Should you ever fall victim to one of the increasingly sophisticated phishing scams, don't be surprised if the authorities tell you it's all your fault for "giving your permission" to the identity thief to fleece you.
A story appeared over the weekend in the San Jose Mercury News' "Action Line" column about the victim of a phony PayPal website whose bank account was drained by a phishing operation in Moscow. As the phisher had also taken $500 of overdraft protection on the bank account, the victim's bank said it was owed $500 because the card was used with the victim's permission.
"I explained the stolen identity situation to the company, but it insisted I did not have my information stolen but that I gave permission for someone else to use my card," the victim wrote the Mercury News. "I'm not asking for my stolen bank account money. I just don't think I should have to pay the $500."
With the intervention of the Mercury News columnist, the victim's bank agreed to reverse the $500 charge. But an official of the California bank quoted by the columnist still stuck to the idea that their customer was "voluntarily" using a false Web site and therefore could be held liable. Don't give out any information to anyone who isn't "100 percent trustworthy," the bank official piously warned.
He might as well have said don't use the Internet, because there is no such thing as a 100 percent trustworthy site. And if law enforcement, PayPal and the banks don't start going after the criminals rather than blaming the victims, not using the Internet may be the only logical choice any of us have.
12:47:44 PM 
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