节目资讯
刊物:科技前沿
日期:2009-10-06
难易度:Medium
关键字:victimize, back up, account for, vulnerability, te
Advanced Studio Classroom is on the air.
Today on Advanced: How to protect yourself from the new breed of Internet fraud.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the second day of The New Internet Scams here on
Advanced Studio Classroom.
Today is October 6.
We’re on page 15 of your Advanced magazine.
And I’m the host for today, Naomi.
It’s good to be back.
And back with me are Howie and Charlotte.
Hey, everyone.
Hello.
Hi.
So yesterday we began to learn about the new version of Internet scams.
And what did we learn, Charlotte?
Well, we learned that there are two major factors that are contributing to these
new scams being bred.
And first of all is that technology of course is increasing.
People are becoming more and more innovative, but they’re not using their
innovation in good ways.
OK. What’s the second factor?
Well, the second factor is the fact that the economy has taken a downturn.
Uh, things are going bad.
We talked about it being a sour economy, a very unpleasant environment because
uh... money, jobs uh... is very...
They’re very tight these days.
All right.
So people are now using this opportunity to try to trick others into giving
personal information and money away.
Right.
And the people who are getting tricked are more susceptible than ever to getting
tricked.
And so there’s a lot of problems here.
Um, we’ve talked about a few other... a few other things.
First of all, that crime complaint centers and different places like that that
deal with Internet crime have noticed their numbers going way up.
There are many, many more complaints in the past year or two than there were
before.
Right. And this could be because more people are going on the Internet.
But it really is the environment for... for... I guess new scams because of the
economy,
because people are getting on the Internet more.
You’re gonna see more and more complaints.
OK. Now one of the other things we mentioned is that we have tech-savvy
individuals who are out of work and turn to scaming as a means of income.
So people who worked in technology in that industry, um, may have gotten fired
and then what?
Well, they have the skill, they have this ability to create code.
And maybe they are desperate.
They need to find money, or maybe they’re even angry at their company for being
fired.
And maybe as a means of revenge, or just as a means of making a living.
They’re turning to or resorting to scaming because there’s no other way that
they can make enough money to survive.
OK. Good.
Now, on page 15, speaking of all these different problems, we have a little
sidebar called ”Holls in the dike.”.
Now, first of all, what is that title?
What does that mean?
Well, a dike is kind of like a dam or something that would either hold water or
that would divide something.
And so if there are holes in it, maybe it means it’s weak in certain areas or
different areas,
where, for example, if we’re talking about a dam, the water could slowly seep
through in different places.
OK. So there are little... little problems with the Internet security.
So we see cyber criminals on one side of this wall and the user on the other
side.
It says that the tech industry created - and now maintains - an insecure
environment that provides a breeding ground,
like you were talking about, Charlotte, um, for online crime.
And so there’s a lot of situations where online crime can happen easily.
Now we see four examples of what those are, Howie?
Right.
And those four examples are: e-mail services, Internet service providers,
Internet search engines and software makers.
Now we all use e-mail.
We use it to contact our friends, so that’s one way cyber criminals will try to
get information from you.
OK, and e-mail services, under that one, we also see the infamous ”Nigerian
letter.”.
Now you want to tell us a little more about that?
It’s actually mentioned in our caption on page 14 as well.
Right. If you look on the photo on page 14, you might even see it says
”Nigerian” right over there.
And there was a scam.
Actually, it’s still going on.
Originating from Africa.
They’re basically asking you for money.
And they try to...
It’s a really sad story pretty much.
And there are these people there who want to ask you for money, and it’s a scam
unfortunately.
Um, I’m not going to give too much detail, because I don’t want you to go
looking for it basically.
But yeah, there... you gonna get an e-mail, and it’s gonna ask you for money.
And they’re going to describe a very bad or sad situation.
Yeah. Often they’ll say, ”Actually, I have a lot of money, but due to the
circumstances I... I can’t access it.
I... I just need your help.
And I’ll... I’ll give you lots of money in return.” Hmm.
Well, there’s problems with that because they... they don’t really have any
money to give you.
They just want to get yours.
So that’s e-mail services.
Very easy to fall prey to some of those emails.
What’s the next one?
Well, Internet service providers.
I think we can see with all of these examples that the scaming is just moving
and developing so much faster than the government and the police are able to
catch on.
So the police are the ones who are having to try and police the Internet as
well.
And we think... I think we all know how hard that can be.
Mmhm.
