Vishing, an update on the Nigerian scam, and how to save money on gas: Internet ScamBusters #189
Today we have three more interesting Snippets for you:
- Vishing: The newest security threat
- More on the Nigerian scam
- A useful site to help you save money on gas
On to today's Snippets...
Vishing: The newest security threat
Last week we wrote about a new phishing scam that uses phones instead of websites. You can find that article (#2) here if you missed it in this article on Chase Bank and other phishing scams.
This new type of phishing scam that we wrote about is being called "vishing." That's because these vishing scams typically use VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) phone numbers to trick Internet or telephone users into giving their private information.
It's fairly simple to get a VoIP number anonymously, which is not the case for normal telephone numbers. That makes it easier for scammers to carry out these vishing scams.
In some ways, vishing may be even more dangerous than phishing scams, because consumers are used to entering private information into automated phone systems. So, it's easy to imagine that a LOT of people are going to wind up victims of identity theft and suffer financial losses from these vishing scams.
Action: Never call a phone number you receive in a spam email. Do not give any of your private personal or financial information if you do make the mistake and call the phone number in these emails.
More on the Nigerian scam
The Nigerian scam has been around for a long time, but people continue to fall for it. Arstechnica.com recently did a roundup of worldwide coverage on this scam, and concluded that it's still going strong.
For an intro to the Nigerian Fee scam, click here.
The recent trial of Mary Winkler, the American woman married to a pastor who shot and killed him, has renewed interest in this widespread scam.
A New Zealand Labor Party candidate got caught up in the scam, as did a Florida lawyer who stole $300,000 from a client's estate and says she lost it in a Nigerian scam.
New variants include a newly-discovered herbal cure for AIDS and a variant related the Nigerian football (soccer) team. You can read the details here:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060720-7307.html
For more on why people fall for Nigerian scams, click here.
A useful site to help you save money on gas
With today's high gas prices, saving money on gas is high on the "to do" list for many consumers. So, we'd like to recommend a useful site that can help you.
It's called Gas Buddy. You'll find a lot of interesting information on this website; however, we found the Search by US Zip Code most helpful.
In fact, we were nicely surprised to find that this site listed the prices for ten gas stations in the small town where we live. For larger cities, there is even more info. Visit Gas Buddy.
For more on how to save on gas, check out our article called "16 Easy Tips to Save Money on Gas Prices."
That's all for today -- we'll see you next week.
