ONLINE SCAMS AND SPAMS

Prepared by Craig Knott, Netaid.org volunteer

This two part TechTip installment will introduce you to the most common, and possibly most irritating scams out there today on the world wide web. It will cover what to look out for, and go into some detail on how to get around them. Part I addresses online scams and Part II addresses spam.

Modern mass production techniques have helped drop manufacturing costs across the board, no more so than where electronic and technological goods are concerned. The price of these has plummeted drastically over recent years and as a result we have seen cheaper PCs and access to the Internet. Sadly, there are a few out there who take advantage of peoples inexperience with this technology and try to scam them out of, in some cases, many thousands of pounds. This article has been designed to show you what to look for and how best to avoid these fraudsters.

In case of any queries or requests for tips, please write to techtips@wougnet.org.

Part I: Online Scams

No longer are these cons email based. Today you can expect to be bombarded from every angle, all hours of the day. Whether it is by email, text messaging or faxes. They're all on the increase. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), based in the UK, said unscrupulous firms are using bogus prize draws and special offers to entice recipients to reply. There is particular concern that children are becoming victims of Internet cons.

Premium-rate UK telecom watchdog the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS), UK said mobile phone owners were receiving the message "I fancy you" and being asked to call a premium rate number without making clear the call charges. Some people targeted by a text message scam received the same message up to 40 times in one day. Consumer minister Melanie Johnson said:

"Every day, people throughout the world open their mail, turn on their computers or switch on their mobile phones to learn that they've won 'an exciting prize' in a draw, lottery or some other promotion. While much of the marketing conducted in this way is legitimate, unfortunately it also includes examples, which are misleading or untrue. All too often those people taken in by scams make the mistake of being too trusting and lose money as a result."

Eight Online Scams

With a whole new electronic world in which to practise their tricky trade, fraudsters have dusted off dozens of seasoned scams and repackaged them for presentation via email. Even if it's not cash they're after, today's tricksters have discovered plenty of ways to turn technology to their advantage.

A mouse click on the wrong button at the right moment can turn a PC into an electronic spy, prompting it to report to persons or parties unknown every move its user makes.

Not A Government Grant

Perhaps the most notorious online con - and certainly the one with potentially the most serious consequences for unsuspecting victims - is the Nigerian letter scam, also known as the advance-fee swindle, the money-transfer hoax, or the 419 fraud.

A typical example is an email message purporting to be from a relative or assistant of some corrupt government official. This person, so the story goes, had used their time in office to siphon millions of dollars from public coffers and into a private trust fund. Thanks to this official's sudden and unexpected death/imprisonment/disappearance, the funds are floating around in financial limbo. With a little intercontinental assistance the cash can be spirited out of the country, often to Nigeria in past cases but now to other countries too. The dangled carrot is a percentage share of the multimillion-dollar stash, paid as a commission to the recipient of the email in exchange for their help. The stick is a demand to open up an offshore bank account and deposit within it thousands of pounds, in order that your would-be benefactor can grease the palms of the trust fund management.

In fact, there is no government official, no multimillion dollar booty and no trust fund managers to bribe. The only money switch ever likely to take place is out of the account set up by the unwary recipient and into the pockets of the contact, who is soon to be out of contact forever. In extreme cases, victims of the 419 fraud are invited to journey overseas to meet the holder of the made-up meal ticket. Former Northampton mayor Joseph Raca discovered that this was a bad idea only when he met up with his 419 fraudster in South Africa in 2001, when Mr Raca was kidnapped and his wife received a .bŽ£20,000 ransom demand. Fortunately, his kidnappers grew nervous when the police were called in and he was released unharmed.

Don't Click Here

Perhaps the most familiar menace is Spam: unsolicited email messages offering instant access to any number of unwanted commercial services, unbelievable one-time-only discounts on products you've never heard of or have no interest in, or yet another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rich quick. We will touch on this in a bit more detail in part two, I feel it is worth a mention here.

Receiving junk email is frustrating and many people look for a way out. You might be forgiven for thinking that the answer is to be found by reading through the unwanted message; most Spam emails include within the body text a clickable link that holds the promise of removal from the mailing list.

Typically, such a note might read: 'you received this email because you signed up at one of our affiliate websites or a party that has contracted with our site. To unsubscribe from this list click here.'

However, following those instructions will result in precisely the reverse of the desired effect. More often than not, spammers use clicks on 'unsubscribe' links as an electronic signal that the email address is accurate and active, and ready to be sold to other spammers.

Pop Ups

Another internet irritant are so-called pop-ups - shrunken browser windows that from time to time appear as you surf the web.

Often these are straightforward adverts: harmless (albeit annoying) commercials that can be closed with a quick click of the cross found on the top-right side of the window. However, many have more malicious intent. One common example is a pop-up window warning that, unbeknownst to you, the computer is transmitting your personal information to all and sundry.
In order to stop it doing so, the message goes on, you should click on the displayed link. At this point, a few things could happen. Pressing the link might result in the main web-browsing window displaying an advert for a commercial product. Another possible outcome is the initiation of the download dialogue box with an enticing promise along the lines of 'Free software!' All you need do to enjoy such goodwill is click on Yes and the installation will begin.

