Slashdot Mirror
Voice Phishing Hits PayPal
Chai Vanilla writes "The latest social engineering phishing attack is now using phones instead of fake web sites. Identity thieves have spammed fake PayPal account compromise warnings to lure users into dialing a phone number and giving up credit card information. Unlike normal phishing e-mails, there is no URL or response address. Instead, the e-mail urges the recipient to call a phone number and verify account details."
Isn't this more traceable than just clicking on some IP in Russia? If I got an email asking me to phone any company, I'd be first looking for a landline. If it was a scam why couldn't I just call the phone company, give them the number and then they'd be able to trace it to an address or person?
wasn't phone phishing one of the first methods used?
I live in Iowa. In the state of Iowa, to get a driver's license, you must pass driver's education.
I would dearly love to have a high-school level course in computer usage, which would be required for anyone to connect to the Internet. Not going to happen, I know...
Maybe just make it a part of the general education requirements?
Most people think I'm a snobbish bastard, like every other Linux user. Which is true, to some extent. But I do believe we have a right to call people stupid when they do things like fall for a PayPal scam, buy from spam, send important (highly confidential!) information over email, refuse to apply patches (or not know how), and so on, and so on.
I mean, we have Sex education, we have Driver's education, I don't think it's unreasonable that we know the computer equivalent of wearing a condom, stopping at red lights, buckling your seatbelt... I don't like driving much, I avoid it, but when I have to drive, I consider it my responsibility to know enough to not be a danger to myself and others, and to not get tickets (which cost money and are a hassle, rough equivalent of getting scammed even if you're not held liable)...
This is the argument I use to explain to my mother why we are so snobbish. She gives the example of my uncle, a chemistry prof at MIT -- even his own wife doesn't need to know what he's doing. And I say, at least she knows what atoms are. At least she has a rough idea of what chemistry is, and what a chemical reaction is. Or take a car, at least you know to put gas in the thing, and you know it runs on an internal combustion engine. Take math, at least you know enough basic math to know whether you're getting ripped off; most people still remember a little algebra, even. These basic concepts do have equivalents in computer science.
I may not ever have the opportunity to use a wrench, or take a wrench to my car. But I know what a wrench is and what it does, and so do most people. Most people don't know what a compiler is, and are offended that they should have to know if they'll never use it.
Do you see the parallel?
This is not just about phishing, this is about life skills. It is as profoundly stupid to fall for a phishing attack as to fire a Roman Candle or a bottle rocket at your face. I'm no chemistry or pyrotechnics expert, but even I know it's a bad idea.
Oh, and the Chinese education system has us beat in so many ways it isn't funny -- they're learninng their second foreign language in 7th grade. All we have left is creativity. If they ever find a way to teach creativity, we're through. If we want to preserve our ideals and our way of life, it's imperitive that we improve our education system.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!