Would you buy a car from this man?

Imagine walking down the street in your hometown. A man approaches you whom you have never met and proclaims that he has the coolest thing you have ever seen. If you will just step into this nearby alley, he will gladly show it to you. No one in their right mind would dream of doing that, right?

Picture yourself at the local shopping mall. In the parking lot you come across a van with its hatch open. In the back of the van sits a woman with stacks of little storage boxes and a very nicely printed sign that says, “Your necessary medications, 90% off.” All of the boxes are full of little clear bags of generic looking white pills. Would you buy the medication you need to stay healthy from this woman?

The scenarios I have presented may seem outlandish and just need a little common sense, but people take risks that are equally dangerous online every day. The Internet is still a little bit of a jungle and you have to be careful what you touch there. With a little bit of caution and care, you can tap into the vast wealth of resources out there and stay safe at the same time.

Phishing…

Not to be confused with the 90’s jam band, phishing is a type of scam designed to fool you into giving up some sort of personal information. It can appear in the guise of an email, a pop-up or even a fake security alert. Most often what you will see is a message saying that you are in some sort of a pickle and all you need to do to get out of it is to buy some fantastic product. Another form of the scam is a message from a bank, possibly yours. The message states that there was a problem processing some transaction and that in order for you to get proper credit you need to verify your banking info on their website. What comes from this is that you willingly volunteer your banking and/or credit card info and someone in a faraway land just bought his girlfriend a Mother of pearl hot tub.

The Nigerian Scam…

This one almost always appears in the form of an email. A person purporting themselves to be either deposed royalty or perhaps a member of government claims to have a ridiculously large sum of money trapped in that foreign land. For the assistance you could offer, the sender promises a ludicrous booty for you. All you need to do is allow them to transfer the money into your account. If your scam alarms aren’t going off yet, just wait. Something always goes wrong and the magnanimous party needs you to wire them a small token payment to guarantee something or another and we’re off and running. There is no prince; there is no cash.

Cheap Meds…

Let’s face it. The medication that people sometimes need to stay healthy can be extraordinarily expensive, and insurance doesn’t always cover enough of the cost. The Internet is infested with websites and offers for discount drugs at amazingly low prices and often with no prescription needed.  Buying meds online from unknown and unapproved sources is Russian Roulette of the most dangerous kind. A quote from the FDA web page (http://1.usa.gov/4PbNO) :

“Instead of receiving the drug they ordered, several customers received products containing what was identified as foreign versions of Haldol (haloperidol), a powerful anti-psychotic drug. As a result, these customers needed emergency medical treatment for symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, muscle spasms, and muscle stiffness—all problems that can occur with haloperidol.”

The FDA website goes on to explain how to find a reputable source for prescription drugs online if that is what you want.

The Internet may be the single most dynamic change that civilization has experienced since the Industrial Revolution. If you are connected, you have access to products and information that no previous generation could have dreamed of. If you are careful and use a healthy dose of skepticism, you can reap the rewards the “Toobs” have to offer and stay out of trouble.

If you don’t already know what it is, don’t click on it. And if you ever find yourself down that dark alley, just give me a call. I’m right here at www.compcafe.com .