Email Theft: 5 Things You Should Look For


by Romel Whiteside - Date: 2009-08-05 - Word Count: 487 Share This!

You've probably seen an email from a Nigerian prince saying how he needs help and how he needs you to wire money to help him. These are just one of the tools that criminals are using in the case of email theft. Also, another main tool used in email theft is phishing. Feel free to visit my blog for more information on identity theft.

Whatever you, be as cautious as possible. On average it takes 175 hours to recover your own identity and nearly $808. The prosecution rates for identity thieves are low. We are progressing somewhat though. A bill was passed in 2004 by Bush that dished out tougher penalties for identity thieves.

-Phishing? One of the main tools in email theft, is when a criminal sends out mass emails asking you to respond by either updating your account with a fake website or giving them your personal information. The more bait the thief sends out, the better their chances are of finding what they want. This is especially true with an eBay thief.

-Be careful when you download files. These files could contain Trojans or viruses. These files could also contain spy ware. The Trojan will install keylogging software. This software records everything that you type and sends it back to the hacker. So, if you love online banking, then your hacker will too. Once this software gets on your computer then your anit-virus software and firewalls become useless. Only download from trusted sites.

-Do not respond to emails that ask you to go to their website to update your account information. These websites will pretend to be a legit website like your bank, Pay Pal, eBay. If you don't know if the website is real or not, then manually type the web address is yourself.

-If you are selling something online, be aware that fraudsters will send you an email to feel you out. They will show interests in purchasing products or services you might be selling. They will then ask if you accept particular credit cards and if you will ship internationally.

-Be cautious of emails that want you to shop at their online stores, if you have never heard of their company. This could be a phony website set up to take your personal information. Again, you can always type the url of their website in manually to look for similar products. Also, do a search on the company. If they are scammers, someone has written about them.

-You can always check the ip address of a company if you believe they are criminals in the email theft arena. Look at the email header. If it matches, then you know they are legit.
To do this you must 1.) click on title of spam email
2.) select options

you can also go here to check

APNIC (Asia Pacific Network)

RIPE (European)

ARIN (American Registry)

LACNIC (South America & Caribbean)

These are just a few steps you can take to protect yourself against email theft.

Related Tags: email theft, prepaid legal com, how to prevent identity theft, ebay thief, identity scam, id theft insurance, pre paid legal service

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