had £1,200 taken out my HSBC internet bank account..

try to keep away from the porn sites if possible

So what's stopping the spotty geek in PC World taking ALL your details off the computer and using/selling it on?

If possible, try to clean up your PC yourself (using online guides if you're not good with computers).

At least you used a big firm, never use little back street shops. imo.

I have changed all of my various passwords etc using a clean pc so any details from the infected pc someone gets their hands on willbe invalid...

my big worry now is my betfair account....
i have checked on the " my security " page on betfair to see if anyone has accessed my account from another computer...doesn't look like it ...but i noticed at least 3 different ip addresses lodded into my account the last week... it appears to be myself...but why would using the same computer reveal a different ip address on different days...

i thought your ip adddress was unique to your computer...???

no, it's not. your MAC address is, but your IP address is assigned to you by ISP.

I presume your infected computer was running the latest version of windows (i.e. all updates applied) and that you have up to date antivirus software running.

oh right... that explains that then...

yes i have mcafee software for last 3 years now... however it expired recently and i didn't renew it until 2 days after it expired.... i'm guessing it was infected then..

You don't need to pay for it - get AVG 9 free and also Avast Anti Virus.  Have them both running at the same time and have auto update on every day.

it may equally have nothing to do with spyware - could have had your card detailed captured at a number of points, including in shops etc, through stolen records from other companies etc.

was it a betting account which your money was deposited into?

according to HSBC my cards havn't been compromized... someone was able to access my bank account online and transfered money from my account into another persons bank account.

i presume the money has since been withdrawn from that account. It was a strange amount £1245.51p ... the bank say they deliberatly withdraw an odd amount rather than a rounded figure to avoid detecdtion...
i wonder just how many millions the banks write off from fraud like this..???

i had exactly the same thing, took £800 off me buy going into me online banking and making a payment to someone i didn't know. With HSBC they let u download MCafe for free from the website so do that. Also as previously mentioned, don't go on porn site andbe careful on the site like iraq goals etc for live football streams.I was also worried about all my passwords etc and the passoibilt of me pc being infected still, in the end for peace of mind i smashed my pc to peices with sledge hammer took it to the dump and brought a new pc.

Having security software on a PC is far from making your PC totally safe. Many viruses are not picked up by most of the popular security software and they won't guarantee anything. Despite keeping these packages up to date (and i trialled many of them) i've had 3 pc's infected now in the last 4 or 5 years. One of them i eventually cleaned without re-installing and wiping the hardrive,another i had to do a total wipe and re-install and the other i just replaced with a newer model. I've still got that one going and clean (i use BitDefender as security which is actually quite cheap but pretty effective),however i bought a mac laptop having used them for work for years. They are so much better than pc's and i've never known anyone get a virus on them. Yes they could be compromised,but they are not targeted due to market share dominated by PC's which are more vunerable anyway.

I'm surprised though that more online banks don't let you monitor ip address access to your account as BF do. The banks just seem content to pay out and not tackle this issue. A few years ago i had an attempt to withdraw cash on my account (luckily i had spent most of it the day before). It seems a local garage being run by Sri Lankans were taking the credit/debit card reader into the back office after hours and downloading the card numbers and PINs to a pc. Amazingly these machine did/do record all PINs entered. No charges ever got brought on these employees who did a runner. Nobody seemed interested in investigating it.

Chandla, next time, smash up the hard drive and buy a new one! Leave the rest of the laptop alone!!!!

BUY A MAC

read this today in the Evening Standard... guess this expains it...


Scotland Yard holds 19 as East European online banking fraud nets £20m

Detectives were today questioning suspected members of an Eastern European gang which netted up to £20million in online fraud targeting British bank customers.

Scotland Yard computer crime specialists seized 19 people suspected of draining thousands of accounts.

The gang used a “Trojan horse” virus to infiltrate computers, capturing passwords and other private details. The software, called Zeus of Zbot, allowed details of bank accounts to be forwarded to computers controlled by the hackers. The gang is believed to have stolen thousands of pounds at a time, placing it in bogus “drop” accounts.

The Yard's e-crime unit was alerted after high street banks spotted a sudden rise in fraudulent activity. Detectives arrested 15 men and four women aged between 23 and 47 at addresses across London and Essex in dawn raids.

They are being questioned on suspicion of fraud, offences under the Computer Misuse Act and money laundering. Two of them were also held on suspicion of possessing a firearm.

Detective Chief Inspector Terry Wilson said police believed they had disrupted “a highly organised criminal network, which has used sophisticated methods to siphon large amounts of cash from many innocent people's accounts”.

He said “immense personal anxiety and significant financial harm” had been caused, and added that banks have had to make good the losses to individuals. He added: “Online banking customers must make sure their security systems are up-to-date and be alert to any unusual or additional security features requested at variance with their normal log-on experience.

“Greater public awareness and education will make it harder for personal details to be compromised and for this type of fraud to be carried out.”

Last year £59.7million was lost to online banking fraud, according to the sector's Financial Fraud Action UK group. Another £440million was lost to credit card fraud.

Online banking customers should keep anti-virus software up-to-date and set firewalls to the highest level.