|
Technology| Free Advertising Forums|
SBA Articles| Terms of Use| Security/Privacy| Software| |
|
Home| Business
Services & Products|
Books & eBooks| Success Stories| Contact Us| Link to Us |
|
|
|
Home based business
opportunities-Free html courses-Bookstore-Software-Make Money online and
offline |
|
“
Your Home Business Knowledge Center”
Benefits-Benefits-Benefits |
|
|
Cyber Crooks Go "Phishing" - by Jim Edwards © Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "Phishing," the latest craze among online evil-doers, has nothing todo with sitting at the end of a dock on a sunny afternoon dangling aworm to entice hungry catfish. But, if you take their bait, this new breed of online con artistwill hook you, reel you in, and take you for every dollar youhave... or worse. "Phishing" describes a combination of techniques used by cybercrooks to bait people into giving up sensitive personal data such ascredit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account numbers,dates of birth and more. Their techniques work so well that, according toFraudWatchInternational.com, "phishing" rates as the fastest growingscam on the Internet. Here's the basic pattern for a "phishing" scam... You receive a very official email that appears to originate from alegitimate source, such as a bank, eBay, PayPal, a major retailer,or some other well known entity. In the email it tells you that something bad is about to happenunless 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 thatsomeone opened a fraudulent account using your name. In order to help straighten everything out, you need to click a linkin the email and provide some basic account information so they canverify your identity and then give you additional details so you canhelp 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 yourbank accounts, deplete your PayPal accounts, run up your credit cardbalances, open new credit accounts, assume your identity and muchworse. An especially disturbing new variation of this scam specificallytargets online business owners and affiliate marketers. In this con, the scammer's email informs you that they've just sent$1,219.43 (or a similar big but believable amount) in affiliatecommissions to you via PayPal. They need you to log into your PayPal account to verify receipt ofthe money and then email them back to confirm you got it. Since you're so excited at the possibility of an unexpected pay day,you click the link to go to PayPal, log in, and BANG! They have yourPayPal login information and can empty your account. This new "phishing" style scam works extremely well for 2 basicreasons. First, by exploiting your sense of urgency created by fear or greed,crooks get you to click the link and give them your informationwithout thinking. Second, the scammers use a variety of cloaking and spoofingtechniques to make their emails and websites appear totallylegitimate, making it extremely hard to spot a fake website,especially when they've first whipped you into an emotional frenzy. The good news, however, is that you can protect yourself relativelyeasily against this type of cyber-crime with basic software andcommon sense. Most of these scams get delivered to you via Spam (unsolicitedemail), so a good spam blocker will cut down on many of them evenmaking it to your inbox. If you receive an email that looks legitimate and you want torespond, Stop - Wait - Think! Verify all phone numbers with a physical phone book or online phonedirectory like www.Verizon.com or www.ATT.com/directory/ beforecalling. Look for spelling and grammatical errors that make it look likesomeone who doesn't speak English or your native language very wellwrote it. Never click the link provided in the email, but go directly to thewebsite by typing in the main address of the site yourself (example:www.paypal.com or www.ebay.com). Forward the email to the main email address of the website (example:support@paypal.com) or call the customer service number on the mainwebsite 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 youdeal with online already knows your account number, username,password or any other account specific information. They don't need to email you for ANY reason to ask you to confirmyour information -- so NEVER respond to email requests for youraccount or personal details. -- Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-authorof an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr-e articlesto quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website oraffiliate links... -=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for drivingThousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliatelinks... without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here
*****************************************************
|
|
|
|
|
|
|