How to Avoid Being Scammed Online

The advent of the Internet has made the lives of people all over the world easier, and has given them an easier means to interact, commune, and transact with one another. On the other hand, the Internet has also given criminals, crooks and malicious individuals another avenue for their dastardly deeds. Scams and other fraudulent activities that used to spread through postage, telephone, and faxes have found that the Internet more than doubles the speed and gives them access to more willing victims all over the world. Most of these online scams proliferating through the internet are just variations of decades-old real world scams, the ease of interaction and funds transfer brought on by the internet just masks it and makes it appealing to newer tech-savvy victims. Here are a few tips that will help you avoid being scammed online:

1.Maintain multiple email accounts. Use an email account for your personal and sensitive transactions and another fake email account for trivial things such as forum registrations, website signups and interaction with individuals that you don’t know personally. Make sure any information attached to the fake email account cannot be traced back to you; use fake names and addresses liberally. This prevents scammers fishing for victims to find out any real data that they can use against you. This also benefits your personal email account because the restrictions in its use severely limits the amount of spam that finds its way into the inbox. A large number of online scams get to people through spam mail.

2.Don't sign up for every contest you find on the Internet, particularly contests that require you to provide personal info. A lot of online scam perpetrators find their victims through databases gathered from information collecting drives masked under a contest or promo.

3.Don't be lazy. If there is a bank that is only a few minutes of walking away from your house, go there in person for financial transactions. Don’t rely too much on their online services and be on the lookout for fake phishing websites that ask you to update your bank account details and passwords. Keep in mind that if there is a need to update bank account info, banks will require you to do it in person.

4.If you like to join contests and promos in several places, keep track of everything you’ve joined and their prizes. Make a ledger if possible. This way, if an email shows up in your inbox telling you that you’ve won 2 million pesos, it’ll be easier for you to file it under “scams”.

5.Last, but certainly not the least, don't be greedy and always remember that anything that seems or sounds too good to be true usually is. People don’t magically become millionaires for no reason at all and they most certainly don’t win it in the same manner. Even people who become millionaires through the lottery had to do some actual work in terms of going out and buying a lottery ticket in person.