In one of the recent press releases by the FBI, it brought to the public's attention (again) the increasing number of people who became victims of identity theft on the internet. This news is not really something new. You must have heard about identity theft on the net a lot. Like hackers acquiring credit card numbers of other individuals and making exorbitant purchases online.
For years, internet marketers like us have been battling to eliminate these scumbags because they are a threat to ecommerce sites and many other internet businesses. While we are busy working on how to make money online (clean money that is); they, on the other hand, are busy devising ways on how to make easy money effortlessly. advertisement
How unfair can that be. Further, because of their illegal activities, many online shoppers and users have become more discriminating in buying online or even just in leaving their email addresses for subscriptions. Despite the internet security measures implemented by website owners and online marketers, identity theft is still a tall challenge to overcome. What amazes me more is how these thieves evolved in their manner of hijacking people's accounts and ripping off their victims. I'm not saying that I'm impressed because I'm not.
Since these people keep on increasing in numbers, we (internet users and marketers), should know how not to be fooled by their modus operandi.
Nowadays, these "geniuses" have been using spam emails to hijack and infect a person's computer. Spam emails come in different shapes. Some mails pretend to have come from people you know or from some popular site you wouldn't have an iota they are fake. And when you click on them, it's like you've given hijackers an instant access to all your files stored in the computer. Now, they can siphon off passwords and access all your accounts online. Once they are able to access a person's social network account, they send out emails to friends asking for financial aid. They pretend to be in distress and so their concerned friends would come running to help them out without knowing that their REAL friend has been a victim of identity theft.
We need to be more mindful of our ways while surfing the net and communicating to people. There are several ways to do in order to protect ourselves from identity theft. When in social networking sites, make sure that you familiarize yourself with the security and privacy features of the site. In addition, you can practice the following precautionary measures:
Be selective in adding friends
Choose specific individuals who can access your personal profile, contacts, and photos. Don't give everyone an access to view your personal photos and profile.
Be careful in clicking on links or downloading applications. There are many instances where computers got infected after these.
Generally, we are still safe in these networking websites. But vigilance and careful choices can even make our social lives on the net much better and safer.
About the author
The author of this article, Menno Spijkstra, is an underground Internet
Marketer who has been successful in selling products online for many years. Let Menno teach you how to Build Your Own Website For Free. Click HERE for more info about his video tutorial series.
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In one of the recent press releases by the FBI, it brought to the public's attention (again) the increasing number of people who became victims of identity theft on the internet. This news is not really something new. You must have heard about identity theft on the net a lot. Like hackers acquiring credit card numbers of other individuals and making exorbitant purchases online.
