Phishermen and spambots are getting cleverer and cleverer about getting people to click on their toxic links. For example, someone called Helen Wotzername sent me an email with a convincing Facebook look to it, blue logo, everything, claiming to have posted a comment to my wall: "You're full of $&^%." That, of course, would be perfectly true about a lot of what I post on my wall, but most of my friends are too polite to say so. Furthermore I don't know anybody named Helen Wotzername.
Viewing my mail was the first thing I did this morning. I was not yet wide awake. The email offered me a link to click to view the comment thread, and, Lord help me, I clicked it.
Luckily the site had been somehow dismantled before I clicked the link. In any case I saw at once that it was bogus, and clicked right off again. But it could have been bad. And you could be offered stuff like that. "Look at this picture of you. LOL." That's another good one, tough to resist.
So what if I click on this link, you ask? Well, if it's a Facebook hacker, you could be made to look like a complete horse's patoot in front of all your friends, acquaintances, and Facebook frenemies. Posts signed by you will begin to appear on Facebook: "Ooo! Ooo! I'm having so much fun playing (fill in the game of your choice). Won't you come and play with me?" "I just won a free IPad! Clik here and u can win one 2!" And that's the best that can happen. Worst case, they'll steal your identity and clean out your bank account.
I suppose you're expecting me, as a self-declared left-leaning tax-and-spend Democrat liberal, to demand that the government do something about these sleazy intrusions into our cyberspace. Well, I'm not. The government has no place in our cyberspace or anyone else's. Let the government get its own house in order.
What I am going to say is, watch out. There is no law west of the Pecos, and it's all west of the Pecos out here.
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
Kate Gallison
Agree with you 100%,Kate! Even though I am computer/dumb, I find increasing tricks like this trying to lure me in - Thelma
ReplyDeleteKate, right you are!! One of my Facebook friends was hacked. I got a FB message from her, all legit looking, that invited me to play a game. When I logged onto the game site, I got a virus that cost me $275 to get rid of. Ouch!!!
ReplyDeleteNobody invites me to do anything fun like that. Is there a list somewhere?
ReplyDeleteBob
If I ever invite you guys to play a game, you'll know it's a fake. Ditto any emails you get from me from London/Rome/Mumbai claiming that Harold or I have been arrested and begging for bail. I don't play well with others, and we never leave Lambertville.
ReplyDeleteYep, vigilance is the best antidote for keeping away the virus blues!!! I was hacked a little over a week ago and it was awkward to notify everyone that they might get an e-mail that will say "I did it!"and I said that they should just ignore it because, "I didn't do it!"
ReplyDelete