Despite all the benefits that the internet brings to our lives every day, there is also a nefarious side that people need to be aware of and smart about—scamming. Unfortunately, like with just about every other technology, fraudsters persist, always concocting new ways to acquire personal information or access unsuspecting victims’ bank accounts or credit cards.
Seniors are particularly vulnerable to the latest scams, especially because they have spent far less of their lives engaging with the internet than Millennials or Gen Z! And given the kinds of scams out there, seniors are more likely to click on links that seem innocent but that are anything but.
At Trailblazer Broadband, we take your online safety and security extremely seriously. But our technicians and online security experts can’t do it all. Nor can they watch out for scams that might hit your email account, social media feed, texts or web browser. You need to be vigilant as well.
Below we discuss ten signs that you are about to be scammed. As you will see, some of these signs are more obvious, while others can be cleverly sneaky about persuading you to “just click right now.” With even a little knowledge and some extra caution, you can avoid most scams, while enjoying Trailblazer Broadband’s fast and reliable fiber internet with greater confidence.
What is Phishing?
Before highlighting the most common signs that you’re about to be scammed, let’s briefly discuss the most common schemes plaguing internet users today, especially seniors: phishing. Phishing attempts to “lure” a victim into providing something to a scammer: personal sensitive information like full name, address, or telephone number, or an official identifier like a Social Security Number, or bank account or credit card information, or direct access to a computer or other device.
They come in many forms and some scammers can be quite ingenious about their phishing methods. But there’s almost always something “off” about phishing attempts and scams. Let’s now move on to the top ten signs to be aware of to prevent phishing attacks and other scams.
- Emails Arrive in Your Inbox at Strange Times
Many email scams originate from outside the United States in different time zones, some between six and twelve time zones away. Receiving emails in the middle of the night is a first sign that something is amiss. Further, if a hacker has taken over the email account of someone you know and sends you an email at an unusual hour (for them), that’s another indication to be suspicious—and extra careful.
- Email Address Irregularities
While scammers can easily disguise themselves in the Subject Lines of emails, it’s much more difficult to establish an email address that fits the company, government agency or other entity they are pretending to be. Look for addresses that employ @yahoo.com, @gmail.com, or similar services. No legitimate major company or agency would use such addresses to conduct business.
- Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
Scammers are notoriously bad spellers. And their command of the English language is frequently lacking. Astute and vigilant email users should note that misspelled words or blatant grammatical errors are a common sign of a phishing attack and should be ignored.
- Fishy Attachments and Files
Beware of messages with odd or intentionally vague attachments. Attachments marked “Invoice “or “Shipping Notification” are particularly common—especially if you are not expecting either from a vendor. And the type of file employed in the message is another signal, too, including zip and Microsoft Word document files. Some email programs or services automatically scan such files for viruses, but if you’re at all suspicious, just ignore the message entirely and not let your curiosity get the better of you.
- Urgent Demands
Another common trick many scammers use to get your attention is to demand action from you, often with an overwhelming sense of urgency. “Time is short!” “Respond immediately!” “Your reward expires in one hour!” These are just examples of demands designed to pique your interest and get you clicking. Don’t fall for them!
- Requests for Your Personal and/or Financial Information
Any email from any source whatsoever requesting that you enter your personal or financial information should be ignored immediately. Indeed, most companies state outright that they will never ask you to enter such information through an email correspondence. Such a request is one of the biggest indicators of a phishing scam.
- If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is
Phishing scammers have taken a play out of junk mail schemes dating back decades, promising rewards and riches if you act now. From dangling Amazon gift cards or cash prizes, these fraudsters know how to grab your eyes with such false promises—and hope to snag your bank account information through them.
- Phony Delivery Notifications
Increasingly common in text messages sent to your smartphone, fake delivery notifications are another scam. The first sign that something is “off” is if you weren’t expecting a delivery in the first place. Even if you are, proceed with caution. For example, before clicking on such a message, try to remember how the online vendors you usually use (e.g., Amazon) typically contact you. It probably isn’t through this type of text message!
- Surveys About Major Topics of the Day
Watch out for emails asking you to respond to surveys unless you know the source. Common topical surveys relate to COVID-19 vaccines and other public health matters. Again, scammers are trying to get your attention to get you to click. Don’t fall for it over the hot topic of the times!
