聖誕節你要警惕這些騙局（雙語）

聖誕節是很多人的購物盛宴，同時也是很多騙子活躍的高峯時期。以下就是關於聖誕節你要警惕這些騙局的雙語閱讀：

This Christmas looks like being a bumper one for online shopping but not everyone is filled with the festive spirit and some have already set online traps they hope you will fall into.

Here are twelve cyber-scams to watch out for this Christmas:

The first scam of Christmas is phishing

They've been around for years and we've all received a version.

Fraudsters send you a message and attempt to make you click on a link to a fake site or open some malware that infects your machine.

They may be old but they have evolved and some are very cleverly targeted (known as spear phishing). imagine you are placing orders on a well-known website for gifts. Suddenly you receive an email - apparently from that very site - saying that there is a problem with your last order and can you please "click here" to attend to the problem.

Logos, email addresses, even the link might look genuine but you'll get more than you bargained for if you do as the email asks. Check twice and click once.

The second scam of Christmas is the fake virus checker

You search for that elusive gift, and finally you're led to a site that appears to sell just what your nearest and dearest want.

But wait, a message flashes up saying that your machine is infected… but don't worry just download the free virus check shown and your problem will be solved.

By downloading it you will actually be infecting your machine and your problems will only just have begun. Install a good virus checker before you go online.

The third scam of Christmas is the fake upgrade

As the Christmas spirit gets going we all send each other links to jokes and videos, on Facebook, by email and via Twitter.

Now imagine you arrive at one of these sites and it tells you that you don't have the latest Flash Player so you can't watch that funny video, but not to worry click here and you can get your upgraded player immediately.

Not only will this "upgrade" be malware but that malware will go on to send messages to all your friends telling them to go see the "funny" video.

The fourth scam of Christmas is the "current news scam"

People will use major world events to scam you out of money, regardless of how sad the event may have been. We saw it with Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Difficult to believe in a season of goodwill but before the aid agencies had reached the poor people affected there were already scam emails and associated websites asking you to donate.

They look genuine but don't be fooled. The money goes nowhere but to the scammers.

The fifth scam of Christmas is the illegal "cracked" download

Many will be buying laptops or other computing devices for under the tree.

They are expensive and there are many tempting offers to buy incredibly cheap operating systems, office products or other tasty goodies. There are even more tempting opportunities to download "free" copies of "cracked" pirated software.

However, not only are you likely to find that the download is an illegal copy - and may not actually run or has an invalid key - but also that it comes with a hidden present: malware.

Buy from reputable sites and remember if it's too good to be true then it probably is.

The sixth scam of Christmas is the drive-by download

Sadly you do not have to agree to download software from a malicious site for it to happen. There are ways in which malware can be wheedled on to your machine just by visiting a site.

We all roam randomly around the internet, especially when looking for presents, so it is hard to avoid such sites. However, try to watch for a trail that leads you into totally uncharted waters. It's difficult, but think before you click.

And, keep your virus checker and your browser up to date. Both increasingly afford some protection again this type of scam.

The seventh scam of Christmas is the fake free wi-fi

For those who do venture out you will doubtless take refuge at some point in somewhere like a coffee shop, and often it appears to have free wi-fi.

Such wi-fi connections should be considered insecure, so you should not visit any site where you need to enter credentials, card details or the like.

All of that might be visible to others who can monitor your insecure connection to the free wi-fi.

The eighth scam of Christmas is the wi-fi probe

Something few realise is that when we connect our mobile phone to a wi-fi, it keeps a record of the connection.

Thereafter if the device is not connected to a hotspot, it continues to send out requests to connect to all the previous networks to which it had linked.

These can be read and we are revealing all wi-fis we have previously joined.

In effect, your movements can be tracked and often your home network will even reveal where you live just by the name you have given it.

Don't give scammers information they might use against you in some form of con.

The ninth scam of Christmas is a combination of the last two

If you keep your mobile wi-fi turned on there are methods whereby, as your mobile sends out a request to connect to a hotspot, a scammer can then pretend to be that very wi-fi.

Your mobile is relieved to have found a connection it knows and so attempts to create a link, potentially giving away your wi-fi password.

Worse still, your mobile might think it has a secure connection and start to send other data that can be picked up by the scammer.

This and the two previous scams can all be stopped by simply turning off your wi-fi on your mobile's settings when not on a hotspot you trust.

The 10th scam of Christmas is the insecure website

Whether intentional or not, some websites still ask you for your credit card details - and much other valuable personal data - without offering a secure connection.

Know how your browser tells you that you have a secure connection - look for the padlock symbol or change of coloured address bar or whatever it is.

If you don't have a secure connection don't trust that site with your details.

They either can't be bothered, in which case they don't deserve your custom, or they're a fake.

Even if it is a secure connection make sure you click on the padlock symbol or similar to check that the site is registered to who you think it is.

The 11th scam of Christmas is the Man In The Middle (MiTM)

A Man in the Middle add-on may be watching over everything you are doing

There is no point in having a secure connection to your bank or shopping site if there is a piece of software sitting on your machine that can read all of the data before it is secured for transmission.

A particularly common MiTM scam is for a "helper" application that has been installed to make your life easier when using your browser.

This helper may be helping itself to anything you enter on the screen.

The safest way to avoid this is to ensure that you have no "add-ins" running.

If you know how, you can try this by manually configuring your browser but there are tools available, often from the banks free of charge, to do this for you.

