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Watch Out for E-mail Scams
There
are many phony work at home scams that you must avoid. In addition,
there are many scams that come via email to virtually everyone who uses the
internet. Below are a few of the more popular scams you are likely to
encounter:
Phishing
- You get an urgent email from Paypal, eBay or even your bank stating that
your account is in jeopardy and you need to update your account info
immediately! You click on the link and go to a page that looks legitimate
enough, but it's actually a fake page. If you enter your login and password
information, the scammer can now access your accounts. Don't ever click on a
link in an email like this. Open a new browser window and type the company
website address yourself. Your account should show whether there is a
problem or not. (Most companies would have a big notice in there if you need
to update something.) These companies usually have a spoof email address you
can send these "phishing" emails to. For example, spoof@paypal.com, or
spoof@ebay.com. Simply forward the email with full headers to them. They
will investigate and stop the scammer if they can.
Free merchandise - Have you gotten the
emails claiming you can earn a free computer, phone card or other
merchandise? What usually happens is you would have to pay a membership fee,
and then get a certain number of other people to join and pay the membership
fee also. Unfortunately, there is usually some little clause you weren't
aware of, and you never do get your free stuff. It's a waste of time and
money.
Nigerian scams
- You get a long letter
from someone claiming to be the son or daughter of someone important, and
they need to have you deposit a huge sum of money into your own bank
account, and then wire most of it to them by Western Union. You get to keep
a nice chunk of the money for your troubles. The problem is that the check
is fake, and takes a few days or even weeks to bounce, and you now owe that
money back to the bank. Unfortunately, you don't have it anymore, you wired
most of it out to those people! Another Nigerian scam targets business
owners. You receive a large order at your website, or they email to ask if
they can order a large amount of goods, and they ask if you accept credit
cards. Do not fall for this, the credit cards are stolen and if you ship the
goods, you will be out the money AND the goods.
Bulk email - Usually these offers are
sent by email, but you'll see ads like this around the internet also. You
can purchase tons of email addresses for a low fee. If you have a home
business and you're trying to get customers or subscribers to your mailing
list, sounds like a great deal, right? Don't do it. Most (if not all) of
those addresses have been harvested by spambots. If you send out a mailing
to them, you will likely be reported for spam. You can lose your internet
service provider, your business, and even have to pay a huge fine for
spamming. Not worth it!
Remember, scammers are after only two things: your money, or your sensitive
information. If you refuse to give either willingly, you put them right out
of business. For more information on common scams, do an internet search on
the FTC Dirty Dozen.
Free Work At Home Videos
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