The Latest in Internet Scams: Sex, Lies and Viruses
Scam alerts issued this week by IC3 -- that's the Internet Crime Complaint Center -- are a motley bunch:a fraudulent romantic pitch, a tax phishing scheme that sucks up your information, and a bogus computer virus removal service.
IC3, by the way, is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
Here's a brief rundown and what to watch out for:
1. If you love me, you'll send a check. Typically, con artists work dating sites looking to romance the lonely and talk them out of their money. When they find a suitable target, they tell her (or him), that they've gone abroad on a business trip and lost a credit card or broken a hip or whatever and need money fast. A man testifying on ScamVictimsUnited.com summed up the typical experience:
I was scammed by someone who pretended to be from the UK. She got a job in Nigeria (that was the TELLTALE SIGN that it was a scam, but she told me she had a choice to go either to Nigeria or China)...Later, after she got the job to Nigeria, she lost her credit card. Needed money, I got scammed of a few thousand dollars to send her back to UK. Back in the UK, she had a terrible accident and was in hospital and needed money. That was when I grew suspicious.
In the lastest twist, the scammer poses as an "investigator" for none other than IC3 and vouches for the legitimacy of the online (or on phone) Lothario or Lothariette.
Word to the wise: Romance should focus on smooching, not mooching.
2. Your tax payment was rejected; send us your info. IC3 says that it has received 150 complaints about this one. Generally, consumers receive emails from something portending to be the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, often used by people who are on installment plans with the IRS, with this scary headline: LAST NOTICE: Your Federal Tax Payment has been rejected." The body of the notice goes on to say, "The identification number used in the Company Identification Field is not valid." All that's enough to frighten a taxpayer into frantically hitting the hyperlink where he's asked to give up his personal information, including credit card and bank account numbers, transforming him into a lamb ready for fleecing.
Word to the wise: The IRS is much too hoity-toity to communicate with taxpayers by email. It sends letters. Even so, if you get an inquiry on your taxes, call the IRS before clicking on any link.
3. Let me clean up your computer. In this pitch, a caller claims that he's a tech support worker for a leading software manufacturer. (The company's name rhymes with, um, Lycra-loft, only it starts with an "M" -- and, by the way, IC3, you would be helping consumers a lot more if you named the names of the bogus websites). He tells consumers that their computers are infected with viruses which they are now haplessly transmitting to other people via the Internet. He directs his victims to one of several websites, where they can get the viruses removed, and instructs them to click on links for "live support" or "live contact." When they do, the caller remotely rummages around in their files where he can copy and steal information.
Word to the wise: Install anti-virus software that you buy from a reputable online or brick-and-mortar store.
IC3 issued this list late last week and failed to log in the last word in scammery: phony charities collecting funds for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. Mike Lennon, managing editor of Security Week, writes:
Scams are already spreading across Facebook, which started in a matter of minutes after the news broke of the earthquake in Japan. As I write this, scammers are hard at work, registering new domains and cranking out templates for their fake donation sites. This will be followed with massive volumes of email spam, Tweets through Twitter, and Facebook posts, as scammers gear up to solicit donations from around the world. Users also need to be aware that cybercriminals also use these events to help spread malware, via malicious links via spam, twitter and other fake Web sites.
The word to the wise on that: Before giving, check with CharityNavigator.org, which assesses and evaluates nonprofits. It lists charities already mounting relief operations.