In today’s online world, where technology is advancing quicker than ever before, staying vigilant against fraud on the internet is critical. While the internet has allowed us all access to fast information and offers a wide variety of benefits, it’s also a minefield for cybercrime.
The digital space is awash with internet fraud scams that are designed to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. So, simply having the basics in place is no longer sufficient. How do you protect yourself from these scams though?
The best tool against cybercrime is knowledge. Understanding what to look out for is one of the strongest weapons you can have in the fight against fraud on the internet. In this post, we take a closer look at how you can protect yourself from falling victim to digital criminals.
Tips To Protecting Yourself Against Internet Fraud
When it comes to fraud on the internet, there are several ways that you can keep cybercriminals at bay.
1. Be Aware Of Phishing Attempts
This is most likely the most common type of scam that you’ll find online. It’s called phishing and involves a scammer impersonating a business or person to achieve certain objectives. What they are most often looking for is your personal, sensitive data, whether that be your name, address, email, place of work, or, most often the case, your banking details.
What To Look Out For
What you need to look out for is unsolicited emails arriving in your inbox. Often, these emails have some sort of urgency or tell you to quickly take action to avoid something happening to your subscription, payments, bank account and the like. These emails will often ask for your personal or financial details. This is a massive red flag. Your service providers will, in almost all cases, never ask you for specific details over email. So, when you get such a request, it’s highly likely that it’s a scam.
Keep a look out for email addresses that appear to come from your bank or other service provider. Often, if you open the actual email address you’ll note that it’s not what it seems. This is a common tactic and can be easily avoided. If you suspect that you have received communication from a scammer, never click on the link or enter any information. If you are ever unsure, rather call up your provider to ask for clarity.
Something else you’ll often pick up is their use of language. Spelling errors, poor grammar and nonsensical requests are often the first indication that you are being targeted by scammers. What’s interesting is that some scams purposely include spelling and grammar errors so that if their emails do get responded to, they are most likely dealing with ‘easy prey.’
How To Protect Yourself
Firstly, don’t reply, click on a link or enter any information. You should install email filtering software that will identify and block suspicious emails. The best protection you will have however is staying up to date on what the common scams are and what to look out for.
2. Secure Your Online Accounts with Strong Passwords
While we all love the convenience of having one simple password to remember for all our accounts, we highly recommend that you don’t do this. Online fraudsters target weak passwords with their software that is specifically developed to ‘break in’.
What To Look Out For
While there isn’t much to ‘look out’ for with this specific type of scam, it’s all about vigilance as we’ve mentioned above.
How To Protect Yourself
Firstly, do a password audit of all your accounts to see which login details feature simple passwords that may be compromised. When you first began setting up your accounts you would have been a lot younger and less concerned about the levels of fraud that we experience today.
Reset all your passwords and use a more complex mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Something else you should have in place is two-factor authentication. This gives you an added layer of protection.
You can also consider using a trusted password manager to generate passwords for your accounts. These are designed to make password hacking very difficult. You’ll then need a reputable password vault so that you can access these passwords when needed. Obviously, be extra vigilant in how you manage this vault.
3. Check That Websites Are Legitimate Before Making Online Purchases
While some of us are more vigilant than others, we can all fall victim to a website that is either impersonating one that is reputable or is claiming to be a platform to make safe online purchases.
While the number varies depending on where you look, there are approximately 1.1 billion websites in the world at the moment. This means that it is extremely easy to think you are engaging with a trusted site when it could be a scam site that has been set up for fraudulent activity.
While it may be convenient to shop online, you have to proceed cautiously.
What To Look Out For
The first thing you should check is whether or not the site has a secure connection. You can do this by checking the URL. It should have a ‘https:// in the address and have a valid security certificate. If you see a URL that you are not familiar with that does not have this ‘s’ included, proceed with caution.
Something else to look out for is a website with a poor design. Often these scammers create many websites which all have the same goal – to scam you. They are often created quickly and with limited resources, which is reflected in the design.
Another tactic that scammers use is to try to replicate an authentic site. While it may look the same as the site you are used to using, when you check the URL you may see that it is slightly different. If you suspect that something is unusual, close your browser immediately.
How To Protect Yourself
As we’ve mentioned above, always check the URL first. The best way to protect yourself though is to stick with retailers that you have used before and that you trust.
You can also check the website’s privacy policy and terms of service.
Also, use payment methods that offer you protection. This includes credit cards and secure online payment platforms. Never enter your banking details on a site that you are unsure of.
Additional Tips To Avoid Online Scams
Here are a few additional tips that you should consider when engaging with a website of any kind, even those that you use often.
- Be cautious when entering any information on a website
- Don’t interact with social media messages from people you don’t know
- Don’t fall for urgent specials that entice you to ‘act now’
- Don’t save your passwords on your computer
- Never post sensitive information to your social media platforms
- Use privacy controls wherever you can
- Keep your devices and apps updated. These updates often include security patches. Set these up to automatically install when they are released
- Last, but certainly not least, educate yourself about what scams are common and what tactics are being used
Trust Anti Fraud News For All Your Scam Tips And News
Our team of fraud experts spends a great deal of time researching new scams and tactics that are being used by cyber criminals. To educate yourself future, take a look at our various fraud articles that cover scam tips and hints.
As always, be vigilant in how you engage with online platforms. You never know when a scammer is waiting to take advantage.