Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Beware Wolves Bearing Gifts

This is the first in a series of articles dealing with the every growing threat posed to you by the internet. It seems like every day now I hear of some unfortunate soul who has been scammed in one way or another by someone on the internet. Protecting yourself from their clutches involves some work on your behalf but if you follow the advice contained in this series of articles the chances of them getting into your wallet will be seriously reduced. “Knowledge is Power” so take the time to read these articles.

Fake Websites
Fake websites rely on our inherent tendency not to fully read what we see on our computer screens. As creatures of habit if the screen appears to be something familiar we automatically assume it is legitimate. Internet thieves depend on this flaw to fool you into thinking you are visiting one of your regular websites.
Fake websites pretending to be :Banking sites, Hotmail, Gmail and Paypal come on line everyday.

 To get you to visit the fake site the scammers rely on two primary methods:
Fake emails and fake links within emails.

How To Avoid Fake Websites
1.    Do Not respond to an email asking you to reset or change your password to any of the websites where you transact money or your gmail or hotmail accounts.
2.    Do not accept any telephone calls where the caller claims they work for Microsoft or some other computer company and they have detected a problem on your computer. No computer company will ever call you in this manner. Do not engage or talk with these individuals – hang up!
3.    Suspect all emails which tell you that something is wrong with your online accounts and never click on any link within these emails or respond to the email. Delete it.
4.    If you get a email telling you a friend has been injured, is in jail, needs your assistance, or is in hospital ignore it. Call the friend if you need assurance. Internet thieves once they have hacked an email will immediately send out these types of emails to all contacts in the hacked address book.
5.    Always check the address of the website at the top of the screen before your login. A favourite tactic of thieves is to download spyware to your computer and change your favourites in your internet browser to point at fake websites.