Saturday, August 30, 2008

Tips For How To Keep Your Identity Safe Online

By Franta Shinsky


When you go shopping or searching online you may feel insecure about which sites to visit and whom to trust. There are so many stories of web scams. How do you know what to do and how to stay safe?

Keeping yourself safe online begins with making sure that the site you are using is secure. If you look down at your toolbar and see a graphic of a lock, this means that the site is secure and can be trusted. If you see a pop-up that explains some problem with their certificate, close the browser!

Also, remember that you get what you pay for. If something is too cheap to seem real, you are probably looking at a fake site designed to lure you in and get your information. Shop at honest merchants and identity theft will not be a problem.

An internet marketing scam can also happen if you are looking for a job through a website. I know this because I became a victim of such a scam. I found out the hard way. After opening an offer for a job I found that my computer was hacked into. These people were trying to use my information to make a purchase on another website. Make sure to have security on your computer to prevent hackers and phishers.

So I am always careful now online. I avoid things that can get my computer hacked, and I never pay attention to phishing messages. Further, I check for that lock graphic on websites and make sure that their certificates are good. I don't mean to say every website has some evil motive; many are good.

Here's another tip: keep private information private. By this I mean things like your bank account information, your social security or driver's license number, your passport ID, and so forth. Armed with these details anyone can pretend to be you. Never enter them on a site you are not totally confident is genuine and secure.

If you are job searching on the web, avoid the common scam of agreeing to pay a fee for access to job information. You will likely get nothing more than a list of information you could have generated yourself at no cost.

Finally, do not let all these warnings discourage you too much. It does take a little wisdom to navigate the internet marketing industry, but as you get used to working online you will develop an instinct for these things and know when a situation is unsafe. There is too much good material on the internet to miss out entirely!

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