Security Definitions: Scams, Spam and Beyond

A little confused by all the technological lingo? We'll help you sort it out.

Do you know the difference between a scam and spam? As a Sittercity user, should you be more worried about one over the other? Can a scam be spam? Can you say that five times fast?

Okay, enough of the third degree. Here are some helpful definitions that relate to online security.

EMAIL SPOOF

An email spoof is a fraudulent email designed to look like it's from a real company such a bank, eBay or PayPal. These emails will often have a professional header and a company logo, making it very difficult to identify it as fake. One way to spot a spoof is to roll your mouse over a link in the email and take a look at the website address. If it goes to an IP address (a series of numbers, such as http://80.179.238.73/...) instead of a website, ding, ding, ding! Call the company's customer service department if you're still not sure of the email's legitimacy.

PHISHING

Phishing is a type of identity theft where someone sends you an email spoof requesting confidential information, usually relating to your credit card, bank account, Social Security number, etc. You know, things you wouldn't tell your little sister, much less a total stranger. Sittercity users have never reported any incidents of phishing, but you should be on the lookout for this in your personal inbox and on other online sites. Check out Wikipedia's entry for more detailed information on phishing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

SCAM

As you well know, a scam is a ploy by someone who purposefully misleads the victim in order to get money. Babysitters and nannies looking for work online may receive email scams from "parents" looking to hire a nanny. These scams usually work like this: the family wires money to the nanny either as an upfront payment or as an offer to cover nanny's travel expenses to the family's country, then, through one sob story or another, needs the nanny to send some or all of the money back. The nanny thinks she has deposited a legitimate check and sends money to the family, but the check was a fraud - nanny just paid everything out of pocket.

SCAM BAITING

You've probably been tempted to engage in scam baiting at one point or another. This is the practice of pretending to be interested in a scammer's proposal in order to manipulate the scammer. Whether your intention is to waste their time, tick them off, gain information to turn over to the authorities, entertain yourself (it is pretty funny) or simply embarrass the scammers, you should keep in mind that these people are criminals, many of them with worldwide connections. Probably not a good idea to taunt them. Instead, head over to the Sittercity message boards and post your best "what I should have said" responses. We guarantee you'll get more laughs!

SPAM

Quite simply, spam is any unsolicited email. It's typically sent out in bulk to several different inboxes and ends up in your spam folder, if you've got a good filter. To answer our tongue-twisting brainteaser at the top, yes, scams are usually spam. But spam can also be something less malicious, such as a harmless but annoying advertisement or one of those send-this-back-so-I-know-we're-BFFs chain letters.

STALKING

Stalking is when a person singles out a victim and repeatedly harasses, follows, watches and/or threatens that victim. Stalking is persistent and deliberate, kind of like an attempt to win the heart of that popular kid in high school, except real stalking often leaves the victim feeling fearful (hey, maybe it's not so different after all...). Online, the proper term is cyberstalking, and it can be accomplished through relentless emails, unwelcome instant messages, always showing up in the same chat rooms, defamation through message boards, etc.

TROLLING

Trolling refers to the act of deliberately provoking arguments in the online community. The troll may say something too outrageous to be believable, such as, "I was offered 5k a month for this nanny position, but the parents want me to bring over my own toys and games for the kids! I totally refused, because, come on, how demanding can they be?" Or the troll may antagonistically provide false information to someone who actually wants help ("No, you SHOULD talk on the phone all you want during a babysitting job. Parents expect you to run up their phone bill."). Unlike stalking, trolling doesn't aim to single out one person; rather, the goal is to elicit a response from ANYONE who is offended, angered or otherwise affected. However, the controversy around trolling is that you might believe a post is the result of trolling while I may believe the post is actually legitimate. What can I say, I'm gullible.