The 12th scam of Christmas is the nastiest of them all: the phone call

It is worth being sceptical about whether the person calling you is who they say they are

You're having trouble with that new laptop you bought as a present. You've just about got it running but you can't quite figure out how to finish it off.

All of a sudden the phone rings and a voice says: "This Microsoft/Apple/Google/Dell/HP we see that you have managed to connect to the internet using one of our machines/software but look like you could do with some support. We're here to help you. All we need is your username and password…"

These scammers work on the principle that eventually they will find someone in exactly that position and upon receiving such a call the frustrated user is very likely not to question but rather welcome the caller.

All this caller is trying to do is help themselves to your login details and steal valuable data from your machine.

Sadly, there are more than 12 scams to watch out for, but be particularly aware of those scams that take advantage of the time of year.

Context is everything to the successful scam. If it appears relevant, useful or personal it is much more likely to succeed.

據英國廣播公司報道，聖誕節是很多人的購物盛宴，同時也是很多騙子活躍的高峯時期。如今網絡騙局層出不窮，不過萬變不離其宗，其中12種特別值得警惕。

***網絡釣魚

“網絡釣魚”盛行多年。騙子給你發送信息，讓你點擊一個虛假網站或者打開惡意軟件。

這種把戲並不新穎，但是騙子們也在“創新”，他們學會針對特定目標人羣，這就是所謂的“魚叉式網絡釣魚”。比如你在一個知名網站下訂單，突然收到一封郵件，乍看是這個網站發送的，郵件稱你的訂單有問題，可以“點擊這裏”解決。

***虛假病毒檢查程序

想象一下你上網給親友挑選禮物，突然彈出一個消息框稱你的電腦受到了病毒感染，需要下載一個免費的病毒檢查程序解決問題。

事實上，如果你下載了這個軟件，電腦纔會真正的受到感染。對此，我們應該在上網前安裝好病毒檢查程序。

***虛假升級軟件

我們習慣在聖誕節給親朋友好友發送笑話和視頻鏈接。想象一下，你登錄一個社交網站，它提示你沒有最新的Flash播放器，無法觀看搞笑視頻，“點擊這裏”就可以升級播放器。

而這裏的“升級軟件”本身就是惡意軟件，它還會發送信息給你的朋友，讓他們也來看這個有“埋伏”的搞笑視頻。

***慈善騙局

騙子們還會用一些大的災難來騙你的錢。很難想象，在臺風“海燕”肆虐菲律賓後，竟有詐騙郵件和相關網站騙取人們的捐款。

它們看上去很真實，但實際上這些錢只會流進騙子的口袋裏。

***非法的“破解”軟件下載

筆記本電腦及其相關設備都比較昂貴，騙子們就會提議你去購買便宜的操作系統軟件、office辦公產品等，並稱你可以下載“破解”的盜版軟件的“免費”副本。

然而，不僅該軟件是非法的副本，而且可能隱藏有惡意軟件。

因此，我們應該從有信譽的網站購買相關產品。

***路過式下載

令人沮喪的是，即便你不同一個惡意網站下載軟件，騙子也能得逞。路過式下載(drive-by download)是一個在未經你同意或你不知情的情況下自動下載到計算機上的程序。

這種情況很難避免，因此點擊前一定要三思。此外，保持病毒檢查程序和瀏覽器的更新也是一種有效的防護措施。

***假的免費wi-fi

這種wi-fi很可能會出現在咖啡廳等地方，這種連接是很不安全的。你輸入的憑據、卡的信息等重要資料都會被騙子獲悉。

***wi-fi探測

當我們把手機連接到wi-fi，就有了連接記錄。以後手機如果沒有連接到新的無線熱點(Hotspot)，它就會繼續向此前連接過的網絡發送請求。

這些連接記錄都是可以讀取的，這就意味着可以追蹤你的行動甚至是住址。

***免費wi-fi&wi-fi探測

如果手機wi-fi是開着的，手機會向無線熱點發送連接請求，這時候虛假的wi-fi就可以趁虛而入，“假裝”自己就是你所要連接的那個wi-fi。

這種情況下可能會泄露你的wi-fi密碼。更糟糕的是，手機以爲自己在安全網絡中，它會傳輸一些數據，而這些數據又會被騙子截獲。

所以如果身處一個無法信任的無線熱點，請關閉手機的wi-fi設置。

***不安全網站

一些網站會要求你給出信用卡的詳細信息和其他有價值的個人數據，卻無法提供安全連接。

要確定連接是否安全，可以查看掛鎖標識和地址欄顏色的改變。

如果認爲連接不可靠，不要給出詳細資料。即便連接是安全的，也要確保點開的網站就是你所要上的那個網站。

***中間人

如果你的電腦裏有一個軟件可以在安全傳輸前讀取所有的數據，那麼銀行或者購物網站的安全連接就毫無意義了。

常見的“中間人”(MiTM)騙局就會將一個“Helper”軟件安裝到電腦裏，讓你使用瀏覽器時更加簡單。

但是這個軟件可以訪問你輸入的任何東西，爲了避免它的干擾，最好確保沒有“插件”運行。

***來電不善

想象一下，你買了一臺新的筆記本電腦，剛剛讓它開始運行，但是無法上網。這時一個電話打進來，告訴你他們可以提供幫助，只要你提供用戶名和密碼。

事實上，騙子是想獲得你的登錄信息，並從你的電腦中竊取有用數據。