WFHB

For thousands of years, all kinds of people, sold all kinds of medicine, full of all kinds of stuff, and claimed their products had all kinds of benefits. But, back in the day they had to travel form town to town with a horse and wagon and could only afford to pitch to a few suckers at any one time. Some of these medicines were even dangerous, giving life to the term “Snake Oil”.

Okay, everyone’s heard about the Coronavirus epidemic that broke out in China and is spreading worldwide. It’s similar to influenza, and as of this writing, over eighty-seven thousand cases have been reported all over the world, and so far, it looks like almost ninety-seven percent of the victims recover. In the United States at this point, seventy-two cases have been reported and one person has died. But the disease itself isn’t the only thing that’s spreading: misinformation, disinformation and scams are coming right along with it.

The Coronavirus epidemic raging in China has given a lot of people cause to worry, and given some nasty opportunities to the scammers. People trying to buy face masks should be wary of any websites. But, it’s not just the masks…

Also, be on the watch out for voicemails. New software has been found to be able to fake anyone’s voice and leave a call on your phone.

Der Bingle and Satchmo – that’s Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong, in case you’re culturally deprived

The Motion Picture Academy Awards – the Oscars – get a lot of media attention this time of year for recognizing the best movies, as do the Golden Raspberry Awards, the Razzies, which warn you about the worst ones. But sometimes it’s the movie STARS you have to watch out for. In an earlier era this might have meant not hitching a ride with James Dean or going to a party with Fatty Arbuckle, but today you need to be very careful dealing with an award-winning actress named Gwyneth Paltrow.