Local Internet users visiting pornographic sites in particular are reportedly still falling victim to fraud four months after being initially warned by The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to carefully read disclosures before downloading material. ﾠ
In early April, BTC advised all Internet users who do not have high-speed access like Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) about the dangers associated with downloading certain information from the Internet using a dial-up modem.
BTC officials said they have discovered that some Internet users who download material that is usually of a promiscuous nature, are becoming victims of fraud. ﾠ
Technical Manager at Micronet Business Technology, Greg Pinder, pointed out that when connecting to such sites, users are billed for international telephone calls.
ﾓIf you go to those sites it attaches a program to your computer,ﾒ Mr. Pinder said. ﾓThis program then initiates a phone call from your computer to their site, so in essence the Internet is used to establish the connection but after the Internet is disconnected, it would use your phone line to dial out into that companyﾴs site.
ﾓItﾴs a program running on your computer that is using your telephone line to dial out, initiating a call from your end to a provider in the states, unbeknown to the user.ﾒ
The DSL is a broadband connection that is high speed whereas the dial-up is a much slower connection that is used with a phone line.
ﾓYou wouldnﾴt see this fraud with a cable or DSL modem, but if you use a dial-up, youﾴre susceptible to this type of thing,ﾒ Mr. Pinder said. ﾠ
Manager of Management Information Services at Metro Labs, Benjamin Fox, added that persons need to become knowledgeable about certain sites before making an agreement or downloading any information.
ﾓDo not be very quick to click ﾑokayﾴ or ﾑyesﾴ to certain programs that pop up,ﾒ Mr. Fox said. ﾓWhat will happen is, if you click on it, it makes an agreement.
ﾓOnce a person goes looking for certain images, movies or music, in some cases when he or she clicks on ﾑokay,ﾴ a dial is installed and places a long distance call to that particular server in the world. ﾠOnce that is done, thatﾴs where they incur that international call.ﾒ
Mr. Pinder suggested that local Internet users avoid visiting promiscuous sites so that they would not fall victim to this kind of fraud.
ﾓStay away from those websites and they are mostly adult websites,ﾒ he said. ﾓThe persons who are really complaining about it are those persons going to adult websites and sites that are giving away free music.ﾒ
In order to avoid Internet fraud, BTC officials are warning all Internet users to carefully read disclosures before downloading material, disconnect their telephone line from the computerﾴs modem if they have dial-up Internet Access and use BTCﾴs Subscriber Activated Call Blocking feature.
Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
