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The Web – Opportunities
and Exploitation Part 1
Some time
ago, my dad, who is 72 years old and a
missionary to Mexico, called me excitedly
and told me that he had received an email
from an organization that offered grants to
religious missions. He said that they had
written him telling him that a large
contributor, now deceased, had specifically
requested in his will to send money to my
father’s ministry, the amount of which was
well into seven figures.
According
to the email, my father simply needed to
provide a checking account and routing
number so that they could wire him the
money. He also needed to make sure to have a
minimum of $500.00 in the account to cover
any “wire transaction fees” supposedly
charged by the bank.
Immediately, the alarms went off in my head:
my dad’s ministry is small by most churches’
standards, with the two churches that he
started totaling no more than 150 members
combined. The amount offered by this
“benefactor” was much more than all of the
combined support he had received in the last
25 years. I asked my father to forward the
email to me so that I could take a closer
look at it.
As a
techie, it didn’t take me long to see that
the email did not come from an American
philanthropic organization as it indicated.
In fact, the relaying mail server was not in
the U.S. at all, and the reply address was
to a Yahoo! email account. What organization
uses a Yahoo! email account to distribute
millions of dollars to ministries?
Additionally, the email didn’t mention my
father or his ministry by name. To top it
off, the fax/phone number provided in the
email had a country code located somewhere
in Africa.
Needless
to say, I warned my father that it was a
scam, and then I reported it to the FBI
(though realistically, the FBI could do
little or nothing about it). I shudder to
think what would have happened to my father
and his ministry if he had supplied them
with a church checking account number only
to find out later that criminals had cleaned
him out.
Admittedly, this scam was one of the more
sophisticated ones, only targeting religious
organizations and specifically religious
missions. Still, hundreds or even thousands
of individuals fall victim to various kinds
of Internet scams every year, and
unfortunately many of the victims tend to be
the elderly.
I have
heard people (usually other techies) say
things like, “If you’re dumb enough to fall
for that, then maybe you deserve to lose
your money.” This upsets me because,
inasmuch as those critics might be able to
identify Internet scams, they could just as
easily fall for something else. I wonder how
many of them have had mechanical work done
that they really didn’t need. The truth is
that nobody deserves to be stolen from,
least of all those who are most trusting.
So how do
you protect yourself and your loved ones
from the various forms of Internet trickery?
Well, you can avoid most Internet scams with
some free tools and by following a few
simple rules:
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The old saying, “If it
sounds too good to be true, it probably
is” applies to the Internet just as it
does for everything else. In fact,
scammers on the Internet are anonymous
and difficult to prosecute, so they tend
to be even more brazen than traditional
criminals. The bottom line for the
Internet is that if it sounds too good
to be true, it is absolutely, positively
a scam. Legitimate lotteries,
sweepstakes, and charities never
use email as their primary source of
correspondence. Such organizations
generally use certified mail and/or
meetings in person, coupled with good
old-fashioned telephone calls.
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If you receive an
email linking to a site that requests
sensitive information such as your name,
date of birth, social security number,
bank account number(s) etc., delete the
email. Never enter a username and
password into a site that is linked from
an email – seemingly legitimate links
can be (and usually are) spoofed sites
of criminals who are trying to steal
confidential account information from
you. Many scammers represent themselves
as banks requesting personal information
“for verification purposes,” and they
threaten to cancel or freeze your
account if you don’t comply. Legitimate
banks will never ask for personal
information in this way. If you receive
such an email, simply pick up the phone
and call that organization if you think
it might be legitimate (hint: it’s not).
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It is wise to
designate a single credit card for
making web site purchases. A lot of
identity theft takes place from
purchases made over the Internet, and
you can quickly identify whether or not
your credit card number was stolen
online by using a single card for online
transactions. Additionally, you need
only cancel one card if theft occurs.
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Never, never, never,
and never use a debit card for online
purchases. It is true that nowadays most
debit cards are guaranteed like credit
cards, but that is little consolation
when you need to make a purchase after
someone has cleaned out your bank
account and before the bank has
reimbursed you…not to mention dealing
with overdrafts, the embarrassment of
having to explain why your check bounced
to creditors, and all of the mess that
you’ll have to clean up if someone
empties your bank account.
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Contact the three
primary credit-reporting agencies
(Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) to
have them enable security freezes or
other anti-fraud measures on your
account(s). This will go a long way in
helping to prevent online identity
theft. A good place for tips on this is
Equifax’s guide to
Preventing Identity Theft.
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Many web browsers
allow for content blocking. For example:
in Internet Explorer 7.0, under Tools,
Internet Options, Content, you can set
content filtering to allow for access
only to specific web sites. This is
especially useful if you’re the
caretaker of someone who isn’t
particularly computer or Internet savvy
and you know that they will only need to
go to a few web sites.
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Anti-phishing filters
are also available in many web browsers
and email clients. When enabled, these
types of filters help block spoofed
sites, such as fake links in emails, so
that criminals will have a harder time
tricking people to enter confidential
and personal information.
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Finally, make sure
antivirus and web security programs are
up to date. Identity theft can easily
occur through viruses, malware, and
key-logging tools, so it is important to
have current antivirus software
installed and running on your computer.
I will cover this in much greater detail
in another article.
The advent of the web has
created many opportunities for
entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the web has
also created opportunities for criminals,
who often take advantage of the most
vulnerable people, stealing their identities
and their money. However, with vigilance and
application of some simple rules, you can
drastically reduce the likelihood that you
or a loved-one will fall victim to the
faceless, nameless criminals of the
Internet.
In the
upcoming second part of this article, I will
go over some other identity-stealing methods
of hackers, and I’ll talk about malware and
viruses. I’ll also provide links to free
tools that are effective in combating much
of the bad software and exploitative malware
that unscrupulous individuals and companies
inflict upon the general public.
Courtesy of Temple Cave, MCSE, CNA, MCP, A+,
CCS Horizon,
Dallas
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