How To Avoid Being Scammed On The Net.

[Preee]

I'm sure everyone has had a dodgy emial at sometime or another or come across a great deal on a website.

A few pointers to keep you all safe.

1) Never click on a link in an email , no matter how legit it looks.

2) Always use stronge passwords , combination of letters , numbers and upper/lower case.

3) Never use same password twice, and never give psswords out.

4) Never meet people you are not 100% sure about and never alone.

5) Dodgy websites , check them out http://www.whois.com/whois/ , <<<< is a great tool for checking websites , look for date created , look for address and name information , a decent company will always have nothing to hide!. So if the registraint has chosen to hide their details, it is for a reason.

6) If your using eBay , never pay anyone out side of the sale , always use a safe payment method

7) One car scam is to email the seller and try and pay via paypal or Bank details. If it sounds to good to be true then it usually is , don't fall for the scams.

8) Check the address Bar , If your directed to eBay , then Http://www.ebay , should be the first part of the address before you sign in. Check for the secure padlock.

9) If you hover you mouse over a link , it will show you the destination of that link , if it says eBay but when hovering over it , it says something else , chances are your not going to like the outcome.

10) Secure shopping,the first thing you want to do is look at the URL and make sure it says HTTPS followed by the Padlock.

[jeebowhite]

Agreed, I would also say that you should always click on the padlock. Make sure that the company name on the certificate is the same as the company you are buying from, but also make sure that the person who "signed" the certificate is NOT the website you are looking at. This makes it more likely to be fraudulent. Look for people like Trustwave, Go Daddy, Microsoft etc.

If you, like me have all sorts of passwords, then invest in a free application like "KEEPASS". Its basically a username and password vault, its completely free, and you can run it on windows, (I believe apple) and Android. so you never need to write a password on paper again. You can copy and paste the password from your vault which requires only a Master Password to get access to it, and then all your other passwords are inside.

Also if you ever receive any "unexpected" emails (no matter how legitimate they look) ALWAYS email it to the fraud teams. most companies have a FRAUD@companyname.com, or SPOOF@companyname.com. I have seen PERFECT emails that came from HMRC, they look perfect, the links that you hover over were pointing to the HMRC website, except they were double spoof links, which get redirected to a third party site. if you are ever in doubt, forward the email and state that you are not going to accept or reply to its content, unless you have confirmation from the fraud teams that the email is legitimate, or contact is made by the company by an alternate method (snail mail for example!).

Main rule - Never trust anything! unless you can prove the site your seeing is 110% the place you want to be, and is trusted by other third parties, then you should be vigilant. Consider buying yourself a "prepaid" credit card, so that in the event of fraud, you only lose the maximum value of that card, and not your £8000 credit limit!

[stevegtuk]

Also regarding buying on eBay. If you buy stuff from china, leds etc.

If the item doesnt arrive within the usual time frame of up to 30 days. Ask for a refund rather than letting them offer to resend the item.

If they say they will resend the item and it doesnt arrive the second time, you have no comeback whatsoever. eBay have a 45 day limit to open a case, after that time you cannot claim. (This is from personal experience)

[Guest]

A few years ago I bought a wide angle lens (Sigma 10-20mm) from Hong Kong. I received the lens, took it on holiday with me and I didn't like it. The left side of the photos seemed soft/blurred. I sent the lens to Sigma Hong Kong to Sigma's main manufacturer and they fiddled about with it, they said they couldn't do anything with the lens, so they sent it to Sigma UK, they fiddled about with it for a week and then they charged me for some things. I got the lens back eventually.. and I still wasn't pleased with the result..........I eventually took the lens to my local camera shop and they tested it, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. If I hand held the lens the image wouldn't be sharp. But if he put it on a tripod, the lens would be sharp.

From this day, I still hardly like the lens. But I'll keep using it. (Wish I stayed with Canon's own brand of wide angle lens).

I will never buy anything from Hong Kong or anywhere else ever again!!! its a mistake I won't do again.

[Nathan_M]

If you use Gmail in Chrome it blocks bogus mail now too.