Say ‘scram’ To Scam

Lots of perks come with the omnipresence of the Web. You can check your e-mail while on a airplane, understand more about interesting topics, and have a new wardrobe with a few clicks of a mouse. But, with this efficiency comes a drawback. In an age where it is viable to never leave your home with the help of the World Wide Web, security is an issue. Scam artists have mastered their craft and can effortlessly retrieve all your private information. You would imagine web surfers have started to wise up to Web rip-offs. However you’d be wrong. How far is too far when dealing with your finances?

After years of trying to pull through from the dot-com hangover, the Web is booming again. Forrester Research predicts that online retail sales in the U.S. will be nearly $250 billion in 2014, up from $155 billion in 2009. Last year, online retail sales were up 11%. You know what else is on the increase? Internet crime. From January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008, the Internet Crime Complaint Center website received 275,284 complaint submissions. This is a 33.1% escalation when compared to 2007.

About three-quarters of all complaints with the Internet Crime Complaint Center are online auction fraud accounts. There are numerous varieties of this eBay-like trickery, but the most widespread is whenever you send in money and get nothing but grief in return. 1 scammer accepted bids for Louis Vuitton bags that she did not have, and then scoured the Web seeking cheap knockoffs that cost less than the winning offer. She managed to collect at least $18,000 from bidders before she was outed.

A different online rip-off deceives you through your own inbox. You receive an e-mail that looks like it’s from your bank, warning you of identity theft and requiring you to log in and confirm your account information. While the e-mail might seem authentic with logos and links, it is as fake as that Louis Vuitton bag. The data you insert on the bogus site can be sold to criminals who will use it to ruin your credit and drain your account.

“Congratulations, You have received an iPhone!” is a message numerous of us have received in our inboxes. The message states all you have to do is go to an online site and supply them with your credit card information to cover the shipping and handling costs. A couple of months later, strange expenses begin showing up on your bank statement, but your free iPhone never arrives. The only thing that gets shipped and handled is your identity.

You'll find plenty of Internet thefts. So keep in mind to say ‘scram’ to scam and think logically before providing anyone your confidential information.

By: Jaime Jones

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Jaime Jones is a writer for American Income Life Insurance Company. Take a look at one of our State General Agents video websites at www.youtube.com/watch?v=49HNng5Zu1s We are currently hiring!