Sgt Sostand
10-16-03, 07:29 AM
A lot of the spam I get is merely annoying: offers for mortgage loans, pitches for prescription drugs, messages selling software. Some is especially annoying, such as the endless stream of ads for body part enlargement products. A few are downright disgusting, like the HTML ads containing porn pictures. But probably the most potentially harmful are the spam scams, the ones that go beyond trying to sell something and attempt to defraud recipients into providing information that can then be used to steal from them.
Most readers are probably familiar with the infamous "Nigerian scam" that purports to be a "business proposition" from someone overseas who wants to share millions of dollars with you. Of course, you must provide them with your bank account info and those who do so end up having money taken out of their accounts instead of having it transferred in as promised.
This past week, we've noticed a new scam that's going around. Many people have received a message with the subject line "Your credit card has been charged for $234.65" (or whatever amount). Of course, most recipients are going to open that message to see what’s going on. When you do, you see a notification that says "We have just charged your credit card for money laundry service in amount of $234.65 (because you are either child pornography webmaster or deal with dirty money, which require us to layndry [sic] them and then send to your checking account).
If you feel this transaction was made by our mistake, please press No.
If you confirm this transaction, please press Yes and fill in the form below."
How many recipients have naively pressed No and filled in their credit card numbers and expiration dates, eager to rectify the "mistake," thus giving these scammers the info they need to make false charges on their cards? Look out for this one, along with the "update your eBay account" and "update your PayPal account" scams that are prevalent. Never, ever send your credit card data over the 'Net unless you're doing it from a secure web site of a trusted vendor. While there are good arguments against having the government involved in outlawing the "merely annoying" type of spam, there is no question that scam spam should be – and already is – criminal activity. One way to fight back is to report spammers, and especially scammers, to:
Readers' Web Site Annoyances
Last week I told you about some of my pet peeves when it comes to web sites, and lots of you responded with your own. Popups still seem to be number one on the list. Luckily, you can do something about that one with a good popup blocker like iHatePopups. Others mentioned loud music and sounds, as well as distracting flash and animations (these can be disabled in Internet Explorer).
Several readers mentioned business sites that don’t give you any contact information – many don’t provide a physical address, phone number or even an email address. Related to that are sites that sell items but don’t give you enough information about the items to know whether you want to buy it (for example, what type batteries it uses, or whether it uses A/C power and the voltage it uses, the size/dimensions of the item, and so forth).
Those of you who use modem connections hate sites with huge graphics files that take minutes to download, and my fellow aging baby boomers dislike sites with tiny print that doesn’t allow you to change the text size. Other big annoyances from readers:
Links that mention products that just take you to the front page of a vendor’s website, where you have to search through the site for the particular product.
Scripts that cause advertising animations to play over the top of the page content (our local newspaper, www.dallasnews.com, is bad about that).
Forms that require that you select a state from a dropdown box listing U.S. states, even if you’ve indicated a different country.
Forms that don’t tell you the format for entering info (for example, two or four digits for the year, or whether to use parentheses or a dash to set off the area code from the phone number).
Misspelled words.
Dead links.
News articles that don't indicate the date they were posted.
Web registration forms that require a phone number, age/gender and other personal info.
Thanks to reader Chuck for reminding us of how poorly designed web sites make it difficult for the vision-impaired who must use screen readers, and thanks to all of you who wrote with your annoyances.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Most readers are probably familiar with the infamous "Nigerian scam" that purports to be a "business proposition" from someone overseas who wants to share millions of dollars with you. Of course, you must provide them with your bank account info and those who do so end up having money taken out of their accounts instead of having it transferred in as promised.
This past week, we've noticed a new scam that's going around. Many people have received a message with the subject line "Your credit card has been charged for $234.65" (or whatever amount). Of course, most recipients are going to open that message to see what’s going on. When you do, you see a notification that says "We have just charged your credit card for money laundry service in amount of $234.65 (because you are either child pornography webmaster or deal with dirty money, which require us to layndry [sic] them and then send to your checking account).
If you feel this transaction was made by our mistake, please press No.
If you confirm this transaction, please press Yes and fill in the form below."
How many recipients have naively pressed No and filled in their credit card numbers and expiration dates, eager to rectify the "mistake," thus giving these scammers the info they need to make false charges on their cards? Look out for this one, along with the "update your eBay account" and "update your PayPal account" scams that are prevalent. Never, ever send your credit card data over the 'Net unless you're doing it from a secure web site of a trusted vendor. While there are good arguments against having the government involved in outlawing the "merely annoying" type of spam, there is no question that scam spam should be – and already is – criminal activity. One way to fight back is to report spammers, and especially scammers, to:
Readers' Web Site Annoyances
Last week I told you about some of my pet peeves when it comes to web sites, and lots of you responded with your own. Popups still seem to be number one on the list. Luckily, you can do something about that one with a good popup blocker like iHatePopups. Others mentioned loud music and sounds, as well as distracting flash and animations (these can be disabled in Internet Explorer).
Several readers mentioned business sites that don’t give you any contact information – many don’t provide a physical address, phone number or even an email address. Related to that are sites that sell items but don’t give you enough information about the items to know whether you want to buy it (for example, what type batteries it uses, or whether it uses A/C power and the voltage it uses, the size/dimensions of the item, and so forth).
Those of you who use modem connections hate sites with huge graphics files that take minutes to download, and my fellow aging baby boomers dislike sites with tiny print that doesn’t allow you to change the text size. Other big annoyances from readers:
Links that mention products that just take you to the front page of a vendor’s website, where you have to search through the site for the particular product.
Scripts that cause advertising animations to play over the top of the page content (our local newspaper, www.dallasnews.com, is bad about that).
Forms that require that you select a state from a dropdown box listing U.S. states, even if you’ve indicated a different country.
Forms that don’t tell you the format for entering info (for example, two or four digits for the year, or whether to use parentheses or a dash to set off the area code from the phone number).
Misspelled words.
Dead links.
News articles that don't indicate the date they were posted.
Web registration forms that require a phone number, age/gender and other personal info.
Thanks to reader Chuck for reminding us of how poorly designed web sites make it difficult for the vision-impaired who must use screen readers, and thanks to all of you who wrote with your annoyances.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)