Avoiding scams online .:. Title

Avoiding scams online

Have you ever been a victim of Internet scams? Or are you a cyber crook looking for an opportunity to make big money? If the answer is yes to either of the two, you might find this article quite helpful in avoiding scams like these or avoiding being caught by doing it.

1. Identity theft scams. All of the scams and hustles seen here are just a way to get to your personal information. Please be aware of what you are doing over the Internet. Identity theft is the number cyber crime and offline crime in the US. Don't be a victim.

2. Phishing scams. Emails coming from a trusted (fake) company, bank or financial institution regarding verification of a recent purchase or confirmation of a money transfer that needs your immediate attention are the most common back story of phishing scams. If you are not sure of these emails, call your bank to verify.

3. Lottery scams. You get emails from parts of the world you've never been to informing that you won in the lottery they just concluded. They just need to know what account they can transfer it to and your personal information for verification. If you have never been more than two blocks away from your house delete this, it's just a scam.

4. Nigerian/ British/ Ivory Coast and other country scams. These are the ones that you get in the email where they inform you that a knight of England/ a Nigerian business tycoon/ a princess or a king/ and a wealthy philanthropist that knows you or your distant relative sends you an insane amount of money in his will, all you need to do is send XXXX amount to cover the legal fees and the taxes. Come on get real a Nigerian business tycoon?

5. Viruses, worms and Trojans. These can easily be obtained just by doing nothing on the Internet. Just visiting can get you in trouble with these.

6. Gift scams. When you go to a website a pop-up will say that you are the 1,000,000,000,000,000 visitor and because of that you will get a wonderful gift from them. All you need to do is pay for shipping to get the gift. Not really a gift anymore right?

7. Spyware threats. This can be obtained by not reading your emails well. When an email says click this link, don't most of the time the link leads to a phony website where they can get all your information.

8. Online dating scams. The scam here is simple, a person from some obscure region of the world chats with you over an online dating website, wins your heart and asks you to marry them. When you agree they say that they need money to get to you so you can live happily ever after. After they get the money they kind of forget about you and move on with their lives. Avoiding scams like this would not be possible if you conducts research first to find out if the dating sites he or she visits are is reputable or not.