Guide to Internet security: Email scams – Part 2 of 2
(If you missed it, please read Part 1)
Another email scam: You receive an email from your friend you know is on vacation in England. He was in Piccadilly Circus and had his passport ID, credit cards and cash stolen from him.
Could you send him two hundred dollars to pay for his hotel room until he can go to the US embassy and banks when they open? He gives you the location of a Western Union location in England and you send the money.
When he returns he looks at you as if you are crazy when you ask him for your money back.
Another set of scams have to do with heart-wrenching pleas for help. Tsunamis and earthquakes bring out emails that seem to be from the Red Cross and other legitimate charities. The links appear to go to the real web sites.
You enter the amount you wish to donate and the money goes to the charity; you even get a receipt! Someone just ripped you off and that money will never go to the charity.
Other pleas to help children or rescue lost pets from being killed are other scams. If you get an email from a charity that seems legit, look them up in the phone book and donate over the phone.
You can even get scammed by criminal web sites the promise free nude pictures or other enticements. You will see ads for charities or even get a pop-up message saying you have a virus. Never respond to these. If you think you have a virus infection get a legitimate anti-virus program directly from the manufacturer and install it on your system.
In order to protect yourself from scams on the Internet you need to be vigilant and NEVER click on a link in an email. Also remember, banks will never send you an email asking for you to do this. Also remember the IRS will not do this. Yes, there is an email from the IRS saying you were audited and they found you are owed a few thousand dollars due to changes in government stimulus credits.
Attachments are another problem. Treat them the same as URL’s as they could be loaded with surprises.
Before I start describing the nasty things that can happen with an attachment, let me stress: NEVER click on an attachment in email.
It used to be that PDF files were always save. Now, that is not true. All file attachments can harbor viruses Trojans and destructive scripts.
There are ways (and I am not going to tell you how to do it) to make an attachment appear as a normal document, slideshow, spreadsheet, pdf file, txt file and just about any other file you can think of. These innocent attachments can launch scripts, Trojans, other web sites and even install a script or program that will execute at a later date, time or the next time you open your email.
Remember that joke I told you in Part 1? Those statements all together make a script. Any unexpected attachment could contain a script like that and could delete your files or format you hard drive. Even worse are the scripts that create and load a Trojan that just sits there and steals you usernames and passwords as you enter them and emails them out to the criminal who is sitting enjoying themselves on the beach in the Caribbean with his Wi-Fi-enambed smartphone who is transferring your money to his Swiss bank account.
Even zip or other archive files could be a Trojan. Naturally always avoid vbs and other such scripts.
Quiz: What type of email should you respond to?
A – A request from the IRS to send you some money.
B – A request from your bank to check your account for fraud.
C – A request from me to send $1,000 because I’m in a Mexican jail for a car accident.
D – A and B
E – None of the above
F – All of the above
If you have answered “C”, I thank you for extending my vacation for a week. Now read the article again!
If you answered “E” congratulations! You should be safe from Internet scams.
If you answered anything else, read this article again.
In summary NEVER, NEVER, NEVER follow instructions or click on a link or an attachment in an email.
If you think the email is legitimate, call the bank or your friend or insurance company or IRS agent and check it out. Then find out the real URL through a search engine, and type it in your browser.
If you must click on the URL, get the person on the phone and have them read you the URL. As a last resort, have them send you the message again and wait for the message. Do not use the old message, as you do not want to take a chance a Trojan or virus sent a second email with a replaced URL or file.
