By Rick Rouse

As you probably know by now, scammers love using the Internet to perpetrate frauds and trick innocent people into doing things that are harmful to their devices and/or their financial lives.

Some scams come and go, but others seem to hang around forever while occasionally changing up the tricks they use from time to time to keep us all off guard.

One such persistent scam targets folks who use the popular DocuSign “online agreement” service.

In a nutshell, DocuSign makes it easy to negotiate and sign various kinds of contracts and exchange official correspondence via the Internet. And it’s quite popular in the business world.

There are two primary types of scams targeting DocuSign customers that are making the rounds right now:

1 – DocuSign Phishing Emails

These are fraudulent emails that show up in your inbox with subject lines such as “Notification from DocuSign Electronic Service” or “Important correspondence for you via DocuSign“.

The bodies of these emails typically state that you need to log into your DocuSign account to review and take action on some type of important document.

Of course the email includes a handy link for logging into DocuSign, but if you click that link you won’t be taken to the official DocuSign website.

Instead, you’ll be taken to a realistic looking, but fake knockoff of the official DocuSign site containing a fake login form.

If you take the bait and enter your login credentials you’ll end up handing them over to a hacker who will sign into your DocuSign account and use it to scam people in your name.

2 – Malware Delivery Scam

This variation of the fraudulent emails uses titles similar to the ones mentioned above, but the purpose of the emails themselves is quite different.

Instead of some text and a link, the email will contain an attachment consisting of either an HTML file or a Microsoft Office file.

Regardless of the file type, as soon as you open it your computer or Android device will be hit with an attempt to install malware on it.

Apple iOS users are more or less safe from these attacks given the way Apple designed iOS to resist viruses and most other forms of malware, but Windows and Android users are at great risk.

Both varieties of these scams always contain one huge red flag that will tip you off every time: A knock-off sender’s email address.

For example, instead of the sender’s email address being something like [email protected] it will be something like [email protected].

These fraudulent email addresses are very to spot. If the sender’s email address doesn’t include @docusign.com you will know right away that the entire message is both fake and extremely dangerous.

Bottom line: If you receive any type of email that appears to be from DocuSign you can safely assume that it’s fraudulent unless you were expecting to receive such an email on behalf of a prospective business partner or some other entity that you’re in the process of dealing with in some manner.

And even if you are expecting a message from DocuSign I strongly recommend that you carefully examine the sender’s email address to make sure the email really was sent from DocuSign (again, the email address will include @docusign.com).

And here’s one final tip: Senders will usually send the recipients a heads-up before they actually send out a document to be signed online. If you aren’t already expecting to receive one of these documents to sign you should be very skeptical even if the email appears to be 100% legitimate.

Note: Brian often recommends Malwarebytes to folks, and we have used it ourselves for years, but we often get questions on the free vs trial version of the program. Read this helpful tech tip from Rick Rouse.

Enjoy today's featured easy-to-follow tech tip.
By RICK ROUSE

Today’s featured tech tip…

Q&A: Does Malwarebytes still offer a free version?

Question from Martha: Hi, Rick. I need your help with the Malwarebytes download.
I tried downloading 'Malwarebytes Free' by clicking the Free Antivirus Download button on this page but it installs a 14 day trial version instead.

Am I clicking the wrong thing to download the free Malwarebytes? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Or does Malwarebytes not even come with a free version (which would be a bait and switch in my opinion)?

Any help you can give me with this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Rick's answer: You're actually clicking the right button, Martha. And yes, clicking that button will indeed let you use Malwarebytes for as long as you want without having to pay a cent.
What is all boils down to is this: The free version and the trial version of Malwarebytes are basically one and the same.

This is how the free Malwarebytes download process works:

1 - You click the Free Antivirus Download button to download the Malwarebytes installation file onto your PC.

2 - When you run the installation file it installs the 14 day free trial of the Premium (paid) Malwarebytes program.

