Last week, I received the same message 3 times on my Yahoo email account. Someone had entered my correct password from a different computer, it warned. My first impulse was to open the message to discover the perpetrator, then I thought better of it. I emailed my web manager, instead. He told me to delete the message as it was a ploy to get me to react. I’d almost fallen for it.
According to Money Magazine 33% of all fraud today happens on the internet. 20% comes through the print media and only 8% comes through telemarketing. (“Spend Smarter, Christopher Elliott, Money Magazine, June 2013 pg. 67)
To protect yourself on the internet, David Jacobs, a consumer protection counsel with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, gives the following advice: Don’t post private information on social networks. Don’t open spam email. Do install a free privacy-enhancing browser add-on that blocks companies from recording your web history. I use Do Not Track which is a free service. Jacobs suggests another way to increase security is to check the privacy settings on your browser and follow the instructions in your system to eliminate third-party cookies.
Of course a basic place to start looking out for yourself is to sign up for scan-alert emails at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts.
We may live a part of our lives in the virtual world, but when we stumble, the fall can hurt as much as the real one.
(Courtesy of hilaryalairej.blogspot.com)
