It is a sad and unfortunate fact that in our current era of ever increasing technology and our growing dependence on the internet that scams have become far more prevalent and ingenious for ripping off unsuspecting victims.
By now we are all aware that scammers will try to take advantage of their victims through use of pyramid & lottery scams, email scams & identity theft. But the question is how is this working for them in what has become an internet dependent society?
Users of social networking programmes such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc provide a virtual treasure trove of information for these nefarious people. To register for these social networks we provide our full names, dates of birth and geographical locations and generally our current employment status AND employer as well as our email address and sometimes phone numbers. Access to this information is key to someone looking to take over your identity. Add to that the numerous photos we add to these sites for our friends to “share” and you have now given them the ability to recreate driver’s licenses and passports.
Whilst the ease of setting up these social networks has provided a means for people to communicate with friends, family & colleagues what many people don’t know how to do is set up sufficient privacy controls. Setting up the systems to only share relevant information is not impossible but it is NOT obvious in setup tutorials leaving people, young and elderly alike, vulnerable to providing information to the wrong person to use against them fraudulently.
By providing your primary email address when setting up your social networks consumers are also opening themselves up to phishing scams. These scams predominantly affect the elderly who are not “up” with these types of scams. A phishing scam can take the form of sending emails that look as though they come from an official banking organisation that the victim may use, or could be advising that you have won a million dollars and just need to provide your bank details to receive your prize.
With email/phishing scams appearing to represent your bank the first & most important thing to remember is that no financial organisation will ever email your account details, ask you to email your account details, email you regarding possible fraud on your account or anything else. Correspondence from your bank will always take the form of an official letter or will be a direct phone call or in the world of internet banking a secure message via your internet banking login details. If you receive an email from someone purporting to be from your bank contact your bank immediately and DO NOT open the email which may be a virus or spyware in disguise just waiting to get a bit more of your pertinent details.
Key-loggers is a particular form of spyware that can be embedded in an email link or may be downloaded to your computer by going to certain websites or clicking “close” on those annoying pop-ups. Often spyware is referred to as “Trojans” when it is delivered in this method. The purpose of key-logger spyware is to access details such as your banking login information, credit card details if you are an avid online shopper or to access personal information you have stored on your computer such tax returns or any other official documents you may have scanned for recording purposes.
It would seem that as email, online social networking & even doing our banking and shopping online has become a way of life that being victimised by these scammers is something we have to accept but that is not the case. By following a few simple rules you can increase your online safety:
Facebook: log into your Facebook account and on the top right of the page click on Account and then click on Privacy Setting. From here click on Customise settings.
By going through this process you will be able to manage who can write on your Facebook wall, tag you in photos, who can see your status updates, date of birth, employment history, view your photo uploads and anything else you choose to share.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has become the social network for professionals. It is important to note that with this network unless someone sends you an invitation into their network and you accept it the only thing they will see about you on the internet is your name & current title, potentially a photo if you have loaded one, how many professional recommendations you have & the number of professionals you are connected to (they will not be able to see who these people are or the contents of recommendations). Therefore to protect yourself on this site ensure you only accept networking invitations from people you know.
Email: Enable security systems in your email provider (Outlook, Mozilla etc). Ensure you have virus protections on your computer that scan for threats sent via email, set up rules on your email programme that flags potential email to go straight to JUNK folders so you don’t accidentally open them or if you have the feature enabled set up systems that automatically rejects emails that have specific keywords i.e Viagra, pharmaceuticals, lottery.
We all enjoy the benefits that technology has provided by being able to correspond with our loved ones all over the world without huge telephone bills, being able to work remotely from an office and do our banking or shopping online at times convenient to us (especially for shift workers) but by incorporating a few of these safety methods we will make it harder for fraudsters and scammers alike to maybe go out and get a real job.
For further information on Online Scams visit Scamwatch.
Caroline Edson resides in Mackay, Queensland. She has over 10 years real estate experience & knows first hand the seriousness of being the victim of internet fraud
Jerk.