3 - At the end of the 14 day trial period you're prompted to make a decision: Would you like to pay for the upgrade so you can keep using the Premium version (and pay for a subscription) or would you prefer to go with the free version as you originally planned?

4 - You make your choice between the two options given.

If you like the full version you can pay the upgrade fee and the installed trial version will be replaced by the actual Premium Malwarebytes app. You'll then be prompted to renew your subscription after one year has elapsed.

If you choose to use the free version of Malwarebytes, the trial version will automatically revert to the free version. You won't have to do a thing on your end.

You'll then be able to use the free version of Malwarebytes as long as you want without ever having to pay a cent for it.

Note: If you decide to stay with the free version you'll still receive periodic invitations to upgrade to the paid Premium version. All you have to do is decline the offer every time it shows up and you'll be able to keep using the free version like you always have.

Bottom line: The download procedure for Malwarebytes Free is indeed a little confusing, but you'll definitely end up with the free version after all is said and done (unless you decide to accept their offer to upgrade, of course).
​
Bonus tip: This post explains why you should occasionally ask for a second opinion when your antivirus scan says your PC is malware-free.

Courtesy of Apple Support

Retrace your steps

​You can use Backtrack in the Compass app to track your route and then help you retrace your steps in case you get lost.

​Note: Backtrack is for use in remote settings—away from familiar places like your home or workplace—and outside densely populated areas with Wi-Fi. Backtrack does not account for external conditions, such as changes in elevation or objects in the environment.

1. Go to the Compass app on your Apple Watch.
2. Tap , then tap Record Path to begin recording your route.
3. To retrace your steps, tap , then tap Retrace Steps.
4. The path back to the location where you first tapped appears on the screen. The initial location appears as a white dot at the beginning of the path.
5. Follow the path back to return to where you first turned on Backtrack.
6. When you’re finished, tap , then tap Delete Path.

Start Backtrack with the Action button on Apple Watch Ultra models

1. Go to the Settings app on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Tap Action Button, tap Action, tap Backtrack, then tap to return to the list of actions.
3. Press the Action button to start Backtrack. then tap Record Path. Press the Action and side buttons at the same time to switch between recording your path and retracing your steps.

By Rick Rouse

If you've been using the Internet for a while you've probably used several of Google's many services.
 
In fact, my guess is you use several of them on a regular basis.
 
For example, do you use Gmail?
 
How about YouTube or Google Maps?
 
Or perhaps their ultra-popular Chrome browser?
 
Although you probably don't use all of them, Google actually has dozens of popular online services and tools that are used by billions of people world-wide on a daily basis.
 
Did you know you can easily download your data from almost all of Google's services right to your computer or mobile device?
 
Having a local copy of your Google data can come in quite handy at times (such as when you want to switch from Gmail to a different email provider, for example).
 
If nothing else, it never hurts to have a local "backup" copy of your Google data just in case your Google account gets hacked or removed by Google for some reason.
 
So how do you go about downloading all that massive amount of data? By using Google's handy Google Takeout tool.
 
Google Takeout makes it easy to download a single file containing the data from (almost) every Google service you have ever used.
 
As far as I can tell the only services that aren't supported by Google Takeout are Google's advertising tools (Adwords and Adsense).
 
Of course there are probably quite a few Google services that you never use. The good news is you can easily exclude the unused services from the download file.
 
Now that you know about the Google Takeout tool, here's how to use it:
 
1 - Visit https://takeout.google.com/ and sign into your Google account (if prompted to do so).
 
2 - Uncheck every service that you don't use.
 
Note: If you only use a few of the listed services it'll probably be easier to simply click Deselect all and then re-select the services you actually use and want to download the info from.
 
3 - Scroll down and click the Next step button.
 
4 - Select the options you want to use.
 
5 - Click Create export.
 
6 - Wait for an email from Google letting you know that your export file has been completed (this could take quite some time, so be patient).
 
