Identity Theft on the Internet

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Identity theft on the Internet

Fishing just ain’t what it used to be. Once known as a relaxing pastime between father and son has now become the Internet’s most popular scam. “Phishing,” as it is called in its cyber crime form, is when criminals on the web set up fake pages that look almost identical to real pages such as Facebook, Myspace, or even banking websites, in hopes of luring potential victims into revealing sensitive information.

Phishing has become an Internet epidemic responsible for millions of personal passwords being stolen each year. Once thought of as just an email spamming scam, phishing now comes in many shapes and sizes including pop-up offers and fake banking sites.

Melbourne student Tom Wood, who bypassed the Federal Government's $84 million Internet filters this year, said the scam could extend beyond these kinds of websites.
"Ultimately you can't take them down because they're hosted all over the world," he said. "So we can't really stop it on that side, but we can stop it by educating kids on how to detect these websites.”
Australia’s The Herald Sun reports on one such site entitled Operation Myspays, that contains nearly 62,000 phished MySpace user names and passwords, all of which are currently active.
The Herald Sun was able to gain access into thousands of personal web pages using this type of phishing site.
What can you do?
Parents and children need to make sure that they are checking the URL, web address in the browser, to make sure they are on an authentic site. Be diligent with computer activity and never click on any links that are sent in unsolicited emails.
Make sure that you are always using anti-spyware, anti-virus software, and firewalls. Protect your password and try to choose something that would be difficult to crack.
If you ever need to discard your computer, be sure to use a professional file-erasure program to make sure there is no lingering personal information on your hard drive.
Ryan Hagen
www.safesurfer.org