Internet Theft and Fraud

My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed me that the big problem this year (2004) is security and fraud. I have read that currently the F.B.I. receives over 9,000 complaints per month pertaining to bogus email and websites. Why is this happening? Are just a few 'bad apples' doing it, or is it the result of a lopsided world economy where the underprivileged are finally striking back like the infamous Robin Hood? Whatever your moral view, I've got the strange feeling it stems from a growing unconscious greed in the social consciousness of modern society. People worship money, not spirituality or love. Am I wrong?

Technically, the main problems at the moment are 'phishing' or 'spoofing' scams. This is where the use of Spam or junk-email is used to lure computer users to look-alike websites where they are deceived into giving out personal information and financial data. Often these emails are coming from trusted sources where hackers have altered links to send you straight into their 'pockets'. The Internet user is duped into thinking that they are visiting a trusted website page, when actually it is an excellent copy of the original. There might be only one tiny change in the web address that is often not easily recognizable.

Identity theft is where multiple tricks are employed to make you fill out fake forms on fake sites to get all sorts of information that can then be used by thieves to steal money or get free Internet access. Anything from credit card numbers to account information, passwords, billing data and personal phone numbers and addresses have been stolen and used for criminal purposes.

These tricksters, few or many, are wizards at finding loopholes in mail systems of legitimate sites. Just go to the site entitled www.crimesofpersuasion.com and read some articles about a few of the more famous scams that have been busted or that are still in circulation. There's a story about a 17-year-old boy who was arrested with over a million dollars in misappropriated funds hidden in a Costa Rican casino account! Smart kid, but how smart is he really if he got caught? On the site above there are also tips for consumers generally focusing on how not to give your information away to anyone at any time. Check them out.

It worries me a little, this huge amount of illegal activity. I know that a lot of people feel that currently the world is very imbalanced in terms of wealth and spirituality and that this new epidemic is just a karmic reaction of the oppressed masses. The United States earns 50 percent of the world's economy, of course some of the other 95% of Earth's population is going to be keen for a piece of the pie, right? Steal from the rich and feed the poor like that guy in the green tights.

The funny thing is I think that a lot of these thieves are living in America and unbeknownst to themselves be already part of the top 5% of wealthy humans. The problem is that they always want more. Money can become addictive in a consumerist society whose advertising and marketing schemes are constantly bombarding us with stimulus relating to the next new product that we 'need' in our lives. We are never satisfied with what we've got. The next purchase's momentary injection of adrenalin becomes more of an imperative than any concept of lasting spiritual happiness.

Feel sorry for these people that have to go through all the rigmarole of sorting all these frauds from the real sites out there. I doubt there is a religion on Earth that teaches that theft is a balanced respectful action. I do know that when the country of Australia was founded it was done so on the backs of convicts, many of who had only stolen bread to survive. That's a kind of theft that will question your moral value system. I'll leave you with one last question: If the 'first world' has nearly all the money on our planet, are we the biggest thieves of all?

Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net Jesse S. Somer is a concerned human hoping to one-day witness humanity living in a peaceful and egalitarian world.

Beware of the Newest Activity Online: Phishing

No. I'm not talking here about the outdoor activity enjoyed by many. And no again; I did not misspell it. Phishing is the name given to the latest online scam where millions of unwary Americans are getting their identities stolen.

This fraudulent activity is considered the fastest growing crime of modern times. The favorite target groups of phishers seem to be very young children and senior citizens, as they do not often ask for credit reports, fill out credit card applications or solicit loans. This allows the thieves to go undetected for longer periods of time; but still, be careful. We all are potential targets.

Remember when throwing away unshredded documents with personal information in the trash bin was considered a big risk for identity theft? While this still happens, identity thieves have become more sophisticated in recent times, and this is how they do it?

Phishers create bogus e-mails that look as if they came from large, well-known institutions and banks, such as eBay, Paypal, Citibank, EarthLink, and Wells Fargo among others. These e-mails claim that you are due for an account update, or that the account number, password, social security number or other confidential information needs to be verified. Then they warn you, stating that if you do not do it within a certain period of time, that your account will be closed, terminated, the service discontinued, or something to that effect.

They even provide you with links to websites that look legitimate, because they hijack the real logos of these well known banks, and trusted institutions and companies. And that is the scary part? these e-mails look 100% legitimate, but they are not.

In some cases it goes even further? some of these phishers are installing spyware on your computer to monitor your online activities. So? should you leave the online world for good? Not necessarily.

