The Women's Club of Coconut Creek is hosting the Fall Harvest Festival on November 16, 2024 and I will be a vendor at this event!
I will have the butterflies and sunset images on 2" and 4" wood slices along with some matted art, framed artwork and some poetry books.
Stop by and say "hi" if you're there!
I started the Summer with my entry to the Summer Sizzle Salon Exhibit that ran July 5-26,2024.
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| Picture of Suzzette Dawes at Summer Sizzle Salon Exhibit |
Next stop! I was at Collier City Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 27, 2024 showcasing with Afro Summer. An amazing experience sharing my art with future artists.
David Miller (aka David.11stereo) assembled the team of artists of Willie Williams, Etheridge Lovett, Shanique Dawkins, himself and myself.
Upcoming event! Botanicals Exhibit that runs August 1 - 23, 2024. I'll be at the Opening Reception and I hope to see you there!
I would like to thank the Broward Art Guild and Broward County Libraries for displaying my work. Broward Art Guild has a program called "Art Around Town" that allows members to display works in different venues. The venue that I will be displaying my exhibit "The Painting Poet" is the South Regional Library which is located at 7300 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, FL 33024.
I have fond memories of the venue as I attended Broward Community College - South Campus from 1989 to 1991. I also have attended some poetry club events over the years hosted by Sadiq Alkoriji so I am thrilled to be exhibiting in this space!
2022 is here and so is the need for cybersecurity. Threats come to us from phone, text, emails and even snail mail. The more we can recognize threats, the more we can protect ourselves. This year I started a new series on YouTube where I use a virtual machine to examine the links in scam/spam emails.
According to FTC (n.d.), phishing is when a scammer sends an email that imitates a reputable brand but includes a link or attachment whose purpose is to steal your personal information. Personal information could include logon credentials. A couple weeks ago, I received an email with ‘thank you’ for your order from ebay but my spam filter caught it. There was a link involved but I didn’t research further.
More at Detecting Email Scams here at YouTube
Next is vishing scams. Basically, Vishing is voice + phishing. The scammer can directly call you or send you an email or snail mail and direct you to call them. According to Osborn (2021), an email is sent to you about an order and directs you to call a number. It is very similar to phishing but unlike sending you to a website to harvest your credentials, you are directed to a number. Osborn (2021) provided an example of a scammer sending an email that purports to be from Amazon and then when you call in, the scammer would request “the order number, customer name, and credit card details before cutting the call and blocking the number.”
Vishing scams can also arrive by snail mail. Take for example, the “Experian” mail about data breach that I received back in March. It directed me to call a number (which I did not call). You can read more about it on my blog at https://suzzettedawes.blogspot.com/2021/03/experian-and-infinity-insurance-scam.html
More discussion on vishing at https://youtu.be/nbORYwYLPHY
Finally, there are smishing scams. Smishing = SMS + phishing. SMS is text messaging.
Smishing may appear to be prevalent than other forms of phishing due to email spam filters filter out most phishing attacks and also people tend to check text messages more than email. According to Koetsier (2019), people prioritize texts over emails. Since people check their texts more frequently, smishing may seem more prevalent than phishing.
Recently, I have received scam texts and discussed it at https://youtu.be/24b8LmS3FF8.
Also, the United States Postal Inspection Service (n.d.) provides some great tips in dealing with smishing at https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/smishing-package-tracking-text-scams
Scams seems to increase frequently and we need to be able to recognize scams so we can protect ourselves. I hope you find this information helpful.
References
FTC (n.d.). How to recognize and avoid phishing scams. Retrieved from https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams
Koetsier, John (2019). Consumers 35X More Likely To See Brands’ Texts vs Emails. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2019/11/14/consumers-35x-more-likely-to-see-brands-texts-vs-emails/?sh=12f2df3b445a
Osborn, C. (2021). Fraudsters employ Amazon ‘vishing’ attacks in fake order scams. Retrieved from https://www.zdnet.com/article/fraudsters-employ-amazon-vishing-attacks-in-fake-order-scams/
United States Postal Inspection Service (n.d.). Smishing: Package Tracking Text Scams. Retrieved from https://www.uspis.gov/news/scam-article/smishing-package-tracking-text-scams.
The calls are the worst. I was waiting for a callback for something else and not sure what number would be calling me so I answered the phone. It was a bit creepy because they did their research and addressed me by name. Further, they even knew where I lived then they try to tell you that they will give you cash for your house as-is. However, beware as they want to offer below market price… well below market price. This person insisted that everyone has a price so I gave them mine: $10M. Then there were the questions like “how big is the property?” etc. That’s not my point! My point is that if you insist on a price, I will give you one. I don’t care if it not based in reality! If you insist on me moving, then you need to pay me to move, pay the movers, pay for the new place (which needs to have adequate space) and pay for a vacation because moving is an ordeal and unpacking is a beast! Further, I am not interested in selling. I've heard that by registering my phone number with the "do not call" list should reduce the calls and I can report spam text messages to the FTC.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) assures us that telemarketing to cell phone numbers has always been illegal and will continue to be so.* The FTC does, however, maintain a National Do Not Call Registry which will prevent most telemarketers from calling any number on the list. Customers can add their telephone numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry at https://www.donotcall.gov/.The State of Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services also maintains a statewide Do Not Call list. Information about the state's program and Florida Statutes concerning telemarketing can be found at http://www.800helpfla.com/nosales.html or by calling 1-800-HELP FLA (1-800-435-7352).
References
Lyons, D. (07 Mar
2021). If you’ve hit a wall in the search for a home, consider these ideas.
Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved from https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-homebuyer-questions-ss-prem-20210307-vdbat5mjxzfdrn2wbmtprbsvbi-story.html
Lyons, D. (28 Dec
2020). Renters face rising prices in most South Florida cities. But not
everywhere. Retrieved from https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-rents-escalate-ss-prem-20201228-5ff2b5q6bjaunlzs6hcjkwimsa-story.html
Florida Public Service Commission. (2006) Consumer Tip. Retrieved from http://www.psc.state.fl.us/ConsumerAssistance/TipoftheWeek?TipDate=July%2009,%202006#:~:text=The%20State%20of%20Florida's%20Department,800%2D435%2D7352).
My email normally filters out spam but sometimes those scam emails get through. When the scam emails appear to come from vendors that I use, it can be hard to recognize. I recently received an email and here's how I figured it was a scam:
Although the sender looked like CVSPharmacyNEWS, the email address was from onliinecvseses@althmedication.info
A lot of cybersecurity expert would also inform of spelling errors and there were a few that I picked up on immediately: "onliine" for "online" and "recieve" for "receive"
Finally, I hovered over the button "Check it out now" and the address that appeared also was not from cvs.
What strange emails have landed in your inbox and how did you determine it was a scam?
