You know the old saying “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is?”  Well, this especially holds true when browsing the internet or reading your emails.  By now, you would think that most people are aware of these kinds of scams and how to prevent them but there are still people out there who don’t know the difference between legitimate ads and fake ones.  Between that, and the scam artists behind these schemes constantly changing their approach, all us internet travelers can do is remain diligent and help inform our fellow travelers of the bumps in the road.

Working in a helpdesk, there are two types of phishing scams that we commonly see.  The first one, which most people have come to recognize, are the email fraud scams.  These are the email messages from generic addresses or random people we usually don’t know (but sometimes do know), asking us to sign up for services, to send information to receive millions of dollars from some foreign treasury, or to download an attachment to view a file you were supposed to receive.  The main objective of these emails is to get personal information either directly through your response or indirectly by installing a program on your computer that gathers information without you knowing it. 

Recognizing these scams isn’t always easy, especially when the email appears to be from someone you know.  The safest thing you can do is not open any attachments or links from senders you don’t recognize and do not respond to any emails requesting your personal information unless you initiated it..  If a message shows up and looks like its from a friend, but doesn’t directly address you personally or just seems unlike something your friend would send, then it probably isn’t.  Contacting your friend via a known email address or phone call to verify the legitimacy of what was sent to you can save you a lot of time and trouble recovering from identity theft.  Not only that, but it also gives you the opportunity to let your friend know they may have been hacked or that someone is using their information to try to scam people. 

Image courtesy of microsoft.com http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/antivirus-rogue.aspx

The second type that we commonly see, and more people fall for, is called Scareware.  Scareware programs show up when you least expect it, usually as a pop-up, and work simply by convincing you that you have viruses or other problems on your computer in order to get you to click on them.  By clicking on these fake ads, a process is started that installs programs known as malware on your computer.  These malware programs gather and send information out to their creators and cause other programs on your computer, such as actual security software, to stop functioning properly.  By disabling your security software, the program gives itself that much longer to scour through your files to find and send sensitive information out. 

The easiest way to prevent these programs from running on your computer is to avoid clicking on them.  This seems simple enough, but is not always easy to do.  The first big step is to know what it looks like and understand how your security software works.  By knowing the name and company that produces the software, you should be able to differenciate between real notices and fake ones simply by seeing that it’s not your software.  When a fake one shows up, click the ‘X’ in the upper right hand corner to close the window.  Sometimes even trying to close them can be a problem as they reopen another pop-up window with a similar message.  If this happens, you may need to close completely out of your browser, or use the task manager to end the program.

If you happen to get caught in one of these traps, its not the end of the world.  By doing a few simple things you can prevent them from causing harm to your computer or personal information.  First thing you want to do if you’ve activated one of these programs is to physically disconnect your internet connection.  By doing this, you can prevent the program from sending out any information or infecting other computers.  Once you’ve done this, run your virus scanner to find the infected files and get rid of them.  It also doesn’t hurt to clear out your temporary internet files incase the program is saved there.  If you don’t have antivirus installed or need help with clearing one of these viruses off, you can always contact PROTech for assistance. 

Photo Source http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/antivirus-rogue.aspx