Filed under: Altria Group (MO), Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD), Personal finance, Headline news, Stocks to Purchase

Recession, smecession. While media worry-warts keep pondering when this 2008 U.S. recession will begin, some of those with impeccable market timing may be looking at picking up a few sin stocks for their portfolios before all this doom and gloom hits.

Fact is that recessions are an integral part of any capitalist society, and they can be beneficial to those market watchers who go against the grain when everyone else isn’t looking. 30 years ago, some were wondering if capitalism could survive. Fast-forward to 2008: that’s affirmative.

What can you do to survive a coming recession this year? Instead of taking all your money from stocks and stuffing it under the couch, how about picking up sin stocks? These are stocks that involve companies that make and market vices like tobacco and alcohol.

Because — of course — widespread speaks of a recession can prompt widespread depression. That, in turn, can cause abnormal amounts of the population to being puffing and drinking their portfolio and gas price worries away. Some example are Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. (NYSE: BUD) and even the Ladenburg-Thalmann Gaming and Casino Fund (NASDAQ: GACFX).

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Filed under: Ripoffs and Scams, Technology

One criminal who netted $750,000 from identity theft activities shows us exactly why it’s dangerous to use public computer terminals for your financial business. This guy checked into costly hotels and installed keystroke logging software on the personal in the business centers.

Business travelers would use the personal in the business centers, and the thief’s software would capture each single thing they typed. Credit card numbers? Logged. Passwords? Logged. PIN numbers? All logged thanks to this spyware. The guy did this in at least 25 hotels between 2004 and 2007. My guess is that he probably did it at more, but these hotels were just the ones that the police found out about.

Beware when using public computer terminals in libraries, airports, coffee shops, hotels, and the like. You’ve no idea what software could be installed on the personal, or how secure the internet connection is. Act as if the public at massive is seeing exactly what you’re doing, because someone really might be watching and waiting for you to type in your confidential information.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Bookkeeping, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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