December 11,2008
-
Gone Phishing, Pt.1 –
– Don't confuse ‘ease' with ‘sleaze'.While we're all out making merry, sinister bents are making wary. In our quest for easier ways, let us not become easier preys. Be on guard for grinches from the gutters. Online shopping can offer convenience and cost savings as long as we take a few precautions. Although credit cards are one of the safest ways to go, the Internet brings unique risk that many consumers aren't aware of. At least, with credit cards, our risk is normally limited to $50 and some temporary stress. Online alternatives to credit cards, however can be much more risky.
One of the first alerts to be aware of are false storefronts. These come in several forms like free-gift e-mail offers, e-mail notifications, e-mail solicitations and fake on-line shopping sites. Great deals – dirt cheap, UPS and FedEx delivery notifications, due-date bill notifications, charity solicitations and fly-by-night shopping sites. (even legitimate ones can be very annoying). One of the worst, not yet punishable with the death-penalty is the ad aware type who pipeline commercial adds onto your screen like so much sewage. ("Mirar" seems to be the worst, but shopping clubs aren't too far behind.) Anyway, most of the criminal sites are after credit card and other electronic financial access information. Most reputable businesses take great pride in vowing that they won't solicit customers online. So when dealing with a solicitation, guard your credit card and other electronic financial info well.
Unfortunately, it doesn't stop here, it begins here. A sleazy practice called phishing has become all the rage – among criminals. Fake store fronts called ‘fronts' are set up to entice trusting shoppers to make purchases online using credit cards and other electronic methods. In doing so, these honest shoppers can become victims of identity theft, as they trustingly enter their personal account information. Continued...