- Strange Greetings and/or Tone in Emails
Our last indicator of a scam is less straightforward—especially if some scammers have avoided some of the more common examples above. Watch for overly generic greetings like “Dear Friend.” Or if they use your email address instead of your actual name in the greeting! Also consider if the tone of the email is “off.” If it comes from a familiar email address but doesn’t sound like the person you know, don’t respond. Or perhaps the email is geared toward subjects or purchases that are irrelevant to you. When in doubt, trust your gut.
We hope this guide will help you fish out phishing and other scams, and make you feel more confident when utilizing the internet. And for more valuable tips and advice about staying safe online, follow us on Facebook and visit us online at TrailblazerBroadband.com.
Creating Healthy Tech Habits This School Year
With the kids back in school for another year of learning and extracurricular activities, it’s time for parents to set new schedules and routines for managing their family’s work and school obligations. As you’re setting intentions for a new school year, we’re here to help you create healthy tech habits for you and your kids.
Though Trailblazer Broadband’s high-speed fiber network delivers the fastest, most reliable internet you and your family can enjoy, we know there is more to life than just online time! To help parents plan and prioritize, we’ve assembled this handy guide to developing healthy tech habits for their kids this school year.
With open communication and a bit of parental enforcement of reasonable limitations on tech use, parents should feel confident that they can build a healthy balance between screen time and other key aspects of their kids’ lives.
Tip 1: Begin With a Two-Way Conversation
The first step you should take before setting up boundaries and promoting healthy tech habits is to have a conversation with your kids. You can discuss your concerns about their screen time and encourage them to engage in other activities, as well.
As part of the conversation, however, do take the time to listen meaningfully to your children’s online interests and usage. After all, there are genuinely beneficial aspects to online activity, from communicating with their friends to learning about new ideas, people, and places, and even acquiring new skills and hobbies.
By approaching the topic as a team, you can work together to maximize their online time. This also helps build trust with your kids that this endeavor is not a punishment; rather it’s about better balancing responsibilities and other interests along with their online usage.
Tip 2: Establish Clear and Consistent Screen Time Limits
As part of that open and honest conversation, work together to establish clear screen time boundaries. Parents may choose to set up a daily schedule consisting of periods when device usage is acceptable, while other times are strictly off limits (except, of course, for necessary tasks like homework or other learning).
Other parents may be more flexible, allowing only a set number of total hours spent online each day or every week. To stay on top of this, apps and certain device settings can be employed to track just how much time your kids spend online.
Please keep in mind, however, that experts say it’s best that any limitations on screen time be clearly established and be consistent throughout the day and week.
Tip 3: Schedule Other Priorities
Around the same time you’ve set up screen time limitations, consider scheduling other activities, as well. At first blush, these recommendations may sound too rigid and regimented. Remember, however, in a tech-saturated culture, the goal is to foster a healthy balance of online and device usage with other priorities and responsibilities.
Thus, consider blocking out a few hours each day for homework and reading time. Or schedule at least an hour of time outdoors or in physical activity of almost any kind. Also consider planning regular in-person get-togethers with their friends instead of mostly relying on their devices to socialize.
When coupled with the screen time limitations above, many parents (and kids) find that a natural, healthy rhythm between their online lives and other obligations can emerge.
Tip 4: Consider Turning Off Notifications
Another tip parents can consider is turning off all—or at least most—notifications on your children’s devices. After all, it’s the seemingly constant stream of dings from notifications that draws kids back to their devices to check emails, text messages, social media posts, or video updates, even if you’ve managed to get them momentarily concentrating on their homework or outdoor activities.
You could also establish a timeframe around limiting notifications instead of outright turning them off entirely. For example, blocking out a two-to-three hour time period between afterschool and dinner time without notifications may help naturally reduce screen time—and perhaps even encourage actual face-to-face conversation at the dinner table!
Tip 5: Model Good Online and Screen Time Habits
Our last tip is to remember that your kids are keeping their eyes on you almost as much as you are on them! Thus, it’s important that you model responsible online usage habits yourself.