These are a few things you can do to protect yourself from these scammers:

1. Do not respond to any e-mail that asks for personal information from you, such as account number, credit card number, user names, passwords, etc. If you suspect that the e-mail, indeed, be legitimate, contact your bank or institution to verify this.

2. When in doubt, visit the Anti-Phishing Working Group for an update of the latest scams, and tips to avoid becoming a victim. The website's URL is www.antiphishing.org

3. Websites like www.Paypal.com, www.citibank.com, and www.ebay.com, offer security tips and tell you what information they'd never ask for in an e-mail.

4. Get anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date.

5. If you suspect you have received a fraudulent e-mail, do not click on any links within it, and forward it to the FTC at uce@FTC.gov

Finally, if you suspect you've been a victim of this fraud, get a copy of your credit report immediately to check for unusual activity. If you discover that you've been a victim of identity theft, close your account at once and?

- Call the Credit Bureau.

- File a police report.

- Call the FTC ID theft hotline at (877)IDTHEFT.

- Alert other financial institutions where you have accounts.

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, phishers send millions of e-mails a day, getting about 5% response. Even with this low response, it is estimated that about 150,000 Americans have fallen prey to these scams since May of 2004. Get informed. Do not become a victim yourself.

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You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

E-mail: marketingplanet1@aol.com
November, 2004.

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Tamara Baruhovich is the author of "Straight Talk about Network Marketing" A no hype, no B.S. e-course that shouldn't be missed if you are serious about starting a successful career in Network Marketing! Get your complimentary copy here? e-course04@aweber.com

Anti Trackback and Comment Spam Methods

What is spam ?

Spam is text or URL, in one or several exemplars, neither being waited nor wished, not having, neither directly nor from its shipper, no relationship neither with the recipient nor with a possible
resource related to the recipient.

How does spam appears in blogs ?

• Through the comments' body and commentator's URL.
• Through trackbacks' excerpt and permalink's URL

What are the anti-spam methods?

• Authentication by connection
• CAPTCHA
• Black List
• Bayesian Filter

Other methods to minimize spam :

• Time Interval between submissions / Number of submissions per hour.
• DDD.
• Secure Form Mode : force page and submission to be manual.
• Rank Denial : Directs hyperlinks an intermediary server.
• Autoclose after N days: entry stops accepting comments or trackbacks.

Which data are analyzed by these methods ?

Active methods do analyze the shipper to check if it's:
• a spamer by coparing its IP address with blacklisted ones.
• authorized by authentication
• a human by CAPTCHA

Passive methods do analyze :
• comment's data:
  • nickname
  • eMail address
  • URL
  • message
• trackback's data (concerning the shipping blog):
  • blog's name
  • entry's title
  • entry's excerpt
  • permalink's URL

What are the limits to these methods ?

Cross use of several of these methods allows excellent results concerning comments, but weak results concerning trackbakcs.
Difference between comments and trackbacks is that comments are sent from the recipient's blog, which allosw all above methods to be used, whereas trackbacks are sent from the shipping blog (this avoids the use and need of 2 interfaces).
- Consequently it's not possible to use CAPTCHA, authentication and Secure Form Mode methods with trackbacks.
- Another big problem, when all the trackback's data are unknown, especially the IP address, it is quite impossible to avoid spam, mainly because the blacklist and the bayesian filter are becoming inefficient.
- Last inconvenient, trackback autodiscovery is usefull for bookmarklets but also to spamers to who it gives the trackback URL.

Glimpse on futures anti-trackback-spam methods

Copyright � 2004 - Reflexive-Blog - Bobby Masteria
Webdesigner - WebMaster - MetaBlogger - Multi-Blogger - BlogMaster
Licence - Reflexive-Blog - Anti Trackback and Comment Spam Methods - M�thodes Anti Spam de Trackback et de Commentaire
Always use the URL Associated with this article. - Always use and mention my full name. - Never mention my eMail address.

The Great Spam Scam: Five Strategies To Stop Brand and Revenue Robbery

Marketers usually think of anti-spam tactics as 'how to prevent' readers from perceiving their e-communications as spam. There is another, more sinister, consequence that may affect you. Spam is not just an inconvenience. For legitimate businesses, it steals productivity, erode your brand, and rob you of revenue.

Many companies have no idea their products are being sold on the black market or their customers are tangled in credit card frauds thinking they ordered something from your organization and are about to receive zip. These shifty sales schemes cost companies billions of dollars each year in lost customers and sales of products and services.

While Aunt Margaret may have served Hormel canned pork (SPiced hAM referred to as Spam), like it or not, you knew what was in it. With Internet spam (unsolicited bulk email or unsolicited multiple postings to one or more Usenet newsgroups), you don't always know what you're getting. Some spam messages are convincing. Some are plain annoying. Whether spicy or not, many of them result in criminal offenses on a worldwide level.

