Be wary which Wi-Fi network you are connecting to at your local coffee shop, warns a credential validation software company. The danger of fraudsters running bogus networks with the same name as the real Wi-Fi network is suggested in new research from Jumio in a white paper, “The Fraudsters Playbook.”
Jumio points to five common tricks of the trade that fraudsters use to steal identities to enable them to go on to commit fraud.
David Pope, Director of Marketing at Jumio, says: “Businesses and consumers alike must be aware that there are many disreputable networks posing as official networks – their only true purpose is to steal the personal details of unsuspecting Wi-Fi users.”
How?
One of the fraudsters’ latest ploys to steal identities is to sit in a coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi to its customers and then use his or her laptop to broadcast a wireless network that’s named exactly like the venue’s official Wi-Fi. The fraudster will use that as a launching point to “get to know” their ID theft victim.
Tony Sales, convicted fraudster turned fraud prevention consulant, said, “This is one of the fraudsters’ favourite ID theft exploits as it yields rich data that they can use to conduct fraud straight away. They sit around in coffee shops for half a day and get 50 or so identities with passwords to their targets’ online grocery shopping, their online bank accounts and other transactional sites. Then it’s time to get back to base to leverage this data and get spending.”
