Preventing fraud on the Internet

Have you ever been the victim of Internet fraud? Or do you know someone who has had a lot of problems with this? As more and more people go online, more and more cases of Internet fraud are surfacing. From sellers on Marktplaats who fail to deliver products to stealing bank and identity data. No matter where you are on the internet, it is always wise to pay attention.

Internet fraud - beware

Since almost everyone can be found online, it naturally attracts people with wrong intentions. The ways in which criminals try to steal your data on the Internet are also becoming increasingly clever and ingenious. Therefore, you should always be on your guard. Because the Internet is an anonymous place, there are many different forms of Internet fraud. Here is a brief overview of common forms you should watch out for:

• Phishing - phishing is the sending of fake emails to recipients. Chances are you have received a phishing email yourself. The emails look very similar to normal emails from a known sender (for example, from your bank), and try to get you to log into a (also fake) site via a fake link. In this way, your login details can be stolen.
• Pharming - has the same purpose as phishing: to steal data. Through an attack on the DNS of a website, an unsuspecting visitor who types in a known email address is redirected to a mimicked site. If he enters his details here, scammers can use them to log in.
• Spyware - when certain links are clicked on on the Internet, a program is installed that can watch everything you do on your computer.

Of course, there are many other different forms of Internet fraud, however, these are the most common ones. Fortunately, these common ways in which data can be stolen are easy to circumvent.

Ways to prevent internet fraud

To begin with, it is always wise to install a good virus scanner and PC security program and have it run a scan every week or month. In this way, you will stop viruses and other malware.

In addition, to find out if certain sites are run by scammers, you can do a few things:

• See if the site has any quality marks (for example, the Thuiswinkel waarborg quality mark for safe webshops)
• Look for reviews of the site/product/service.
• Always check whether the site has the SSL certificate (sites with an SSL certificate have'https://' instead of 'https://') This certificate provides extra security for data.

With a good security program and by remaining vigilant, you can greatly reduce the chances of becoming a victim of Internet fraud. Would you like to know more about Internet fraud? Or how you can best protect yourself against it? Ask us via the livechat for your hosting.