Producers of a popular product, a drug like Retin-A, a best-selling software program, or a service such as a vacation package, are all economically affected by spammers. When people buy these knock-offs, legitimate companies lose money. When people order something and don't receive it, your company gets a bad name.

Five strategies for protecting assets

Whether your company sells pharmaceuticals, software, or other products, these five plans of action will help stop brand and revenue robbery:

1. Protect your intellectual property.
Follow these guidelines for managing the digital rights to your property and for protecting it.

- Verify everything is copyrighted and trademarks are registered. That includes registering with the U.S. Customs Service, because much of this criminal action happens overseas.

- Make formal contracts with your distributors or authorized resellers. Get it in writing that they agree not to send spam about your products.

Unfortunately, in most cases, your audience assumes you or one of your distributors is sending these spam messages about your product. Most of your customers or prospects have no idea someone completely unrelated to your sales organization would take the liberty to send a missive about your intellectual property.

2. Join industry associations.
Every member of the Internet community will be more effective working together than as individual organizations. One way to connect with other companies facing the same problem is by participating in lobbying efforts with them. If you work together, you can trade war stories and tap into additional valuable resources. Try to connect with people that share the same values your organization does. Communicate regularly about issues surrounding spam and the progress of your task force.

3. Be prepared to react.
Once you catch someone, be prepared to prosecute immediately. Spam prevention can only happen at the expense of current spammers, by taking legal steps to enforce the minimal standard out there, and prosecute those guilty of major crimes.

- Set up investigators to sleuth the problem.

- Set up an abuse email address (abuse@yourcompany.com) so buyers and customers can forward spam to you.

- Report anything that affects your brand to the authorities.

- Track the spammer down. Instead of starting at the sender of the spam, direct your search to the end result of the spam. You can do this by making a purchase. That way you will know immediately if the spam is criminal in nature. You will also know where the spammer collects his or her payment, and if the spammer is a pirate or credit card scam artist.

- If the party is guilty of pirating your product, work with that third party payment collection company such as Visa, PayPal, or BillPay and inform them of the problem. They will then get a court injunction to cease and desist, meaning they can shut the guilty spammer down. If the party is guilty of credit card fraud, inform the third party payment company, and also inform the internet service provider (ISP). In the U.S., the ISP will immediately shut down the spammer. Other countries have different laws, however, which is one of the reasons you want to register your product with the U.S. Customs Service.

Know that if you prosecute legally, once you get a court injunction and win your case, you are eligible for disgorgement. This legal term means you are entitled to all of the revenue that the spammer collects. While you may not get rich, at least you'll help stop the problem at its source.

4. Establish great business relationships with distributors and customers.
This strategy relies heavily on public relations including enewsletters. Part of image building, your branding falls under ensuring good business relations. Plante recommends the following ways to build these relationships:

- Let your customers know that spam exists.

- Send out customer surveys about your products and their attitude about spam, piracy, and credit card fraud.

- Create publicity around your steps as a Spam Fighter. Position yourself as a leader in the fight. Perhaps, add an occasional article in your newsletter about your fight against spam or put a note that spam is not tolerated by the "unsubscribe to newsletter" information.

5. Don't continue to spread spam to other users.
While legislation is one way to prevent spam from spreading, Robert Alberti of Sanction, Inc., recommends using technology such as firewalls, spam filters, and virus protection to help prevent and detect fraud. He also recommends using the task force to help end users become more knowledgeable about spam.

Position yourself in the eyes of customers and prospects as one of the "good guys." Regularly inform customers about the steps you're taking and alert them about possible fraud. As long as you continue to communicate with your customers, they'll realize the people at your company and throughout the Internet community don't like the taste of e-mail spam.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl.net who increases conversion rates by writing and editing content so organization can focus on their core business. She is the editor-in-chief of the eNewsletter Journal and Shavlik's The Remediator Security Digest. Visit her Web site at http://www.meryl.net/blog/

20 Words That Kill - At Least When It Comes to Spam Filters

Spam, spam, spam. It's terrible not only for those of us on the receiving end, but for those of us who SEND e-mail.

This deluge of irritating junk has unfortunately interfered with legitimate e-zine publishers, because we're caught in the anti-spam crossfire. If you publish any type of e-mail publication, there's a likely chance that your e-zine is NOT reaching a portion of your readers. Why? Their Internet service provider (ISP) or e-mail program uses a spam filter.

