Internet Scams: How to Protect Yourself?Antivirus

Can we protect ourselves from Internet scams? While the web is a fantastic tool, it's also the perfect place for crooks looking for easy prey. Moreover, scams on the Net have increased tenfold in recent years. So be careful before you click!

Dishonest emails, personal data theft, identity theft, fraudulent use of credit cards… you probably don't realize it, but you've never been as vulnerable as on the Internet.

Faced with the growing increase in scams, ever more numerous and varied, the justice system has difficulty responding and often leaves you to your own devices. And the financial consequences, but not exclusively, can be disastrous. Caution is therefore required!

So, being careful on the Internet is first of all not to be afraid of everything. To detect traps, it is often enough to say to yourself: “If a stranger told me that in the street, would I believe it?”. It is also resisting the temptations of illegal downloading and being wary of the feeling of anonymity. Finally, knowing all the scams that are spreading is also essential to avoid them and cover yourself.

Phishing, Scam and Fraudulent Emails ...

We all receive fraudulent emails. winning of a lottery out of nowhere", warns Jérôme, creator of the ArnaqueInternet site.

“These are just scams! In all cases, these e-mails announce to you an upcoming entry of money, loan, lottery, inheritance… but each time, you have to advance costs beforehand. If you pay these nicknames, it's over, you just lost this money and you will never receive it! ”.

“Unfortunately, there is little chance of getting your money back. The process is to file a complaint about fraud, most often against X because the crooks never give their identity. Unfortunately, in most cases, the complaint is dismissed, the crooks cannot be identified ”. The two most common email scams are phishing and scams.

- Phishing or Phishing" or "Stealing"

is a technique aimed at extracting personal information from future victims by impersonating a company or an administration. It is practised by computer hackers. Their process is simple: they randomly send false e-mails assuming the identity of large companies (like ERDF) or banks.

Their purpose is to collect your personal data in order to illegally extract money from you. To do this, they can attempt to recover: your access data to a customer area, your bank card number, your bank details, your postal address, etc. Most often, fraudulent messages inform the Internet user of late payment. , a refund or invite you to update your personal information.

Warning :

it is important not to click on any links in these emails, as they contain viruses and redirect to unsafe sites.

- The Scams:

If you receive an email from a stranger offering you a financial transaction, you can be sure that it is a scam called a scam. Scams or "Nigerian scams" or "419 fraud" refer to a form of an online scam based on sending an email tricking you into making a money transfer for the benefit of a person in order to unlock large amount money (inheritance, lottery winnings, dormant accounts, funds to be placed abroad…) which offers you in exchange for your help a percentage of this sum. Obviously, nothing will ever be paid to you.

There are some variations of this technique with job offers offered on condition that the fees related to obtaining the work permit are paid.

To warn you of these fraudulent e-mails, know that neither your bank nor any other organization can ask you by e-mail:

 - information about your bank card;
 - fill in several or all of the boxes on your personal key card;
 - your remote banking credentials.
 

Suspicious Signs to watch out for:

 - the numerous spelling mistakes; - logos or obsolete data;
 - links pointing to an unknown address which seems doubtful to you;
 - messages with unrealistic stories like a sudden heirloom or a great deal.
 

Fraudulent Merchant Sites

How to detect fraudulent sites? Is it risky to buy products on auction sites or classified ads? Be vigilant because fraudulent sites are better and better.

 However, some clues allow you to track them down, in particular prices that are too low compared to the competition, it can then be a question of a fraudulent site which collects as many orders as possible without ever delivering them; the absence of legal notices and general conditions of sale, the presence of these legal notices but written in approximate French ”.

To verify that the site is not fraudulent, find the company name in the T & Cs, T & Cs or legal notices, then check that the Siret number exists and corresponds to a company that is actually registered or inactivity. To do this, go to societes.com or infogreffe.fr. Type the name of the site on Google followed by the word Avis and read customer reviews. Choose the negatives first, the good ones are often fake. Alternatively, take the domain name and find its owner on https://www.namebay.com/whois/WhoIs. aspx for example.

Pay Online By credit card

Is it risky to pay with my bank card number on the Internet? No more than in a store. Shop on well-known sites, referenced by serious magazines or that your friends are used to using. Thus, you will avoid unpleasant surprises.

For electronic payments, set a maximum limit for your transfers. Likewise, plan a maximum daily limit, to do with your bank.

Finally, to make sure that your online payments are secure, check that you have an hpps at the beginning of the URL and a closed padlock at the bottom of the payment page. In the event that you have been swindled, the Monetary and Financial Code with articles L. 133-24 and L. 133-18 is very clear on the subject: in the event of an unauthorized payment transaction reported by the user under the conditions provided for in Article L. 133-24, the payer's payment service provider immediately reimburses the payer for the amount of the unauthorized transaction and, if applicable, restores the debited account to the state in which it would have been if the unauthorized payment transaction had not taken place. In short, the bank must reimburse.

Finally, if you are contacted to open a bank account in order to serve as an intermediary for international transactions, there is a good chance that you will be complicit in large-scale scams, for example, phishing operations.

It is punished by jail terms and very heavy fines. Also, be especially suspicious when a buyer offers to use an international money transfer service. These services are not suitable for this type of transaction and should preferably be used between people who know each other. Antivirus Secure for internet scams protects your internet.