Couple Lost Around $9,000 from Credit Union Account

As a result of a computer hack, an amount of around $9,000 was laundered from the Credit Union account of Des Monies-based family in Lowa, USA. The incident took place in March-end 2010, as the home computer of the family was hacked.

As stated by Nickie Siracusano, her husband was working on the PC and had only then paid the credit card bill. Then, a pop-up appeared on the monitor, which claimed a virus on their system, according to a statement published by desmoinesregister.com on April 23, 2010.

To their surprise, after two weeks, Affinity Credit Union's fraud department representative called the coupled and asked if they had been out of the town. The family said that they never left the place during that period.

According to Nickie Siracusano, it was then that they learnt that someone else was using up their money, vacating their account. Apparently, the hackers gained access to their system while it was locked up.

The Des Moines police said that a similar pop-up is known to them that asks the victims to pay $39 to remove the virus. The pop-up asks the PC owner to provide his credit card number, and the moment it receives the required information, the system resumes normal functioning.

Notably, as per the latest annual report of the security firm Symantec, in 2009, bogus AV or say fake security software was the leading cyber security threat that afflicted computer users. In deed, according to the report's findings, nearly everything a user sees today is a fake antivirus. It's more of a profit-making racket, a ploy devised by cyber criminals. Reporting 19% malicious activity, the US is the leading country in this sphere.

So it's better to follow some simple guidelines and protect the system rather than getting scared and anxious by looking at the above statistics. First thing, keep the software upgraded along with the OS. Then, it is a must to check for the updates at regular intervals, or one can even set automatic updates. Then, a descent AV solution from a reliable manufacturer is always good. Also, better look for the recommendations given by the manufacturer for details like configuration and set-up.

Lastly, always keep away from dubious websites, like the one offering a free download of commercial software.

Related article: Couple in Malaysia First to be Charged for Online Investment Scam

» SPAMfighter News - 5/6/2010