If you’ve been walking on the internet for ages, you’ll already know what internet scams are. You may have learnt it on the internet, through books and magazines and other media or simply by being a victim of it. Whatever your status is, it is always better to keep an eye on the developments in the scamming streams so that you can protect yourself better. So let’s explore the varieties and the latest additions to the family of internet scams.

Phishing (pronounced fishing) is all about scammers trying to get past your personal information such as usernames and passwords, banking information, credit card information and so on. Phishing is typically initiated via email or through instant messenger services. The unique feature about phishing scams is that their messages always look authentic with an awkward senders email or URL. They will even include much reputed logos such as Paypal, Credit Union eBay and so on. This is why you should always look out for each and every tiny detail of the emails or instant messages you receive. If you are smart enough, you could never become a victim!

Phishing scam experts often use a technique called link manipulation. That is when you receive the email; there will be a link which looks like http://www.ebay.com/&fty.order.?service.asp So you may think it is an authenticated link and the email really came from eBay. But it’s a trap. When you run the mouse over the link you will see that it is being directed to another web site. Another similar form of trick is to include @ symbol in the URL so that appears like http://www.citibank.com@www.imphishing.com. So whenever you click on links on emails coming from non-contacts be careful to read through the URL fully.

Advance fee scams are another type of scam widely used on the internet. It is where you have to pay a fee before you could receive a lump sum often claimed as inheritance, lotteries, job offers etc. Ponzi scheme is another famous method among scammers. It is where you are asked to buy slots of $100 and with this slot in hand; you could earn $10,000 over a month by engaging in a copying and pasting job online. It’s true that the internet is full of amazing things but it cannot be this far too good to be true right? So think twice before you press a link, give away information or purchase something.