New
threatening online practices are showing up almost monthly. As
old threats are stopped, the bad guys dream up new ones. Below
are a few current schemes by bad actors to gain personal
information to steal from your bank account, abruptly end a
relationship, or damage your reputation.
Catfishing is being used more and more often and refers
to the act of luring someone into a perceived or real
relationship via an online persona that does not actually exist.
It occurs in many forms, such as individuals may steal others’
photos and use them as their own, claim to have a job they do
not actually have, or build an entire fictional personality from
scratch in order to appear attractive to the person they are
interested in.
Ghosting is a new term for breaking up with someone by
completely cutting off contact with them, ignoring their
attempts to get in touch, and not providing an explanation for
why they ended the relationship. It is often used by people who
meet online or by using social media apps. Ghosting is also used
as a way to not take responsibility for a relationship and is
confusing and hurtful to the person being ghosted.
Phishing is committing fraud by posing as a legitimate
and often widely-known company or brand. People who are doing
this, buying up domains that are closely related in spelling to
a real domain, duplicating the actual brand’s website, and
capturing information for the purpose of identity or other
theft. Some will take payments for products and services that
don’t exist, and others will infect computers with bots,
spyware, and malware. Many internet service providers recommend
antivirus programs that contain real-time phishing filters.
These filters can block internet pages and websites that are
characteristic of phishing.
Spoofing is the act of forging an email so that it
appears the email came from someone other than the actual
sender. This is common among crooks, who want to install
programs that record and transmit keystrokes on victims’
computers in hopes of obtaining bank account information and
passwords. Most email service providers have become adept at
flagging these attempts. Running and maintaining antivirus and
anti-malware protection is crucial to staying safe while using
the internet.