Email – The common route for viruses and frauds

In this modern world e-mail has become an important mode of communication. However, email has also become the most common route for viruses, spywares and frauds. It is necessary for all of us to protect ourselves from those kind of threats.

Viruses and other malicous programs

Viruses usually comes in a form of email attachments so be very careful when opening any attachment especially from an unknown sender. or it might be a good idea to ignore and just delete the attachment if you are unsure of it’s content. Some viruses infiltrate and spread their infection through your address book and also send infected e-mail to everyone listed so always be careful opening mail attachments even from a known source. The best thing you should do is to communicate to the sender of the attachment.

Protect yourselves by using a virus protection that automatically scans email attachments as it arrives at your computer. It is very essential for every computers connected to the internet to have a strong and updated protection.

Frauds and Scams

Phishing are a type of fraud posed by email. Phishing is tricking a recipient into disclosing personal financial information or passwords. These e-mails use logos of well-known institutions like banks or online retailers and ask you to update your password or financial information.

They provide a link which looks legitimate but in reality directs you to a fake web site. Providing personal information leads to becoming the victim of credit card fraud or theft – sometimes called ‘identity theft’.

Tipoffs can be gleaned from the subject line or the content. Rather than using your personal name, they may say ‘Dear valued customer’. But finding some variant of your name isn’t difficult these days. Beware, in either case.

Check for the link. Check if it does correspond to the text describing it. If the text says “Ebay” but the URL is www.ebay1.com, www.eaby.com etc. then you know that you will be forwarded to a fake or scam site.

Always treat requests for passwords, credit card numbers or any valuable information with suspicion. Remember, no legitimate financial institution will ask you to verify your password or sensitive data in an e-mail.

Conclusion

Never trust any mail attachment even if comes from your friends or family. You can receive mails from your trusted source without the knowledge of the sender. Be extra careful on providing sensitive information such as credit card numbers and passwords no valid institution will request for that. They usually just request the first character of your password or the last two or three digits of your credit card number for verification purposes.

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