subject: Attack Of The Zombies, Botnets, Mules And Smurfs - Hollywood Or Banking? [print this page] Fraud has a frightening role in banking these days, so I thought it might be helpful to revisit the bios of some classic bad guys and introduce you to a new cast of characters.
Botnet: A bot, short for robot, is an automated software program that can execute certain commands. A botnet, short for robot network, is an aggregation of compromised computers that are connected to a central "controller."
Click Fraud: Inflating the number of clicks on a site for financial gain.
Flashing: The scammer tries to convince the victim money has arrived in the victim"s bank account to stay, when really it is only paying a passing visit. The scammer tells the victim he is making a direct transfer into the victim"s account using cash or a cashier"s check or some other secure payment method. The victim will see the proceeds in a couple of days, but actually the scammer has paid with a fake check. When the financial institution realizes it"s bad, it will debit the account, leaving the victim out of pocket if he has sent on the proceeds.
Mule: Consumers who"ve been lured into fake work-at-home scams (or similar), in which their employment involves receiving money transfers and then forwarding the funds overseas, either directly or through other mules.
Phishing: The act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate financial institution or company in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.
Ponzi Scheme: A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud in which the operator promises high financial returns or dividends that are not available through traditional investments. Instead of investing victims' funds, the operator pays "dividends" to initial investors using the principle amounts "invested" by subsequent investors. The scheme generally falls apart when the operator flees with all of the proceeds, or when a sufficient number of new investors cannot be found to allow the continued payment of "dividends."
Smurfing: The act of using numerous individuals to perform multiple financial transactions to avoid the currency reporting requirements (such as Currency Transaction Reports CTR and Suspicious Activity Report SAR). The individuals are the "Smurfs", named after the little blue characters that moved around their village doing a lot of mindless work.
Trojan Horse: Online, a Trojan horse is a form of malware that once installed on a computer, gives cyber-criminals unauthorized access to that computer.
Zombie: A compromised computer, usually unbeknownst to the owner. Zombie computers often comprise a botnet, and are leveraged to wage attacks, propagate spam, log keystrokes, and perpetrate click fraud.
by: Anne LaPine
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