Internet

How to spot email identity theft

The internet and email have created opportunities for criminals to use email in the theft of one's identity. At one time, those who stole a person's identity had to work a lot harder to get the information but now it is very easy to deceive a targeted person by using emails containing deceptive tactics. Here are some tips in how to identify email identity theft:

. Any email where the domain on the return address is hard to remember (such as a9203@xukkluoorg.com).

. Look at the timestamp on the email. In Outlook you can do this by a right click on the message title in the inbox and selecting Options. The timestamp will be at a strange hour indicating that it could be from the other side of the globe.

. Be suspicious of any email that asks for personal information such as credit card numbers and bank account numbers. This seems pretty obvious however sometimes the spammer offers awards in exchange for your registration on their site where you disclose personal and financial resource information.

. Usually, when a company asks you to log into their site and enter account or personal information, they will provide you with a link to a secure site (where the URL begins with https). Some credit card companies will send out an email to the cardholder when they detect that someone has logged into their site from a foreign IP address. They provide the cardholder with links to respond to their inquiries that begin with https.

. Look at the return address of any email you receive. It is possible for a scammer to use different text in the email address you see than what the actual address really is. It is best just to type in the return address yourself and not just click on the link when replying (if you reply).

. Sometimes, an email will be formatted in html and have a response link to click if you are interested. For example, it may be a credit card company requesting for you to verify your account information. The link, as displayed on the html page, may look valid (i.e., it has an https qualifier in the URL) but you should open the html source of the page and look for the "href" URL in the html source. That will indicate the true link address. If it is not https and the company's domain name then be suspicious.

Internet scammers are getting more covert and deceiving all the time, so yow will have to counter that by increasing your awareness.