Phished!: Identity Theft on the Web, and The Torturous Games of a Phisher
By lorlie6
The Horror
For almost a year now, I have been happily tap-tap-tapping along on this machine, blissfully unaware of the dark underbelly of the Internet. Yes, I did say almost a year. So, obviously I am a "newbie." A babe in computer-land, perhaps. And it is with some trepidation that I admit to my pals on HubPages and beyond that I fell victim to a scam that's been around-and apparently thriving-for years. "Phishing" has been around since the late 1980's, and the term was first coined in 1996.
Now you'd think I'd have known about such things, but despite all the warnings I've received from friends regarding scams, I bit into this one with such ease, I feel like the the most intellectually challenged crappie out there-no offense intended to those fish in particular, but you get my drift.
Poor, Poor Pitiful Me
My woes began 3 days ago, when I received an email, supposedly from Hotmail. It told me that due to countless fraudulent accounts, I was urged to "verify my account" within 2 weeks or I would lose my email. Well, certainly I would comply. I've always been a 'good girl!' There was a link in this email which I clicked, and I naively followed instructions. I did not want to lose all my contacts, mail, or information that was in that account, so I did it right away. Such a good citizen! And I went on my merry way, none the wiser.
The next day, I was puzzled that Hotmail wanted me to sign in, but I attempted to do so, to no avail. I tried to change my password. No go. Needless to say, I was beginning to freak out. I am panic-prone, and this was proving to be one of my more uncomfortable days. So, off I went to the local computer shop to check if I could sign in on another computer. Alas, alack, no! I asked the friendly staff what on earth was going on; my computer is still under warranty, and certainly this whole ridiculous situation must be technological. "The keyboard?" I suggested. The gentleman was very kind as he plugged it into his system and nothing was wrong. Of course it worked perfectly-isn't that always the way?
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But I Don't Wanna Let Go!
Of course the keyboard was fine-that was not the problem. (Oh, and I now have to take this new one they gave me back today, by the way.) The problem, of course, was that email. But, not to be outdone, I just had to try to get into the old account, and the poor man recommended I open a new email account in order to contact Hotmail regarding my problem. Okay. I did so, and then was confronted with the fact that there is no way to contact Hotmail directly-no "contact us" option whatsoever.
My next move? I phoned the only computer-savvy person I know, hoping he might know of a magical spell I could use. I only uttered a few words, ready to give him the lowdown on my horrid keyboard, when he, oh, so knowledgeably told me I'd been Phished. " I haven't been fishing in forever! What are you talking about" I asked, feeling my guts going South. "It's a scam, dear, and it happens all the time." My only savior, he said, would be to answer a security question I had answered when I'd first signed up. A year ago. When I was playing all over the Internet like a schoolgirl. I, of course, can't remember the answer. No kidding.
So, here I am today just a little humbler than I was a couple of days ago, and a lot more suspicious. I hope I am not the only moron on the block, and tend to think I'm not, since this scam has been so successful for so very long. Oh, and I went to Wikipedia to look this up, but since I can barely understand the article, thought I'd leave it here for you as a link. Though not a hook!
Comments
Thanks, my friend, I'm pretty sure I've been had. Well, I think I'll just chalk it up to another one of those damnable 'learning experiences!'
lorlie - Bummer that happened to you!! Hope you can get it worked out and that you haven't had more info stolen..Good Luck!
Lorlie, it just happened tp me too-your not alone - damn scammers. I hope it all goes away soon. I had to change my account. Hope your OK, your friend Kimmy xo
Hmrjmr and lyrics, thanks so much for stopping by to read of my war stories!
This Internet business is quite a trip, but I'll keep trying to learn.
Lorlie6 It happens on a daily basis. people get phished all the time. You can also look at these hubs to know more about identity theft http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-prevent-theft-of-yo
http://hubpages.com/hub/PERSONAL-FINANCIAL-IDENTIT
keep learning
chinweike-I really appreciate your words. I guess you can tell I feel fairly foolish!
Oh, Lorlie - so sorry this happened to you. I'm suspicious by nature and never click on anything in my e-mails. My problem is my constant search for information on the web sometimes inviting trojans and worms and other unsavory things. Welcome to life in cyberworld.
No not at all Lorlie, It happens to everyone. The most important thing is that you have been able to learn something from this
suziecat-I'm usually suspicious of everything in my world, I just fell for this one!
chinweike-I do think learning has occurred, at least I hope so!
Darn those scammers preying on innocent people. Sorry this happened to you. I hope you can turn it around.
Ah, Tammy, it's my problem now since I can't remember my secret question. Getting your first computer at 52 can make you loopy, I guess-I've checked all my paperwork and can't for the life of me find it!
I DO have to let it go...
oh lorlie, HUGS,I hope you can still fixed it, MAITA
Thanks, Maita-I think I've just got to get over it and begin again! What a lesson in naivite!
