Net users try to avoid phish hooks - text 4

Net users try to avoid phish hooks

A In November 2002, when an e-mail attachment known as the W32/Mimail-I worm posed as a Web site link from online payment company PayPal, hundreds of people were duped into exposing their personal bank account information. The use of viruses, spam and Web sites to defraud financial institutions and their customers is a relatively new Internet phenomenon. Phishing crimes have been on the rise throughout the world and are increasingly coming from Central and Eastern Europe.

B “It is very important for consumers to not believe everything,” said Karel Pavlík of the Consumer Defence Association. He said phishing is not yet a common practice here, but he thinks it could be a growing problem as people start to use bank cards and credit cards set up for online purchases.

C North America has been the worst target of phishing. Customers of TD Canada Trust, Citibank, Ebay’s PayPal and Visa have all unwittingly spread account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information. Experts say the threat from phishing could potentially have a devastating impact on consumer trust in e-commerce and e-banking. The open nature of the Internet makes it easy for criminals to hide, say police and consumer advocates.

D While most crimes have been linked to the United States, where online transactions are more common, there have been a large number of phishing cases traced to Central Europe. U.S. intelligence recently cooperated with online auction site Ebay to look into a number of scams that came from Romania, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 people. One man, Dan Marius Stefan, was convicted of stealing nearly $500,000 (13.5 million Kč) through phishing and is now serving 30 months in a Romanian prison.

E Since 2002 the Czech Republic has taken a proactive approach to the issue by banning unsolicited advertising, including spam. The government called for greater fines of 10 million Kč, a penalty that would place the country near the top of the European Union scale. The government complied regulations on spam with European Commission in 2002. “This proposal harmonized Czech law with European law,” said OPDP spokeswoman Hana Štěpánková. “It allows people like you and me to decide who has our data. It makes our position stronger.”

duped – podvedený

nature – povaha

to pose – představovat

unsolicited – nevyžádaný

unwittingly – nevědomky, bezděčně

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Phishing has a devastating impact on consumer trust

2 Consumers should not believe everything

3 Regulations in the Czech Republic

4 Relatively new Internet phenomena

5 A number of scams came from Romania

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?

2 What are relatively new Internet phenomena?

3 Which parts of the world are the worst targets of phishing?

4 What sensitive information is endangered?

5 What proactive approach has been taken in the Czech Republic?

3) Explain the following words.

1 personal bank account

2 spam

3 phishing crime

4 online purchase

5 password

6 e-banking

What is a spam? How can we protect our e-mail accounts against spam? What does it usually contain? What is a computer fraud? What are types of frauds?

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