Here’s How You Can Avoid Online Scams.

Posted : 14-Aug-2021

Online activity continues to grow as our lives get more and more interconnected with technology. Today you have everything you can imagine and more available online. And in the post-pandemic world, our reliance on the internet has only grown progressively. With rapidly increasing internet use, online scams are increasing exponentially too, both in frequency and sophistication. Today, a person browsing the internet or using any network service encounters dozens of scams every day. If you're an active internet user, more likely than not, you come across fraud schemes regularly. There are many types of cybercrimes that continue to get diversified as the hackers and cybercriminals continue to get smarter and more innovative.

The most common today has become a pop-up ad that you may encounter while browsing a web page. Such ads are notorious for playing mind games and using psychology to swindle you. Such scams usually involve a fraudster posing as a legitimate entity and presenting you with an irresistible offer. The pop-up message can include things like “A virus is detected and you need to download this antivirus” or that you have won a lottery or a smartphone and things like that. The purpose of such messages is to get you to click on the attached link and take you to an unsafe webpage where you can be tricked further to reveal your personal information.

Such scams can also lead you to inadvertently download a malware or virus to infect your system. Today, you don't even really have to be browsing through the internet in order to fall prey to such scams; you can also receive them in form of an email or a text message. Phishing, which involves email fraud, is one of the most common kinds of cybercrimes today that can lead to identity theft which in turn can drain your financial accounts and cause significant monetary loss.

So, in today's online landscape of growing cyber threats, how can you protect yourself and make your online presence safe and secure?

Your biggest defense against common online frauds is your common sense. Do you think you can win a smartphone without even participating in any kind of competition? Or that a complete stranger online is just going to gift you a large sum of money for no reason whatsoever? A little caution can go a long way and save you of a lot of trouble. Always remember that all that glitters isn't gold and anything that looks too good to be true is probably fake.

Sometimes, unfortunately, caution alone isn't enough and it's when you have to think of precautions as well. Anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware software programs are an effective way for you to keep your devices protected against many kinds of viruses and malware that can steal your private info which can be used to access your financial accounts. Along with the latest Security Software, you also need the latest web browsers and operating systems so that you don't miss on crucial security updates, and so it's also important to keep your devices up-to-date.

Sometimes you have no option but to provide a website with your private information. For instance, when you're buying something online there's a way for you to share your private details safely. Whenever you're about to put sensitive information on a website look for a lock icon in the URL box. The lock icon ensures that your connection with the site is secure and that the information you put will be encrypted, unreadable by anyone other than the server.

One important and very effective way for you to secure your online experience is to choose strong passwords that can't be guessed easily. For extra security, you can choose two-factor authentication technology. It's also important to update your passwords regularly and not keep the same password for all your accounts. For secure and hassle-free shopping visit jazp.com