Not only flying anywhere in the future,but privacy of information will be at risk?

Every parent is more or less aware of the dangers of kids playing on the internet and exposed to social media. Everybody also knows about the threat of fake news. Do we need to accept, the world of technology and online interaction is fast changing?

Five apps among several others that parents should be aware of during lockdown have been highlighted. Researchers maintain that, Yik Yak, Kirk Messenger, Whisper, After School and What’s App and Zoom for video conferencing are in the news.
                                                    

Some if not most of these technological advances in communication modes have many users and varied usage. What’s App has more than a billion users. One in six of the world’s population is using this messaging service. It appears to be a “honey-money” trap for scammers. Fraudsters using WhatsApp often try to persuade users to hand over private details that can be used in identity theft, such as name, location, email address

among other, what was once considered secure information.

Apps make money easily. Some apps make criminals out of cowards. Others craftily hide as scams trying to install malicious software on devices, thus effectively collecting, gathering information that can and often is used for sinister purposes. They get going when the going gets tough and get developed as “the envelope of morality and safety”.

Another type of deception we experience when people cannot go shopping is during internet or “online” shopping. We are told that Amazon has started charging for services that generally come as part of the process of buying and should be free at point of delivery, perhaps taking advantage of the situation.

Do you know that once you use either “Amazon”, world’s online retailer  or “Go Daddy” an online Domain name service, your details of payment are stored as a Subscriber and you are liable to get a monthly service charge debit, as an online customer, or for some such frivolous excuse, without any service or product ordered?

What can you do?

During the lockdown, it is not only staying safe from the pandemic, but also knowing how to stay safe of financial wizards and scams. Fraudsters are sending out fake Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Asda shopping vouchers on WhatsApp. Messages look like they have been an actual contact, but the recipient name is fake, and it is designed to trick into clicking on the URL to claim the alleged free voucher. It is a semblance of truth. There are two or more tell tale signs the message or scam is fake; one is the spelling and the other is the grammar mistakes. In the excitement of having won a prize, people are conned to open the message. All what the scam mail is obtaining personal and private information by deception. Further, cookies become automatically installed on your device for fooling you again and again.

During the lockdown, we seem to already have social distancing, but no “control on corruption” and/or surveillance, by authorities on furlough. We see innovative ways of financial crime. Besides, social media scams, bank scams, loan scams, HMRC (Revenue & Customs) scams, the most innovative way of fooling the public is by Verizon’s Internet Provider, AOL, which appear flooded with unscrupulous email, undeliverable missed mail, which was never sent. To make it even unbearable the font size on all emails have been minimised to make it unreadable to the naked eye and the tick boxes to report junk email has conveniently, disappeared. It seems, being an accomplice with the scammers.

Action Fraud in the UK suggests the following:

1.    Never click on unsolicited links in messages that you receive even if they appear to come from a trusted contact.

2.    Follow up, with the excuse of “social distancing” your Internet Service Provider to redress the situation as early as you can.

Safety and security not only of Health but of Fraud

The privacy of life is at stake. The safety and security of individuals, children, and family while in lockdown is not only about staying safe against the Coronavirus. It has come to staying safe of all varieties and machinations of fraud and deception.

An added dimension has been brought into play. It is keeping children doing nothing at home, safe of the internet. It is dangerous, to say little of the perils of the internet, online.

It has become a playing field as children remain closeted, giving the net an almost immediate access to children.

A different and difficult ball game with technology

“WhatsApp” has hit the headlines as it faces a UK ban possibly, within weeks.

“Zoom” today has faced a fight to hang on to calm “App privacy “fears. Zoom we are informed has diched the video conferencing App amid security fears, as some of the world’s largest firms have banned or rather have warned staff not to use the App. It follows a spate of “Zoombombs” where hackers have gate crashed meetings and concerns over data privacy. Zoom had up from 10 million to 300 million daily users.

I am constrained to admit to my readers that as I write these words, the computer is self correcting anything that it does not want me to reveal to my readers in my piece. This is what Coronavirus has done. Hackers now rule or is it “Big Brother”?

“The recommendation to consume quantities of disinfectants and take in ultraviolet rays to fight the spread of the virus?” Has this theory been floated as a deception?

I need hardly remind my reading public in Sri Lanka and add: Let’s remember “vadhaka sudiya”.

Victor Cherubim