Identity Theft and Fraud

In 2015, there will be 25 billion devices connected to the Internet. Those are potentially 25 billion ways to collect your information and make you a victim for Cyber Fraud. The collection of personal information, age, gender, living patterns, likes and dislikes, history, habits, locations, financial information, and physical conditions is now possible by monitoring your surfing and social media.

In 2013, individuals lost €651 million in cash, an increase of over 40% from the previous year. You can increase those costs by tenfold considering the loss of time and frustration. The result of collecting your information and using ineffective computer security procedures. Cybercriminals are using basic social media engineering, Spyware, Phishing/Pharming, false online shopping and gaming websites, and ransomware techniques to commit online and phone scams; online credit card fraud, romance fraud and identity theft.

You can reduce the risk of becoming a cybercrime victim taking simple common sense actions. We have provided a number of articles in the links below cover describe the various attacks and the actions to prevent and/or response to attacks. A description of what these following terms mean can be found by referring to our Glossary on Internet Threats

  • dentity Theft
  • Phishing
  • Pharming
  • Scams
  • On-line Shopping
  • Ransomware
  • Romance Fraud

Backup! Backup! Backup! Have a recovery system so that a ransomware infection does not destroy your data forever. The best way is to have two backup copies: one to be stored in the cloud (remember to use a service that automatically backs up your files) and another to be stored physically (external disk, flash drive, other computer, etc.). ). You should disconnect it from your computer when you are not using it. Your backup copies can also be used when you accidentally delete critical files or have problems with hard drive failures.