You got Phished

I have been maintaining a MySpace account for about a year now, and I find that it really does come in handy. I initially created an account because it helped me keep in touch with some of my high school friends that have moved out of the country or have decided to continue schooling abroad. To be honest, I thought that MySpace, Friendster and all of those "making friends" sites were corny and "so conformist." But I swallowed my pride and have learned that these websites do have their uses. And when someone you haven’t heard from since grade school sends you a message or asks you to add him or her to your "friends list," it makes it all worth it.

Last week, however, I had my first experience of Internet crime. I thought that everything was going well with my MySpace account when, one day, I received several messages from people on my friends list about certain questionable comments that I posted about them. I don’t even know how to post comments. I know how to send messages and e-mails, but what’s this business about posting weird comments? So I e-mailed them all, asked them what the comments said, and told them that it wasn’t me and that I had no idea how this happened.

Thinking everything was okay, the next day I logged on to my account again just to make sure. Usually, after a successful login, there is a nice banner in bold letters that says "Welcome, (username)!" Expecting a normal reception, I was very surprised to see, written in red and in bold-type font, these words: "Your account has been phished." I found out later that this meant somebody had hacked into my account.

Everything on my account was frozen. I couldn’t accept new friend requests, couldn’t open my pictures link, and basically couldn’t browse through the rest of my profile. There was one thing working and that was the messaging part of my account. I had maybe three or four new messages and was very anxious to see what people had to tell me. At this point, I needed any and all the help I could get — this MySpace thing was getting me worried.

All the messages shared the same sentiment, and they made me feel even more embarrassed. Apparently, whoever phished my account posted comments with links to visit this adult website. Oh for shame, for shame. I e-mailed them back, apologized all over again and confirmed that it was not me who had posted the stuff. And for everyone reading this now, if you are MySpace users and have received obscene comments from my account, that wasn’t me. It was some person who hacked into my account and was pretending to be me.

Over the Internet, people are not whom they seem to be. Sure, everyone has their profiles and descriptions and whatnot, but honestly, don’t we all lie even just a little bit when writing these things? This makes tracking the culprit even harder. I have no idea who may have done this or why this person chose my account to phish because the Internet is so wide and almost everyone is virtually anonymous out there. Everyone is a suspect. Yet in a realm as convoluted and confusing as the Internet, everyone remains innocent and the perpetrator gets away with the crime scot-free.

The feeling of paranoia that the Internet can leave its users is like nothing else in this world. People sometimes think that they are nameless and faceless because of the Internet and all its barriers. It’s a scary thought imagining faceless and nameless others watching you, studying your habits and your daily moves just through the Internet. I dread the day when, out of nowhere, I receive an e-mail saying: "I’m coming to get you. I know where you live. I can see you reading this message now. I can see the beads of sweat forming on your forehead." Screw that. For all its benefits, the Internet has its downfalls, too. Internet users are not as safe as they think they are.

I know that it sounds like me making a big deal about such a small thing, being paranoid and everything. After all, a MySpace account isn’t a Swiss Bank account and there is absolutely no material loss involved here. However, it does compromise the name that I keep online, and that’s bad enough for me. Also, it is a crime of principle — the dangerous thing being that the same dubious methods can be applied to bigger and more influential things. To put it simply, its just wrong to hack into someone’s account, no matter what kind of account it is.

There are ways to avoid things like this, however. Accounts like these run on usernames and passwords, and to successfully log onto an account, one needs to get both of these things right. So, to throw phishermen and women off your trail, change your password every month or so; just do it often. Make it a really hard password, something you yourself would have to write down somewhere. This makes the hacking game harder for these people and it keeps your privacy intact. Just keep the password safe.

Another way to keep your online property secure is by making sure that you log off properly and completely after visiting your account. By doing so, you keep potential hackers from entering your account unwanted. Just closing the tab or the window isn’t enough because when someone else decides to visit the same website, they will be taken directly to your already open account.

Yet another way to avoid this is to send actual letters to people. They will take longer to get to wherever they are going, but I think its safe to say that it’s better to receive real letters than e-mail, comments or testimonials. They’re more romantic. And there is no way anyone can phish a real letter, so in that respect you’re safe.

I just hope whoever phished my account decides to get a life soon. This person has some serious identity issues, is sexually repressed, or has sexual fantasies about computers if he/she keeps on pretending to be other people. And I’m sure it’s not just my account that this person has phished. It’s not healthy to be living like that. So to whomever phished my MySpace account, I hope you’re reading this: Be a little more mature, please.

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E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com. Or if you feel too paranoid to use the Internet after reading this article, you can also send me a letter through "snail" mail to: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 13th and Railroad Sts., Port Area, Manila.