The Internet makes it easier to accomplish many things - banking, research, travel, and shopping are all at our virtual fingertips. And just as the Internet makes it easier for legitmate pursuits, it also makes it easier for scammers, con artists, and other online miscreants to carry out their virtual crimes - impacting our real life finances, security, and peace of mind. These Internet scams are constantly evolving - here are the most common today.
Phishing email try to trick the intended victim into visiting a fraudulent website disguised to look like a valid eCommerce or banking site. The victim thinks they are logging into their real account, but instead everything they enter on the fake site is being sent to the scammers. Armed with this information, the scammer can wipe out the victim's accounts, run up their credit cards, or even steal their identity.
Examples of common phishing scams How to Ferret Out a Phish Where to Report Phishing ScamsImagine opening your email inbox and reading a message from an alleged assassin - claiming you're the target. It sounds like something out of a horror movie, but it's been happening in real life to hundreds of people. The gist of the email - pay the hitman thousands of dollars, or die.
Scams, in general, are the new malware delivery method. Social engineering is the norm. Falsifying a link is the hallmark of phishing scams, seeded downloader Trojans, and other web-based malware. And it's all trivially easy to do, using basic HTML.
Fraudulent Link Scams Ferreting Out a Fake Verifying a Link8. Rogue Antispyware / Fake Antivirus
Rogue software erroneously claims the system is infected and instructs the user to purchase a 'full version' in order to clean the bogus infections. Sometimes, fake antivirus software gets installed by the user who fell victim to an advertising scam. Other times, a rogue antispyware scanner may be installed by exploit, a so called 'drive-by install'. Regardless of how the rogue software gets installed, the user is often left with a hijacked, crippled system. To avoid becoming a victim, before installing any software over the Internet search on the name of the product using your favorite search engine. Don't skip this step and you'll go along ways towards a safer online experience.
