or “secret ingredient.” If a real cure for a serious disease were discovered, it would be widely reported through the media and prescribed by health professionals—not buried in print ads, TV infomercials or on Internet sites.

Conspiracy theories. Claims like “The pharmaceutical industry and the government are working together to hide information about a miracle cure” are always untrue and unfounded. These statements are used to distract consumers from the obvious, common-sense questions about the so-called miracle cure.

Even with these tips, fraudulent health products are not always easy to spot. If you’re tempted to buy an unproven product or one with questionable claims, check with your doctor or other health care professional first.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

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Crime rates inched slightly higher in 2011. Here are the cities that reported the highest rates of murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary and car theft, according to CQ Press’ annual analysis of FBI data.

Detroit

Crime index*: 4.71
Population: 713,239
Murder rate (per 100,000): 48.2

Motor City claimed the top spot for highest overall crime rate among cities with 250,000 or more residents, according to CQ Press’ annual analysis of FBI data for 2011.

With 342 murders in 2011, Detroit trailed only New Orleans in terms of homicide rate. And the city reported the highest rate of assaults out of any other major city.

The FBI warns that ranking cities based on crime data can be misleading because each city reports crimes differently and some crimes go unreported.

However, an increase in crime can have a significant negative impact on a population, according to a 2009 study by the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy at New York University. And Detroit’s unsafe streets are aggravating the city’s struggle to maintain its already-dwindling population, which has shrunk by 25% since 2000.

St. Louis

Crime index*: 3.63
Population: 320,454
Murder rate (per 100,000): 35.3

Even though it still ranks second on the most dangerous cities list, St. Louis is a lot safer than it used to be. Murders have been cut in half over the past two decades — as have the numbers for other violent crimes.

Still, at about 35 murders per 100,000 residents in 2011, St. Louis claims the third highest homicide rate of any major city.

One reason St. Louis’s crime rate is so high is that the city has not grown beyond its very constricted borders, according to criminologist Richard Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Other cities have expanded outward by swallowing up safer nearby communities, which helps dilute the overall crime stats. Oklahoma City’s reporting area, for example, is nearly 10 times the size of St. Louis’.

If the safer St. Louis suburbs were counted into its crime statistics, the overall crime rate for St. Louis would be much lower.

Oakland, Calif.

Crime index*: 3.49
Population: 395,317
Murder rate (per 100,000): 26.3

Gang violence is one of the biggest issues plaguing Oakland, according to a report published in 2012 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Homicides jumped 15% to 104 in 2011. Robbery is another big problem: Oakland leads all large cities in robbery with 851 robberies per 100,000 residents.

Cleveland

Crime index*: 3.09
Population: 397,106
Murder rate (per 100,000): 18.6

Burglaries were one of the biggest issues facing Cleveland residents in 2011, with the number of break-ins and thefts climbing by 8.6% from the previous year. That gave the city the second highest burglary rate in the country — next to Toledo, Ohio.

Street crimes — robberies and assaults — also continued to soar, with Cleveland second only to Oakland among the nation’s 72 largest cities.

One area of improvement: The number of murders fell to 74, from 81 the year before.

New Orleans

Crime index*: 2.84
Population: 346,974
Murder rate (per 100,000): 57.6

In 2010, incoming mayor Mitch Landrieu cited a “systematic failure” of New Orleans’ police department for its inability to bring down the city’s soaring homicide rate.

“The police department is supposed to protect and serve, but right now it’s not doing either of those things well,” he said in a CNN interview when he first took office in 2010. “My top priority is to make this city safe. It can’t be safe without a police department that people trust.”

There’s still a lot of work to be done. The city’s murder rate is 20% higher than Detroit and nine times higher than cities like New York and San Francisco. The number of killings in the Big Easy jumped to 199 in 2011 from 175 the year before.

Newark, N.J.

Crime index*: 2.82
Population: 278,064
Murder rate (per 100,000): 33.8

Newark’s crime record appeared to be on the upswing a few years ago. March 2010 marked its first murder-free month in more than 40 years and shootings were down for three back-to-back years, falling 75% through 2009, Mayor Cory Booker told CNN in a televised interview.

But then budget constraints sparked by the recession forced the city to lay off one-sixth of its police force.

