Beware of Phishing Emails

Phishing is a term to describe emails that are made to look authentic so the recipient will think that the emails are real - except that the emails are fraud. The purpose of these emails is to get personal information from the recipient. Usually, the phishing emails ask the recipient to update their bank account information or else their bank account will be terminated or suspended. If the recipient believes the email then the recipient is in grave danger as he or she is bound to enter the personal information and submit them to the identity theft suspects. The information they will ask includes your name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security Number, bank account or credit card number.

So, how do you protect yourself from phishing emails? First of all, never give out any of your personal information, or fill out any forms in an email. Always check with the real company, for example your bank, to make sure that the email is real or not, before you do as the email instructed. Usually, if you are using online bank services, the URL should appear as ‘https’ rather than the normal ‘http’ to indicate that it is a secure connection. Most identity theft suspects set up a duplicate website of the authentic site, such as PayPal, AOL, Best Buy and eBay to steal the users identity. Report these emails to the real site support team should you come across such emails, to help them bust the culprit.

Steps You Can Take To Protect Your Privacy Online

With more and more people using their computers for business and personal correspondences, sending emails and posting family photos, internet privacy is getting harder and harder to achieve.

You can begin protecting your privacy by putting a password on your computer. Set your computer to turn off after your system has been idle for a specific amount of time. Then require a password to be entered to wake the computer from sleep mode. Using this feature is a simple step that can save your privacy.

Be mindful of viruses. Keep some type of anti-virus software running on you system at all times. There are viruses out there that are designed specifically to steal private information from your computer.

Make a habit of cleaning out cookies on your computer. Every time you visit a web site, you are attacked by these leaches that remember your information each time you come back to the site.

Always read the privacy policy of every web site you visit, especially if you are entering any information. If a site does not have a privacy policy, contact the manager of the site a request to have one posted on the site.

Finally yet importantly, a major precaution you can take to help protect your privacy on the internet is to never under any circumstances send private information via email.

By following these guidelines and using a little common sense, your privacy should be a little safer.