Things To Do In SW Florida

If you recently got a text from an unknown number warning you about unpaid SunPass tolls, officials want you to know it was probably a scam.

“Smishing,” or SMS phishing, is when fraudsters try to obtain your personal information through a text message. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the text might include a dollar amount for how much you supposedly owe, as well as a link.

Clicking the link will take you to a page to enter your bank account or credit card information.

“SunPass wants to remind customers to be careful of text messages or other communications that demand immediate payment for unpaid toll balances,“ the Florida Department of Transportation, which runs the electronic toll collection system, wrote in an advisory on its website. “These messages often pressure customers to make a quick payment to avoid late fees and include a link to a fake website to collect personal information.”

If you receive one of the messages, the transportation department says not to click the link. Instead, log in to your account on sunpass.com to check your balance. SunPass only contacts customers through customerservice@sunpass.com, noreply@sunpass.com or via text at 786727. read more

By Anna-Louise Jackson, Bankrate.com

It’s now the norm for Americans to file their taxes online — the IRS reports that more than 90% of individual tax returns were e-filed in 2023, the most recent data available. Even most professional tax preparers are required to electronically file returns on behalf of their clients.

By KELVIN CHAN

LONDON (AP) — Should I stay or should I go — from Meta’s social media platforms?

That’s what some Facebook, Instagram and Threads users are wondering after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement this month that the company is relaxing rules on harmful content such as hate speech and abandoning its fact checking program and replacing it with crowdsourced notes.

The changes have renewed interest among some users about deleting their Meta social media accounts. If you want to stop using platforms owned by Meta, here are some pointers:

Save your data

Before deleting your Facebook account, you should download a copy of all your personal information, which includes details about your activity on the platform, things you’ve shared and data that the company has collected about you.

You’ll have to go to your settings or the accounts center — the master control panel for all your Meta accounts — where you can choose to download everything or just items such as your profile, posts, messages, comments and reactions, and list of friends, even the ads you’ve clicked on and IP addresses you’ve used to connect to Facebook. read more

Citizens windstorm insurance for all. Closing loopholes for a “bad-faith” insurance claim. Creation of an insurance advisory council. Requiring mediation before policyholders can sue their insurer.

They are among proposed insurance law changes that will face scrutiny in the Florida Legislature this spring. More are likely to follow with five weeks left before the session’s scheduled March 4 start.

So far, no insurance-related bills have been filed for the special session that’s slated to begin on Monday. Condominium safety is one of the subjects that Gov. DeSantis has said he wants addressed.

The biggest proposed insurance change so far, and likely toughest to get passed, would make state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. the provider of all windstorm insurance sold to homeowners in the state.

First proposed last year, the bill would end Citizen’s status as “the insurer of last resort” that provides multiperil coverage to customers who cannot obtain it affordably from the private market. read more