What will they think of next? Posted by frayam at 04/22/05 01:42 PM

If it looks like a duck and it smells like a duck, it may NOT be a duck! These days, there's absolutely no end to the ingenuity of hackers and ID theives. The latest scam is called pharming, and it can happen to even the savviest Internet users without our knowing it. You may think you're viewing your financial information online through a secure site like your bank or credit-card firm, but you have been secretly redirected to a fake site, that steals your passwords and other sensitive information. Even the Web address looks the same!

Another one hitting financial institutions, is a scam called phishing. It involves fraudulent emails that masquerade as legitimate bank e-mails. They request basic account information for security purposes. According to a Dec. 2004 report made by the Anti-Phishing Work Group, the trend is slowing, but this is only because criminals are planning and preparing better traps for the future.

With all the dangers out there, here is a story from eChannelLine to teach us a thing or two about the latest Internet scams:

Once upon a time there was a little girl who browsed the Internet in her home. She always had a very pretty red mouse with her computer, which is why everybody called her "Little Red Mouse".

One day her mother said, "Little Red Mouse, I would like you to connect to the bank and make a transfer to the account Grandma has in the Cayman Islands". Little Red Mouse connected and a pop-up immediately appeared requesting, for security purposes, that she enter her current account details.

Without hesitating, Little Red Mouse went for her credit card and connected to the site for security verification. When she entered the site, she saw that they were asking her for many things and started a chat with someone she thought was her grandmother, but in reality was the hacker who had fooled her with a web page similar to the bank's.

- Grandma, why have you changed your server IP?

For greater presence on search engines.

- Grandmother, why does the bank need my credit card?

For greater security.

- Grandmother, why do you need the entry data for my current account?

TO STEAL YOUR MONEY!!!

And Little Red Mouse had all her money stolen from her current account. When she went to the bank to demand her money, all the records showed that she had withdrawn it herself with her secret bank details. And as for the hackers, they lived happily ever after in the Seychelles.

Moral of the story: "We can see that not all web pages are as reliable as we might think, and the unwary who believe that banks verify data by e-mail will end up in the jaws of the hackers-wolves."

If we told this bedtime story to our children, perhaps we'd all be able to spot swindlers in the future and the world would be a better place, but in case that doesn't work, here are some other steps you can take to protect youself.

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