Back when the Internet was new for home users, young hackers would gleefully deface Web sites, break into corporate computer networks and try to outdo each other at how much mischief they could cause — looking for fame among their contemporaries.
That sounds pretty good compared to what’s going on today.
Nowadays, computer crooks — many of them highly skilled and professionally trained — aren’t out to impress. Fame is the last thing they want. Instead, they hide their identities and try to outdo each other finding new ways to steal your money. They’re doing one heck of a job at it.
Today we’ll look at ways to defend yourself against the new breed of computer criminal.
We won’t spend time on schemes that should be obvious or that have been talked to death. After all, if you really think a banker in Ghana has selected you at random to split $834 million, there’s little I can do to help.
Nor will we talk about phishing. You should know by now not to click on a link in an e-mail that says your bank, or some store, wants you to fill out a form giving all your personal information, passwords and bank account numbers.
Instead, we’ll look at some schemes that are a bit less obvious.
A New Home for Your Money
Crooks find homes that are on the market — either for sale or for rent — and use those legitimate ads to craft fake ones. These fake ads list the same house but lower the sale or rent price to grab your attention. Then the crook waits for responses.
What happens next varies. In some cases, personal information is taken from those who respond and that’s used to steal an identity.
Other times, the crooks ask for deposit money upfront. Either way, it’s possible to be fooled.
The fake…