How to Protect Your Money from Common Cyber Scams

From Everything Finance

How to Protect Your Money from Common Cyber Scams is a post originally published on: Everything Finance – Everything Finance – Its all about Money!

Cyber scams can take many forms but they all have one thing in common, they all happen in a digital environment. Cyber scams are defined as an offense committed to harm the reputation or cause physical or mental harm to the victim, using computers and/or networks such as the Internet or mobile networks. 

Most cyber scams are committed by cybercriminals or hackers who want to make money. However, occasionally cybercrime aims to damage computers or networks for reasons other than profit 

Below we will discuss the most common types of cybercrimes and ways to protect yourself.

Phishing Scams

Phishing is one of the main forms of cyber attacks. This is where attackers trick unsuspecting users into giving away personal information.

Usually, these cybercrimes are committed by impersonating trusted and popular brands creating fake social media profiles and rogue websites to lure users into them. The most refined of these sites might include malicious scripts that scrap this information out of your browser, without the need for forms.

Internet Fraud

This type of scam usually asks people to send money promising a much larger sum in the short term.  The victim receives communication from someone in need of help to move a large sum of money from a foreign country. There are plenty of variations of this scam and more are developed each day.

The victim will be asked to cover a small portion of the cost of moving the money or asset and will be promised a bigger cut of the benefits when the process is over. If the victim falls for it and transfers money, he or she will be told that complications have arisen and that more money will be required. 

Online Intellectual Property Infringements

Intellectual property infringements include the sale of counterfeit or replica goods, content piracy, patent infringement, and more. In the following article, you can find a full list of every intellectual property infringement type. 

Identity Theft

Identity theft exists in two main forms, depending on the information stolen. These forms are impersonated as the lesser evil if only personal information or accounts without payment methods saved were stolen. However, it can be much worse if credit card information or accounts containing it were stolen since the cybercriminal can make purchases charged to your account.

RELATED: What to do When Your Identity is Stolen

Online Harassment and Cyberstalking

Online harassment and cyberbullying are usually contained within social media in the form of posts, comments, or direct messages; but they could also be sent through email. These messages’ main form is mostly defamatory or threatening either against one individual or group.

Cyberstalking is another type of harassment that focuses on a single person, which the criminal monitors closely. It is likely that employers, colleagues, and familiars of the victim also get contacted both to slander the victim and to try and extract more personal information to deepen the stalking activity. 

These cybercrimes are extremely damaging to the victim’s mental health, and there have been multiple reports of victims that developed mental illnesses and even ended up committing suicide.

How to Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime

Given its prevalence, you may be wondering how to stop cybercrime? Here are some sensible tips to protect your computer and your personal data from cybercrime:

Use an Anti-Virus Software and Keep it Updated

Using anti-virus or a comprehensive internet security solution is a smart way to protect your system from attacks. Anti-virus software allows you to scan, detect and remove threats before they become a problem. Having this protection in place helps to protect your computer and your data from cybercrime. 

Keep your antivirus updated to receive the best level of protection.

Use Strong Passwords

Use strong passwords that people will not guess and do not record them anywhere. Make sure you’re not recycling the same password across all your apps and websites. You can use a password manager to store all of your passwords. That way you don’t have to remember them all! If you go this route, make sure your master password is strong and memorable, and secure your password manager account 

Do Not Click on Links

Another way people become victims of cybercrime is by clicking on links and attachments  in spam emails or other messages. Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly tricky and successful at getting past spam filters and virus detection systems with phishing attacks. In highly targeted attacks, the emails appear to originate from somebody you know. If you receive suspicious emails, whether they’re from someone you know or not. Do Not Click  on the link.  Avoid doing this to stay safe online.

Strengthen Your Home Network

It’s a good idea to start with a strong encryption password as well as a virtual private network. A VPN will encrypt all traffic leaving your devices until it arrives at its destination. If cybercriminals do manage to hack your communication line, they won’t intercept anything but encrypted data. Use a VPN whenever you a public Wi-Fi network, whether it’s in a library, café, hotel, or airport.

Closing 

Cyber scams can takes many forms, from impersonation to spamming, and not all of them are new; it just got easier and more widespread with new technologies.

It is very important that we, both in our personal and professional lives are mindful of these and other cybercrimes and keep an eye open. If you believe that you’ve become a victim of a cybercrime, you need to alert the local police and, in some cases, the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission.  Your report may assist authorities in their investigations or may help to thwart criminals from taking advantage of other people in the future.

How to Protect Your Money from Common Cyber Scams is a post originally published on: Everything Finance – Everything Finance – Its all about Money!

This post was published on Everything Finance