Begging beats phishing

Phishing attacks are an increasing threat, and make surfing the Net a rather risky pastime.

Every week I receive masses of scams in my mailbox, and hear about new viruses designed for the sole purpose of keylogging and finding out my personal information so that people can steal my money. And let`s be honest, the fact that these scams are increasing means they are working - and lots of gullible people are losing money.

While I can`t claim to understand how the Nigerian 419 scams are effective (my personal favourite was the plea for credit card details to save the life of Africa`s first astronaut, who was left behind, drifting aimlessly in outer space - but that`s another story altogether), it`s clear that most scammers are putting a lot of time and effort into their schemes.

It seems so easy to 'make` money online without breaking any laws, that I wonder why anyone goes to the trouble of thinking up clever new ways to rob people.

One really simple way to do this is cyber-begging - simply ask people to send you money via your Internet home page.

It`s not a new concept and it appears to have peaked about two years ago, but the lesson is there to be learned - you can still make real money from this.

One news article at the time referred to Brian Nolan, who described himself as a "real, 26-year-old, kind-hearted, hardworking, aspiring paramedic" from Los Angeles County, who regularly received over R6 000 a week in donations, simply because he asked for money.

Then there was the woman at www.giveboobs.com, who received R28 000 for her breast implant operation just by asking (and posting a choice picture), and there are literally hundreds more stories like this.

True, some of these sites never made any money at all, but phishers probably have low success rates too.

Ethics debate aside, it is interesting to note that people are able to make decent money online by using a bit of innovation.

Damian Clarkson, Junior Journalist, ITWeb

The quest for money-for-nothing-online recently took a new twist, with the advent of SaveToby.com. The site is hosted by a man who claims to have found an injured rabbit under his porch, which he then nursed back to health and named Toby.

The man says he will have Toby killed and then eat him on 30 June, unless he is able to raise $50 000 (R300 000) in donations or merchandise sales. The site is littered with cute photos of fluffy little Toby, as well as alarming ones featuring him sitting in a stew pot, for example.

The bunny`s plight has received widespread media and blog coverage, and created a fair amount of controversy.

The site first appeared sometime around February and the site owner says he made R110 000 within a month. His revenue is now up to around R150 000.

How much of this was sent as homage for a clever gimmick, compared with money sent by genuinely gullible bunny-lovers, will never be known, but that`s a lot of money for not actually doing anything. The creator has also placed a few adverts on the site, increasing his loot further.

Naturally, the question of ethics comes into play, with a host of complaints and demands to have the site removed, mainly from animal rights groups who claim it promotes cruelty to animals.

Now I`m a big fan of animals and oppose any kind of mistreatment, but am I missing something here? So far, all he has done is photograph his pet sitting happily in a stew pot.

Ethics debate aside, it is interesting to note that people are able to make decent money online by using a bit of innovation, and do not have to break any laws at all.

From a personal point, though, I hope little Toby is spared, and won`t have to meet the same fate as our poor 'Afronaut`, whose corpse is probably halfway to Mars by now.