Using our laptop computers, iPods, BlackBerrys PDAs and cell phones to get internet connections in hotels, restaurants, airports, office lobbies, etc. is very convenient, but fraught with risk. Scam artists have perfected many ways to steal the information we send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords for email, bank accounts, etc.
Here are a few of the scams:
1) Man In The Middle:
it's an ad hoc, peer-to-peer network, possibly set up as a trap by someone with a laptop nearby. You can use the Internet, because the attacker has set up his PC to let you browse the Internet via his connection. But because you're using his connection, all your traffic goes through his PC, so he can see everything you do online, including all the usernames and passwords you enter for financial and other Web sites. In addition, because you've directly connected to the attack PC on a peer-to-peer basis, if you've set up your PC to allow file sharing, the attacker can have complete run of your PC, stealing files and data and planting malware on it. If it's an ad hoc network, it will be called a "computer-to-computer" network; normal wireless networks are simply called wireless networks. Click here to learn how to identify "computer-to-computer" networks and avoid them like the plague.
2) Evil Twin:
Browse the wireless networks available, and maybe you'll find a network named "tmobile" or "wayport" or some other common name among Wi-Fi service providers. Sure enough, your browser pulls up a page asking for your credit card information... Surprise: You might have just been punk'd by a hacker who has set up a site that is an exact replica of a real a legitimate Wi-Fi service but has removed all security so he can harvest your credit card information. Click here.
3) Wi-Fi Clone Scam:
scammers set up and clone popular wireless networks and even create free networks and wait for the victims. When someone turns on their laptop,they simply browse the available networks and choose the one that theywant. If the scammers are lucky and the laptop user chooses the cloned network, the scammers now have complete access to their computer. If there are security and protective software on your laptop, you will find that they will not do much of anything to offer protection against this Wi-Fi scam. Click here for full information
