There is this porn scam on the Internet where the site records your IP Address and then claim that by clicking on the Popup box and you click okay, you are agreeing to be a member and have to pay a huge amount of money. So since they record your IP address, are they able to go after you and make you pay the membership fee?

Baloo55th

They would have to translate your IP address into a street and number and town. Quite a lot of ISPs have dynamically assigned IPs (mine does) and your IP is different each time you log on. This sounds like a panic-inducing measure. Anyway, use Netscape or Firefox (I use both - don't recommend Internet Explorer) and you can block popups. Alternatively, if you want to visit sites like this, use a program like Steganos which masks your IP address when you visit places like that. It routes you through proxy servers - as quite a lot of porn seekers do - and all they'll pick up is the proxy address. I've not heard of this scam before. Have you met it personally, or just heard of it? It sounds a bit urban legend, like the ones about pressing certain buttons on your cellphone that give someone else control of it. Anyway, I don't think they'd get the courts to back them up in any attempt to get you to pay. Feb 25 06, 4:30 PM

doctordolittle

I encountered this last night. It was a Japanese website, and I pressed on this link which was a movie, and then it had the popup window, I think it was more of a command window, like the one that says "Cannot find www.funtrivia.com," and you simply press okay. But this one, I just assumed that it says, "You have to be 18 to proceed." so without thinking, I just pressed okay. And then it went to this page and it has my browser information, my IP address, my host name, and how much I owe. I am really scared. Feb 25 06, 5:18 PM

xfacilitatorx

This is probably going to fall under "international law" and therefore not worth prosecuting. In any case it would be a hard case for a presecutor to win. So by default, NO. Feb 25 06, 6:01 PM

mementoflash

Don't be scared of internet scams so long as you don't give the scammers your credit card number or banking account information, and in the future just be more careful... Feb 25 06, 9:29 PM

hohohaha

Also, if you have a dialup connection, isn't it true that a user is assigned a temporary IP address and that there's no way for anyone to trace a dialup IP address to an actual user account with an internet provider? Feb 26 06, 5:30 AM

Baloo55th

A few points here. NEVER click on popups (except for known and trusted ones - are there any?). Get rid by right-clicking on the little box at the bottom of your screen and going to Close. DO get Firefox or Netscape and block popups. NEVER give bank details online. (Safer not to bank online, even.) On email, NO bank will mail you to check account details. If yours seems to, phone them (not using any number from the email) and ask. If they did do it, change your bank ASAP. Otherwise, anyone who gives card details or account numbers to someone on the net will find their money rapidly disappearing to Latvia, Russia, Belarus or Ukraine. Not picking on these places - it's just that a lot of the scams keep their money there. Now, on 2000PRo (and probably XP - I keep well away from XP)if you click on the little computers bottom right (that tell you you're online) and go to Details, it'll tell you your current IP number. Make a note, and then log off. Log on again and see if it's different. If it is, you're totally OK - they can't find you except by police order to your ISP. And that they won't get. If it is the same, you've got a fixed IP number. Still don't worry. They still can't trace you except through your ISP, and they won't give out info like this except to the police. Browser info - easy info. Doesn't matter - sites often have different versions to work in different browsers. But get Lavasoft AdAware and WinPatrol to make sure you're not getting spyware from these places. Norton stops a lot of it now, but I still keep AdAware. And keep your firewall (a proper one - don't rely on that XP thing) and anti-virus up to date. And Windows, too. Feb 26 06, 6:10 AM

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