I think I’m getting to the point that, instead of feeling bad for people who fall victim to phishing scheme, or any other online nonsense, I’m actually like, “You know what? Serves you right.” There’s a new scam going around that exploits Internet Explorer (in Windows XP, mostly), and it works by tricking users into pressing the F1 key at a certain time. Once the key is pressed, any ol’ code a hackers wants to execute can be executed. Right now, the only work-around is to not press F1 when prompted by any ol’ site. Cool.
The thing is, what kind of person will sit there, see a flashing pop-up that says, “You’ve won a million dollars! Press F1 to claim your prize!,” and then actually presses F1? I hate to invoke common sense, but come on, people! We’re not in the Wild West days of the Internet anymore; you should be able to tell a scam when you see one.
Again, if a guy on the street walks up to you, claims to be the wallet inspector, how many of you would hand it over? Not very many! Apply the same concept to your Internet life, and you’ll find it all the more enjoyable.
That, or switch to Firefox, or move to Linux.