Do Not Reply to Suspicious E-mails
If you find a mail in your inbox, which you suspect to be
spam, do not reply to the sender. For instance, if you receive a variation of
the Nigerian 419 e-mail, you should know that these cyber criminals usually
send mails to thousands of people on a daily basis. If you happen to reply,
they will come to know that the particular id is active and then they will
begin to bombard you with multiple mails. If they feel you are already aware of
the Nigerian 419 internet scams, they might target you with other types of
phishing mails which you might not be familiar about. So in any case, it is
best to not reply to these people.
On the other hand, you can contact your ISP provider or seek
tech support to put in place some filters that will ensure these mails don’t
land up in your inbox. Also if you feel the mail is not from a trusted source,
do not under any circumstance open the attachment as they could be loaded with
some kind of virus which could completely infect your system.
Install Anti-Virus Software
Make sure to have the latest anti-virus software installed
in your system. This should be able to keep your system safe from most types of
cyber threats. It will also scan through documents that are downloaded from
your inbox. Apart from having a good antivirus kit, you also need to ensure
that the firewall has been turned on. This will warn users of any Internet scams that are trying to seek unexpected access to your files.
Do your Research
If you are going to make a purchase online, you need to make
sure that the e-commerce platform is reliable and trustworthy. Scour the web
for reviews on the platform. This way, you will have a clear idea of the pros
and cons of the website and you will be better prepared to face any kind of Internet
scams. Never hand out your credit card information in a site you have never
heard of before. Some of these sites even if their legitimate, may not have the
latest safeguards to prevent their servers from hackers. If you find out your
credit card information has been stolen, immediately call your bank and have it
cancelled. Otherwise, you will see some cyber-criminal making a number of
purchases with the card when you look at the monthly statement a few days
later.
Lottery Scams
While casually surfing through the web, you might often get
advertising pop up of casino and lottery sites. There is a very high
probability that these may actually a form of Internet scams. Look for tons of
reviews on these sites before you decide to register. When you get these sudden
pop ups, it is also not a good idea to leave behind your e-mail id so that you
can receive more updates. In fact the more sensible thing here to do is to
first conduct a background check on the site and then take it forward from
there. This way, you can completely avoid falling victim to Internet scams.
