‘Formjacking’ Is the New Internet Scam We Need to Watch Out For
In the highly technical age with are living in, scams and cyberattacks are sadly the norm.. We have a good idea of what we should be suspect of online, we know what emails or links we shouldn't be clicking on, but this new "formjacking" attack has me all kinds of worried.
Dennis Horton of the Better Business Bureau recently wrote an article for the Rockford Register Star detailing what "Formjacking" is, and what we can do to avoid falling victim to it:
Crooks are now hijacking online forms. The hackers are “injecting” code into forms on legitimate websites that allows scammers to gather important personal and financial information entered on the forms.
This is another form of cyberattack. Even though formjacking has been around for at least a couple of years, there has been a dramatic increase in activity. Recent reports show more than 4,800 websites are attacked each month.
The crime is used mainly to steal credit card information; the hackers then sell the stolen data on the dark web. There, web traders post it for resale to anyone who wants it.
Theft of card info is not all that the scammers are after — formjacking also has been discovered in online job application forms.
So what do we do? How can we possibly know which online forms have been "injected" with these phishing codes and which ones are safe to enter our info into?!?
Dennis Horton suggests to always pay close attention to your credit card statements and to frequently check your credit report for starters. He also recommends to "freeze your credit records with the “big three” agencies. This will stop anyone who has your details from opening new lines of credit in your name", and to always keep your internet security up to date.