Cyber-Criminals Want Your Information
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12 Schemes Of Christmas
According to Consumer Reports' 2009 State of the Net Survey, cyber criminals can take a lot more from you.
NBC 4
NBC 4 has the fast facts on the information cyber-criminals want, how they get it and what to do if you’re victimized this holiday season.
Published: November 27, 2009
Updated: November 28, 2009
CENTRAL OHIO—As you’re trying to purchase gifts for your family and friends, cyber-criminals are trying to steal your personal information.
NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS.
Cyber-criminals have stolen $8 billion from consumers in the past year, according to Consumer Reports’ 2009 State of the Net survey.
Cyber-crimes spike during the holidays but are difficult to solve because it’s hard to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, who the suspects are, CPD sergeant Dennis Kline said.
“You don’t have a witness that can identify a suspect. You don’t have fingerprints you can submit to identify the person,“ Kline said.
The best way to protect yourself is to be aware of the cyber-schemes.
There are 12 holiday schemes you should be watching for, according to McAfee, a company that specializes in online security.
NBC 4 has highlighted a few of the surprising scams here. Click here to read the rest.
1. Watch out for fake invoices that look like they’re from real delivery services such as FedEx or UPS. Cyber-criminals send them asking for credit-card details before you can receive a package that you’ll never get.
2. Beware of sites that offer discounted luxury gifts. McAfee said cyber-criminals post fake Better Business Bureau logos on the malware-ridden sites to get you to enter your personal information. Malware is short for malicious software. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.
3. Be careful when searching for holiday ringtones or wallpaper. Some sites will infect your computer with spyware. Spyware is a type of malware that is installed on computers and collects information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user.
If you think you’ve become a victim of a cyber-crime, Kline said you should file a police report, cancel your credit or debit cards and get new ones and keep an eye on you credit reports.
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Reader Reactions
And also, if you’re ever accidently redirected to a web site that claims to be “scanning” your computer for “malware” that doesn’t exist, shut your computer down if you can’t exit your web browser. (ie: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Fire Fox, Opera, etc..)
It’s malware that will typically hold your computer hostage. Meaning that there is no way it will let the victim shut it’s program down.
Typically, once installed, they tell you that your computer is “infected”, when in reality, it may not be.
Then they trick the victim into giving up their hard earned money to “remove” the non-existent “malware”.
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