Beware of online scammers
You have known that you should not fall for those emails that
promise your share of an inheritance if only you will send over your
banking information. You know that sharing too much personal information
on social media is a no-no. And you’ve had it drilled into your head to
not use “password” as your online passwords.But here are some of the dicey areas of the internet you may not be aware of, according to money.usnews.com.
Online shopping wish lists
So you visit a favourite online store and make a shopping list of
all the gifts that you want. That can be risky, says Matias Woloski,
chief technology officer and co-founder of Auth0, a company based out of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, that helps businesses secure and manage online
user identities.
“Scammers use the information in these lists, which are often
public, to learn more about their victims. This helps them craft more
believable phishing emails,” Woloski says.
Phishing is the practice of sending fake emails from
credible-looking sources. Woloski says you could get an email that looks
like it is from your favourite online store, with the email telling you
that a friend has purchased an item for you. Click here to verify your
contact details.
You click, and you may have just verified some key information to a crook.
Websites having to do with online gaming
Even if you aren’t a gamer, maybe you have kids who love online
computer games. Gamers are vulnerable when it comes to online thieves,
says Gunter Ollmann, who is based in Atlanta and is the chief security
officer of Vectra Networks, a company headquartered in San Jose,
California that helps consumers monitor hidden cyber attacks in their
networks.
Much of our society wants to be satisfied now, and so maybe it
isn’t surprising that many players look for ways to “cheat” the game
they’re playing, so they can get to the next level more quickly. Ollmann
says that many hackers will create “cheat sites,” in which the gamer is
instructed how to use the “cheat” to beat the game.
But, first, the gamer has to supply information like a cellphone
number, or he or she might be required to download a “toolbar.” Of
course, the toolbar allows the hacker to get access to the gamer’s
computer.
“This works very well against teen mobile game players with little money,” Ollmann says.
And money or not, he or she still has an identity that’s worth
plenty to the identity thief. This can happen even with anti-virus
protection specifically designed to stave off these kinds of cons.
Ollmann says sometimes teenagers ignore warning alerts.
“If they have spent 10 minutes answering questionnaires, see
the progress bar at 95 per cent and are told this last step is the final
stage … they’re socially engineered into installation,” Ollmann says.
Spam emails asking if you want to unsubscribe
So you get some advertiser’s unwanted email, and there’s a link where you can unsubscribe. Grateful, you click on the link.
The problem, Ollmann says, is that sometimes, “the bad guys send
spam from popular websites. … Once the details are entered, the victim
gets a message that they are now unsubscribed – but the bad guys have
harvested the ID information they were after.”
How can you tell if the unsubscribe email is legitimate? It can be
challenging to discern, Ollmann says. He suggests inspecting the URL. “Is the domain name consistent with the company it is presenting itself as? If not, then don’t click on it,” Ollmann says.
In other words, if in doubt, delete. Given how much spam your email
box probably gets, that is probably the best approach, anyway.
Free stuff. This one is tricky because plenty of businesses send
emails with coupons and offers. But look at them warily, says Robert
Siciliano, a Boston-based identity theft consultant and the chief
executive officer of IDTheftSecurity.com.
“You might get an email offering a free screen saver or coupon,
but when you open it, the software encrypts your drive and takes over
your computer,” Siciliano says.
Scary stuff. Siciliano says that you also might get a phone call from someone saying they are from Microsoft. The “representative” tell you they have scanned your computer and have found files that are malicious.
If you believe the person on the phone, you might believe them when
they tell you they can remotely access your computer and fix the
problem, after you install a program.
“When you install it, you give them access to everything,
including personal and financial information and they can do what they
want with it,” Siciliano says.
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