Laurel, so sorry that happened to you! I get emails from fake Ebay sometimes, wanting me to verify my info. I didn't bite. I contacted the real Ebay and they told me about phishing.
Thanks, hon, I just wish I weren't so danged gullible. Oh, well, live and learn...and be PARANOID! :)
You are not foolish. No. Just remember that at any moment in ones life, there is a lesson to learn. Learn the learson either in a hard or soft way and move on in life. Take care.
Thanks, Philipo!
Thanks for the info, must watch out for that, i am a newbie to the computer too, and would more than likely have fell for it too.
Thanks to you now i wont!
Oldest trick around and yet, as you know, it still works. Great article! We can all use a good reminding from time to time!
Oldest trick around and yet, as you know, it still works. Great article! We can all use a good reminding from time to time!
tipperary-I think a course should be taught somewhere regarding the 'tricks' a newbie should watch out for!
C.J.-I'm glad it was helpful, and amazed it's been around since the 80's!
Lorlie: Ouch! Now you are an experienced Internet user; the phishers know there will always be newbies and those are the one they con. When I joined the online world in the 90's, I was totally naive and fell for scams, even answered politely to a Nigerian scam offering to deposit millions into my account, and said I was not a good choice to do banking with. LOL! Nowadays, I don't click on links from any emails pretending to be my bank, I go directly to my account.
Your article will surely help many folks!
Oh, VioletSun, I've gotten those letters, too! I love that they said you weren't good enough for them!
I do think I've learned a lesson!
It can happen to anybody, kid. Cheer up!
Thanks, James-I'm pretty much over it!
Aaaawh so sorry you fell for the hotmail scam. I'm sure you've opened another. Google and Yahoo are far better than hotmail.
There is a lot of scam going on now. One way to spot them is to check the URL link above the page. (http://www.etc)
So, if "paypal" emails you asking for some verification, you will notice paypal in the URL. If it's not there, then its fraudulent. Some dumb scammers send email pretending to be from a bank, if you click on the link it shows "williams" or some personal name. Definitely a No No.
On a positive note, thank goodness it wasn't your ebank details.
Best Wishes, do take care. :)
Thanks so much for the tips, Elena, I never thought to look at the URL.
And you're right-no bank involved, so I can retrieve most of what I lost!
A sad tale indeed and you are most definitely not alone, unfortunately. My worst experience was having my FaceBook account hacked and someone pretend to be me and ask some of my friends for money! Luckily none of my friends fell for it but FaceBook deactivated my account and only recently reactivated it.
Love and peace
Tony
I just recently heard almost the very same story, Tony! Unbelievable.
So glad your friends were smarter than that!
A little paranoia can go a long way on the Internet!
-NEVER open an email attachment or click on an HTML link in an email unless you know the person who sent it (even then, be leary).
-download and install AVG for free, it's a good anti-virus s/w
-try Spy Sweeper as well, it only costs about US$30/yr and is very good at protecting you from malware used in identity theft.
I hope that the damage was minimal and, as you said, chalk it up to experience!
Thanks, liminal, for the tips! I wish someone had told me in classes I took on computer use that such fiends exist. Yet another learning experience...
That has got to be the Biggest"Crapy" I've Ever seen!:)
Not that I Look at"Crapy" allot!:)
But seriously L,phishing really sucks.I use Exp 8 along with multiple filters that are scheduled to automatically up date which works well.Very few phishing attempts can get through all of them.I hate to say that Paranoia is necessary but it is.
Dean
Thanks, Dean-I am learning day to day about these assholes, just wish I weren't so damned naive!
Lorlie, Sorry that happened to you. I never think the worse and might have fallen for the same thing. I hope it is straightened out now. I'm glad you wrote this hub as a warning for others.
Pamela-I think I've developed a healthy paranoia since I am also prone to trust! It's quite a bummer, but letting it all go is what I've had to do.
Thanks for stopping by.
lorlie, sorry you have had to go through all that. Chalk it up as experience and learn from it.
You bet, samboiam-or, I'll cry my damned eyes out! :)
lorlie6, Thank you for sharing your story. Yes, indeed, phishing is frustrating and could sometimes cost us some money. But, it is outrageous for people so intelligent to make use of their talent in evil ways. Just bad. More power to you dear friend.
phishers are one of the scourges of the internet, unfortunately. once in a while i get some from them telling me to "verify my facebook account". my son has also gotten some asking them to verify his identity, masquerading as his bank, which set him into a panic the first time he got it. i'm sorry this happened to you.
p.s. good luck with your 'writer's block'. (i read your forum post). just step away for a bit and maybe write a different hub, and then come back to it when you feel better able to write about it. good luck ((Lorlie)).
