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May 08, 2008 -- Best Buy's Geek Squad actually a peep squad?!
Best Buy's Geek Squad is accused of spying on customers by digging through the hard drives of computers brought in for repair. This is not exactly a case of ID theft; at least one Geek Squad employee has fessed up to copying a woman's personal nude photos from her computer.
The message here is that you shouldn't be careless with your own info. This is especially important for teens that use popular social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Members of those sites usually list personal info -- date of birth, city and other specific identifiers -- that can greatly aid ID thieves.
Politicians have become particularly savvy at using the social-networking sites. Obama has done a great job reaching out to first-time voters. They're invited to join his MySpace page as virtual "friends." The politicians, of course, are ultimately seeking campaign money -- a more legitimate desire than an ID thief who also wants money but for a different reason.
If you're a parent, do you know if your child has a MySpace or Facebook page? Do you know who their virtual "friends" are or have any idea about what's on their page? One requirement should be that they make you one of their friends. You've got to know who they're virtually interacting with for their own good.
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I took my computer in to have one file (just one!)recovered from my home computer hard drive which was accidentally deleted. After almost 3 months the Gainesville, GA Geek Squad has now claimed that their shipper has my hard drive, it was damaged beyond repair during shipping on the way back from their TN service center, and they are willing to replace just the damage hard drive (without any software) and waive their service charge of about $225.00! I don't have the software CD's as there were 5 years old and damaged in my last move. The primary software was MS office pro and AutoCAD = $2,000.00 to replace. So my local Geek Squad failed to insure my hard drive with their shipper and now they want me to accept a $40.00 blank hard drive as compensation for their mistake! I lost not only the one file they were going to charge me $225.00 to recover, but all my files, photos, spreadsheets, and expensive software including my computer's operating system. I now need to buy a new computer and all the software after waiting 3 months for customer no-service to help! Thanks Geek Squad and Best Buy!! I try to be fair to everyone, but they have lost my business forever and as many people as I can warn to avoid being ripped-off by them! They are incompetent, dishonest, and should not be in business. Don't trust them! Learn from my expensive and painful experience.
Geek Squad
Forwarded the article to my daughter in TX-she's been having trouble with the Geek Squad for awhile. Told her to check out Clark's site before taking her computer to the Geeks but she wouldn't listen to her mother!
