HOW TO SPOT FAKE WEB SITES

Did you know that not all Web sites are for real? Yes, there are fake Web sites used by phishers and pharmers, to steal your personal information and identity. Fortunately there are ways to avoid becoming a victim. And I wanna share it with you.

I happened to read an article in the newpaper dated April 2007 about this but I just discovered it lately. I don't pay much attention to the technology section. The Entertainment section is what I read first.

Phishers (I thought, they catch the fishes on the sea) lure surfers to fake Web sites and trick them into divulging sensitive information. In a common scenario, phishers spam a group of random people. The emails appear to come from a legitimate company and contain an urgent message, including a link to a Web site. The Web site, which appears legitimate, asks you to provide personal information. These sites display company logos and other recognizable traits. Their addresses may even appear correct, but they’re imposters- and they’re after your information.

Pharmers (I thought, they are the one plowing the field) hijack Web addresses and reroute surfers to imposter sites. To do so, they either “poison” the Internet’s system for associating Web sites with addresses, or they use a Trojan horse to send you to the fake site. Either way, the address you’re sent to appears correct and the Web site looks real, but any information you provide could end up in the wrong hands. Lately, my friend told me there are profiles in friendster that if u click them it redirect you to another site and your profile will acquire a virus then.

There are things you can do to be more certain that a Web site is authentic. How did you arrive at the Web site? If you typed in the address yourself, it’s more likely the site is legitimate. If you followed a link from within an email message, there’s a greater chance the site is fake. If the email was unsolicited or contains an unusual sense of urgency, don’t click any links. Delete the email and contact the company or organization over the phone to verify their request for information.

Not all fake sites are that sophisticated. Some imposters try to imitate the site, using an alternative spelling or a different domain extension like .edu or .biz rather than .com. Others may use an unrelated Web addresses, hoping people won’t notice. Like for example, my domain name redlan76. My blogmate, Ch13F told me one time that I have the same domain name. He discovered it because he wrongly typed my website address. According to him he typed www.redlan76.BLOGPSOT. com(the other web site) instead of www.redlan76.BLOGSPOT.com(this is my original blogsite). I clicked that other site and I discovered that it really exist. It's somewhat a religious site. But I am using this name redlan76 since 2004. There's no name redlan I guess. I coined my fave color red and the word lan which I got from the name dylan. Why it happened that we have the same name redlan76 used? Is the owner of that site born in 1976 too? It was a religious site, maybe it's a sign for me. I am in the process of healing myself spiritually. I really don't know. When I entered the site for the second time, there's a lot of pop ups. And just this moment I tried to check the website blogpsot.com. It exist but it's same page when i typed it with my domain name.

Scrutinize the addresses of any Web site requesting information. If the domain name doesn’t match the name of the organization, if it’s spelled strangely, or if the address begins with a string of numbers, it may be fake.

There are two reasons you should use secure sites to send information over the Web. First, they use encryption techniques to scramble the information you send back and forth. Second, they verify the site’s ownership through a certification process. To verify a site is secure, check for a locked icon in your browser’s status bar and a URL beginning with https rather than http.

Good security software can help you avoid fake Web site scams. Some pharming techniques rely on Trojan horses to hijack unsuspecting users. A time tested solution like Norton AntiVirus automatically blocks and removes Trojan horses. Its latest version, Norton AntiVirus 2007 offers a comprehensive set of security features with advanced protection as it not only detects and removes viruses, spyware, and worms but also blocks these threats before they can get on your computer and harm you.

Beware guys!