Watch out for electronics stores that accept only wire transfers for payment OK, I know you all know better than to buy anything over the Internet using a wire transfer, but I’m drawing your attention to this alert from the Better Business Bureau anyway. Maybe there is someone in your life who might fall for this slightly new spin on scams that get people to wire money. And I know how shopping procrastinators can get a little desperate this time of year. There are a bunch of Web sites popping up that look like electronics stores. They claim to accept credit cards, but when you go to pay, you get a message saying that due to fraud, they are accepting wire transfer only. According to the BBB, “The products ordered may never be delivered. Further, the organization seems to change its name and URL frequently: in recent weeks it has appeared as Bargain Town, Qbelam, Circuitown, and now Cesa Room with a Calgary address.” It seems the scams originate in Canada, though most of the complaints have been from the United States. A Better Business Bureau employee posed as a shopper and, according to the BBB, “Contacted the organization under the guise of buying a laptop – she indicated she wished to pay using a credit card, and received a message back indicating that ‘due to high rate of fraudulent activity,’ they would only accept a wire transfer from consumers outside of Canada. As the BBB operative had indicated she was a Canadian resident, it appears that the return message was automatically generated, intending to dupe citizens of other countries.” So if you’ve got kids just learning to shop online or know someone else who is new to the online shopping game, this is a good time to issue a warning. Technology Industry