One thing that you need to know about online scams and frauds is that if you are going to try and protect or secure yourself against them, there are different steps to take depending on what type of scam or fraud you are facing. But there are some general things that you can do to help secure yourself against all types of online scams and frauds. One thing that you can do is to never give out personal information to anybody; the only time you should give it out is on a secure website that you are using to make a purchase. But aside form that you are going to need to use common sense, if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is, so you are going to want to stay away.
Difficulty rating: Easy
Step one:
The first thing that you are going to need to do to protect yourself from online scams and frauds is to become familiar with the most popular online scams and frauds. You don’t need to know about all of the various online scams and frauds because most of the time the newer scams and frauds are spin offs from the older more popular scams and frauds. What this means is that the same basic scams are used but certain things are modified, such as country, amount of money, what you are promised, etc.
Step two:
Now the steps that you are going to need to take to protect yourself from online scams and frauds are going to vary greatly depending on what scam or fraud you are facing. The reason for this is that the frauds and scams for the most part ask for different things so some will need to be handled differently then others.
Step three:
If you are dealing with an email that is asking you to click on a link to update your account info or to verify certain information the one thing that you don’t want to do is to click on that link. If the email is from a company that you have accounts with what you will want to do is open up a new browser and type in the web address directly, never use a link in an email to go to the website.
Step four:
If the email or website is asking you to enter in private, personal information, such as your full name, social security number, address, date of birth or mother’s maiden name you do not want to enter in any of that information. The chances that they are trying to get your personal information so that they can steal your identity are high.
Step five:
Rather than clicking on the link or entering in personal information you are going to want to report the fraudulent email to the correct department. This can actually be the FBI, the fraud department within a business or somebody else.
Step six:
If you are dealing with a scam that tells you to send money to this address to claim your prize or to make money quickly then you need to be weary of it, most likely it is to good to be true. Jobs should never have to be paid for and you should never have to pay any money to claim a prize that you have won. So basically make sure that you never send money to a website or email that you are unsure of.
Step seven:
The next thing that you need to do is to check out any companies that you are going to be doing business with, especially if you have never heard of that company before. If the company contacts you by email with a number to call when you call that number you should ask for more information about the company and if they can give you any referrals. Businesses who are legitimate will give you numerous referrals not to mention the fact that they will be happy to provide you with extra information about the company. But you still want to check the company out with the Better Business Bureau to make sure that they are legit.
Other tips/resources:
•One of the best websites that you can go to for information about online scams and frauds is www.snopes.com They have a wide resource of scams and frauds that have hit the internet and they will tell you if the scam or fraud is really a scam or a fraud or if it is actually something legit.
•Another great website to visit for numerous information about online scams and frauds, including what agencies you can report the crimes to, you need to visit Wired Safety.
