| Wondering what you can do to protect yourself from | | | | appearances. Just because a person or company has |
| falling victim to an Internet scam? As the growth of | | | | a flashy web site doesn't mean it is legitimate. |
| the Internet increases, unfortunately so does the | | | | - Be cautious when responding to special investment |
| number of victims of online scams. Internet scams are | | | | offers. Be especially wary of responding to such |
| an extremely serious problem, and the numbers of | | | | offers through unsolicited email. |
| scams, dollars lost, and people scammed are growing | | | | - Never purchase from bulk unsolicited email, |
| greatly each year. Internet auction fraud, credit card | | | | commonly known as spam or junk email. At least 95% |
| fraud, and fraud related to online investments are | | | | of these emails are online scams. |
| among the most common types of fraud. | | | | - Use a combination of letters and numbers when |
| Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take | | | | creating passwords. Don't use common names or |
| to help prevent you from falling victim to online scams. | | | | words or names that can be easily guessed. Never |
| - Use common sense. If something is too good to be | | | | give your passwords to anyone. |
| true it probably is. | | | | - Never believe the promise of large sums of money |
| - When banking online, check the address of any | | | | for your co-operation. |
| pages that ask for personal account information. Any | | | | - When visiting a banking or any other site where you |
| pages of a legitimate Internet banking website that ask | | | | enter any personal information, financial information, or |
| customers to enter their account info or other personal | | | | passwords manually type in the web site address in |
| information will have "https" at the beginning of the | | | | the web browser address bar. For example, if you are |
| web site address. This indicates that the page is | | | | going to do online banking at CIBC, enter " |
| indeed secure. Sites beginning with is "http", like this | | | | - Be very careful at online auction sites. If you want to |
| page, are not secure. | | | | buy something at an online auction, always check the |
| - Be sure to look for, and click on, the padlock found in | | | | references of the seller, and only buy from sellers that |
| the lower right corner of your screen. | | | | have good references. Almost all good auction sites |
| - If the page is truly legitimate, by clicking on the | | | | have a buyer and selling rating system. If the item is |
| padlock you can view a page that lists the security | | | | more expensive than an amount you could |
| certificate details for the site. If it is a fraudulent web | | | | comfortably lose, you might want to consider using an |
| site it will not provide such details | | | | online escrow service. |
| - Never give out your credit card number(s) online | | | | As you can see, there are some definite steps that |
| unless the web site is both reputable and secure. | | | | you can take to help prevent yourself from becoming |
| - Remember not to invest anything based solely on | | | | the next victim of an Internet scam. |