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Web of deceit: How to beat the online bad guys

Financial scams are nothing new, but the Internet is making them easier to pull off than ever. Here's how not to get sucked in.

By Katherine Vogt, amednews staff. July 25, 2005.

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Even to a discerning eye, the proposal looks real enough. The e-mail has been sent to you from an address that ends in the name of your bank plus ".com." The message includes your bank's ornate logo and letterhead, icons that can't easily be reconstructed.

Upon reading the message, the request sounds reasonable. The bank is upgrading its systems and wants to ensure that information on each account is accurate. To do so, it is asking you to verify your name and account number. Simple.

But in the minute it takes you to reply, you might as well write a check to the crook on the other end of the exchange. You have been taken in by a popular Internet scam known as "phishing."

It is one of a slew of Internet scams inundating computer users everywhere at an ever-increasing rate. They masquerade as legitimate inquiries from, for example, African government officials, auction houses like eBay or others, then lure their victims into divulging sensitive information or forking over money.

Because these schemes are constantly evolving, experts say it is critical to understand what they are and how they work so new incarnations can be recognized under the layers of deception. They also say doctors need to be especially cautious because they may be singled out by swindlers.

"The goal is to get money, and people go where the money is," said Tricia Gibbs, a supervisory special agent for the FBI's cyber division. "Doctors are fairly well-compensated, so people want what they have. They could be targeted for any of these schemes."