Premium Rate Internet Scam

[DSA]

Very interesting article on Watchdog tonight...

 

I dont suppose it is a problem for those on broadband, but for dialup....

 

dont say yes to any suspicious popups....it could be a dialer! - and you wont know until the bill comes through that it is reconnecting to a premium rate 'adult' line.

 

Has anyone been caught by this??

 

If you are interested, then the article from the BBC is here: BBC Watchdog

 

David

[Ike]

Nope, I really dont think they are that hard to spot. When I used to have a dial up connection and use IE I got quite a few but noticed strait away, either when downloading or as soon as it started dialing.

They are not a problem with broadband or any browser I have used other than IE.

[MikeR]

It's not just the adult lines that use dialers etc, by dialler I mean a widget that will seamlessly disconnect you from your isp and then redial a premium rate dialup. BT did it as well recently. Any one trying to vote via the website on the participants in the last run of pop stars or pop star school or whatever it was called was disconnected from their isp and reconnected to a premium rate BT number. I presume that after the call you were disconnected from the premium number though I have no idea being on broadband and not actually having a modem in the machne the attempted disconnection revealed itself causing the good lady wife much annoyance when she couldn't vote via the website.

[Chris M]

*realy wants to make a comment about 'technicians' and porn* ;)

[deranged-angel]

*realy wants to make a comment about 'technicians' and porn*

 

there's always one.......

 

em

xxx

[themadhippy]

hopefully safe on broadband,but I did recive one dialler,it was set to dial 5 instead of the usual 0,dont know if it would have any effect?

[TomLyall]

just a note to anyone on broadband... (I doubt this needs saying as your all very technically minded people...) make sure you unplug your phone line from the computer now your on broadband, just because your not on dial up doesnt mean it wouldnt be able to dial up...

[Guest lightnix]

Update your AV software every day.

Use a firewall with high security settings.

Download the Google toolbar.

Use something like Adaware or Pest Patrol to sweep for adware and spyware at least once a week.

Get some anti-spam software like Mailwasher, which allows you to see your new messages on the mail server before you download them.

 

Delete Kazaa.

 

Duck and cover.

 

Lock up your daughters.

 

Put bars on your windows.

 

Arm yourself.

 

Trust no-one.

 

Be prepared.

 

;)

[MikeR]

You forgot to mention keeping a constant watch for the black helicopters.

[Guest lightnix]

No need to, we get at least one Chinook per fortnight over here at the moment (we're bang on the approach path to Biggin Hill).

[the kid]

Yeh does anyone know where to get a firewall from for free we tried norton but it wont work ;) so we need one.

[DSA]

Zone Alaem is very good for free - download from zone labs

 

Free Download Page

 

HTH

 

David

[Pete McCrea]

Or use a Mac ;-)

 

Safari Blocks pop-ups, and .exe files are just ignored!

 

Little DJ

[Guest lightnix]

...where to get a firewall from for free ...

Look, you get what you pay for. The free versions of programs are all well and good, but nothing will protect you like a full version. AVG anti-virus software is another good example of this.

 

Check out the free Zona Alarm, by all means. Maybe when you check the log files and see just how many people there are out there, trying to snoop around your lovely computer. Maybe then you will be concerned enough to get the full version.

 

As mentioned before, this is no time to be lax about your internet security and if you can't be bothered to protect yourself properly, don't go complaining if / when you suffer the consequences.

[Brian]

104 alerts from my (paid for) Zone Alarm since 7:30 this morning, 28 of those high-risk.