Preventing Online Fraud
3 Steps to prevent Online Fraud
The internet has made our lives easy as you can now shop from your home and pay online. Even banking transactions can be done right from your desktop or smartphone without the need of visiting your bank. But all these have opened up the risks of online fraud where a small mistake on your part can wipe out your bank corpus. So, here are 3 steps to prevent online fraud:
- Spot imposters: Don’t open emails from dubious senders with equally dubious subject lines that talk about you winning a lottery, free cash prize or other such lucrative offers. And in case you end up opening such emails, never EVER click on any links as they may have a virus or get some malware installed in your device which could give access to your confidential data to the sender with malicious intent.
- Don’t share personal information: Never share information about your address, phone number, bank’s name or account number online. Whatever be the catch, just don’t get lured by easy money. After all, when the offer (of a massive cash prize) is too good to be true, it often really is!
- Be alert: Review your bank and credit card statements carefully and periodically. Change your passwords (which must be alphanumeric) regularly and install updated firewalls, antivirus and anti-spyware solutions for comprehensive protection.
Despite these measures, if you feel you have become a victim of online fraud, report it to the proper authorities right away.
