Auction Fraud
Online auction fraud is common and one of the most complained-about online issues today. Credit card fraud is a wide-ranging term for theft and fraud committed using or involving a payment card, such as a credit card or debit card, as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction. You can run into several different scams when shopping online. While making purchases on an online auction site such as eBay, for example, you could end up paying for stolen or counterfeit goods, or for goods that never arrive at all. In addition to this, sellers can place false bids on their own goods to drive their prices up or could include disproportionately large or hidden shipping and handling fees. A healthy dose of skepticism and caution is definitely required when shopping online: some sellers, unfortunately, take advantage of the scarcity of popular products such as the iPad or Nintendo 3DS to defraud buyers.
Email/IM Phishing Scam
The main goal of these scams is to obtain personally identifiable information or to get access to credit cards or bank accounts. Phishing is when someone attempts to lure you into compromising your password information through emails (usually claiming to be from a bank) and Web pages that appear to be legitimate but are not the real thing.
Keep in mind that banks and other financial institutions never contact clients by email first. If you think there may be a problem with your bank account or credit card, call your bank or credit card company or go to their legitimate website (remember to confirm that the Web address starts with https, as in https:www.abank.ca.)
There are a number of signs that can raise red flags about the legitimacy of emails that claim to be from a financial institution:
- They request your password or account number. Banks will never ask you to “confirm” these.
- They say you need to act immediately. These emails often try to prey on your fears by saying that your account will be closed if you don’t act right away.
- They make spelling or grammar mistakes.
- The link they want you to click has a long URL, often with a lot of meaningless numbers and letters. Banks actually keep their URLs as short as possible to help you remember them.
- They don’t look or feel quite right. Phishing URLs sometimes try to copy the logo or other visual elements of a bank or financial institution, but they often don’t get it quite right. Even if it looks right, don’t trust an email claiming to be from a financial institution if it fails any of these tests.
Scareware
Scareware is the term used to refer to online “pop-up” alerts which claim to have detected a virus or other problem on your computer. These often claim to be from Internet security companies or from law enforcement agencies. Clicking on one of these can have a variety of negative effects, from downloading malware onto your computer to exposing your personal information. In some cases clicking on a scareware pop-up will simply freeze your computer, after which the scammers will try to extort money from you in exchange for unlocking it.
Scareware can generally be avoided by running a pop-up blocker. Most browsers allow you to determine whether or not you see pop-ups:
- In Internet Explorer, select Tools, then Pop-Up Blocker
- In Firefox, select Tools, then Options, then Block Pop-Up Windows
- In Chrome, select Options, then Under the Hood, then Content Settings (under Privacy), then Pop-Ups and select “Do not allow any site to show up (recommended)”
- In Safari, select Preferences, then Security, then Block Pop-up Windows
Running a reliable Internet security program will also help keep you from receiving malicious pop-ups, as will some add-on programs such as AdAware and NoScript.
419 Scam
This scam, also known as the advance fee scam, starts with an email from someone who claims to need your help moving money out of another country. The catch is that you must provide some money up front, supposedly to cover a transfer fee, with the promise of receiving a small fortune when the task is complete. [14] Victims of this fraud typically lose thousands of dollars.
Chain Letter Scams
Chain letter scams involve sending an email to a large list of contacts which prompts them to forward it to their own contacts, and so on. In the email you are asked to send a small amount of money to a certain number of contacts and to add your name to the contact list. This supposedly guarantees that in the end a large amount of money will come back your way. The problem with this is that it is a modern-day version of a pyramid scheme: only the original senders ever make any money. Chain letter scams of this nature are illegal in most countries, including Canada and the U.S..
Postal Forwarding/Reshipping Scam
In this scam you are asked, either through emails or online job postings, to receive and then re-ship goods for a foreign company. The goods that come your way, however, are usually stolen or acquired through credit card fraud, making you an accessory to the scammers’ crimes.
“Congratulations, You’ve Won an Xbox…” Scam
This scam begins with an email telling you that you have won a popular gadget, such as a new gaming console, but to receive it, you have to submit your bank account or credit card information to cover shipping charges. Not only will you lose that money but you may also have your bank account or credit card compromised. If you legitimately win a product you will not be asked for any personal financial information or to pay for the shipping.
Gaming Console Threats
Because most gaming consoles today are able to connect to the Internet, they are now susceptible to some of the security issues that are associated with computers. While viruses have not yet become a problem with gaming consoles, the breach of Sony’s Playstation Network – which compromised the data of 77 million users – indicates that hacking and identity theft are a potential risk when using consoles.
