A Common Sense Approach To Protecting Yourself Online
The internet is quickly becoming the answer to all our problems
. Need directions? Google Maps or MapQuest will help. Need a recipe? There are a million sites dedicated to just that. Buying a house, a car, a toaster? Check. Selling those things? You are covered there as well.But as we become more and more dependent on the internet, we need to work hard to make sure that in being the answer to all our problems, it does not also become the root of them. For every easy and convenient solution offered by the internet, there is someone out there hoping they can make money off of your need.
A great example happened to me recently. I was using the popular website Craigs List to find a new apartment. I emailed a handful of people posting properties that I was interested in. I received a response back from one of them that was a lengthy email explaining in great detail how the owner of the property had recently moved to Nigeria for a new job, but if I was simply willing to send them my security deposit, they would send me the lease and the keys. Right.
At first I was surprised. I deleted the email, reported the scam to Craigs List, and continued on my search. Three other responses just like this later, I was shocked at how the job market seemed to be booming in Nigeria. So that is where all the American jobs have gone. Right.
And scams like this are everywhere. Have you ever gotten the pop up asking you to join the survey club in exchange for a $100 gift certificate? Maybe $500? You take part in one survey for the survey club, and either it is a never ending survey that refreshes for forty five minutes, or it is one quick survey that results in weeks of deleting spam emails from your inbox. Either way, you never see that gift certificate.
The problem is that people everywhere are creating their own home website center where they are cooking up schemes and scams to grab you every step of the way. And as soon as you figure out one of them - do not send money to Nigeria, do not pay someone to give me a job interview - there is another one, using new and different tactics.
The general rule of thumb is this: do not give your credit card number or bank information to any website that you do not already know. Best Buy, Amazon, Barnes and Noble - these are large, well trusted, well established companies, that are not a sketchy home website center. Jens Amazing Shoeracks, on the other hand - who knows?
And if for some reason you really want to buy something at Jens Amazing Shoeracks, do your homework first. Is anyone complaining about this company? If not, it is up to you to take your chances, but at least follow up with your bank or credit card company to make sure you are not getting charged for a new shoe rack every month.
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