PHISHERS
NET & HOW TO AVOID BEING RIPPED OFF
Phishing, pronounced fishing, is now
becoming an epidemic throughout the Internet. Most people who
use the internet and receive emails have probably received a
phishing email or two.
But what is phishing and who are the
phishers?
You receive an email from your bank like
this below....
“Dear bank customer, your bank details
need to be verified by clicking on this link……” and so it
goes on.
The link that they give you to click on,
however, does not open up where you think it should. Although,
to all intents and purposes it looks like your banks page, but
what is really happening is that your bank details are going
straight into a phishers' computer to be used later by them to
fleece you of all your money.
There are many of these scams about. The
more common ones are for eBay, Paypal and your bank. All of
these look very real and to a casual observer or someone new on
the Internet, these could be from who they say they are from.
Other scams being used that slightly
differ from the above are the emails from a certain son,
daughter, or wife. These follow the same pattern more or less.
It starts with a terrible accident where their father / husband
have been tragically killed with a huge fortune in an offshore
bank. They need your help and bank details so that they can
transfer millions of US Dollars into your bank so that they can
get hold of it.
A variation and one that I have only
just started to receive is from a solicitor saying that a long
lost relative has left a legacy and the solicitor wants my bank
details to be able to transfer this legacy into it.
Some of the worst phishing that has hit
the Internet, and the ones that are more likely to succeed are
the “Charity” ones.
A web site set up to collect money for
well known disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake
that hit India / Pakistan . Of course the money does not go to
the good causes that it is meant to go to but goes straight into
the Phisher's pocket.
So that is what phishing is and you can
now see that the people doing the phishing are none other than
criminals.
How can you tell a phishing email or
scam?
For the first group, eBay Paypal and
Banks it is relatively easy and a little detective work reveals
all.
First of all remember that eBay, Paypal
or any bank will NEVER ask you for your bank details in an
email. By the way, they will not ask you for your log in detail
either. Your user name and password are your own private affair
and these establishments will not ask you for them.
Secondly, look at how the email
addresses you. It will say “Dear eBay user Paypal user or Bank
Customer”. This is a dead giveaway. Neither eBay nor Paypal
(which is owned by eBay) will ever address you such. Their
emails will always address you by your user name.
Banks are the same, if you are a
customer of a bank, they will address you by your known name.
Additionally, banks will not normally email you unless you first
give the bank permission.
Finally, for this section, a good way of
finding out whether it is a scam is by running your mouse over
the link. When you do so you will see a strange web address that
bares no relationship with the supposed sender of the email.
For example, you would expect an email
from eBay to have a web address that starts http://www.ebay.com/
not something like https://signin.ebay.com/blah blah blah.
For the second group of scams, the sob
sob story type. These are pretty obvious. No one is going to
give you money for nothing and ask yourself why would a African
Princess or whatever ask for your help in the first place.
If it looks like a scam it usually is a
scam.
Someone better than I once said "
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a
duck, the chances are it IS a duck."
Finally, for the third group, the
charity email that is calling on your good nature to give to a
worthy cause. Basically if you feel that you want to support a
worthy cause then send money directly to the registered address
of that charity. You can look that up on the internet. Or you
can go to the charity shops and give money there. You could also
buy something and get something back in return.
There are many ways of giving to
charity, replying to bogus emails is NOT one of them.
How do you protect yourself?
Be vigilant with all the emails you
receive. Delete all the scam ones, or set up a block on them so
you don't receive them. If you get the phishing one from eBay,
Paypal or the bank, do not on any account click on the link.
Forward these direct to the relevant authorities. For eBay and
Paypal it is spoof@ and then either eBay.com or Paypal.com Most
Internet banks have an email address where you can forward
phishing emails and a quick look on their official site will
give you their address.
On no account should you reply to these
emails. Remember these are Phishing emails and the sender
usually does not know whether the email address they sent it to
is real or not. They have programs that generate thousands of
email addresses and send bulk emails out regularly. If you reply
to one they have caught you.
There are other ways to get hold of your
details and one of these is by installing a Trojan onto your
computer. A Trojan is a small malicious program that will record
your key strokes and send them off to the person who installed
the Trojan.
In days past, Trojans were installed
onto computers by opening of emails or opening attachments on
emails. These days that need not be the case. Especially with
the amount of programs and music that is downloaded from sites.
Any one of these could carry a Trojan.
Be sure that you have an anti spyware
program and that you keep it up to date. A good quality anti
virus program is also a must these days as well. Top of the list
though is to have a Fire Wall on your computer.
Windows XP service pack 2 comes with a
good firewall and Microsoft have a free anti spyware program
that you can download from their site.
There is a tendency for young, and not
so young to exchange music files with each other. They do this
by allowing others to access their computer directly over the
internet.
DON'T DO IT! That is an open invitation
to phishers and all unscrupulous people to take control of your
computer.
Be on your guard at all times.
