Cyber criminals just like burglars and thieves have many different ways to steal your online information (money and identity). In the same way you wouldn’t leave your door unlocked or open, you must also take precaution to protect yourself from fraud and identity theft online.
Online identity theft occurs when someone gains unauthorized access to your personal information, such as your name, social security number, banking or credit card information and uses the information fraudulently or to commit crimes such as – but not limited to – making purchases and applying for credit. Not only can online identity theft cost you money, it can also be a big headache trying to prove your innocence.
I wrote this book to make readers aware of the common …show more content…
Very often we fall into a trap because of ignorance. We simply did not know. Our ignorance sometimes can be very cost, and result in damages that are seemingly irreparable. Some have managed to recover before any real damage is done, but most have found this experience to be an absolute nightmare.
Let us briefly examine some of the major tricks of the trade, and we will elaborate on these later.
The Old Switcheroo
The old switcheroo is not a joke and is serious business. Some con sites design their websites to look similar to well-known websites. I have even seen sites designed to look similar to official government sites.
It’s important to double check that you are on the correct website by checking official clues. Some things that you can check are:
Contact detail - If website is a franchise, see if pages in other cities look like the one in your city.
ICan (like telephone book for websites)
Look for discrepancies and professionalism
If you are shopping and don’t know much about the company to determine if it’s legit, than make sure company has a security-enabled Web address that starts with …show more content…
Two things you can look for are:
Email is not written professionally
Email address is different from legitimate company
You can protect your identity if when they phish, you fish. Do your research to determine if this is the actually legitimate company contacting your email. Sometimes this is as easy as picking up a phone and calling the company with a number that you have used to contact them in the past, and one that you are certain is legit. Do not be quick to reply to just any email that pops up in your email account.
Protect yourself by fishing (true information) when the scam company phishes for your personal information. Very often those who get caught by this scam are those who are very impulsive, and fail to simply stop and give it some thought. There are instances where people receive email that they have won some lottery, and because this appeals to their need for money, they quickly click through and respond with whatever information is being asked for.
We must be careful.
Be a Research Sleuth against potential
Online identity theft occurs when someone gains unauthorized access to your personal information, such as your name, social security number, banking or credit card information and uses the information fraudulently or to commit crimes such as – but not limited to – making purchases and applying for credit. Not only can online identity theft cost you money, it can also be a big headache trying to prove your innocence.
I wrote this book to make readers aware of the common …show more content…
Very often we fall into a trap because of ignorance. We simply did not know. Our ignorance sometimes can be very cost, and result in damages that are seemingly irreparable. Some have managed to recover before any real damage is done, but most have found this experience to be an absolute nightmare.
Let us briefly examine some of the major tricks of the trade, and we will elaborate on these later.
The Old Switcheroo
The old switcheroo is not a joke and is serious business. Some con sites design their websites to look similar to well-known websites. I have even seen sites designed to look similar to official government sites.
It’s important to double check that you are on the correct website by checking official clues. Some things that you can check are:
Contact detail - If website is a franchise, see if pages in other cities look like the one in your city.
ICan (like telephone book for websites)
Look for discrepancies and professionalism
If you are shopping and don’t know much about the company to determine if it’s legit, than make sure company has a security-enabled Web address that starts with …show more content…
Two things you can look for are:
Email is not written professionally
Email address is different from legitimate company
You can protect your identity if when they phish, you fish. Do your research to determine if this is the actually legitimate company contacting your email. Sometimes this is as easy as picking up a phone and calling the company with a number that you have used to contact them in the past, and one that you are certain is legit. Do not be quick to reply to just any email that pops up in your email account.
Protect yourself by fishing (true information) when the scam company phishes for your personal information. Very often those who get caught by this scam are those who are very impulsive, and fail to simply stop and give it some thought. There are instances where people receive email that they have won some lottery, and because this appeals to their need for money, they quickly click through and respond with whatever information is being asked for.
We must be careful.
Be a Research Sleuth against potential