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Personal Information Protection
Personal information protection has become very important to our personal privacy as we all know that criminals are out there waiting to steal our credit card information or identity. These thieves want credit card information so they can run up the charges then leave you holding the bag.
Even though some identity thieves are local, most credit card criminals are in foreign countries. Worse than that, they like to hide or go by other names so it's virtually impossible to track them down. This is why protecting personal information has become so important.
The most common way for thieves to get credit card, private information or commit identity theft is through phishing, which involves a fake email that appears to be sent from your credit card company. Normally, this fake email states that there was an error with your account, or that it was accessed by unauthorized personnel and needs your attention.
Spotting fake emails isn't hard to do as long as you know what to look for. The most obvious hint for most, is the fact that they don't even have a credit card from the company that has sent the email. For others, the link is what gives the fake email away.
Anytime you get an email from a credit card that you believe to be fake, you should always hover your mouse over the link, then 'right click' the link with the mouse and select 'view source'. If the link is fake, the website address that comes up will be something other than that of a credit card company.
It varies with what email client you have. With Outlook Express the address of the link will show up in the bottom left corner when you hover over a link. This is the least you can do to protect your personal information. It takes but a second and can save days of problems.
The thieves don't want you to look at the url for their website, as they simply want you to click on the link before you look at anything else. Once you've clicked on the link, you'll arrive at a website that is usually an exact copy of a credit card website. Fake sites normally include everything that the actual site does, including the logos and banners. Even for the most amateur of credit card thieves, web pages like this are very easy to create.
Those of you who have fallen victim to this scam, probably realized what you had done a little too late. Once you've entered your personal credit card information, you have done exactly what the criminals wanted and exposed yourself to credit card fraud and identity theft. Once the criminal has your social security number and credit card information he is more than likely to use that information to go on a shopping spree, stealing your money and running up your bill.
If you receive any email like this you should always delete it. Even if you just click on the fake website to investigate you may do more harm than good. Even though you may not enter any information at all, your computer may get infected with viruses or spyware simply because you clicked on the link. To avoid this altogether, you should never click on a link that you believe to be a fake credit card company website.
If you do your part and protect your credit card information, you won't have near as much to worry about. Your privacy and personal information is very important, so you never want it to fall in the wrong hands. A criminal will do almost anything to get what they want, which is why protecting yourself and your personal information is so important these days.
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DISASTER PREPARATION
Shocking secrets that go beyond the emergency kit stage and can help preserve your family's way of life.
Disaster Secrets
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