Ghanaians Should Be Wary Of Yahoo Fraud

Ghanaians have been called upon to take precaution when using the internet in order not to fall victim to IT fraudsters who are doing everything in their power to steal identities and securities of people. This call was made by the managements of the PREKESE Media Inc.,a media consulting division of a US based Ghanaian cultural and development organization,the International Center for African Culture & Arts, (ICACA-USA);the Ghana based Centre for Human Development & Social Change (CHDSC-Ghana) and the New York based African culture and development non-profit,OBAATANPA House of Hope Inc. during their 1st International African Cultural Development Congress held in New York recently. The congress which attracted many delegates had many events and panel discussions. Among the numerous issues discussed were the role of the media in contemporary democracies, global and national peace initiatives and programs, human rights and security concerns.

During the panel discussion, an attention was drawn to an solicited mail which was suspected to be fraudelent and that Africans needed to be educated on how to use the internet.

For those of you who have computer at home and have internet connection, chances are that you might have email address and might be using at least, a free Email Service provider. MICROSOFT Company provides good old Hotmail/MSN and now its latest LIVE, email addresses. GOOGLE provides Gmail for its users. YAHOO another free service provider is also available to users. Whichever provider you use, we want to advice all Ghanaians to be wary of all incoming emails that are not solicited.
One of numerous unsolicited emails ( see below) finding its way in our inboxes is one that is similar in content asking for personal and account details. Please take time to read this blog, pay attention and act right when you are online. Our advice to everyone is that when you received any mail that you are not sure of its source, please visit YAHOO ANSWERS,ASK.COM or ANSWERS.COM and post a question there or look for answers to similar questions that many users and visitors have already posted. If you don't find your questions there, please register-(it's free )and post your question: expect answers from other users within hours or about a day.

Here you go with the suspicious mail which we received recently.

"Dear Yahoo Customer,
This is in conjunction with Yahoo Microsoft and Yahoo Account Users, we are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of Yahoo accounts so we are shutting down some Yahoo Account and your account is among those to be deleted.

We are sending you this email so that you can re-confirm your account information to enable us upgrade your account from being deleted. If you are still interested in using your Yahoo Account kindly re-confirm your account by filling the space below and forwarding via ([email protected])

* User name: ------------------------ * Password: ----------------

* Date of Birth: --------------------------
* Country Or Territory: -----------------------------

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this effect. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owners that refuse to update their account after three days of receiving this warning will lose their account permanently.

Sincerely.
Yahoo! Account Services"

From our research, we found the following responses which we reproduce uneditted:

1. "Don't answer it, it's spam, Yahoo NEVER send that kind of email. Spacialy not with that kind of email adress. It's from a spammer/hacher who want to steal user account (usernames and password).

I recommend to report that email to yahoo, so they can try to catch the one who did that."

2." It's called Phishing. People are looking for personal information on you to use for less then honest purposes. If Yahoo really wanted you to update your info, they would find better ways to inform you. This goes the same with banks and whatever else. Never answer personal info in an unsolicited email."

3. "Yahoo would not ask you for your personal information in an E-mail like that.

It is a scam to get your personal information and/or money.

Do not respond to it.
Report it to yahoo, so they are aware.
Forward to [email protected] "

OUR RESPONSE

Well readers, you can draw your own conclusion from the above responses, we want our people to pay attention and act responsibly when they are online. Can you believe how far we have come as far as communication is concerned? From our ancestors use of drum messages to the traditional post office operation with its letter postings,telegraphs,telegrams and landlines through classic typewriters to electronic typewriters to today's computers and cell phones. Are we not celebrating life in a grand style? Yes, we are, because we are a digital generation using all sorts of gadgets which our greatgrand parents never used.

Our question to you is " How do you safeguard your security whiles online? We want our people to be informed so that we do not become victims of internet fraud from any source.

Long live Ghana, God bless our beloved country.

KONKONSA KORNER:
Beginning today, we will bring you briefs about hottest gossip in town from Ghana. This will be our way to bring fair and objective journalism to you the reader:

1ST KONKONSA OF THE WEEK:

HOOOOOOOOT FM: WHAT IS GOING ON?

What is the news that we hear from Ghana? What happened at the Accra based radio station, HOT FM on friday, 26/02/10? What is going on?

Please come around again in the next few days as we bring you an up-to-date details of what took place.