Malware (Viruses, Trojan Horses, etc.)

As stated above, many hoaxes involve viruses or a special kind of virus known as a Trojan Horse. If you receive a notice about a possible computer virus, check it out first. Don't spread it by simply sending it to other people.

Here are some good sites to visit to see if the virus is a hoax.

• How to avoid trojans in your email
• Here is a good compilation of information on computer and Internet hoaxes and viruses you might find useful.

Hoaxes & Urban Legends

There are a lot of reports, usually in the form of e-mails, that sound like they could be true, but are not. If you get an e-mail or read a news report that you are at all unsure about, you should check one of the resources below to find out if you are dealing with a hoax or urban legend.

Many stories that sound like "news" are actually just rumors or "urban legends". Some are even true, but the suggested remedy, such as sending the e-mail on to everyone you know, is not a good idea and falls into the classification of "Junk" mail. About.com keeps a good list of current Internet Hoaxes, etc. They classify each one as SPECIAL (a real concern), a Hoax, an Urban Legend, a Rumor or Junk.

Typical hoaxes include a large percentage of computer viruses, chain letters, get rich quick schemes and appeals to send money. Some of these are jokes, but many are much more serious. Here are some examples:

• Blush spider found under toilet seats
• Cars without headlights on driven by gang members
• Microsoft will pay you to test their software
• Modem Tax hoax - despite the new Tax Freedom Act signed into law last Fall
• Pluperfect Virus or Strunkenwhite Virus - supposedly would block all e-mail with grammatical or spelling errors in it
• Pyramid schemes - people are asked to send money to those higher on the pyramid in promise of future riches
• Virgins that were going to give up their virginity in front of web cameras

The biggest problem with hoaxes is that anytime you send out dozens or hundreds of e-mails to your friends, you tend to clog up the system. If everyone does it at the same time, it can shut down the Internet. This recently happened when a virus infected a lot of PCs and automatically sent emails to everyone in their address books.

Here are some good links about Hoaxes & Urban Legends:

• Symantec's "Virus Encyclopedia"
• Urban Legends from About.com
• Darwin Awards' Urban Legends

Protecting Yourself from Scams

What are the best ways to protect yourself against getting scammed online? (Courtesy of ScamBusters.org)

1. Use common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Trust your gut feelings - especially when you have a bad feeling about an offer or a company.
2. Don't ever respond to a bulk email. At least 95% of these "spams" are scams.
3. If you want to buy something at an online auction, always check the references of the seller, and only buy from sellers who have good references. Almost all good auction sites have buyer and seller rating systems. If the item is more expensive than an amount you could comfortably lose, consider using an online escrow service like escrow.com. There is a fee, but it might be worth it to you.

ScamBusters.org is a good resource for checking out offers and e-mails that you think might me scams.

You should become familiar with the types of misleading claims that do exist. Keep in mind that SOME wealth-building plans, MLM businesses, or work-at-home opportunities are legitimate. Regardless, protect yourself by becoming educated to potential problems.

Here are some other good sites about "money making" scams on the Internet.

• crimes-of-persuasion.com
• fraudbureau.com

Here are some SCAMS currently making the rounds:

NEW! - I've been getting quite a few emails lately, supposedly from eBay, with the subject eBay New Unpaid Item Message from some fake user name. These are obvious scams, because they do not even remotely look like they came from eBay and they do not contain any real information about me or my account.

Similar emails come from companies (mostly banks) that I don't even have accounts with, saying that my account may be (or has been) closed. These too are obvious scams.

The other day I got an email with the headline "Activate with PayPal Mobile - You Could Be a Winner." but there were three things that led me to believe this is a scam. First the subject of the email was "Paypal Account Disput" which a) has nothing to do with the email - a good sign this was sent by someone with no brains, and b) has a typo - disput should have an e at the end - another good sign that the sender is bogus. Second, the From email address is very strange. It has two parts, which don't match (sece@pl.com and se@all.com), neither of which even look like they came from PayPal. Third, they claim to be giving away a whole bunch of prizes, just for activating your phone. I do not believe PayPal would do this. BTW, PayPal does offer this new Mobile service, but go directly to their website to sign up.

Ever wonder about all the emails you get for cheap stocks? I must get 30 a day, some as large attachments. Apparently these are a scam too (no big surprise!) Spammers are profiting from share manipulation by coaxing victims into investing in junk bonds. The spammers purchase cheap shares (which artificially raises the stock price) and sell them off as victim investment raises their value further. Internet security analyst firm Sophoslabs calls the spam technique a "stock, pump and dump campaign" and said it accounts for about 15% of all spam, up 5% from last year.Don't fall for these (or any) "too good to be true" offers in your email.

Password Changed scam - today I got an email that just read "Your password was successfully changed! Please see the attached file for detailed information." The attachment was a 111KB .zip file, which I am sure contains a virus or other malware. The sender did not even mention what password had been changed. This should be an obvious scam to anyone who receives it.

SPAM, Scams, Malware, Hoaxes, Urban Legends & False Information

It's not easy to determine whether information on the Internet is legitimate or correct. There is a lot of inaccurate and deceitful information on web sites, in e-mails, and even in news and newsgroups. False information can occur from mistakes or oversights, but the biggest problem is information that is out of date.

Malicious information also exists on the web. Some examples are: products that don't really exist, fabricated news stories, misleading statistics or financial reports, false virus alerts, pyramid schemes, etc. Unsolicited email (SPAM) is the primary culprit in the dissemination of malicious information today. Many SPAM emails are actually SCAMS.

My best advice on the SPAM situation is DO NOT RESPOND (either with a reply or by clicking a link or by opening an attachment) to any email you get that is from a company or person that you have never heard of. I recommend liberal use of the DELETE key and learning to use the filters (or Rules) that come with your email program. Also beware of suspicious emails from companies you do know, especially if they do not use your real name. These may be "Phishing" scams which attempt to get you to reveal personal information which could be used for identity fraud.