You Can Avoid Internet Fraud

Posted by gippy130

April 7, 2008

The Internet is a breeding ground for scams. Over the years we’ve all heard horrendous stories of people using thousands and even millions of dollars through Internet fraud. These shady schemes may use any online service–email, chat rooms, instant messages, and websites–for their own unscrupulous purposes.

Although the Internet can be an excellent source of information for making good investments and a wonderful way for entrepreneurs to start legitimate online businesses, it can also be a frightening place where hackers and thieves lurk. There are a number of ways scammers can bilk innocent people out of money or personal information, and new ways are developed all the time. Fortunately, when you arm yourself with knowledge, you can prevent Internet fraud.

The most common Internet fraud is the theft of personal information, which is often referred to as identity theft. This usually involves stealing a person’s credit card information or banking information. Great strides have been made in recent years to prevent these kinds of fraud. For example, most websites that sell products or services use a secure server to make transactions. To determine if a site is secure, look for the lock icon in the bottom right-hand of your browser screen. Also, a site that is secure uses “https” rather than just “http” in its URL.

It seems that a high number of fraud schemes originate in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Egypt. Some of these scams target small Internet retailers.

For example, one common scam coming out of Nigeria involves a direct solicitation that appears to be legitimate. The scammer, who resides in a different country from the retailer, will contact the retailer seemingly to make a large purchase. The message sent to the retailer will contain contact information and may even include the “buyer’s” credit card information. The seller accepts the order, charges the credit card, and ships the merchandise. A few weeks or months later, the retailer gets a charge back from the credit card processor and loses all the money. Unfortunately, they cannot get the merchandise back.

The best way to protect yourself from these types of schemes is to be aware of large orders coming from other countries. Although it may seem tempting to sell such a large quantity of your product, if something about the contact seems fishy to you, you’re better off declining the order.

Another common way individuals lose money on the Internet is through the purchase of products and programs that make incredible claims, and then don’t deliver. Many of these appear in the form of business opportunities or work-at-home programs. These fraudulent programs may promise to make millions for an individual almost overnight if they just purchase the program materials, which may cost anywhere from $30 to hundreds of dollars. Then, these programs just never deliver materials that can really be used to create a successful business.

Other types of work-at-home scams involve paying a registration fee only to be sent information about how the individual can post ads just like the one they responded to in order to make money. Or, they might be sent home assembly kits that they are required to purchase. Once they finish putting the product together, they submit it back to the company and it is inevitably rejected as sub-standard.

Although there is a great deal of fraud on the Internet, this doesn’t mean that there are no legitimate business or investment opportunities. The key to protecting yourself from Internet fraud is to treat everything with a bit of skepticism. Do your research and look for programs that offer sound advice and reasonable claims. Look for companies and programs with a good reputation and don’t fall for the appeal of making millions overnight.

My name is James Angell. Not too long ago I was searching for some good honest online home income programs. I too was skeptical and feared all the fraud and scams. I have purchased and tested these programs myself. They are listed and rated on my site.
http://www.easywayincome.com

E-Business