It happened to Ed Johnson, a 65-year old former pastor from Ocala, FL. He received a legitimate looking e-mail that claimed to be from United Parcel Service (UPS), regarding an undeliverable package. Johnson clicked on a link contained in the e-mail, only to receive a pop-up notice that his computer had been infected with a Trojan horse virus.
Johnson says he knew that a virus could destroy his data, but didn’t know that it could also harvest his personal information from his files. He didn’t immediately scan for and remove the virus - a costly mistake to the tune of $10,000 or more.
The virus grabbed Johnson’s online banking information and relayed it to the hackers who sent the fraudulent e-mail. Johnson was shocked when, several days later, he saw charges to five of his credit cards from stores he’d never been to.
Let’s all learn from Johnson’s mistake. Never click on e-mail links; you might get redirected to a web page containing a virus, or you might be sent to a login page that captures your information for identity thieves to use. Keep an active firewall and real-time virus scanner running, and remove any malicious software as soon as you detect it.
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