Clever con artists always taget the older, female, and people who live alone. If you are one of them, be sure to read the following article to avoid scams. This article is mostly about Internet safety, tips to protect yourself, and to introduce you some of the scams you should avoid.
1.Protect Your Identity
I put this in the number one position, because it is the most important rule. Con artists can only reach you if you have your identity leaked. Did you ever leave your name and address in a contest? Regiser a gaming site or a forum with your real name? Don’t do that!
2.Don’t give out your bank information
This is actually as important as rule number 1. What con artists wanted from you eventually? Money, of course! They will talk you into the senario that you are willing to give out your bank information. If you are in it, talk to your friends, your family, or police for help.
3.Don’t send a check to someone you don’t know
Did you ever receive mails or emails asking you for donation? They may come from your college you graduated 20 years ago. Or claim to help children in Africa. Or claim you have voilated some city code that you need to send money to correct it. Con artists are very creative, arn’t they?
4.Unbelievable cheap? Then don’t believe it!
A luxury bag or watch on sale? 90% off the retail prices? Bid starts from $1? Sounds familiar? Yes, they are scams. If you are lucky, you will receive a fake item. If not, you won’t receive anything.
5.Avoid Phishing Emails
Phishing emails can have thousand of forms. If an email tells you that you have won a prize, it is a phising. Or it tells you you need to update your bank or credit card information, it is a phishing. Or it will tell you that debit or credit card has an unauthorized transaction. But be careful, this one is very tricky, because many legitimate bank or credit card companies do send out such warnings. If you can’t be sure it is a scam or not, be sure not to click on hyperlinks in emails. Hand type in the URL of your bank, credit card company, or the site you want to visit.
6.Avoid Phishing Sites
Phishing sites are actually very easy to tell. First, pay attention to the address bar of your Internet browser. Is it the one you think it is? Can you tell the difference between Paypal.com and Paypa1.com? Second, when you shop online and during the last check out stage when you need to enter payment information, make sure the address bar shows “https://” and the address bar turns green or blue to indicate that it is a certified website. If it is red, leave immediately.
7.Install a Internet Secuity Software
To avoid phishing emails or phishing sites, the simplest way is to get a internet security software. You can get one from Zone Alarm, AVG, Norton, or McAfee. Or even get one from Microsoft, Microsoft Security Essentials, for free.
8.Avoid Nigerian money transfer scams
It is a very typical advance-fee fraud. It starts with an email from a government or a wealthy foreigner that there is a large amount of unclaimed money or gold which he cannot access directly, and need youe help to retrieve it. In return, you will receive a big share of it. But you will need to pay some fees in advance. This scam started more than years ago. But there are still many victims fell for it and lost millions of dollars every year. There are many variations of this type of scam. See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_scam.
9.Avoid ebay scams
No matter you are buyer or seller, there are many traps waiting for you on ebay. My suggestion is never use ebay! Read how you could be a ebay victim at http://www.scambusters.org/ebayscams.html.
10.You can’t get rich in one day
If someone, or some email, or some website tells you that you could be next millionair easily, it is a scam! It could be Pyramid schemes (or Multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes), detail is here, or Ponzi schemes.