The rate of violent crime rose by more than 11% in 2011 compared with 2010. Street crimes spiked, with robberies up 23% and the city’s robbery rate ranked third highest among the nation’s cities.

Atlanta

Crime index*: 2.66
Population: 425,533
Murder rate (per 100,000): 20.7

In Atlanta, violent crimes have been a particular problem. Aggravated assaults, typically attacks with deadly weapons, were up 3% since 2010, to the fifth-highest rate among U.S. cities. Robberies jumped by even more, up 8%.

But there were signs of improvement in some areas. There were five fewer murders in 2011 and property crimes edged slightly lower.

Baltimore

Crime index*: 2.61
Population: 626,848
Murder rate (per 100,000): 31.3

Labeled a “high-intensity” drug trafficking area by the Department of Justice, Baltimore has seen an increase in gang-related activity over the past several years.

The city recorded 196 murders in 2011 — the fifth highest murder rate in the nation — and roughly 70% of the victims were involved in the drug trade, according to the Baltimore Police Department.

The city also landed in the top 10 for both robberies (ranking seventh) and assaults (placing ninth).

Memphis, Tenn.

Crime index*: 2.28
Population: 652,725
Murder rate (per 100,000): 17.9

Memphis has grown into a sprawling city, encompassing more than 324 square miles. More than half of the metro-area residents live within city limits, which include many safe suburbs.

Despite that fact, Memphis still has a major crime problem, with a murder rate that is nearly four times the national average.

Street crime is also bad with robberies common and the city claiming the third highest aggravated assault rate in the country.

Kansas City, Mo.

Crime index*: 2.13
Population: 461,456
Murder rate (per 100,000): 23.4

Overall, Kansas City’s violent crime rate is the ninth highest among big cities.

Aggravated assaults were prominent among the city’s police reports and unfortunately, so were murders. Kansas City reported 108 murders in 2011, up from 102 the year before. That gave it the dubious honor of ranking seventh highest among the nation’s big cities in terms of homicide rate.

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Can you spot a husband prone to infidelity? If he’s unhappy with his wife, he’ll cheat, right? Not necessarily. According to a Rutgers University study, 56 percent of men who have affairs claim to be happy in their marriages. They’re largely satisfied with all they have and aren’t looking for a way out, yet they still find themselves in bed with other women—and in hot water with their wives. Here, experts explain this phenomenon and dispel other popular cheating myths.

Fact #1: Most men are still in love with their wives when they cheat.

Men who cheat haven’t fallen out of love; they’ve become unsatisfied with the current state of it. “Cheating usually occurs in the phase of companionate love, when couples begin to settle down, have kids and solidify the life being built together,” says clinical psychologist Andra Brosh, PhD. While they’re fulfilled in some areas, like being a provider, the romance may be missing. “We more often think of women complaining about a lack of romance, but men feel it, too,” says Dr. Brosh. “They frequently suffer in silence, believing they can’t get what they want from their spouses.” To avoid this in your marriage, plan nights out together, set aside time for sex and discuss hopes and dreams—not just workdays and your son’s last soccer game.

Fact #2: Men usually cheat with women they know.

Cheaters don’t generally pick up random women in bars. “My first husband cheated on me with a childhood friend,” says Diane* from New York City. “His family was close to her family, so they never lost touch.” Intimacy expert Mary Jo Rapini explains, “A lot of women think that all cheating women are floozies—not true. The relationships are usually friendships first.” A good idea: Make sure your husband feels more connected to you than to his business partner. “Spouses go to work, take care of their kids and do separate things at night. That has to stop,” says Rapini. She suggests always going to bed at the same time and cuddling.

Fact #3: Men cheat to save their marriages

“Men love their spouses, but they don’t know how to fix their relationship problems, so they go outside their marriages to fill any holes,” says licensed marriage and family therapist Susan Mandel, PhD. Men want it all and have the skewed notion that another woman will make the longing for something more disappear. Then, they can live happily ever after with their wife—and their mistress—without confronting the real issues.

Fact #4: Men hate themselves after affairs.