The more consistently parents model a proper balance between using their devices and other activities, the more likely their kids will do the same.
Given that your child will have to be on their devices a lot more during the school year, these tips should help you better balance their screen time with other aspects of their lives. Just remember the need for open communication, appropriate boundary setting, consistent enforcement of any schedules or limitations, and to model responsible behavior as best you can. And perhaps these tips will help you better balance your own screen time, too!
For more helpful advice on navigating the online world, check out Trailblazer’s Recent News and our Video Library!
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service providing fiber directly to homes and businesses. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any listed companies, the views they express, or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/.
Football fans have long counted on the major networks to follow their beloved NFL team and keep an eye on their rivals and other league play throughout the season. Indeed, CBS and Fox have carried AFC and NFC games, respectively, for decades, making it easy for fans to find their local teams or the national game of the week any given Sunday. And from the preseason through the playoffs, for almost 8 months, there is a bevy of football action to soak up.
But with streaming technology taking hold in households across the country and the NFL signing new broadcasting deals with streaming platforms, some fans are having a tough time sorting through the dizzying number of channels, apps, and platforms to figure out where to watch their favorite game. It can even get tough to remember which nights their team is playing during a particular week!
Fortunately, MyBundle and its sophisticated features makes it easy to stay on top of your sports-related apps and channels—just as it does with all your other streaming content. And thanks to Trailblazer Broadband’s high-speed fiber internet, football fans can enjoy live NFL games with bright and brilliant picture quality that throws you right into the action.
Below we detail where and when you can watch live NFL football on streaming apps for the upcoming season outside the major networks, so you can easily keep track of your team all season long!
Peacock: Home of Sunday Night Football
After watching Sunday afternoon NFL games on CBS and Fox, fans can tune into Peacock, NBC’s streaming app and the home of Sunday Night Football. Starting with the preseason kickoff on August 3, 2023—also known as the “Hall of Fame Game” held in Canton, Ohio—Peacock will broadcast every Sunday night NFL game, easily available to everyone with a Peacock subscription.
Most interestingly, for the first time ever, Peacock will broadcast a playoff game available exclusively through a streaming service in early January 2024—a crucial Wild Card game. This means that to watch every playoff game this season, having Peacock is a must. So if you aren’t already a Peacock user, check MyBundle for deals and be sure to activate a Peacock subscription in time!
Amazon’s Prime Video: Thursday Night Football
Like NBC’s Peacock, Amazon also has skin in the game for streaming evening football—Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football! In total, Prime Video will broadcast 16 games on Thursday nights for the 2023-2024 season, including some can’t-miss matchups like the Philadelphia Eagles at the Dallas Cowboys on November 30.
Amazon is also boasting about the first-ever Black Friday NFL game, streaming exclusively on Prime Video on November 24, 2023 between AFC East rivals Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets. This scheduling innovation is sure to make Black Friday much more than just a shopping day!
YouTubeTV—the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket
For the football fan longing for the freedom to watch just about any NFL game broadcasted on Sunday afternoons, there is another subscription well worth their consideration—NFL Sunday Ticket. NFL Sunday Ticket lets you choose which NFL games you want to watch regardless of where you live—and that service is getting a new home starting with the 2023-2024 season.
Formerly a special add-on offered only by satellite TV provider DirectTV, NFL Sunday Ticket is moving to streaming giant YouTube TV. Industry insiders have reported that YouTube TV paid $2 billion a year for the seven-year contract deal. Though it’s a pricey add-on for YouTube TV subscribers, it may well be worth it to football’s most die-hard devotees!
YouTube TV will let you simultaneously stream Sunday Ticket’s games on multiple devices. However, it is strictly limiting simultaneous streams to devices accessed from the subscriber’s home only, and not from elsewhere. Thus, those intending on sharing their Sunday Ticket subscription with people living outside the home will be out of luck.
But there are still major advantages to multiple simultaneous streams from home, including YouTube TV’s awesome upcoming “multiview” feature, which will allow streaming of up to four programs at once. That means an NFL Sunday Ticket subscriber could theoretically stream four NFL games simultaneously on YouTube TV!
