I have long known that hackers were using the lure of expensive software to lure people into sex sites. I did not however begin to put the pieces together until I got an email and a hacker tried to clean out my bank account.
Needless to say this ticked me off and I decided to track the hacker down. I don't recommend this to the average Joe. Hackers tend to stick together, but I was after an Albanian. In the process of tracking him I have found that there seems to be a whole underworld crime ring using Some Dating Sites, sex sites, and the torrents to a mass huge amounts of money and collect personal information for what I believe is criminal gain. I believe that if Government Agencies penetrate these sites they can solve many cases of identity theft, viral attacks, and scams of many kinds.
At this time I can not reveal any particular sites, but I recommend that people not use any dating sites that charge for many months of even a year upfront. Stay away from sites that say you can only cancel by mail.
Everyone should buy firewall software if they are going to use the net for financial transactions. No offense to Microsoft, but I recommend that you immediately go to the store and buy a program with firewall protection on it. There are several of these and CNet Central is one of many well known, dependable sites to find recommendations and reviews. You do not have to but a subscription to get good Firewall, Antivirus, and malware protection. Just because a Company is big doesn't mean they are the best. Since the dot com boom ended many software engineers have lost their jobs. Many of them have started their own software companies and are creating new software programs for Windows.
All software is not good, no matter who makes it. It is time to let your fingers do the walking, so that you can learn if the software you have does what it claims to do. Many computers come preloaded with software. What you must realize is software that comes preloaded is not necessarily the best. When it comes to your security, you should want nothing but the best. If you have your life on your computer you do not want someone hacking into your bank account, because they gained access to your computer's hard drive. Take it from me. "Gone in 60 Seconds" is not just the name of a movie. It is what happens to your money when a Hacker gains access to your hard drive. I knew the moment it began and I only managed to close the doors after he had transferred $150 dollars from my Pay Pal account. (By the way I highly recommend that you look into Pay Pal or Google's site to pay for things on the net.) There are advantages to these sites. One is if you happen to buy something from a con man, he wouldn't get your credit card information.
In my investigation I used PayPal to pay for memberships to some dating site and cancelled them. Many of these sites have repeating payments that kick in without your knowledge. I was following a trail, so I only needed access to the sites for a short period of time, which is good, because some of them didn't give me a full thirty days. Sites like Meet Locals are operated by a larger site that operate other dating sites. I will only reveal part of the larger companies name, Fling. I am in no way intimating that they are not operating within the law. You must do leg work on the Internet. The Internet is just like the rest of the business world. There are people who are not honest and you need to do your homework. You are your own first line of defense.
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