Online shopping: 6 tricks hackers use to steal your money 



Curious case of online hacks

Over the past few months, online shopping has become quite a hit in the ｃountry.

The high sales figures claimed both by e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon reveal the growing fetish for online shopping in India.

Other than shopping other e-commerce transactions like online banking, bill payment and others too have now become an integral part of our lives. But as easy as they have made our lives, they have also made us vulnerable to hackers.

Here are 6 tricks that hackers use to steal your money.

1. Pharming: Hackers take users to fake website
In this technique, fraudsters reroute you to a fake website that seems similar to the original.

So even as you conduct transactions and make payment via credit or debit card, the card details can be stolen.

2. Keystroke logging: Software that copies your key strokes

Here, you unintentionally download a software, which allows the fraudster to trace your key strokes and steal passwords or credit card and Net banking details.

3. Malware: Malicious software that can steal data
This is a malicious software that can damage computer systems at ATMs or bank servers and allows fraudsters to access confidential card data.

4. Phishing & vishing: Online identity theft
While phishing involves identity theft through spam mails which seems to be from a genuine source, vishing is essentially the same through a mobile phone using messages or SMS. This trick you into revealing your password, PIN or acｃount number.

5. SIM swipe fraud
Here the fraudster contacts your mobile operator with fake identity proof and gets a duplicate SIM card. The operator deactivates your original SIM and the thief generates one-time password (OTP) on the phone to conduct online transactions.

6. Unsafe apps
Mobile apps other than those from established stores can gain access to information on your phone like passwords, etc, and use it for unauthorized transactions.

Article source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/tech-life/online-shopping-6-tricks-hackers-use-to-steal-your-money/unsafe-apps/slideshow/55263369.cms
Image source: https://thumb7.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/86471/189291917/stock-vector-flat-and-web-design-banner-online-shopping-and-business-conceptual-background-189291917.jpg

VOCABULARY WORDS: 
1. fraudster (n)- one who commits fraud a swindler
2. hacker (n)- a person who circumvents security and breaks into a network, computer, file, etc., usually with malicious intent
3. e-commerce (n)- business that is transacted by transferring data electronically, especially over the internet
4. fetish (n)- an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency
5. vulnerable (adj)- open to moral attack, criticism, temptation, etc
6. phish (n)- to try to obtain financial or other confidential information from Internet users, typically by sending an email that looks as if it is
from a legitimate organization, usually a financial institution, but contains a link to a fake website that replicates the real one
7. vish (v)- to try to obtain financial or other confidential information from people by placing phone calls, typically automated, that seem to be from a legitimate organization, usually a financial institution
8. identity theft (n)- the fraudulent appropriation and use of someone’s identifying or personal data or documents, as a credit card

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Are you an online shopper? If yes, how often do you shop online? What do you usually purchase online?
2. Why has online shopping become a fetish for most people?
3. How can people acquire confidential information from a secured website?
4. Would you recommend online shopping regardless of the harm it can inflict on others? Explain your answer.