On 2005-07-19 02:03:45, FraudEliminator Team writes:

Phishing is a subset of fraud

Many people think they're too smart for phishing attacks. They think "I never click on links in e-mails, so what's the problem?"

The fact is, phishing is just one category of online fraud. And online fraud is the big problem. For example, do a search on google for "plasma television." Hundreds of sponsored listings (AdWords) appear on the right sign of the screen. Click on one, and you're on an alleged plasma TV site. How do you know it's legit? It could be a site that's been in existence for 5 days and hosted in Romania.

It's not like the real world, where when you walk into a store, you have an immediate feel for if it's a big safe store (like BestBuy or CircuitCity) or some shady grey market dealer. A professional looking website can be designed by a teenager anywhere on earth.

If you do a search for Viagra, you'll see that the top ad isn't even for Pfizer. It's for some illicit pharmacy whose website has been up for 3 days.

Think about it this way. Suppose that you're a criminal who has stolen one credit card number. How do you get more? Use the stolen credit card to buy advertising on Google. Direct people to a fraudulent website advertising, say, plasma televisions for $250. Get 20 more stolen cards from people who try to buy the plasma television. And repeat.

We've actually seen this happen. And we're working on numerous improvements to our product to protect against these criminal enterprise sites. Be careful, and shop/surf safely. Check the country and registration date for every website you visit (using our toolbar:).