When you combine Peacock, Prime Video, and YouTube TV’s streaming services and features, NFL football fans will have the most complete coverage of professional football anyone can get. So, login to My Bundle today and build a bundle worthy of the most dedicated football fan—and don’t miss a minute of your favorite team this season!
For additional information about MyBundle and how it improves your streaming experience, click here. And be sure to follow Trailblazer Broadband’s Streaming Page and Video Library for more information about streaming your favorite content.
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service providing fiber directly to homes and businesses. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any listed companies, the views they express, or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/.
In Estes Park, CO, where breathtaking mountain views meet the charm of small-town living, more and more residents are embracing the convenience and peace of mind that comes with a smart home. At the heart of this modern transformation is Trailblazer Broadband—Estes Park’s community-owned, 100% fiber-optic internet service.
With ultra-fast, reliable internet as the backbone, homeowners can take full advantage of today’s smart technology—whether you live here full-time or just during part of the year.
Fiber Internet: The Backbone of a Smart Home
A smart home is only as strong as its internet connection. Devices like smart thermostats, cameras, lighting systems, door locks, and sensors all rely on steady, fast, and responsive connectivity to work as intended. Trailblazer’s fiber network provides the kind of high-speed, low-latency internet that allows these systems to operate smoothly—whether you’re streaming real-time security footage, adjusting your thermostat remotely, or getting alerts about an open window.
Seasonal Hold: Stay Connected, Even When You’re Away
One of the unique challenges of mountain-town living is that many homeowners only spend part of the year here. Trailblazer recognizes this and offers a seasonal hold option that keeps your connection live with just enough bandwidth to support essential smart home functions while you’re away.
This means your security cameras can continue monitoring, your smart thermostat can protect your pipes from freezing, and motion sensors can send you alerts if something’s not right—all without having to fully disconnect your service. It’s a quiet, behind-the-scenes way to maintain peace of mind when your home is sitting empty.
Smart Home Functionality: Beyond the Basics
Most people are familiar with the basics of smart homes—voice-controlled lights, smart thermostats, security cameras—but the possibilities go far beyond that. With a strong fiber connection like Trailblazer’s, here are some lesser-known and surprisingly useful things you can do with smart home tech:
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Remote Pet Monitoring: Set up cameras and treat dispensers that let you watch, talk to, and even reward your pet while you’re away.
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Smart Leak Detection: Water leak sensors can notify you of potential issues before they become major damage—particularly helpful in vacation homes.
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Automated Blinds: Smart shades can adjust based on the time of day or sun position, improving energy efficiency and protecting furniture from UV rays.
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Geo-Fencing: Your home can respond to your location—unlocking the door and turning on lights when you arrive, and adjusting energy settings when you leave.
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Voice-Controlled Appliance Integration: From ovens that preheat on command to washers that text you when the cycle’s done, smart appliances can streamline your routine.
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Smart Plugs & Energy Monitoring: See how much energy specific devices use and automate when they turn on or off to reduce waste.
- Health & Wellness Features: Devices like Alexa or Google Assistant can offer medication reminders, daily wellness checks, and even emergency calling features—making them especially helpful for seniors aging in place. And with a stable internet connection, telehealth appointments are smoother and more accessible than ever, even in a mountain town.
Energy Efficiency: Smart for Your Wallet, and the Planet
One of the biggest benefits of a smart home—especially one connected through a fast, reliable fiber network—is energy efficiency. By learning your habits and making real-time adjustments, devices like smart thermostats, lighting systems, and irrigation controllers help reduce overall consumption.
You can monitor and optimize your energy use room by room, day by day. Not only does this lower your utility bills, but it also reduces your environmental footprint—an especially meaningful choice in a place as beautiful and ecologically sensitive as Estes Park.
A Smarter Way to Live in the Mountains
Trailblazer Broadband gives Estes Park residents the digital infrastructure to support the kind of smart home living that was once only a futuristic dream. Whether you’re automating your home for everyday convenience, monitoring it remotely from across the country, or just trying to reduce your impact on the environment, fast and reliable internet is the foundation that makes it all possible.
Smart, secure, sustainable living isn’t just for big cities anymore—it’s right here in the Rockies, powered by the community and connected by Trailblazer.
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