However, to do so may well result in exactly the opposite effect of the pop-up's promise: far from protecting your PC from transmitting personal information, programs installed in response to a pop-up often fall into a category dubbed 'spyware'. These are applications that masquerade as something useful to conceal their real, underhand intent. The most infamous of the genre is GoZilla, a download-management program that includes 'ad-serving applications': computer code that reports your online activities.

The worst kind of pop-ups are persistent and won't take no for an answer, especially when the perpetrator behind the pictured example used a programming trick to launch a barrage of legitimate-looking Internet Explorer dialogue boxes, each imploring the user to click on OK to install 'free software'.

Come across a box like this and click on 'Cancel' and it'll keep at you, insisting that you must choose 'Yes' to continue. Once encountered, there is no easy way to escape this kind of trap: a click on Cancel simply prompts another Click Yes! You can avoid being ensnared by using a pop-up prevention program, such as Pop-Up Stopper Free from Panicware

Fake Companies

Talking of things popping up, there's recently been a spate of con artists pretending to be legitimate companies. The cleverest occurred at Christmas.

A lone trickster targeted customers of Internet service provider AOL with an email that began: 'We regret to inform you that there was a recent attack by a hacker on your billing or password information. 'We have made a contract with SYI - Secure Your Information - to upgrade our account databases on to their web servers. Please go to http://256bit.at/secureaol and fill out the information requested.'

The email went on to warn that failure to do so would result in the user's account being suspended. Those fooled into following this link found themselves confronted by a website sporting an official-looking AOL banner atop a form requesting extensive personal information, including credit card numbers and security details. The site's design convinced many of its authenticity and, fearful of having their Internet access suspended, these dupes duly entered the requested information. Sadly, the site had nothing whatsoever to do with AOL and when the scam was exposed, those kidded into supplying their details had to spend time cancelling credit and debit cards; and no doubt many a week worrying about their private information falling into the wrong hands.

The lesson to be learned here is that respectable organisations like AOL never send out emails requesting the supply of personal information, nor do reputable companies ever instruct a representative to telephone a customer to ask for such details.

You might be asked to volunteer a few bits of personal information when calling a customer-services department with a query about your account and this will indeed be for security purposes. However, be it via email or telephone, if someone unexpectedly requests your name, address, date of birth, credit card details, passport number and shoe size, then alarm bells should start ringing.

Auctions

A similar scam to that described above has plagued PayPal, a secure funds-transfer system popular with users of online-auction sites such as eBay.

However, a greater cause for concern might be the auctions themselves. In the global marketplace created by these online bazaars, anyone can set up shop selling anything, even if they have nothing to sell. Trading as Calvin Auctions, Chris Chong Kim spent two years selling and reliably delivering small items to countless eBay users, generating an enviable level of feedback praise along the way. Armed with the thumbs-up from thousands of people, he then posted a plethora of high-value lots - desktop PCs, organisers and notebook computers.

Spurred on by Calvin Auctions' good name, dozens of people placed bids on the items, eventually passing on hundreds of thousands of dollars in payment. But the auction winners were to be disappointed. All his costly lots were bogus. His long-drawn-out ploy having at last come to financially pleasing fruition, he did a midnight flit to nowhere.

Always stop, think and apply common sense, and treat unsolicited email approaches in the same way as if they were made by phone or post.

Hoax Virus Alerts

Retired army officer Mike Turner of Hertfordshire is one of many thousands of internet users worldwide who've had the misfortune to fall for a convincing (but generally harmless) hoax virus alert.

Mr Turner received a message purporting to be an alert about a new and damaging electronic infection. The email warned that the presence of a particular file - JDBGMGR.EXE - on a computer's hard disk would indicate a virus infection. Moreover, the email explained, when viewed in Windows Explorer, a cuddly teddy bear icon would camouflage the infected file's evil objective. Helpfully, the message included instructions detailing how to locate and delete the suspect file.

Mr Turner followed these guidelines and discovered that his computer was harbouring the file. Keen to prevent a virus wreaking havoc on his PC, he quickly vanquished JDBGMGR.EXE from his hard disk and thought no more about it. Later, when reading a computer magazine article, Mr Turner realised that he'd been the victim of an email hoax. Such mails are often received from well-intentioned friends or colleagues who forward hoax warnings after falling into the trap themselves. By deleting the named file, Mr Turner had actually removed a legitimate component of the Windows operating system.

For more about hoax virus alerts, read TechTip: Messages that are not a joke (Virus Hoax Messages)

Chain Mail

There are numerous modern versions of the old-fashioned chain letter. A recurring example claims that, by forwarding on the received email, your information will be automatically logged by Microsoft as part of an experiment to see how quickly an email can permeate the online world.

As an incentive, the message says, every person who forwards the email will receive a $249.85 cheque signed by Bill Gates himself. Don't dip into your overdraft in anticipation of its arrival - it won't ever arrive.

Winner!

As you surf, a pop-up window appears with a congratulatory message: 'Well done! You're today's Internet winner. Dial 0906 STUPID to claim your award of a holiday/television/car!!!'

It's an advertisement, pure and simple. Dial the number to claim and you'll discover that the 'award' is a worthless discount voucher or similar. Ditto text messages that arrive unannounced on your mobile phone with the promise of a .AŽ£500 'reward' for dialling a (premium-rate) number: you'll spend Ž£10 on phone charges to claim vouchers worth pennies.

In Part II, I discuss the ever increasing use of Spam, and how to avoid it . . .