You may think of cheaters as men without morals, but while they may like what they did, they tend to despise themselves after their indiscretions. “If he puts his ego to the side, he’ll feel like a piece of garbage,” says relationship expert Charles J. Orlando, author of The Problem with Women…Is Men. “After all, he’s betraying another human being who he claims to care about, so that takes its toll on every part of his psyche.” A cheater can feel as though he’s failed as a man.

Fact #5: Cheaters often get friskier with their wives when affairs begin.

Just because a husband’s touchy-feely doesn’t mean his marriage is on firm footing. “When a man starts cheating, he becomes hyperactive sexually,” says Rapini, explaining that his sex drive has been awakened, and his wife is still the one with whom he feels most comfortable sexually. If you notice a sudden change in your husband’s sex drive, it should raise a red flag. Be on the lookout for the switch to flip off again. “After the affair is solid, he may begin to pull away,” says Rapini.

Fact #6: Women cheat just as much as men, and their affairs are often more dangerous.

An Indiana University study shows that men and women cheat at the same rate. But “the reasons the sexes cheat are different,” says Orlando. He explains women are more likely to cheat for emotional satisfaction. “Online cheating—without any physical contact—is the most damaging type of infidelity,” says Orlando. Becoming emotionally invested in another person means you’ve likely checked out of your marriage. But if it’s just sex, it’s less about attachment and more about a hurtful mistake.

Fact #7: A wife often knows her husband’s cheating.

How could Tiger Woods’s ex, Elin Nordegren, and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ex, Maria Shriver, not have known what their high-profile husbands were up to? They probably did, but couldn’t bear to acknowledge it. “At one level, I knew, but my denial was so strong,” says Lily* from Toronto, Canada. “The pain, had I accepted it at that time, would have been too horrendous, so I had to process it slowly.” According to Dr. Brosh, the jilted celebrities were likely doing the same thing: choosing what they could live with for the sake of their kids or to avoid humiliation and the fallout.

Fact #8: A couple will never work it out when the husband is in the midst of an affair.

They could agree to work on things, but it won’t matter. If he’s still in the throes of a hot, new romance, nothing a woman does will drag him out of it. “He’s got such positivity happening, without all the drama that exists in the established relationship,” says Orlando. The marriage will likely fail, unless he decides on his own accord that life isn’t better with the other woman. So the key is prevention. Continue to be the woman he first fell for throughout your marriage. “Women often turn from a loving girlfriend into a nagging wife. Men aren’t attracted to that.” Dole out compliments and surprise him with sex—don’t just yell at him about that towel on the bathroom floor, suggests Dr. Mandel.

Fact #9: Affairs can sometimes fix a marriage.

Is infidelity the kiss of death for a couple? Not always. Although a new relationship is exciting, “an affair can rekindle the marriage,” says Orlando. “Men realize who they want for the rest of their lives and that the new relationship isn’t as perfect as they thought.” But think hard before returning to a cheater. “Flings can highlight how little self-control someone has,” explains Orlando. Still, if it was truly a one-time slip, it’s possible to get back on track.

Fact #10: Even after rebuilding the marriage, a husband may still miss the affair.

Sadly, he might love his wife and want to salvage the marriage, but he doesn’t totally forget about the affair. “He might miss the great things about the other woman—fun, zero responsibilities, sex, the rush or the chase—but oftentimes he misses how he feels about himself when he was with her, which is more damaging if he’s trying to return to his marriage,” says Orlando. Again, acting as you did when the relationship was new could help.

Fact #11: A cheater knows he’s hurting the woman he loves, tearing his family apart and sacrificing his honor.

A man may realize the negative impact on his wife, family and himself, but still continue an affair. How? “It’s all in the perception of the cheater,” says Orlando. “If he feels unwanted, undervalued and taken for granted, his personal needs of being wanted, valued and appreciated will win out.”

Fact #12: The wife’s not to blame if her husband cheats on her.

Realize this: If your husband is unfaithful, it’s not your fault, no matter what people say. “When a man cheats, he’s making a conscious choice to do it,” says Dr. Brosh. “The idea of being pushed into the arms of another woman is an expression, not a reality.” Orlando echoes this sentiment: “Men don’t cheat because of who she is; they cheat because of who they’re not,” he says. “The ‘fault’ is that the signs of disconnection have been ignored by both parties.

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