Protect Yourself: How To Spot An Online Scam

January 17, 2012

Hemanshu Nigam is the founder of SSP Blue, the leading advisory firm for online safety, security, and privacy challenges facing corporations and governments. Read his bio here.

 

Criminals Are as Cyber Savvy as Ever

Shoppers are not the only ones looking for good deals on the Internet.  Hackers, scammers and fraudsters are shopping around for good deals too – deals like your personal information for free. Online scams are on the rise all over the country. According to the FBI supported 2010 Internet Crime Complaint Center Report, online fraud in the U.S. doubled to a reported $560 million in losses.

About 16 % of complaints covered in the above numbers for the FBI are attributed to email “phishing” scams (fraudulent emails sent for the purpose of information and/or identity theft). And the latest projections show that this year 40% of consumers will have their information misused.  Because hackers are becoming more savvy and using better tactics, consumers need to be more careful than ever before.

In the past, we’ve talked a lot about putting strong security measures in place by running anti-phishing and anti-virus software and keeping them updated.    

Now let’s talk about how to spot the scam in the first place. 

Here are some great tips on how to avoid being scammed, phished, wormed and otherwise duped.

Be wary of unsolicited emails that:

• Slightly altered web addresses resembling the names of legitimate companies, i.e.www.palpay.com or www.verify-paypal.com instead of www.paypal.com
• Come from someone you know but the content doesn’t sound like something they would write
• Request personal information such as your password, home address, social security number, birth date, mothers maiden name and etc.   (See example below)



• Promise rewards with an urgent response deadline.  (See example below)

• Contain bad spelling and grammar: Legitimate organizations don’t make major spelling and grammar mistakes, most have entire departments dedicated to presenting the brand in the best light possible.  (See example below)

• Contain misinformation/conflicting information.  (See example below)

• Have mismatched URLs. (See example below)

• Ask for money.  (See example below)

 

 

 

Comments

[layyi]

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[shredding Houston]

Every innovation always leaves two doors open: better possibilities and worse crimes. Since this age is about getting better communication mediums, getting wary of how you participate in this exchange of information can really help you protect yourself. Thanks for this brilliant post!