And the next example is another one similar to that: Internet search engines.
Well, these, if you type something into Google or into Yahoo, it might bring you
to a dangerous site.
And so far, these search engines haven’t always done a great job of preventing
their users from finding those sites.
And ideally they should.
There... there should be a warning or they should not be able to access them.
But that again, as you said about Internet service providers, it’s hard to
police that.
It’s hard to keep control of that.
Finally?
Finally, there are software makers, and they’re companies like Microsoft or
uh... even virus companies,
people that make anti-virus software.
Basically if they’re not careful, they may write bad code.
They may have uh... an error in their programming where cyber criminals may find
that vulnerable spot and use it to steal information from you.
Hmm. So it can... Some software that’s produced, even though it should be high
quality, even though it should be safe, there are some weaknesses,
and so that gives cyber criminals a chance to infiltrate your accounts and your
information.
Now, uh, that word cyber criminals, what do you mean by that?
Well, cyber is referring to anything that’s online in the cyber world.
So this new kind of criminal, maybe they’re not actually going to a store and
stealing something.
But they’re actually committing crimes in the cyber world or the online world.
So I think this might be kind of a new term: cyber criminal.
Good. OK!
So page 15, let’s begin with today’s reading.
We’re gonna learn a little bit more about who this happens to.
It could happen to you.
The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas gets such complaints all the
time,
said Jeanette Kopko, the local senior vice president.
And these days, her staff may be more sympathetic than ever.
The organization was itself recently victimized.
The common assumption is that scams are primarily aimed at the elderly, but
statistics don’t necessarily back that up.
According to a Federal Trade Commission report published in February,
40- to 49-year-olds accounted for the largest number of complaints - 26 percent
of the total.
Complainants 60 to 69 years old and those older than 70 accounted for about 4
percent each.
Identity theft victims tended to be even younger.
The largest group reporting complaints were 20- to 29-year-olds.
Nor are all the victims necessarily unemployed or poorly educated.
OK.
Internet crime could happen to you.
But we’re here to help you make sure it doesn’t.
I’m Naomi, and with me today are Charlotte and Howie.
And we’ve been discussing the different ways that cyber criminals can access
your accounts, your money, your information.
And how often people are susceptible to those scams.
Well, today we go to The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas.
And they get complaints about Internet scams all the time.
That’s right, Naomi.
But these days, her staff may be more sympathetic than ever.
They’re more understanding than ever, because the organization itself was
recently victimized.
OK.
Well, if you’re a victim of something, that means that something bad has
happened to you that you were treated unfairly or dishonestly, and it was
intentional.
Someone meant to harm you.
So this bureau, the Better Business Bureau that is kind of handling the
complaints, they, themselves, were scammed or they were victims of a fraud.
OK. And it’s true that when we... when we’ve already been through something,
we’re much more sympathetic about it.
Um, if we can identify with someone’s experience, um, then it gives us a chance
to really share their feelings more.
Uh, for example, if my friend is going through something difficult, maybe
they’re feeling some kind of stress,
I says, ”Oh, I understand. I went through that too. I’m so sorry.”.
Well, now this Better Business Bureau, the staff there, Jeannette Kopko and the
people who work with her, understand more what it’s like because I guess they
got scammed. Right?
Yeah, actually, I... I felt that way too, um, once when my e-mail was hacked.
And it’s just this sick feeling in your stomach like, ”What’s happening?” You
can’t access your information.
You don’t know what people are doing with your information. Mmhm.
So...
Yeah, my MSN account got hacked into once and someone sent messages to my
friends.
And the next day they said, ”I got some messages from you that seemed very
strange. Didn’t sound like anything you would write.”.
I was like, ”Oh, no! I got to change my password immediately.”.
Um, and so it’s... it’s a terrible feeling, because you really do feel that kind
of sick, like out of control, like...
You know, what... what’s online about you from your accounts should be
representative of who you are.
And when it’s not, when someone else takes over, it’s really an awful feeling.
You do kind of feel vicitimized.
Mmhm.
But neither of us are elderly people like it says. It’s true.
Wouldn’t you think it’s usually like the grandmother who doesn’t really know how
to use the Internet whose getting scammed?
Well, that is sort of a common assumption, isn’t it?
That’s right.
It’s a common assumption.
And assumption is anything that we kind of accept as true without any proof.
That scams are aimed at the elderly or older people.
But we find from the article that statistic don’t necessary back that claim up.
OK. If you back something up, what do we mean by that, Howie?
