by Rod Hughes

If you do your banking on line, here is a piece of data to chill your blood: Since last November, Internet thieves have raided local bank accounts to the tune of $2.5 million. It’s enough to make you want to keep your money in your mattress.

This figure, published today in the newspaper La Nacion, was compiled by the Fraud Unit of the police (Fuerza Publica). It looks even worse in local currency, 1.3 billion colones. And the victims had their money heisted from accounts both in public and private banks, although the public banks were hit hardest.

One band, now arrested, sacked bank accounts in order to send the money electronically to other banks in such countries as Rumania and Ethiopia, notes Celso Gamboa, the fiscal coordinator for the Fraud Unit. “The banks themselves are secure but it’s the customers whose accounts are raided,” he said.

. Costa Rica’s Attorney General Francisco Dall’Anese is worried that these raiders will steal the Christmas bonuses (alguinaldos) of bank customers whose deposits are at risk. Agents of OIJ, the national equivalent of the FBI or Scotland Yard, detected spy viruses in some e-mails on St. Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. “It’s quite possible that they’ll do the same during the holiday seasons,” warned one OIJ agent, “The worst part is that they can hide these viruses in photos or messages sent by people the victims know.”

Since last November, 400 accounts have been sacked by Internet raiders and not one has been indemnified by the banks, Dall’Anese noted. “This is a matter for the civil courts to resolve,” he added.

Dall’Anese recommended changing one’s passwird after every transaction, at least until the account is small enough not to be an attraction to thieves. He also cautioned against making financial transactions via computers in such sites as internet cafes, but to use only a machine protected by an original antivirus program.

Moreover, let only persons of trust use your computer (if it is at work) and be careful what programs and games you download from the Net. They can contain spyware. And, of course, beware of e-mails from unknown sources.