John K Mitchell's Misc Blog

Do you know how confidential login information of an actual online account (such as PayPal and online bank accounts for example) owner can be stolen and misused?

1. Being careless with your information: This type of fraud can be committed very easily and does not require too much effort on the part of the fraudster. Users very often write down their login details for various websites with the fear of forgetting them. Anyone having access to these written details can login to the online account and treat the account as if it was his own. Another possibility that could easily open an online banking account to fraud is when the user selects a very simple or easy password that can be easily guessed, such as their first name. Fraudsters only need to make a few guesses before they arrive at the correct password to enter the account. These are the simplest ways in which fraud can be committed and they do not require any email scam to be done.

2. Identity theft through an email scam: Phishing, or identity theft as it is commonly known, involves an attempt by a fraudster to extract the login details of an account from the actual owner of the account. Armed with these details, the fraudster can be very dangerous as full control of the account can be obtained. In this case, emails will be randomly sent to many email addresses informing the receiver of a problem with their account. For these email scams to work, the receiver of the email needs to login to his account by clicking a link on the email. The exact contents of each email scam may differ (?we need you to confirm your details?, ?we have noticed strange transactions? etc) but the objective of all of them remains the same. Once the user clicks the link in the email, he is taken to a web page that closely resembles a regular login page, even down to having the correct logo's and login page. This page is, however, a fake and is hosted by the fraudster (not the bank / PayPal etc) with the sole purpose of collecting confidential login details from the real owner of the account. If the owner of the account falls for this trick their account will soon be operated (and probably emptied) by the fraudster. Attempts to phish online accounts have become quite common, you may get several each day, and each time a fraudster unleashes his cruel trick a number of innocent account holders become victims.

The above two methods account for a major share of the frauds and email scams being committed in recent times. It is not very difficult to stay clear from these frauds however :-

1. Choose a password that is not very easy to guess. Using your first or last name for your password is not a very good idea. Frauds can be committed easily if you note your password in places that are accessible to others. Remember to change your password periodically and certainly change it if you suspect that you have become a victim of an email scam or other type of fraud.

2. Never click links on emails to access your account. Always use your web browser and type in the complete name of the website to login. All email scams urge you to click a link on the email and access your website (you may notice that hovering over the link displays a diffferent site in the status bar of the browser). The login information is then saved to a website that is not the real website. This allows fraudsters to login to your online account and make transactions on your account. Make sure that when you are on the log-in page that the page has the locked padlock on the status bar and the address starts with https://

3. Login to your account periodically and look for any strange or unexpected transactions. The transactions could relate to either a receipt or payment of money. If you notice any abnormal movement in your account, consider it to be a possible fraud and inform the bank / PayPal immediately. Also change the password immediately to reduce the chances of further damage.

4. If you are in the habit of logging into your account and then leaving the active account minimized on your browser, you could be helping someone commit fraud on your online account very easily, especially if you walk away from your PC. Such security lapses do not require email scams or other methods. Always logout of your account once you have finished working on it or when you will not be using it for a couple of minutes. To be on the safe side, close the browser window, and if using a computer in public (a library or internet caf� for example), reboot the system when you have finished.

More tips about buying safely on-line are in this article.