Online Safety and Identifying Hoaxes

Some time back I wrote and posted a short piece about my credit card company sending an email that included an embedded link.

AOL Taught Me Well  (ASR) I prefer my Spam in a can. Don't you? #1674910 by J. A. Buxton

This reminded me of a chat I hosted on America Online back in 2004 regarding online safety and identifying hoaxes.

I hope the following article based on that night’s chat log might be helpful to you. First a gentle suggestion that all the information here should be combined with good old common sense.

After each topic, I will probably ask questions, so feel free to answer them in your reviews of this article. So, sit back and try not to look too bored.

Personal Information

When I originally held the chat back in 2004, many social networking sites weren’t in existence. Now with so many people using Facebook and Twitter, it might be time for a reminder about personal Internet safety.

If you don’t want strangers to know your personal information, simply don’t post it online. Just think of those sites like an older party-line telephone where nosy neighbors can listen in and hear your conversations. Again, I repeat and stress, do NOT post personal information like your address or phone number online.

Are you guilty of doing this?
Are you hurrying to that site and removing that data?
If not, why not?

Online cell phone spam

A fairly new annoyance since I first wrote this article is the telephone spam. Let's suppose you are just trying to view a certain web site. The opening screen might ask for your cell phone number to send you a secret password so that you can get to their page! DO NOT DO THIS!

You will start to get random calls. I've never done this since I don't own a cell phone, but one of my reviewers had a friend who attempted this. She gets random calls all the time now.

Has this happened to you?
If so, do you know of a way to stop these calls?

Hyperlink safety

Scammers often use hyperlinks to direct you to Web sites that look like official sites but are not.
They may claim that you've won a prize or have been sent a greeting card or an Insta-Kiss or that
"You've Got Pictures", etc.

NEVER click on hyperlinks in e-mail sent to you by strangers.

Have any of you received e-mail like this and
wondered if it was for real? How did you handle it?

Viruses/Trojans

Some Web pages may automatically download computer viruses or Trojan Horse programs to your
computer that can damage your computer files or send your password back to the scammer. With
your screen name and password, the scammer can sign on to your account and access personal
information that could end up as identity theft.

What protection do you all have to screen for viruses and
Trojan Horse? What software, if any, do you
recommend?

Password confidentiality

To keep your computer and your account safe, NEVER click on hyperlinks in e-mail sent to you from
people you don't know. And NEVER enter your screen name and password into a Web page.

Have you ever sent an e-mail to somebody asking
if the e-mail addressed from them was valid?

Junkmail/spam

As the Internet grows, so does the problem of unsolicited, unwelcome e-mail otherwise known as
spam. This includes legitimate sales pitches as well as invitations to porn sites. There are some simple
things you can do to reduce the amount of "junk" e-mail.

Top 10 Spam Subject Lines Reported by AOL Members: APRIL 2010
1. Pills from Canadian Pharmacy!
2. Returned mail: see transcript for details
3. Fwd: nice day
4. Dish Network® $19.99/mo
5. Print Coupons for Wheaties, Yoplait, Betty Crocker and More
6. Do you know your Real Age? Take the test!
7. FW: Mothers Day Roses from $19.99
8. Invisible Bra Support
9. Train your pet to behave
10. Youre Hired! Make $250+ a Day

Have any of you been lucky enough to NEVER
get any of the above type of mail?

REMEMBER: If you don't know who sent the e-mail,
don't download the attached file or click on the
hyperlinks.

Create a screen name just for chatting.

If you frequent chat rooms, consider creating a screen name just for chatting and blocking
all e-mail from that screen name. If you don’t have AOL, using Hotmail.com would accomplish this.

Also, do any of you use a screen name just for
posting on particular boards or simply for e-mailing
among friends and not for posting or chatting?

Create an invalid address book name.

Greatest danger we are trying to avoid is someone hacking your account and screwing
up your online experience. .

I don't know if it works or not, but someone told me to put an invalid screen name at the
beginning of my address books. If a hacker grabs my address books, none get sent if even one is invalid.
I do use this technique when checking for valid screen names before sending out emails.

Have any of you tried this yet?

Don't Reply.

Some e-mail gives a reply address where you can request to be removed from their mailing list. It is
recommended you *not* respond to junk e-mail in any way.

Reply with Caution. If you decide to respond to junk e-mail, be very careful to whom and how
you respond.

If in doubt about whether or not to
reply, what would you do?

Complain.

If an advertiser is listed in the e-mail, that company probably also lists a phone number. A call to that
advertiser complaining about their advertising tactics might just get them to change their way to
doing business. Can't hurt.

Can any of you think of
any more ways to stop junk mail?

***What other types of online activities other than the following can make your e-mail address
"open to the public"?

• Posting to message boards or newsgroups
• Chatting online
• Joining mailing lists
• Creating a member profile if you are on AOL
• Creating aWeb page

Can you think of any more?

Lastly, we should cover something that most of us fall for sooner or later….Hoaxes.

When you get an email about some strange occurrence stating it is really true, what should you do first?

Have any of you heard of Snopes.com, and do
you use it?

Okay, have any of you learned a bit about online safety and combating junk mail and hoaxes today?