Internet fraud has become a day to day concern and anyone,
including you, may fall victim when you least expect it. Solicitations and
‘can’t miss’ propositions have become commonplace in spam websites and e-mails.
If you believe that prevention is better than cure, you can avoid falling
victim to internet fraud if you resort to certain precautionary measures. A few
of these are mentioned here...
1.
Don’t Go by the Initial Appearance
All that glitters is not gold. Similarly, certain matters
appearing on the internet may appear to be lucrative, tempting, but it may be
baiting too. Scammers are known to go through great lengths to earn their trust
of their targets. With the availability of high quality developing software;
the internet scammers can make their websites to look lucrative, attractive and
impressive. Don’t believe your eyes always. Try to go deeper into it if you
want to be protected from internet fraud.
2.
Make Careful Communication with
People with Camouflaged Identity
Ask for the full identity of the sender of any e-mail to you.
If they do not disclose their identity, be cautioned. If you find the e-mail
header with ambiguous data such as W3T769@provider.com, be sure that the sender
does not want to part with any information that could enable you later to
contact the sender. This is especially true In case of a dispute that might
have arisen over any undelivered goods for which payment has been already made.
Be wary of any persuasion on their behalf for paying any money.
3.
Avoid Parting with Important Personal Data
If you are asked to give personal data such as credit card
number, social security number, password or PIN to some unknown person, simply
overlook it, whatever may be the reasons mentioned. The operators of internet fraud usually mention their official position as representative of some kind of
service, or a system administrator. Don’t be tempted to pass on the desired
information, unless you are sure of genuineness of the requester. Verify if the
e-commerce website is known to you. Verify for a padlock icon on the bottom of
the webpage. Never pay significant amount of money to such companies.
4.
Be Cautioned for Demand of Advance
Fee
Be watchful for e-commerce companies that ask for payment
through check, bank transfer or money orders, before the actual delivery of
goods or services. Although certain small companies deliver a product or
service at a fair price, always use internet search for companies that are not
known
5. If Victimized
Despite all precautionary measures, if you fall victim to
internet fraud, file an online complaint to the following.
● CCC or Crime Complaint Center, which
is a joint venture of FBI and the national White Collar Crime Center, through www.ic3.gov
or www.nw3c.org, respectively
● CFTC or Commodity Futures Trading
Commissionat www.cftc.gov/cftc/cftchorme.html for commodities fraud
● FTS or Consumer Fraud Federal Trade
Commission at www.ftc.gov
● For Securities fraud, you can submit
your complaint to Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange
Commission at www.nasaa.org/about-us/contact-us/contact-your regulator
