Online ecommerce has become a multi billion dollar industry, and with all of those dollars floating around in cyberspace, the opportunity for fraud and scams is ever present. As Internet users, it is our responsibility to take some precautions that will make our online transactions safer.
One area we need to take responsibility for is protecting our online payment information. Online payment providers have come and gone, but one of them, Paypal, has been around for a while and is still the target of scammers. While this may be alarming, there are actually some very simple steps you can take to keep your Paypal account safe from scammers.
1. Never Click on Any of the Links Listed in a ‘Paypal’ Email
No matter how official the email you get from Paypal looks, never click on any of the links in the email. Instead of clicking on the links, open up a browser window, and type in paypal.com to go directly to their site from you browser. Paypal itself has also said this.
As a rule of thumb, only log into the Paypal site if you type in the address into the address bar of the browser yourself.
If you get an email that seems official, but looks suspicious, then forward the email to spoof@paypal.com where they will be able to tell you if it was a valid email from them or not.
2. How to Tell if the Email is Legitimate
If you get an email from what appears to be Paypal telling you that your account has closed or some other urgent matter, there are things you can look at that will give you a good idea if the email is legitimate or not.
The way to do this is to […]