These software programs search for words and phrases that are typical of spam and assign each incoming e-mail a "score." If your e-mail has too many of these words and phrases, you receive a high score, and you may be blocked.

TOP 20 "KILLER" WORDS/PHRASES YOU MAY BE USING

While there are other words that will cost you more "points" than these do (e.g. sexual phrases), here are the most common "trigger" words and phrases that you may be using in your e-zine:

amazing cancel at any time check or money order click here congratulations dear friend e-mail marketing for only ($) for free great offer guarantee increase sales order now promise you risk free special promotion this is not spam to be removed unsubscribe winner WHAT'S A PUBLISHER TO DO? You have two choices when it comes to beating the filters. One is to avoid using these words and phrases altogether. I've found that hard to do. For example, in a recent issue, I discussed how to use your e-zine to increase business. Unfortunately the word "increase" cost me a fat 1.4 points in SpamAssassin, one of the most popular filter programs. Your second choice is to disguise these words and phrases in clever ways by inserting keyboard symbols within them and/or replacing a letter in them with a symbol. The trick is not to make it too cryptic - you want your readers to be able to understand what you're saying. For example, in my e-zine, I use "fr*ee" for free. While some spam filters pick up on this trick and penalize you for doing it by adding onto your score, I've found that the points this tactic costs you penalize you much less than using the words and phrases themselves. It's not a perfect solution, but it's working for now. TEST BEFORE YOU SEND It's a great idea to test how YOUR e-zine stacks up before you send it out. The good news is you can do this for FREE. Lyris' Content Checker (http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker) tells you how your e-zine ranks in Spam Assassin. All you do is copy your e-zine text and paste it into the box on their site. They'll run your free report and e-mail a copy to you. It usually arrives within minutes. The report will tell you exactly which words are costing you points. Usually you should only be concerned if your score is over 5 points. If so, you can either delete those words or disguise them, as I mentioned above. I test each issue of my e-zines in Content Checker before I publish them, and often I'm surprised (and relieved) that my score is low. That makes me a happy publisher. : ) (c) 1999-2002 Alexandria K. Brown ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning manual, "Boost Business With Your Own E-zine." To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com

Phishing for an Identity

Phishing is rapidly becoming on the largest threats to your personal, financial, and emotional wellbeing. No I am not talking about Saturday afternoons out on the boat with your grandfather, listening to stories that being with "When I was your age?"-now while these probably conjure up horrific childhood memories of such stores, they in no way come close to the horror felt by victims of Phishing.

Phishing (fish'ing ? to trick people into providing their personal and financial information by pretending to be from a legitimate company, agency or organization) is a fairly new scam propagating itself on the internet in many different forms. Each has the same sole purpose of convincing you to volunteer your personal and financial information and hand if over to these crooks.

One such attack was targeting PayPal (www.PayPal.com) customers, by sending out mass email (spam) stating that there had been a security breach and the account has been suspended until you verify some information. Well this may sound reasonable, but the truth behind this was it was not from PayPal; rather a carefully orchestrated scam to capture your PayPal username and password, credit card information, debt card pin number, mailing address, and social security number among others. What made these even scarier was the fact that the message was designed so well-using PayPal's logo and website layout perfectly-that even I had to take a second look. This convinced people of the legitimacy of the message and prompted individuals-estimated in the thousands-to happily provide their information over to the scammer.

There were a few items that made this email message stand out as a fraudulent spam message rather than legit communication:

? Greeting: The greeting at the top of the message was "Dear PayPal Member". This should alert you as PayPal, along with most major companies will address you by name or company associated with the account. EX: Dear Steven

? Website address: The website address that was being linked to from within the message was not www.PayPal.com, but rather a very clever hoax. When you look at the link in the message it appears to go to PayPal's website, but when you click on it a different address (one of the scammer's website) loads.

Now that I have scared you enough for one article, which this is not my intention to do so, but you must also realize the severity of this issue; there are a few simple things to keep in mind. Do not trust email messages. Let me say that one more time DO NOT TRUST EMAIL MESSAGES. If something seems fishy (no pun intended), do not trust it. If it tells you to update your information, call the company up that it mentions or login to your account as you normally would. In this example, you could call PayPal's customer service number or login at PayPal's website (visit it by opening your web browser and manually entering http://www.PayPal.com--not through the link provided in the email). Doing so will verify that you are not falling victim to Phishing.

Steven Carlson is an expert in identity theft and issues relating to credit restructuring solutions. He is serves as the President and CEO of Digital Intelligence Group, Inc. (www.DigitalIG.com) a company that provides identity theft and credit restructuring services through its brand eCreditRx (www.eCreditRx.com)