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The holidays are over, the New Year is here, and many of us are finding our wallets lighter and our pants tighter. The last thing we need is to “fix a problem we don’t have,” as ABC points out in its coverage of a new Better Business Bureau (BBB) report on tech support scams. Scammers apparently are more geared up than ever to take our money in exchange for "fixing" our already-functioning computers. If you think you’re insusceptible to the ruse, ABC disagrees, noting that the question is not whether, but when you will become a target of these widespread scams. So educate yourself for the inevitable: Read the BBB’s report on how scammers reach their victims (through pop-ups, calls, emails and internet search results) and check out the tips for impeding their access to our computers (not to mention our bank accounts).

Scammers are all up in your businesses, so why make it easier for them to steal your personal information? That vacation photo you posted on Facebook or the snap of you posing in front of your home can pose a real privacy risk (as Kim Kardashian and Colts Long Snapper Matt Overton famously learned). Fortunately, the Consumer Federation of America created a new blog post with tips for protecting personal information, both in the online world and—you may still be familiar with this—the offline world. The article offers advice for the secure use of public Wi-Fi, as well as safe mobile app and social media use. It also gives real-world suggestions to help you keep thieves away from your mail and other sensitive hard copy documents and information.

If a loved one is hooked on opioids, you might be desperate to help ‘em wean off and stay off. Unfortunately, uncaring opportunists get referral fees (aka kickbacks) to send people (often with health insurance) to worthless, unlicensed “treatment programs” that don’t curb the cravings. Once the customer (or a loved one) realizes the program is trash, they may have already used up their insurance benefits or (god forbid) even mortgaged a home to pay for the costly (non)treatment! The problem is big in New York, Florida and other states. Here, a representative for New York’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services tells consumers what to look out for. He recommends you speak to your insurance company first, consider carefully if you’re going to exceed any out-of-network benefits, make sure the program you’re considering is licensed by the state, ask for a breakdown of the fees (and what services they’re going toward) and find out the treatment philosophy.

· Seattle-based writer Kelly Clay has reason to suspect Uber Eats drivers might be grazing on your greens. After placing a recent Uber Eats order, Clay waited for her Cobb salad to arrive, only to watch on the app as the driver passed her home without delivering it. When she approached Uber about the problem, she was told she would not receive a refund for the purchased food. This led her to wonder, can a delivery driver’s low pay, long drives and hunger make it more appealing to dash off and dine on your food than deliver it? Maybe. It seemed like the perfect crime, and Clay even found an online Uber driver forum where sticky-fingered deliverers discussed ways to abscond with the customer’s grub. In response, Clay has provided a couple of tips to help ensure your food ends up in the right place (your belly): Check Yelp reviews for reports of Uber Eats delivery problems, and order from local spots that will still be open at the scheduled delivery time (in case you need to resubmit your order). Bon appétit!

· We’ve always known scammers are sick; maybe that’s why they’re trying to get your health insurance information? Whatever the reason, they’ve increasingly been calling and pretending to be with Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance. When a target picks up the phone, they’ll say that they need to replace an insurance card, collect payment on a past-due bill or otherwise obtain personal information because there’s a “problem with the account” or they need to “update the records,” “confirm your address,” etc. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Never give your information to some rando on the other end of the line (no matter how convincing the pitch may seem). In the case of insurance questions, whip out your insurance card and call the number on the back for more info.

We’re of the mindset that clean water is safe water. Unfortunately, that can’t be said of those trying to make a buck by selling the “health conscious” on what they’re calling “raw water”: untreated H20 (often sourced from who knows where). While straight-from-the-spring water can be safe, experts point out that “the cleanliness of the water depends on things you can't see—whether herds of elk or moose or caribou have relieved themselves in a stream that you're drinking from and left it full of parasites” (that can cause a very unpleasant gut disease called giardia). Or “whether there has been groundwater contamination from naturally occurring elements such as arsenic, radon or uranium, or from pesticides and other chemicals.” So think twice before paying for a “health” product that might just make you sick.

This month it’s (drumroll please)…coffee enemas! The website promises that the $135 enemas will “supercharge your detox,” when in fact (super ouch!) they could perforate your colon. The Mayo Clinic notes that “coffee enemas sometimes used in colon cleansing have been linked to several deaths.”

· If you lost money to a scam that involved a Western Union wire transfer between Jan. 1, 2004 and Jan. 19, 2017, you have until Feb. 12, 2018, to submit a claim here and see if you’re eligible for a refund. Why? The government found that Western Union had aided and abetted scammers’ wire fraud efforts. Common cons involving wire transfers include lottery scams, grandparent scams, romance scams and so many more ways of tricking you to give up your money!

If you’re willing to risk it all on a high-stakes scam, you could go Oceans Eleven on a casino—but you’ll probably get caught (and may even get your knees broken by a Joe Pesci lookalike). It’s probably safer to stick to reading Casino.org’s list of some of the most “popular” gambling scams. The article includes a scam employed by a pair of criminals who called themselves the Roselli Brothers. The brothers managed to hack into casino computers and steal the identity of regulars with stellar credit, before withdrawing huge amounts of money from the victims’ lines of credit. Other common casino scams to watch out for include card counting, using counterfeit coins and even employing radio transmitters to manipulate roulette balls. Don’t take any chances on games of chance!