BEING MISLED ON THE INTERNET

Have you noticed how many misleading sites are appearing on the Internet lately? Lots of things are being offered free until you try to order and then find out they are free if you pay to join the group,
oddly never mentioned until you go to purchase what you want.

Another scam I encountered is being sold what is normally a free. When you order the item, falling for the line, you get billed for two other programs which quadruple your original purchase charge. When you finally can reach the company to complain you are informed that you should have read the entire page because the information was there telling you that you were purchasing these extra items as part of a special package...which you clearly did not see and can't find the same site again.

It seems that more and more merchants are, in essence, stealing from customers with little fees tucked in where least expected, draining as much as they can from the consumers. When a utility with 2 or more million customers adds a penny on every bill...for whatever their rationalized explanation may be, that gives them a free $20,000 extra that month. Most people don't phone in to make a fuss about that penny because they are unaware that they are one in 2 million who are being cheated.

For information on the Internet scams, go to the FBI site. Found there is: "Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 44.9% of referred complaints. Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment accounted for 19.0% of complaints. Check fraud made up 4.9% of complaints. Credit/debit card fraud, computer fraud, confidence fraud, and financial institutions fraud round out the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year."

The Cybercrimes Most Wanted site has a wonderful listing , by categories, of these internet scams and illegalities. Some of the dangers are less direct to the individual Internet user. For example, foreign hackers who have broken into our National Grid ele4ctrical system may not show visible current damage but we have no way of how they would use the mapping they have to the entire system which, if sabotaged and shut down, would crush a great part of the activity of our people.

The moral of the story is that there are a lot of bad people out there who, with their anonymity, can do great damage to our country and to each of us individually. We cannot worry as non-professional computer people about saving the country but it is within our own power to protect ourselves with diligence, vigilance, and staying current in the ways to do this.