Think You'll Never Fall For an E-Mail Scam?

Think You'll Never Fall For an E-Mail Scam?  

 

E-mail scammers aren't necessarily very clever.  But they have learned to send out millions of bogus messages and hope that just a few recipients fall for their traps.

 

They're never disappointed.  The victims are usually people who let down their guard because they think they could never be caught in a scam.

 

At best, you might suffer the temporary inconvenience of having your E-mail account hijacked.  At worst, your identity could be stolen, leading to a financial loss and a lot of inconvenience.

 

Good news: You don't have to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid scams.  But you do need to be vigilant and take some relatively simple steps to cut the chances of being scammed to nearly zero.  Here is what you need to watch out for:

 

One particularly successful scam starts with an E-mail that purports to be from a bank, credit card company or PayPal, the payment system used by many Internet marketers, or even from your own Internet service provider (ISP).  The E-mail looks authentic and even displays a credible replica of the company's logo.

 

The message might say, for instance, that your credit card was inadvertently charged $174.52, but it assures you that the error can be corrected.  All you have to do is send certain information to a certain E-mail address or a form on a website.  This information includes confirmation of your credit card number, your Social Security number, street address and telephone number.

 

In reality, the E-mail is from a scam artist who uses your information to buy products with your credit card or to apply for credit in your name — in other words, to steal your identity.  In a no time, you can wind up with thousands of dollars of debt and a severely damaged credit record.

 

Cheap prescription drugs can seem irresistible.  Scammers know this when they send E-mail that purports to be from a pharmacy that sells at a deep discount.  To take advantage of the prices, you're asked to supply your address and credit card information. You never see the drugs — just huge charges to your credit card.

 

Work-at-home scams.  Want to make easy money by working at home?  In one popular scam, you get an E-mail that promises quick profits if you agree to receive retail goods at your home, repackage them and send them on to other addresses.

 

Scammers say they need this service to make sure the products aren't damaged.  In fact, the goods have usually been bought with fraudulent credit cards.  The scam artist avoids detection by having them sent to your address, but needs your help in sending them on to him/her.

 

Always independently check with a company before responding to its E-mail.  Use Google or another search engine — not a phone number or Web address in the E-mail — to find the company's contact information.  If it's a nationally known firm, phone and find out if it was actually the source of the E-mail.  Or if you've previously received statements from the company, use contact information contained in that correspondence.

 

In most cases, if you'll carefully examine the link they send you in their bogus email, you'll see it as only an IP address.  Legitimate companies NEVER use only an IP address when contacting you.  This should be a dead clue to never click on the link if it only includes an IP address.

 

Don't give out your personal information — phone number, address, etc. — to a company or person you don't know.

 

Also: When an E-mail asks for your password, assume it's a scam and delete the mail.  The only parties who should know the password are you — and perhaps family members — and your Internet service provider.  ISPs never ask because they already know.

 

Install security software that protects your computer from E-mails that might contain viruses, spyware or other harmful programs sometimes referred to as "malware."

 

Sooner or later, nearly all E-mail addresses fall into the hands of spammers.  To cut down on the amount of spam you receive, change your E-mail address once or twice a year.  That might seem inconvenient, but you can make the procedure less troublesome by E-mailing friends and frequent correspondents whenever you change addresses.

 

Change passwords two or three times a year.  This will reduce the chance that your passwords will fall into the wrong hands.

 

If, despite these steps, you fall victim to an E-mail scam, contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.  The organization, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, channels complaints to the appropriate law-enforcement agencies.  Also contact your ISP, which can take legal action against scammers.

 

Sadly, however, it's highly unlikely that you'll ever recover any money you lose.  Reason: E-mail scams are usually short-lived, and the perpetrators quickly move on.  Nevertheless, reporting the crime is important because it helps reduce the number of fraudulent E-mails that you and others receive.

 

Have you ever fallen victim to a scam similar to what we'd outlined here?  We'd love to hear your comments about it using the comment link below.