Rogue diallers still a menace

This year could see a resurgence in the problem of rogue diallers despite the increased take-up in broadband connections, warns Kaspersky.

The security company company said that in the run up to 2007 this scam made up one-third of the top 20 online threats and it saw a flurry of rogue dialler activity in December 2006.

Rogue diallers work by changing dial-up internet connection settings so that a PC dials a premium rate telephone number to connect to the internet. Charges can run as high as £1.50 per minute and the switch sometimes goes undiscovered until the next phone bill arrives.

The problem is people believe the threat, which seemed to peak around two years ago, has vanished. Premium rate watchdog Icstis clamped down hard on the companies or individuals behind rogue diallers and also the companies that rented the premium rate lines to them.

It also brought in new rules to protect consumers including enforcing a 45-day waiting period for payments to be made to companies running diallers that use premium rate services. This allows users a chance to alert Ofcom and Icstis so that the funds can be blocked if they feel they have been ripped off.

But Kaspersky warned its latest figures show rogue diallers scams could again be on the increase with the top two threats noted being rogue diallers, Trojan.Win32.Dialer.cj and Trojan.Win32.Dialer.hz. And despite the increased take up of broadband it said even these users can find themselves affected if they rely on a backup dialup modem.

It said around 10 per cent of people in the UK still use dial-up connections to access the internet at home. This makes them vulnerable to rogue diallers – something it said will continue into 2007.

David Emm, senior technology consultant at Kaspersky Lab, told Computeractive he did not think the problem of rogue diallers in the UK would hit its height of 2004 when Icstis was receiving thousands of complaints weekly. However, he said people should not become complacent.

"We have heard of a number of instances where people believed they would be safe from rogue diallers because they have broadband access, but they have still been ripped off,” said Emm.

"Most people don’t realise that if you keep your dial-up modem connected as a backup, and click on it (either intentionally or accidentally), you may be at risk.

"These scams are on the increase, despite the prevalence of broadband at home so the potential reward is obviously still great enough for criminals to exploit vulnerable home PC users in this way."

However Icstis said it hadn't seen any evidence of rogue diallers re-surfacing as a problem. It pointed out its licencing regulations meant it was unlikely to become a problem again. However it did agree with Kaspersky and said consumers should not become complacent.