Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> After reading this, I'm left wondering not so much "why does phishing 
> work?" but more "how can we ever hope to prevent it from working?"

  One big problem is that people are so gullible. Even people who *should*
know better are surprisingly gullible.

  For example, if you ask almost anyone why they don't buy viagra from an
email spammer, the typical answers will be along the lines of "I don't need
that stuff", "I don't want to give my money to dubious people", etc.

  However, how many will list the following reason: "How do I even know it's
real viagra and not just a placebo, or worse, something harmful?"

  I have the impression that surprisingly few people actually stop to think
that what they are selling might actually not be the genuine product. That's
why the spamming works: People who *want* the stuff and have no moral
problems about buying it from unofficial sources, never stop to think that
there's absolutely no guarantee that it really is the real stuff. After all,
those spammers are not controlled by any official entity who sees that they
are not fraudulent. However, most people just assume that they are selling
the real stuff.

  People have forgotten the old rule "don't take candy from strangers",
and go one step ahead: They actually go and *buy* the candy from strangers,
without ever stopping to think what *is* in that candy.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message