Web of Deceit

Posted on 1 Jul 2004 at 11:28

The internet is rife with people intent on conning you out of your heard-earned money. Martin Cooper exposes the most popular scams and offers some sound advice on how to avoid them

Since you connected to the internet, your life has improved, hasn't it? You can shop without getting in the car and braving the high street. Even better, the prices you pay online are generally lower than those in the shops. Thanks to the internet and auction sites such as eBay, things that are rare, old, deleted, out of print or ludicrously cheap are just a click away. You can do your banking from home - no more lengthy queues or "I'm sorry sir, we're closed". The list of benefits is endless.

But the web isn't all good news. Over it hangs the perpetual cloud of fraud, theft and misery. All too often newspapers, magazines and TV consumer programmes carry stories about poor punters who have had their fingers burned. Some tell tales of small items bought and paid for that never turn up. Others convey harrowing sagas of a life's savings stolen by slick conmen.

In this feature we look at the 10 most common cons that are operating on the internet today. We'll see how they work and with this inside track, we'll learn how to stay safe.

Don't blame the internet for all these miseries, though. It makes the conman's life easier but the web is just the vehicle for their avarice, its name tarnished by their nefarious activities. To prove this point we'll look at the fascinating tale of Carlo Ponzi, a conman who made a fortune by, among other things, abusing the postal system of 1920s America. Like today's cyber conmen, he took advantage of the opportunities afforded him by a new communication technology and simple human gullibility.

SCAM 1: EMAIL SECURITY CHECK

You may receive an email purporting to be from either your bank or your ISP. The mail usually claims the company is carrying out a check of its security systems and needs you to email your PINs, account details and passwords. In reality, you're leaving yourself wide open to receive a thorough fleecing.

HOW TO STAY SAFE
No matter how official the email sounds, remember that companies for whom security is paramount won't ask you to email your passwords and PINs to their own system. There are, after all, few bigger risks to a company's security than demanding that the passwords to the company's system be emailed around the internet.

Look at the email address too. Real and well-known financial companies generally own 'their name.com' and have email systems that allow their staff to use this as part of their email address. As an example, fredbloggs@natwest.com is probable, as is johndoe@lloydstsb.com. If you're asked to send your Abbey National security details to some strange-sounding Yahoo! or MSN account, the smell of rats should reek high in your nostrils. Again, keep an eye on your bank's website too. As soon as it gets wind of a threat to its security, it will post the details quickly.

SCAM 2: phishing

Phishing is an evolution of the email security check scam, a ruse to which many punters are now thankfully wise. In phishing scams, rather than just asking straight out for PINs and security details via email, criminals set up exact copies of a bank's home page. They then send emails purporting to be from the bank, asking customers to enter their details into the financial institution's home page. The mail usually claims to contain information about something such as a security update or audit and contains a link that takes you directly to the duplicate site. When you enter your details, they are stolen and soon your money disappears.