Frugal Mom Blog

Archive for the ‘Scams’ Category

With Christmas right around the corner, we are all thinking of last minute ways to earn extra money and find inexpensive gifts. One idea is to buy and sell using eBay or Craigslist. Most of us are familiar with eBay, and it is the safest way to sell your belongings. But Craiglist is an alternative that has a lot of benefits.

When buying on Craigslist, you can get your purchased items faster since the exchange is done in person rather than through the mail. The price is also cheaper since you won’t have shipping costs included. The main drawback however is Craigslist does not have a feedback system like eBay. You really don’t know anything about the person you will be doing business with other than what they communicate through their posted ad or email correspondence. For that reason, we have to take precautions when using Craigslist. The following are 5  tips for staying safe when using Craigslist.

How to stay safe using Craig’s List:

1. Don’t Share Personal Information. There is no need to tell your buyer you live alone, or you have children at home. Keep those details to yourself.

2. Take a Friend. When you are meeting your Craigslist buyer, don’t go alone. Bring a friend or spouse with you.

3. Pay with Cash. If you are buying something, use cash. Using a check will give the seller access to your life. He or she will know where you live, can find your phone number, and will have your bank account number. To protect yourself from identity theft, your best defense is to pay with cash.

4. Use a Dedicated Email Address. Rather than using your work email address, or your personal email address, get a free one from places such as Yahoo.com. When you set up your email address, only use a first name. Do all of your Craigslist business through this new email address. You’ll stay more organized, and it will keep anyone from knowing your full name.

5. Meet in a Public Location. Rather than inviting your Craigslist contact to your home, plan on meeting in a public location where there will be other people around. You will be much safer than meeting in your home or their home.

Yesterday I received a phishing email, and it reminded me of how eager some people are to steal our identity. Now granted this wasn’t a very convincing email, but it was still a mean person trying to trick me into giving up confidential information. In this case it was my Paypal login.

The Phishing Email I Received:

We have completed our review and have restored your account. Thank you for your patience during this process and for helping to make PayPal the safest and most trusted online payment solution.

Please update your account by clicking the link below:

Fake Paypal Link

Sincerely,

PayPal Account Review Department

Another Fake Paypal Link

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

I immediately forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com and received a confirmation from Paypal that it was indeed a phishing scam and they were working to disable it.

So what is phishing (pronounced ‘fishing’)?

Phishing is the attempt to retrieve personal information such as account passwords, bank account information, user names, credit card numbers, etc.. It is done by someone posing as a trustworthy company such as Paypal, eBay, your bank, the IRS, or your credit card company, and tricking you into giving up the information they are phishing for. This is most often done through email, or instant messaging.

In the case of my fake Paypal email, the email contained a link to click. If I had clicked the link, it would have taken me to a fake Paypal website. Undoubtedly this site would look like the real Paypal. It is very easy to grab a website’s code and make a look alike website. Once I entered my password into the fake Paypal website, the scammers would have my information.

How to Protect Yourself from Phishing

The FTC suggests the following tips to protect yourself from phishers:

• If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply.
• Area codes can mislead: Some scammers send an email that appears to be from a legitimate business and ask you to call a phone number to update your account or access a “refund.” Because they use Voice Over Internet Protocol technology, the area code you call does not reflect where the scammers really are. If you need to reach an organization you do business with, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit card. In any case, delete random emails that ask you to confirm or divulge your financial information.
• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as a firewall, and update them all regularly.
• Don’t email personal or financial information.
• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them.
• Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails.
• Forward spam that is phishing for information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. Most organizations have information on their websites about where to report problems.
• If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at ftc.gov.

To their list I’d add:

• Never click a link in an email. For example, if you need to visit your bank’s website, type the website address into your browser directly rather than clicking the link in an email.

One of the main reasons scammers continue to phish is because there are enough people out there who make it worth their while. In other words, it is profitable. The best defense we can have is to expose their schemes and not be gullible when it comes to phishing scams.

What experiences have you had with phishing? Tell me in the comments!

Additional Resources:

• FTC-Spam
• GetNetWise on Spam
• Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
• Paypal Challenge: Can You Spot Phishing?

Photo Credit: cynchang