 ONLINE
SCAMS
We again this month discuss phishing as the onslaught of online scams
continues to haunt us, we decided this topic warrants further discussion.
Phishing scammers cast a wide net, luring victims that often costs them
critical personal and financial data. Preventing the scams may be harder
than anyone has imagined.
Phishing scams use phony e-mail messages and
fraudulent websites -- phishers like to pose as PayPal, a favorite tool
of eBay customers, for example -- to dupe people into divulging personal
financial data, especially credit card info.
According to a Gartner report
published in mid-May, there have been 1.8 million reported scams in the
United States. Over half resulted in the fraudulent use of credit cards
or other financial data. More than 57 million Americans have received
phishing e-mails, and phishing has accounted for $1.2 billion annually
in credit card scams, according to the Gartner report.
The Anti-Phishing
Working Group estimates that phishing attacks escalated 180 percent in
just the past month.
So far, the Department of Justice has caught only
a few scam artists. In one of the first phishing-related cases, Zachary
Keith Hill was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison last
week on federal charges that he duped consumers into giving him 473 credit
card numbers.
The consumer, ISPs, technology enablers and site owners
-- must each address the problem and develop a global solution, but that
the process would be time-consuming and costly.
So far, there are only
a handful of available options for phishing prevention.
PayPal and EarthLink
fight phishing by educating their customers, providing toolbar site-verification
tools, encouraging community involvement and sending blacklisted sites
to the FBI and other interested spam watch groups.
They place a top priority
on educating consumers about phishing spam messages via media outlets.
However, unlike spam, which works when computer users respond to a junk
e-mail, phishing scams work because the scam artists capture credit card
data when someone visits fake sites. Most Web users will trust a site
if it looks real and the domain name seems real.
ETC simply asks you
to be safe on the internet. No company should ask for any personal
information via e-mail. E-mail is inherently insecure, and companies
know this, they should never ask for social security numbers, or to verify
your account. If you feel you need to update your profile, type
the site into your browser or use your favorites to enter the site, then
update your information, never click on the links provided in the phishing
e-mails.
[Portions of this information provided by Wired News]
 Rent
this equipment for two days for $50.00. You can set up the projector
yourself or we can assist you! Set up fees within the Quincy area
are $25 or $50 for outlying areas. The projector may be rented
for additional days. Call us for scheduling!
TOM
COVEY 1ST ANNUAL GOLF OUTING
 September 17, 2005
8:00 A.M. Shotgun Start
Sign-In begins at 7:00 A.M.
Where:
Indian Trails Golf Course
Camp Point, Illinois
(Get Directions)
Format:
18 holes of golf
4 person scramble
Cost:
$75 per person (non-members)
Fee includes: 18 holes, Cart, Lunch and Beverages
For pre-registration and more information contact:
Joyce Gronewold
(217) 964-2700
chadg@adams.net
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