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Cyber Crooks Go "Phishing" |
by:
Jim Edwards |
© Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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"Phishing,"latest craze among online evil-doers, has
nothing to do with sitting atend ofdock onsunny
afternoon danglingworm to entice hungry catfish.
But, if you take their bait, this new breed of online con
artist will hook you, reel you in, and take you for every
dollar you have... or worse.
"Phishing" describescombination of techniques used by
cyber crooks to bait people into giving up sensitive
personal data such as credit card numbers, social security
numbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth and more.
Their techniques work so well that, according to
FraudWatchInternational.com, "phishing" rates as the
fastest growing scam onInternet.
Here'sbasic pattern for"phishing" scam...
You receivevery official email that appears to originate
fromlegitimate source, such asbank, eBay, PayPal,
a major retailer, or some other well known entity.
Inemail it tells you that something bad is about to
happen unless you act quickly.
Typically it tells you that your account is about to get
closed, that someone appears to have stolen your identity,
or even that someone openedfraudulent account using your
name.
In order to help straighten everything out, you need to
clicklink inemail and provide some basic account
information so they can verify your identity and then give
you additional details so you can help get everything
cleared up.
Once you give up your information... it's all over but the
crying!
After getting your information, these cyber-bandits can
empty your bank accounts, deplete your PayPal accounts, run
up your credit card balances, open new credit accounts,
assume your identity and much worse.
An especially disturbing new variation of this scam
specifically targets online business owners and affiliate
marketers.
In this con,scammer's email informs you that they've
just sent $one,twoonenine.fourthree (orsimilar big but believable
amount) in affiliate commissions to you via PayPal.
They need you to log into your PayPal account to verify
receipt ofmoney and then email them back to confirm
you got it.
Since you're so excited atpossibility ofunexpected
pay day, you clicklink to go to PayPal, log in, and
BANG! They have your PayPal login information and can empty
your account.
This new "phishing" style scam works extremely well for two
basic reasons.
First, by exploiting your sense of urgency created by fear
or greed, crooks get you to clicklink and give them
your information without thinking.
Second,scammers usevariety of cloaking and spoofing
techniques to make their emails and websites appear totally
legitimate, making it extremely hard to spotfake website,
especially when they've first whipped you intoemotional
frenzy.
The good news, however, is that you can protect yourself
relatively easily against this type of cyber-crime with
basic software and common sense.
Most of these scams get delivered to you via Spam
(unsolicited email), sogood spam blocker will cut down
on many of them even making it to your inbox.
If you receiveemail that looks legitimate and you want
to respond, Stop - Wait - Think!
Verify all phone numbers withphysical phone book or
online phone directory like www.Verizon.com or
www.ATT.com/directory/ before calling.
Look for spelling and grammatical errors that make it look
like someone who doesn't speak English or your native
language very well wrote it.
Never clicklink provided inemail, but go directly
towebsite by typing inmain address ofsite
yourself (example: www.paypal.com or www.ebay.com).
Forwardemail tomain email address ofwebsite
(example: support@paypal.com) or callcustomer service
number onmain website you typed in yourself and ask if
it is in fact legitimate.
Above all remember this:
Your bank, credit card company, PayPal, eBay and anyone
else you deal with online already knows your account
number, username, password or any other account specific
information.
They do not need to email you for ANY reason to ask you to
confirm your information -- so NEVER respond to email
requests for your account or personal details.
Aboutauthor:
Jim Edwards issyndicated newspaper columnist and
co-author ofamazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr-e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links...
Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website for weeks, even months... without spending
dime on advertising! ==> "Turn Words Into
Traffic"
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