Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Online Fraud And Identity Theft

Learn About What Is Online Fraud And Identity Theft And How To Prevent It

In case you are someone that uses the internet it is certainly a good idea for you to know more about how to protect you from the many dangers that prevail in cyberspace. Ignorance is never a good excuse and so it is much better to put in a little effort to become better informed about what online fraud and identity theft is all about and how to do something to prevent it from happening.

Protect Your Valuable Personal Information

Learning about online fraud and identity theft will help ensure that you know how to protect your valuable personal information from the unscrupulous and heartless scammers that are the current scourge of the online world. The first step that you should actively consider taking in regard to preventing online fraud and identity theft is to think; then look and finally investigate every different link that you come across in your emails and do this zealously prior to clicking on the link.

It is an open secret that online scammers thrive the most when they are able to spam you with emails that contain phishing links that appear very genuine but which have a deadly purpose which is to steal your personal details. Even if you want to follow the link it is much safer to type in the address into your browser rather than click on a link that may be nothing more than a mask for Trojan horses.

Whenever you are thinking about sending or using your credit card for online purchasing you must ensure that the site has an address that starts with ”https” rather than “http” as this will ensure that the website is secure and so, chances of being victimized by online fraud and identity theft are considerably lower.

You can also prevent online fraud and identity theft by ensuring that your computer is armed with latest and up-to-date anti-virus software and in addition, you should use a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to your computer. The more protection you take out in regard to your computer and it’s functioning the more secure will you be from online fraud and identity theft.

Unfortunately, people sometimes let their guard down and unwittingly become victims of online fraud and identity theft. In case this happens to you it is then necessary that you immediately report online identity theft to the concerned authorities to ensure that damage to your finances and reputation are limited.

Finally, you can prevent online fraud and identity theft by staying up-to-date about how scammers operate and to also learn about the techniques that are being employed to steal identities. It also pays to check different anti-scam sites as well as read blogs and use forums to find out the latest in regard to how online fraud and identity theft is being perpetrated these days.

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