More residents falling prey to online fraud

More residents falling prey to online fraud Allan Jacob / 12 May 2013 What was to be a dream vacation in Paris could have turned into a nightmare for Dubai resident Shyam Sunder (name changed) had it not been for his alert bank. It all started with an innocuous online hotel reservation on March 4. On March 10, the bank detected something was amiss with the transactions and a representative called to check if he was making online purchases that day. On his denial, the bank immediately blocked the compromised card and issued him a new one. “Even as we were talking, the scamster was using my card and had made purchases worth Dh5,000,” Sunder recalls. With the damage contained, the bank asked Sunder to fill up a ‘Customer Declaration Form for Unauthorised or Fraudulent Transaction’ as it continued its investigation over the next month. His first statement after the fraud came to light did not contain the fraudulent transaction and he considers himself lucky. How to keep your online transactions safe Instal Internet security software to block malware and secure online transactions. Don’t respond to unsolicited e-mails, especially if they ask for private information. Use a unique password for every online account and make it a complex, easy-to-guess password — i.e. one that is at least eight characters long and includes a mixture of letters, numbers and special characters. Others like Yohann Jorge (name changed) was not so fortunate after he clicked a pop-up selling security software online on realising his computer wasn’t protected and paid with his card. He now rues the day when he was caught off guard and did not confirm the authenticity of the cyber security product being sold online. Data gathered using cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab’s cloud-based infrastructure, the Kaspersky Security Network, shows that 28 per cent of people in UAE have been exposed to web-based threats and the country is ranked 68 on the list. Kaspersky puts the UAE in the ‘moderate-risk’ category based on its 2012 malware report for web-based threats and locally-detected malware. “People in the Middle East as a whole have less experience in dealing with cybercrime compared to regions of the world like North America and Europe — where the use of computers has been established for longer. This makes them more susceptible to social engineering-based attacks that try to trick people into disclosing personal data.” Users are less aware of the importance of applying security updates to their operating system and applications. “This is very important to reduce exposure to today’s attacks — many of which start by exploiting human weaknesses and unpatched applications,” says David Emm, malware expert with Kaspersky. How do such web-based financial scams work? Scamsters prowl the net for users’ credit card information like the card number and CVV number. They are then tricked into disclosing details with a phishing e-mail which the individual may think has come from their bank. Unsuspecting users click on the link to respond to some urgent request like to ‘re-confirm your card details for security purposes’. But the link directs them to a site controlled by the cyber criminals and all their details are gleefully captured by fraudsters “Alternatively, they may infect your computer and use a keylogger to record the keys you press when you type in confidential data — and they may take screenshots also, to see what you click on,” says Emm. Most anti-malware programmes now auto-update, but it’s important that people check that their software is up-to-date, especially before conducting confidential transactions. “Unfortunately, people often forget to apply application updates or put them off because they may take time,” Emm says. Financial institutions take security seriously and pay a lot of attention to the security of their own back-end systems. Cybercriminals therefore target bank customers, the so-called weaker link in the security chain who can be easily tricked into disclosing personal data. Social media dangers Users are most vulnerable to attacks on social media and experts say cybercriminals and pickpockets in the real world are alike because they follow crowds. Twitter, Facebook and other sites are the perfect hunting ground for criminals. Malware is spread easily through links in messages to gather information. Fake accounts are created and details of the list of contacts are sold to cyber gangs. This personal information can be used to defraud individuals, or to set up a targeted attack on a particular business, or both. The ‘dark economy’ online appears to be booming and is an illegal mirror image of the legitimate economy. Cyber criminals make pots of money by developing malicious code, sending spam, and creating phishing sites. ‘Small businesses’ online play aggragators for different cybercrime activities, or by providing criminal services like selling botnets to spammers. The larger fraud businesses cut across different countries. Emm says the world is a small place for business — including illegal business if you are online. Boundaries are blurred and cyber criminals in Brazil, or the UK, or Canada, or South Africa can ‘reach’ anyone anywhere with a simple Internet connection. allan@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International