Microsoft has issued a warning to users to protect themselves against malware, which hijacks Facebook accounts.

The malware has been describing itself as a web browser add-on. Once on your machine Trojan:JS/Febipos looks to see whether users are currently signed into Facebook. If they are it can perform a variety of Facebook actions acting as you, including liking a page, sharing, posting, joining a group, and chatting with friends.

At the moment the malware is only targeting users in Brazil where the main language is Portuguese, however Microsoft has warned that it could easily be modified to target users in other countries.

The malware has been caught posting comments that translate as, “Sorry guys, but this is ridiculous!!!” and “The coolest tune at the moment. It’s really nice!”

How can I protect myself against this type of Malware?

• Only download browser extensions from the official Firefox and Chrome extension repositories.
• Install legitimate anti-virus software and make sure it is kept up-to-date.
• Keep your firewall switched on to prevent access to your computer from unknown sources.
• Beware of clicking on suspicious links whilst on Facebook.

These Government plans where outlined in todays Queen speech.
 

The so called "Bill of Rights" for consumers will include many reforms covering digital content, insurance, and mis selling of goods & services. 

Consumers will be entitled to refunds if digital content is not available or if goods are faulty.

This law which is set to protect consumers will be a crackdown on rogue suppliers who provide substandard or damaged goods, or impose unfair terms and conditions.

In addition Trading Standards will be given new enforcement powers if consumer rights are breached.

The Queen's Speech has promised carers new rights as the number of elderly and vulnerable people being looked after by family members continues to rise.

The move is designed to help family members who have to give up jobs to care for ailing relatives.

With the population rapidly ageing the number of people caring for an elderly relative with dementia is estimated to grow by more than 150,000 by the year 2021.

Almost seven million people in Britain spend some time looking after a relative many of whom suffer depression and exhaustion as a result of the strain.

The Health and Social Care Bill will give them the statutory right to ask for support to relieve the burden.

If their requests are turned down then councils will have to give a detailed explanation of their decision.

Councils will be instructed to step up efforts to publicise the help available to carers to get the message out.

The Bill will set up a new system of social care funding from 2017 onwards under which the taxpayer picks up the bills after someone has spent £75,000 of their own money on their care.

Under the separate legislation care home managers would face prosecution if they failed to pass on complaints of abuse by staff and legislation will also be set out to guarantee continuity of care for people if their care provider goes out of business.

A Pensions Bill will overhaul the state pension system and create a flat-rate pension of about £144 to come into effect in three years’ time. It is expected that this will benefit 750,000 women who reach pension age between 2016 and 2026 by an average of £9 a week.

The Pensions minister Steve Webb confirmed yesterday it would end the practice of women being able to claim solely on the basis of their husband’s contributions or vice versa; However the flat rate pension will make such practices redundant.

We are pleased to be giving away a set of two tickets to see Celebrities on Ice! You can choose one of the venues from around the country in which Celebrities on Ice will be performing.

The lucky winner and their guest will also have the wonderful opportunity of taking part in a meet and greet with the celebs from the show. 

For more infomation please visit their website www.celebsonice.co.uk

To enter simply read our Prize Draw Rules and fill in the form below.

Prize Draw Rules

1. Entry to the competitions is restricted to one entry per person. 
2. Multiple entries will be disqualified. 
3. Automated entries, bulk entries or third party entries will be disqualified! 
4. Competitions are open to UK residents only unless otherwise stated 
5. Prizes can only be sent to a valid UK address unless otherwise stated. 
6. Winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries. 
7. Winners will be contacted via email names displayed on our website. 
8. The Judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered in to. 
9. The competition will close on 9th June 2013. 
10. www.youandyourrights.co.uk is compliant with the data protection act. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.

By entering this competition you are also agreeing to receive our You and Your Rights Consumer and Legal alerts email. Good luck with the competition, the prize draw will be on 9th June 2013.

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People are being urged to ‘spot scams to stop scams’ by Action Fraud.

Scams come in all shapes and sizes. They can appear in the form of adverts, people knocking on your door, emails, letters, phone calls, texts and over the internet.

However the recession has led to new types of scam such as training and job ploys where victims pay for a phantom training course with the false promise 
of a job only to find the firm is a fake or doesn't pay any money.

