by Matt Gadfield

Created on: May 22, 2008

Internet scams are a common feature of the news nowadays, and media outlets seem intent on hysterical reporting of them. However, there are a number of very simple ways to protect yourself.

Firstly, there are a number of variants of scam. There are the emails with attachments which, if opened, will infect your computer with a virus. The simplest way of protecting yourself from these, aside from a good virus scanning program, is never to open unexpected email attachments but to delete them immediately. Do not be duped by files disguised as an innocent spreadsheet, it is easy for virus writers to change file endings and conceal their work. There are also keyloggers, intended to capture all your passwords and credit card numbers before sending them to the scammers. These often tie in with the next category.

The next popular variety of scam would be Phishing, a scam where the criminals will contact people more or less at random posing as a financial institution. Usually the email states that there is a problem and that you should confirm your details at a link shown in the email. This link will demand your user ID and password. Do not type them in. Whatever the link title, it is a dummy site set up by the scammers to capture the bank details of victims. Your bank will never email you in this manner. If you are still uncertain, many banks have an email address to which you can forward this sort of scam for them to investigate. The bank will pass evidence to law enforcement and this can lead to the scammers being caught. These scams can be amusing as you will frequently receive messages purporting to be from banks that you have never held an account with!

Another popular variety is known as the 419 Scam, after the part of the Nigerian penal code covering this sort of crime. Many if not most of these scams are launched and controlled from African states due to their lack of resources and inability to catch the perpetrators. Generally the email will give a name, followed by a tale of money unclaimed in a bank account that will be shared with you if you send them funds to cover "costs". In reality if you send them anything you will not see it again. Simply delete these and ignore them. Some of them can be rather amusing due to the scammers poor command of English and the frankly bizarre tales they spin, such as the one seen a while ago which spun a Hollywoodesque story of secret Soviet space stations and Nigerian astronauts who will share half their back pay with you if

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