Boy, oh boy, Teresa, I wrote a response to your comment yesterday and it disappeard...hmmm, well anyhow, I agree with you that these amazingly talented folks 'get off' and make money from such endeavors, but there ARE all kinds!
Cosette, I'm glad your son was smart enough not to enter the information 'requested.' I didn't realize there was such a form of measly scum out there. Well, I've learned now.
Thanks for your good wishes, I think I'm over it and have a couple of Hubs brewing!
All the best to both of you!
Hi lorlie, I hope that you sorted this prob now, I hope you find your long article sorted out soon so I can start reading it, happy weekend, and I just came to drop by to say hello to you, Maita
Hey Maita, I've now gotten a new email and that will have to do-the old one's dead and gone. :(
Thanks so much for your encouragement about my article! I am dead tired from research and writing today, but think it'll be ready in a few days.
Laurel
This same sort of thing happened to me a year ago, (at least I THINK it was the same thing), and a techie told me to go to my control panel, then to "system restore", and restore back to a date before the horrible email. I did, and it worked! And you don't have to be on line to do it. Since then whenever I get a suspisous email from a "friend" or a pitch about this being the chance of a lifetime, or whatever, I send it straight to my spam, and that has helped alot!
Cathi-I'll have to give that a try. But I WILL talk to someone more knowledgeable than I.
Thanks so much for this information...Gawd, imagine how many emails I have in that account after 4 weeks!!!
Laurel
Great Hub Lorlie6 - I had never heard of this - newbie as well - so great work - I will be careful as I cross the cyber road.....love Irish
Indeed, Irish, watch your back!! It's nuts out there...
Laurel
Hi Lorlie6, Just today I got an "ebay" email that said a user had a question about item 123xyz. When I clicked the link a scary warning came up so I deleted the mail immediately. Best to go directly into the sites, and not use the links from the email.
FYI Check that the http: has an "s" (https:) before you sign into a secured site where any money is involved. Don't sign in if you don't see the s. So sorry this happened to you. Sharing your experience will help someone else from getting gigged.
Thanks so much, Peg, for such valuable information! The "s" is particularly helpful since I've never encountered such a thing before. The cyberworld is incredibly intricate and can be so deceptive...
Again, thanks for this,
Laurel
Well, here's a nasty one! I got an email today purporting to be from UPS saying that they couldn't deliver "the package" and could I please open the invoice to confirm the info. AVG anti-virus detected the FakeAlert Trojan and stripped it off the email and put FakeAlert in the virus vault where I could conveniently delete it. No harm was done to my computer.
The message I got from AVG was:
"Viruses found in the attached files.
The file UPS_invoice_5341.zip: Virus found FakeAlert. The attachment was moved to the Virus Vault."
I strongly urge anyone who's worried about phishing or Trojans such as this one which hijack various parts of your computer to install AVG, it's an excellent anti-virus program, as this incident shows!
Happy and safe surfing!
liminal
I NEED CLASSES, liminal, I suppose. I will keep your advice in mind and probably hire someone to at least tell me what's an obvious scam. I'm so damnably new to the Cyberworld that I feel like an ass at times-too naive, but learning!
Thanks,
Laurel
PS: I'm sure I'd have been at least tempted to open the UPS one-wow...a PRESENT!!! Sheesh.
Make sure to have a good virus tool.
All e-mails scams are to be reported as a phishing scam to whatever e-mail carrier you have.
I appreciate this, flread, I've already done so...and I sure hope they catch the @@#&$^'s!
Laurel
lorlie6--- here's to rememebering that security code..... and not to get caught again!
Thanks for visiting, Rebecca E. Cheers!
I'm sorry this has happened to you lorlie6. Having been online for so many years I take for granted the things I've learned to stay safe. I've seen enough well meaning wrong advice in the comments here I feel compelled to write a hub on this subject.
I can see there are many who need some help with this.
I look forward to it, MyWebs!
I am sure all of the comments have been helpful to some degree!
Laurel
I tried to remove that part of my comment since there really was only one but lost the internet and couldn't.
I still hope you write a hub on the subject, MyWebs!
Laurel
I really enjoyed your personal account of a problem that affects many people. The fraudsters are very good at what they do, and there is something about those links that make some people want to click on them.
I lost my email address once and almost 800 contacts lost their trust on me ,I started being aware for any email verification and so on!Do not simply trust any spam emails or start using Firefox browser!
I know now to be suspicious...I'm usually such a trusting soul, but the Internet is full of thieves, and I thank you for the link-I bet it'll confirm that suspicion!
Wow Wow Wow! I am a-mazed! All of the ones I got from hotmail, said this might be a phishing scam, so I didn't open. I mean I did get it, but MSN had already filtered it. You poor thing. Try the security question anyway, you may remember, and you get more than one try. Good luck!