Another recession scam is dangerous debt help where offers of loans or help to clear debts which carries an upfront fee but they never get a loan 
or help to sort out their debts.

Something to always keep in mind is that if anyone is offering you something for nothing but demanding an upfront 'handling fee' it’s a scam.

People have to ask themselves 'is this how the world really works? Can I really win a lottery even though I didn't buy a ticket?’

Some simple rules will help protect people from fraudsters

If it sounds too good to be true it probably is

•  Remember this if you ever get offered something that does not ring true. Before you act upon it do your homework to make sure that what you are being offered is 'genuine'. 
•   Never give out contact details like your name, phone number, financial information or address to strangers or to people who should have this information already.
•   Shred anything with your personal or bank details on don’t just throw it away.
•  You must never leave mini statements in or near the cash machine; always take them home and destroy them. Surprisingly crooks can steal your identity and apply for a payday loan in your name with the information provided on a mini statement.
•  Never, ever send money to someone you don’t know.
•  If you feel you are being put under pressure to say yes to something then always, always, always say no. In fact that last one is a general rule for life.

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Criminals are taking advantage of a government "Green Deal" scheme where you can make energy saving improvements to your property without having to pay for everything up front.

People are being targeted at their door steep to be told that they are entitled to £10,000 of funding for such improvements.

However an "administrative fee" is required to gain access to the funds.

The "Green Deal" can only be delivered by government contracted providers who are given a unique idenification number. 

 Santander are in trouble for not informing Abbey mortgage holders know about raising capped rate.

An agreement has been reached between Santander UK and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to contact more than 270,000 customers about unclear information it gave before increasing the cap on its mortgage standard variable rate in 2008.

Santander who were entitled to increase their rates broke rules by not telling affected customers about the change. In 2008 vague letters were sent to some customer which did not describe the change in a clear way.   

The FCA has ruled that Santander UK had given unclear information to its borrowers potentially leaving them in the dark about the options available to them.

It is unknown how many borrowers may be entitled to some form of redress but it is believed to be a minority and would depend on whether they could have moved to a better deal.

Santander has said that cases would be reviewed on an individual basis; however Santander might find it hard to contact customers due to customers moving address within the last five years. 

How much compensation could affected customers be entitled to?

When the Halifax made a similar error in January 2009 it promised to pay 300,000 customers a total of up to £500m in compensation with individual customers receiving between £500 and several thousand pounds.

Santander customers can expect to receive similar amounts depending on the size of their mortgage.

Would you like to boost your productivity? Then enter our compeition for your chance to win a copy of 21 Ways to Manage the Stuff That Sucks Up Your Time by Grace Marshall.

You can find out more about Grace's life and business coaching by going on her website www.grace-marshall.com

You can also check out Grace Marshall's Life and Business Coaching on facebook and follow her on twitter.

To enter our competition simply read our Prize Draw Rules and fill in the form below.

Prize Draw Rules

1. Entry to the competitions is restricted to one entry per person.
2. Multiple entries will be disqualified.
3. Automated entries, bulk entries or third party entries will be disqualified!
4. Competitions are open to UK residents only unless otherwise stated
5. Prizes can only be sent to a valid UK address unless otherwise stated.
6. Winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries.
7. Winners will be contacted via email names displayed on our website.
8. The Judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered in to.
9. The competition will close on 23 May 2013.
10. www.youandyourrights.co.uk is compliant with the data protection act. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.

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Soon those who have been mis-sold identity protection and card protection policies from a bank or credit card firm will be able to claim a refund.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) formally called CSA, announced last night its plans to enact a mass redress programme to help recover what was wrongly paid.

Last year the CSA fined Card Protection Plan Limited (CPP) who where behind the majority of these policies £10.5 million and was also ordered to pay an estimated £14.5 million in refunds.

The latest news means that once the redress programme is in action banks and credit card issuers will have to face consumer claims for mis-selling CPP products. These consumers will be entitled to their money back.

Back in 2012 the FSA found that CCP committed a wide range of abuses concerning the selling of card protection and ID protection plans.

Now it is revealed that banks may have committed the same offences. They include:

• Instructing customers to take out card protection, which would cover them against fraudulent activity of up to £100,000. This product is unnecessary as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which covers the first £85,000 per individual, per financial institution, already protects you against fraudulent activity.
• Sales agents were trained to be overly-persistent and were even given targets for dissuading people who contacted CPP to cancel their products.
• The risk of ID fraud was overstated by agents.

