The internet is the talk of the town as a shopper or an entrepreneur or a socialite. Everyone wants to get in touch with the world at the tip of their hands.
Electronics manufacturers spend the sleepless night to make sure their gadgets are internet-enabled.
That’s what the market requires. With all these benefits, there are people behind the keyboard ready to use gaps in the systems to fraud unsuspecting victims.
Gone are the days where fraudsters were dirty-looking individuals in the streets.
Currently, the nicely-dressed man sitting next to you busy pretending to be on social media is the biggest thief who should be behind bars as soon as yesterday.
The internet has made it easy for them to carry out their dirty deals without physically being caught.
Furthermore, you can’t avoid the use of the internet. Therefore the only option you have is to invest in reliable security systems to protect you as an individual, family, or a corporate entity.
There are several in the market, but you need to run due diligence to choose what works for you based on the service you need in terms of protection.
Price is also a consideration you can’t afford to ignore.
For example, the identity theft solution is the correct choice for its price for the following reasons
- Affordable pricing plans to suit your needs
- Free 30-day trial
- Insurance cover
- Money-back guarantee
- Family plan
- Credit score report
How fraudsters use the internet to fleece you
1. Email phishing scams
Fraudsters will send you an email to unsuspecting receivers. The emails have attachments with malicious content.
The trick is to open the attachment; the next step takes you to a complex site linked to malicious software.
Before you notice, all your hard-earned cash is in the wrong hands.
2. Green Card tricks
Green card has become challenging to get yet it’s the easiest way to get “greener pastures.”
Now you get a holiday card or a greeting card purporting to have won something.
What they need is for you to open the greeting ticket which is attached to a malware.
It downloads software on your machine, which places itself on the trash folders doing its intended purpose in the background.
The result is you have no control over your financial accounts.
3. Loan notifications
When you get information about a loan, you need to approve or a credit card detail that requires your verification and liaises with your banking institutions to confirm its authenticity.
Otherwise, you might fall into the next victim. All of these scams come with one aim, to download or open malicious content, which is the beginning of your trouble.
It’s worse when you aren’t protected. You lose your money without any way to help yourself out of the problem.
In such a situation, where do you even report when these people are miles away on different continents?
4. Dating sites
Some of them pose as lovers looking for long term life partners. They are wise such that they gauge your financial capability.
The tricky matters of the heart tempt one to avoid the use of their brain in making decisions.
As time goes by, you have given out your financial details to a stranger. With internet banking, what else do they need?
This trick is well-orchestrated even for a year; you may fail to notice their intention for you are madly in love.
5. Lottery fees
If you receive an email for you to claim some money, that in itself is a scam.
Whoever sends you the mail, don’t you think he needs the money more than you? The first step is to ask yourself when you even purchased or participated in a lottery competition.
If you haven’t deleted the mail as fast as possible, then you are prone to fraud.
6. The famous Nigerian Prince
If you haven’t received an email about a wealthy Nigerian Family; who lost their relatives and would want you to help the widow to claim the money with a promise of getting some percentage, then you are new in the internet fraud stories.
This old trick is still used to newcomers, and they have succeeded in it.
The end game is for you to get your financial details for them to wire the money. Fraudsters only need the bank details to sweep clean your account.
What do you do to prevent fraud?
- Never open unsuspecting emails
- Do not download any applications unless you are sure of their authenticity
- Enroll in security systems to cushion you just in case
- Protect your laptop with security applications to detect, monitor and quarantine such apps
- Never give out your details to strangers
- Don’t use public Wi-Fi’s when handling financial transactions
- Beware of your internet surroundings
The internet is a blessing to fraudsters; they can now proudly handle their malicious deals without facing the law due to jurisdiction limitations.
It’s you now to stop their acts by being more cautious about making them loose market in the hacking business.