Beware of authentic looking email messages!
If you receive a message that appears to be from your financial institution that claims "you need to reconfirm your accountinformation", be sure to delete it. It is an attempt to steal your identity and your money.
Creative identity thieves attempt to steal your account information and other personal data by tricking you into typing them in a website that looks like your bank's. Should you receive a message that appears to be from your bank - ignore it, delete it, run and hide! I've actually received these from several sources - they appear to be real messages from: Smith Barney Citigroup, Huntington Banc, TCF Financial, SunTrust Bank and others. These are all false warnings designed to get your account information.
Financial institutions will NEVER contact you by email if they suspect fraud. Your bank will call you on the phone, but they will NEVER ask for your account numbers or pin over the phone. To avoid identity issues:
Be informed. A simple search in http://www.google.com can result in plenty of evidence.
Email is NOT a trustworthy source of financial information. If you do feel a message *could* be valid, confirm it with your financial institution by phone - use the phone number on your statement.
Here's an actual sample of a fraudulent email message I received. (Links and Bank's name removed). Notice the misspelled words and poor grammar - another sign of fraud:
=============================================================From: Wamu [mailto:info@YourBankName.com]
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 4:24 AM
To: diaz @ yourISP .com
Subject: Bad News.
Important Security Issue
Dear YourBankName Member,
We recently have determined that different computer have logged into your Online Banking account, and multiple password failures were present before the logons. We now need you to re-confirm your account information to us. If this is not completed within 24h , we will be forced to suspend your account as it may have been comrpomised.
We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
[Link to a fake website was here]
Thank you for your promt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure meant to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you choose to ignore our request you leave us no choice but to temporarily suspend your account.
Thank you for using YourBankName!
The YourBankName Team
========================================================
RB
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Annoying new desktop icons. Where did they come from?
Do you happen to have some odd new icons on your desktop?
You didn't put them there, they just appeared one day; "Bingo", "Website Hosting", "Casino Online", and more.
Sorry, but you've been attacked by Trojan ad-ware. Sometime in your recent past you visited a website that suggested you may have spyware on your computer. Innocently you click the link to find out what it's all about. However, that click just installed ad-ware that will pop-up advertising in your face. Ad-ware that claims to detect spyware. That's kind of like the "The Joker" claiming he'll do in "The Penguin".
There's always hope to regain control of your desktop.
First, download SpyBot Search and Destroy and use it weekly. http://www.safer-networking.org
Second, keep your computer virus free. Do it for free with AVG http://www.grisoft.com
Third, download Firefox and remove IE. (see previous blog).
If you still see the icons, do some searching on the Internet and learn about MSCONFIG (Windows XP). You've likely got some bad programs that just keep reloading themselves. Click, Start, Run and MSCONFIG. Then click "Startup" and uncheck anything that looks out of place like "Grim32", "Funk Type", and "Bone Third".
Last, support legislation in your local community that bans advertisers from installing applications to your computer.
Fight for freedom - let's prevent anyone from installing any software on your computer without YOUR permission.
You might as well let someone mount a video camera in your kitchen. Ad-ware and Spyware is just the same; recording and invading your privacy.
RB
You didn't put them there, they just appeared one day; "Bingo", "Website Hosting", "Casino Online", and more.
Sorry, but you've been attacked by Trojan ad-ware. Sometime in your recent past you visited a website that suggested you may have spyware on your computer. Innocently you click the link to find out what it's all about. However, that click just installed ad-ware that will pop-up advertising in your face. Ad-ware that claims to detect spyware. That's kind of like the "The Joker" claiming he'll do in "The Penguin".
There's always hope to regain control of your desktop.
First, download SpyBot Search and Destroy and use it weekly. http://www.safer-networking.org
Second, keep your computer virus free. Do it for free with AVG http://www.grisoft.com
Third, download Firefox and remove IE. (see previous blog).
If you still see the icons, do some searching on the Internet and learn about MSCONFIG (Windows XP). You've likely got some bad programs that just keep reloading themselves. Click, Start, Run and MSCONFIG. Then click "Startup" and uncheck anything that looks out of place like "Grim32", "Funk Type", and "Bone Third".
Last, support legislation in your local community that bans advertisers from installing applications to your computer.
Fight for freedom - let's prevent anyone from installing any software on your computer without YOUR permission.
You might as well let someone mount a video camera in your kitchen. Ad-ware and Spyware is just the same; recording and invading your privacy.
RB
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