How do I get compensation for being mis-sold Card Protection?

The CPP has been instructed to write to everyone who it believes has been sold products between January 2005 and March 2011. Once you receive this letter it up to you to make a claim.

You can make a claim if you believe you where mis-sold any of these products by making a claim to the company who sold you the policy. If your claim fails you should take your claim to the Financial Ombudsman.

Remember calming your money back is free you should never pay for this service.

How much compensation will I receive?

If you are successful you will be entitled to whatever you paid for the product. This might amount to about £35 for Card protection policies and £85 for Identity protection per year.

What is Card protection and ID protection?

These products are completely different to PPI. PPI stands for Payment Protection Insurance; it was aimed to protect loans or credit card payments if you were unable to pay due to being out of work.

Card protection was advertised to give customers greater security against fraudulent transactions and there lost keys by enabling them to call one number to have both debit and credit cards stopped if they are lost or stolen.

ID fraud cover gives access to credit reports, and covers expenses and gives advice for those trying to get their money back. However you can do the same service yourself for free by getting a credit report and using this website.

The Travel Association (ABTA) has launched a campaign to raise awareness of holiday fraud.

Fraudsters scammed travellers out of £1.5 million in 2012 with accommodation, group tours and airline bookings being the most vulnerable.

ABTA is working with Get Safe Online, Action Fraud and the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) to warn the general public 
about holiday booking fraud.

Holiday booking fraud occurs when consumer’s hand over money only to discover that the holiday, accommodation or flight they paid for doesn’t exist 
or that the booking hasn’t been made.

Fake airline tickets are issued or in some cases no ticket is issued at all but the fraudsters take the customers money.

This is the most common type of holiday booking fraud accounting for 45% of the 1,000 cases reported to UK law enforcement authorities during 2012.

In other cases non-existent holiday villas and apartments are rented to unsuspecting members of the public.

Groups travelling to major sporting events are particularly vulnerable to this form of fraud.

High tickets prices mean that cheaper fake tickets look like a good deal.

Holidaymakers are advised to only book travel and holiday arrangements through ABTA members.

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator plans to ban companies profiting from customers using their mobiles to ring 0800 numbers, which in principle are free.  

This investigation was sparked as many of us are only too aware that calling these numbers can currently cost mobile users up to 40p a minute.

These fees make around £100m a year for EE, Vodafone, Three and O2.

It’s not only the phone companies who are benefiting from the charges; the companies who you are calling are also taking a cut. This means that many utility companies and even government departments are also making a profit from these ‘free’ calls.

However the reforms are some way off.

Ofcom will allow 18 months after the conclusion of its review, which closes on 28 May for the fees to be abolished leaving the mobile phone operators till 
January 2015 to continue to make a profit on, so called ‘free’ calls. 

Ofcom have explained that the reforms will take time to come into effect because it also wants to push through another change at the same time.

The second, and in many respects technically larger reform will bring in new rules on the cost of any number starting with 08, 09 or 118.

These numbers will still involve charges and exactly how the process will work has not yet been decided.

Bring your favorite facebook pics into the real world by wining one of 12 brilliant prizes.

We are giving away

• 1 x Large square premium album - Value £90
• 10 x A4 Landscape photo books  (i.e. ten winners) Value of photo books £24.99 (each)
• 1 x iPad Cover £24.99

To find out more about iPrintPhoto visit  www.iPrintPhoto.com and keep up to date with offers on iPrintPhoto's facebook page.

 For your chance to win one of our fantastic prizes simple read our Prize Draw Rules and fill in the form below.

Prize Draw Rules

1. Entry to the competitions is restricted to one entry per person.
2. Multiple entries will be disqualified.
3. Automated entries, bulk entries or third party entries will be disqualified!
4. Competitions are open to UK residents only unless otherwise stated
5. Prizes can only be sent to a valid UK address unless otherwise stated.
6. Winners will be chosen at random from all valid entries.
7. Winners will be contacted via email names displayed on our website.
8. The Judges decision is final and no correspondance will be entered in to.
9. The competition will close on 31st May 2013.
10. www.youandyourrights.co.uk is compliant with the data protection act. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.

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