It means that uh, you just want to prove that something is true.
So for example, if you’re talking about something, Naomi,
and I back you up, I’m supporting you, I’m saying, ”Yeah, yeah. What Naomi said
is true.”.
Hmm. Or someone might say, ”Oh, Howie is a great base player.” and I’d say,
”Hmm, Howie, can you back that up?”.
And what I mean is show me.
Give me the proof.
Prove it to you.
Exactly.
So statistics are supposed to prove things to us so that we know that they’re
really true.
But the statistics don’t prove that its older people who mostly get scammed.
Yeah. Well, the Federal Trade Commission, who we actually talked about
yesterday, they have the 1.2 million complaints last year.
Well, they said that actually it’s 40- to 49-year-olds who accounted for the
largest number of complaints.
Now if something is accounted for, what does that mean, Howie?
Oh, to account for something means to form the total of a particular amount of
something.
So 26 percent, that’s the total for the 40- to 49-year-old people.
OK. So for example, if um... if I have...
If we attend a concert, I could say, well, women accounted for a very small
portion of the audience.
It was mostly guys who went to this concert.
Or, um, children accounted for the biggest number of people at the play, because
it was directed at children.
And so it’s different than accounting for something in... in a more active way.
Right?
Right. You’re not really... you’re not really counting like, how many people are
here?
But you’re saying this number made up that group.
It contributed to that total amount.
OK.
So the point here is that the biggest percentage of the people who complained of
those millions of people or 1.2 million people who complained.
The biggest number was the 40- to 49-year-olds.
And so they... they aren’t particularly old, neither are they particularly
young.
They’re pretty much an average person.
And so that’s... that changes our minds about what we usually think.
Right. We usually think that, oh, it’s the older people who when they get on the
Internet, they don’t know what they’re doing, they’re kind of beginners,
so they are the one being targeted by these scammers.
But no, we find that uh... that 60- to 69-year-olds and those older than 70 only
accounted for four percent.
Of all those complaints.
Exactly.
OK. Now what do we think about that? Why do we think that is?
Well, Maybe they’re just not online.
Maybe they’re just not using computers that much,
so the opportunity to be scammed isn’t there for them.
Well, we talked about this a little bit before, Naomi.
Perhaps people who are much older, 60 and above, they don’t trust the Internet
yet.
They’re not going to do their online banking.
They’re not gonna trust the Internet with such personal and private information.
Mmhm. OK. That’s a good point.
I think uh, it’s still true that some of the older generation are less informed
about... about some Internet scams.
I think the younger generation grows up being online already,
and so they’re taught from a young age to be careful about what they accept and
what they don’t.
And so it... I think to me it makes sense that, um, there would be fewer
complainants older than 60 just because fewer people older than 60 are regularly
online.
But the next paragraph still kind of calls all of this into question, doesn’t
it, Charlotte?
Right. Well, it says here that identity theft victims tend to be even younger.
Now identity theft is when actually somebody steals your ID numbers or your
information,
and pretends to be you in order to maybe open a bank account or to apply for a
credit card.
Mmhm. And so if you’re... if you experience identity theft, someone might uh, be
using your account numbers.
They might be using your credit card numbers.
But they also could just be using your information to sign up for new things as
you said.
And so identity theft victims tended to be even younger, Howie?
That’s right. 20- to 29-year-olds.
And it also says here that the victims weren’t unemployed or poorly educated
either.
So there’s a lot wide range of people being victimized by these scammers.
OK. We have a stereotype that it’s older people who get scammed, it’s people who
don’t have any money who get sacammed.
And it’s people who don’t have a lot of education or knowledge that get scammed.
But this is telling us that isn’t necessarily true.
Right. The statistics don’t back it up.
OK.
Why do we think that is?
Well, we assume a lot of things.
We assume, well, uh, if you’re not educated well, if you don’t have a high
school or college education, you will fall victim.
You... It’s easier... easier to trick you.
But that’s not the case.
It... it seems that the statistics doesn’t say that.
And also, if you’re unemployed, then maybe you’re desperate for money.
So you’re going to be more susceptible or more vulnerable to these scams.
But once again, the statistics don’t back that claim up.
Right. So... so these statistics are telling us that it sounds like we can just
be smart and we’ll be fine.
But we do really have to be careful because it can happen to anyone.
Mmhm.
So fortunately, we have some tips about how to keep your money and identity
safe.
So let’sgo ahead and read those.