Web surfers beware of the ‘dialer’ dangers
Dialers can be hijacked, threatening you with shocking phone bills for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Here’s the problem.
Your “dialer” is the program in your computer that tells the modem how to dial the Internet connection phone number. You know, the call that makes the “beep beep beep beep, brrrrrrr, screeech” noises before you start receiving e-mail and browsing Web pages.
The dialer program runs, making the call, when you tell it to or when you open an e-mail or Web program that requires an Internet connection.
Typically you, or the installation software from your Internet service provider, has told the dialer to call a local number owned or leased by the Internet service. Information will flow between your modem and that “local access number” or “dialup.” If the number is truly local, the call will be free, even if it lasts for hours. And that means you won’t pay anything to the phone company for your Internet service — nothing on top of the $21.95 or whatever you’re paying the Internet service provider each month.
If you have been paying anything to your phone company for your Internet calls, your dialer may be set to the wrong number, you may have a very unusual phone-company plan that charges for local calls, or you may live in such a remote area that there aren’t any Internet connection numbers within your free calling area. Check your phone bill to see if you’re paying such charges, then ask your phone company if you have — or can get — a plan with free local calling. And then call your Internet provider to see if they have any truly “local” and free numbers for you. If they don’t, consider changing Internet providers. Even if you have to pay a little more monthly for your Internet service, it will probably save you money overall when your phone bill drops.
Some Internet services — such as AOL — add their own dialer to your computer. Some use the dialer that’s built into the operating system these days.
And then there’s the hijack dialer, the one you didn’t know you were getting. This appears as part of a “free software” download from a site that wants to find a sneaky way to charge you for something illicit such as pornography. Or it may show up as part of a computer virus or worm. It can be a complete new dialer or just a new set of numbers for your regular dialer.
This hijacker doesn’t dial a local number at all. Instead it dials some distant place, such as the Solomon Islands, so you’ll get charged dollars-every-minute that you’re online. But as far as you’ll notice, nothing will have changed. You’ll still be connected to the Internet as before, though sometimes the connection may feel a little slower.
Why do the bad guys bother? They get a cut from the phone company just as when you dial a 976-line such as a telephone psychic. And you’ll only find out when your phone bill arrives.
Imagine an hour a day of dialing to the Solomon Islands for say, oh, $4 a minute. At the end of a month that could add $7,200 to your phone bill.
Ouch.
How can you avoid dialer dangers like this? Be skeptical when porn, gambling, or any sites offer something for free, especially if it’s a “quick download” to your computer. Just say no. And if you don’t know much about computers, never accept such a deal until you ask someone more computer-savvy about it. Then, keep an antivirus program — such as the free Windows virus fighter at www.grisoft.com — installed and up to date. That’ll stop another bad-dialer entry-point. Keep a firewall up and running on your computer. Zonelabs.com has a good one for free. And make some time to learn where the dialer software of your Internet connection is and notice the phone number that’s plugged in there.
Finally, for another level of protection, you might consider checking what kind of international rates are included with your long distance plan. Then if your dialer is hijacked, at least you won’t be arguing about $4 a minute but about some lower figure such as 15 cents to 25 cents per minute. You still shouldn’t have to pay such rates, and the phone companies should allow us to block such long-distance, super-high-rate calls until we explicitly enter some personal code to free them, but that’s only a fantasy for now. Dialer hijacking is the reality.