Most do not want to admit it, but there was probably a time or two that you fell for a scam. Whether you accidentally entered your email address into a sketchy site or sent thousands of dollars to a stranger across the globe, the damage is real.
It is an extremely violating feeling to have someone riffling through your personal information. Even if they manage not to glean very much, that worry might always stick in the back of your mind.
Cybercriminals have long ago begun realizing that sometimes the best way into a person’s personal information is to pull at those heart strings. Especially those involving a good old dose of romance. Jon Clay, VP of Threat Intelligence for the anti-virus company Trend Micro stated it well “Humans want to be loved and they want to have admirers. So unfortunately, it’s a scam that’s used a lot.”
The Lonely Hearts Club
Snake oil salesmen have been a thing for a very long time. Even in today’s consumer market, one must be extra carefully when consuming or utilizing products from possibly unreliable sources. Thankfully, sometimes these kinds of things can be easily spotted before any harm is done. Plus, when all else fails there’s always good ol’ Reddit to check. Often, we’ll get our money back, exchange for a better product, or just simply chalk it up to experience. What about those times when something is stolen that cannot be easily controlled or replaced?
Some of us are old enough to remember personal ads in the newspaper. Going back even further, a very specialized type of personal was ever so popular; the ‘Lonely Hearts’ ads. These were specific ads for the purpose of finding or proposing marriage.
There are a good mix of delightful, funny, or even scary ads. One particularly comical ad from 1832 states that a man wants ‘a good steady woman between 30 and 40 years old for a wife. I do not want a second family. I want a woman who will look after the pigs [children] while I am at work.’ What a catch ladies! Others have frighteningly specific qualities that must be met for a marriage to be considered.
In effect, millions of people across the globe opened up and made themselves vulnerable to the world around them. Some found love, some found heart ache, and some found themselves scammed out of more than just money. A darker history of the ‘lonely hearts’ ads lie within the stories of Belle Gunness, Martha Beck, and Raymond Fernandez. All we can say is that we are so very thankful these people lived in a time without internet access!
ILOVEYOU
In May 2000, 24-year-old man from the Philippines named Onel De Guzman made quite the impact. Struggling financially in college and unable to pay for internet access, Guzman created a program intended to steal access passwords for him to use the internet.
Whether by accident or by design, Guzman knew the right buttons to push.
On or around May 5th, 2000 the ‘Love Bug’ began rapidly infecting computers. Potential victims would receive an email in their inbox entitled ‘ILOVEYOU’ with an attachment reading ‘LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU’. Once the attachment opened, a worm began infecting and corrupting files at random though for some reason it only hid MP3s. While wreaking havoc on your documents, the worm also copied the same email to the entirety of your address book. Barreling head-first towards world domination.
In the end, the lovely bug ended causing an estimated $5-8 billion dollars in damage with an additional $10-15 billion in efforts to completely remove the worm. The Pentagon, the CIA, and the British Parliament completely disabled their mail systems for a time as well.
How did Onel De Guzman fair? Pretty well actually! In 2020, a reporter working on a documentary traveled to the Philippines to have a conversation with the man. He was found working in a mobile phone repair shop and admitted to creating the bug.
At the time in the Philippines, there were no laws against the creation and distribution of malware. While the government did try and prosecute him, they were eventually forced to drop the charges since there was no standard or law base for prosecution. Spoiler alert – there is now.
...and here comes the pitch
It’s no lie that scammers are getting good at their jobs. Cybercriminals are working hard every day to come up with new and inventive ways to extort resources or generally cause chaos.
Stay one step ahead of the scams by partnering with Vodigy.
At Vodigy, we pride ourselves on having the best and most reliable cybersecurity solutions, including advanced spam filtering.
Give us a call today, we’d LOVE to chat with you.
