Internet Identity Theft
Internet identity theft is rising at an alarming rate. With
internet usage becoming more and more popular it is extremely important to
protect yourself from identity theft on the internet.
Stop Internet Identity Theft
Today, one the places your identity is most at danger is with online money
transfer services. These services, such as Paypal,
are used to transfer money from one person
to another to pay for purchases and services.
Internet identify
thieves realize that if they can somehow convince you to give them your user ID and
your password to these accounts, they can then transfer your funds to wherever they would
like. Once you realize that the money is missing it can take months before the money can be tracked or recovered.
You may be thinking, why would I give out my ID and password to anyone?
Well the truth is you most likely will not even realize that you are giving out
this information and before you know it internet identity theft is upon you.
Online identity thieves will send you
an official looking email that would appear to be from a trusted Internet site. This email will tell you that your
account needs immediate attention due to some sort of pressing reason and you
will need to log
into your account to address it.
Two of the most frequent scams are receiving an email that would appear to be from
eBay (see an example or one I recently
received) or Paypal. These emails will say that you need to update your current
account information otherwise your personal account will be frozen. The email
you receive will include a link to log into your account.
However, what you may not realize it that this link in the email will take you to a website
that the thieves have set up to look exactly
like the website you think you are accessing. But it is actually their own
website to accommodate online identity theft. This sites sole purpose is to convince you to
enter in your private information so that they can steal it. Once they
have your private information they can log into your account and use it as they
wish. This type of internet identity theft is called phishing.This type
of scam is also done frequently with credit card accounts and bank accounts.
Online Identity Theft
In order to protect yourself from internet identity theft, never click on a link
from an email and then enter your account information. Instead, open a new
browser and go directly to the companies site and log in from there. If
there really is some pressing issue regarding your account they
will have a means for you to do that on their website.
Most companies will never sent you a login link in an email and most will tell
you to never click on one if you should receive one in an email. Do not fall victim to
these types of internet identity theft scams.
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