7 - Follow the instructions in the email Google sent you to complete the download process.
 
That's all there is to it. Now you know how to download ALL of your data from every Google service you have ever used (with the exceptions listed above) in one fell swoop.

Do you have a phone? If you do (and who doesn’t these days) it’s a good bet that you receive a robocall every now and then.

Even worse, if you’re one of the unlucky folks whose number has found its way onto an active caller list you probably receive several of these irritating calls per day.

Robocalls are incredibly frustrating because there’s really very little you can do to prevent them from coming in, but you can manage them and prevent them from causing you a bunch of grief.

Many of these automated calls aren’t generated from a list of phone numbers. They are actually the result of a computer somewhere dialing phone numbers at random hoping some “sucker” will answer the call and fall for a scam.

A large percentage of these calls are difficult to identify as robocalls simply from the Caller ID info because the scammer’s computers are programmed to either spoof your own phone number to confuse you or spoof one of your local businesses to make the call appear to be legitimate.

The robocall problem is huge right now, and it’s only expected to get worse, at least in the short term.

While there’s little you can do to prevent receiving a robocall, there are several things you can do to avoid the financial and emotional damage they can cause. Here are a few tips:

1 – If you don’t recognize the phone number, don’t answer the call.
If the call is legitimate and the caller really needs to speak to you they’ll leave a message. If they don’t leave a message you can safely assume the call was fraudulent.

2 – If you happen to mistakenly answer a robocall, hang up the instant you realize the call is fraudulent.

Don’t say anything or answer any questions. And don’t respond if the “voice” on the other end of the line asks “Can you hear me?” or asks any kind of similar question.

Answering in any way simply confirms that the robocall machine has reached an actual human instead of another machine.

And whatever you do, if you’re prompted to press a button to have your name taken off a list, don’t do it!

Pressing that button won’t remove your name from a list (there often won’t even be a list because they called your number at random).

Instead, if you press that button your number will be ADDED to a list – a list of active human callers. That list will then be sold to other scammers and before long you’ll be receiving dozens of scam calls per day!

3 – If you determine that your phone number has indeed been added to an active caller list, your only recourse for stopping all the irritating calls from coming in is to bite the bullet and have your phone number changed.

Yes, I know it’s a hassle having to give your new number to all of your family members, your friends and all the companies you do business with. But that hassle is (hopefully) a one-time thing.

On the other hand, the daily deluge of robocalls you receive because your number is on a dozen scammer’s lists will keep on coming until the scammers get shut down some way.

4 – If you decline to answer a call and the machine calling you leaves a message, DO NOT call any call-back phone numbers they leave in the message.

If the message claims to be from your bank or some other type of legitimate business, call them back using a number that you know to be their real phone number.

If the message was indeed legit the person that answers your call should be able to transfer you to the person or department you need to speak with.

5 – If you start receiving multiple robocalls from the same phone number you can block that specific number.

If you have a land-line you’ll need to contact the company that provides your phone service and ask them to block the number for you.

If you have a cell phone there are various ways to block specific numbers depending on the type of phone and the carrier you’re using. I recommend that you contact your cellular carrier directly for guidance and help with blocking problem numbers.

6 – Add your number to the National ‘Do Not Call’ Registry.

While adding your number to this list won’t do much to help you avoid receiving fraudulent or deceptive robocalls, it will definitely reduce the number of calls you receive from legitimate telemarketers (and yes, they do exist).

7 – If you have a cell phone consider switching your service to a carrier that takes fighting robocalls seriously. For example, Verizon actively takes steps to block robocalls from being placed via their network.

Bottom line: Robocalls are a menace, and unfortunately there’s currently no fool-proof way to block them from coming in. Legislation that can help is currently being debated in Congress, but there’s no telling when (or even if) it will be passed and implemented.

​But the above being said, the tips mentioned in this post can help you manage the robocalls you receive and help you avoid falling victim to their scams.