Hi Faybe-what I did is open a new email account. None of my stuff was of national importance. No bank information. So I guess that was my best move.
You got it too!?
I'm glad it was filtered for you!
Yes I know what your talking about there is all kinds of tricks on the computer to try and get money and your info. I have learned to just delete and go on, unless I know for sure it is safe. I'm new too. I can't even figure out how to get paid the money hub owes me that's how dumb I am.
Hi Sue!
Don't feel dumb! About the hubs, if you use Google adsense, I think they send you a check once you've made $100.00. I know I'm far from that, myself!
But anyway, it's so hard learning how to use the Internet, who to trust, and all of that, you know?
Good for you deleting, because alot of the people in my contact list don't trust me anymore; I guess whoever used my email did some crazy things in my name.
Thanks for stopping by-take care!
lorlie6 thanks for this timely reminder, even those of us who have been around for a while get lulled into a false sense of security and need a bit of a jolt at times!
Like some above have mentioned I am using AVG Free and another one called "SpyBot Search and Destroy" also free to use. I have set AVG to run a scan immediately on start up and a day never goes past without it detecting some sort of problem which it fixes up straight away.
I am going to look into that-thanks so much for coming by to comment!
Oh no. Sorry this happened to you.
Letting it go is the best I can do. I think I've built up much of what I lost, Kay-thanks.
I've seen these phishing expeditions too. I've almost done what you did.
Nothing like learning the hard way, eh?
My sister-in-law had this happen when my brother died. She was cleaning up his e-mails, letting them know he had passed, etc and then got the same damn message. She relented as you did and then we all got an email from "my brother" ...that was eerie. It was of course the phisher. Yes, it was also a nightmare! I have had other things happen online as Seattle is supposedly the #1 place for internet phishing...a bank account accessed, and also someone order a MAC from Amazon using my account, but someone else's fraudulent Credit card number..they want me to pay now, and I had told them when it happened I never ordered it. This nightmare took a computer to IL on a one day express mail and the person's address was in MD> It was delivered to a vacant lot probably, and the dude just sat in his car waiting for FedEX to show up. What a nightmare that was!
Sometimes we get phished and this happens....so I blocked anyone from being able to get credit on all credit bureaus. Shame people are such lunatics, but theft seems to transcend all the barriers of time!
:)
That is disgusting, Aley. How awful for your family to have to go through. What on earth? Apparently it gives them thrills? That's so incredibly sick.
They go to so much trouble to scam, it's incredible. Your tale above sounds like a box-office hit!
So sorry.
As someone acquainted with the arcane arts of system intrusion, detection, and security..I can tell you, no matter how secure something is a user error will always render any locks useless.
I am sorry you had to learn a hard lesson, but thank you for sharing it with others.
Y.T.,
lxxy
How I wish I'd known of these things, Ixxy! Lesson learned, as you said, and I don't think I'll fall for it again!
Log on to Avast and spybot and download their free spyware and anti-virus,also try Mozilla Firefox as your primary or secondary browser...
Thanks, Mentalist!
Don't want to laugh at such misfortune but your re telling of this tale did rather make me laugh!!
You know what, Amykristina? I find it absolutely hysterical that a 53 year old woman could fall for something so obviously a scam.
Don't worry about your grins, I'm over it!
Don't feel bad. I get legitimate emails from real places like my bank with links in the email. I always try to tell them not to include links in emails as it "trains" people to click on them and someday someone will click a phishing link instead. I think it would be great if links in emails were outlawed. Then the only way to log into an account (bank, email, whatever) would be by actually going to the real site directly (the only safe way).
Hi Glenn-that's a really good idea, making links in emails against the law. It does 'train' people to click on them.
Awesome thought-I hope somebody does this.
Thanks for your comment!
This makes my blood boil. It's the same feeling you get when someone physically steals something from you. Like the jerks that stole all of my guitars 10 years ago. Or the jerks that stole my daughters new bicycle on her 7th birthday. Wish we could round them up and, well...I won't say what I'm thinking here. Just read several of your other hubs. You are a great writer.
Bless your heart, Stan! Hey, and I want you to know that if you didn't fan me back I was going to write you an email saying, "Pick ME, Pick ME!!!" You're one hell of a writer, too, and I saw that you got quite a number of followers today-congratulations. Shadesbreath has never led me wrong!
Yep, we should the phishing and other thieves up. And tickle 'em. You know that's considered torture, right?! :)
Ticking may be the worst torture of all. Especially when someone tries to tickle my feet.
AGREED!
Green Lotus 2 years ago
Oh No what a nightmare! Thanks for telling your tale of woe. It's so easy to get hooked by the phishig scammers. One thing I know to look out for is how you are addressed in your e-mails. If they say, "dear account holder" or dear valued customer" instead of stating your name, beware. Hope you work it out!