2007-01-13 19:29:32 · 5 answers · asked by jofrank40 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
If you are talking about the links that people are adding to their questions, I would just leave them alone completely. Better to not take the chance. Same thing with myspace- there is a lot of crap out there.
If you are referring to websites in general, First, they should begin with www. or htp://. They should end in .com, .net. .edu. .state, .gov, or .org. I would stick to the .coms that I have heard of before like, ebay.com, overstock.com, yahoo.com.. etc. If they end in .org, .gov, .state, or .edu they will be legitimate.
If you have found a place during a search that you haven't heard of and want to shop off of, you can go to the Better Business Bureau www.BBB.org (- its legit, I promise!) and check to see if they are registered and what kind of rating they have. I wouldn't shop off any site (that isn't a big name like jcpenney.com or target.com) without checking there first.
And just a reminder, if you happen to get an email from any company or bank that says there is a problem and you need to update your information- ANYTHING where they ask you for personal information in an email, it is a SCAM. Never click on the links and always go straight to your banks website (on your own) to check on the information.
2007-01-13 19:42:35 · answer #1 · answered by slaughter114 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This has really become a big issue over the past few years with Phishing and identity theft. Here are some tips...
#1 Never respond to an email asking you to verify information about your account. When in doubt, manually enter the website URL in your browser or call the company.
#2 Companies will never send you an email asking you to verify your banking information or Social Secuiry number
#3 Pay close attention to the address bar to point out a spoof site..
Some classic spoofs are....
http://www-paypal.com
http://www.paypal.com:Secured@192.168.1.123/secured.php
http://192.168.1.1/www.paypal.com/secured.php
The other thing to keep in mind the URL might look ligitiment, but when you mouse over it, you can look at the lower left hand side on internet explorer and see where it really points to.
But bottom line is that unless I just completed a transaction on ebay or with paypal I'll delete all the emails. Anything that you feel is worth following up on, you should either call the company your doing business with or login to their website.
Some companies like ebay and paypal even have tool bars you can download that will help identify Spoof sites, but best thing is don't give out your information period!
BTW, most fraudlent emails you get usually say something like "Urgent Action Required" or say things like if you don't respond within 24 hours they will close your account. Also pay attention to the spelling, most of these idiots that pull these scams have really poor grammer skills and will often mispell words, or put phrases in their spoof email that will not sound very professional
2007-01-14 03:49:02 · answer #2 · answered by metrodish 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
IE7 and firefox 2 will let you know if sites are fake. if you want to make sure you can also look at the URL in the address bar and make sure it's the right one. For example:
login.myspace.com
and
login.myimyspace.com
2007-01-14 03:36:10 · answer #3 · answered by oscar_perez0486 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are not familiar with the name of the website and/or it is not recognizible to you.
Do a search on: whois.com and it will give you information about the website. If it is still not familiar to you, don't continue to use the site.
2007-01-14 04:10:06 · answer #4 · answered by newyorkgal71 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
SiteAdvisor can help with that. Free download from:
2007-01-14 03:36:36 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