The net is a boon for people to conduct business effectively, very quickly. It saves businesses a lot of time, money and resources. Unfortunately, the net is also an open invitation to scamsters and fraudsters and online frauds are becoming increasingly rampant.
Spoof websites and email security alerts
Fraudsters create authentic looking websites that are actually nothing but a spoof. The purpose of these websites is to make the user enter personal information. This information is then used to access business and bank accounts. Fraudsters are increasingly turning to email to generate traffic to these websites.
A lot of customers of financial institutions recently received such emails. Such emails usually contain a link to a spoof website and mislead users to enter User ids and passwords on the pretence that security details can be updated, or passwords changed.
If you ever get an email containing an embedded link, and a request for you to enter secret details, treat it as suspicious. Do not input any sensitive information that might help provide access to your accounts, even if the page appears legitimate. No reputable company ever sends emails of this type.
Virus hoax emails
It is a sad fact of life that there are those who enjoy exploiting the concerns of others. Many emailed warnings about viruses are hoaxes, designed purely to cause concern and disrupt businesses.
These warnings may be genuine, so don't take them lightly, but always check the story out by visiting an anti-virus site such as McAfee, Sophos or Symantec before taking any action, including forwarding them to friends and colleagues.
Lottery Frauds
These are letters or emails, which inform the recipient that he/ she has won a prize in a lottery. To get the money, the recipient has to reply. After which another mail is received asking for bank details so that the money can be directly transferred. The email also asks for a processing fee/ handling fee. Of course, the money is never transferred in this case, the processing fee is swindled and the banking details are used for other frauds and scams.
Spoofing
Spoofing means illegal intrusion, posing as a genuine user.
A hacker logs-in to a computer illegally, using a different identity than his own. He is able to do this by having previously obtained actual password. He creates a new identity by fooling the computer into thinking he is the genuine system operator.
The hacker then takes control of the system. He can commit innumerable number of frauds using this false identity.
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