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Attorney General DeWine Warns of Online Scams PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 02 February 2012 01:48
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is encouraging Ohio families to guard their personal information and avoid online scams. "Protecting your personal information online helps keep you and your family safer from fraud," Attorney General DeWine said. "My office is working to prosecute scammers, but it's also important to protect yourself. Take a few extra safeguards to keep your personal information out of the hands of others."
Attorney General DeWine offers the following tips for consumers:
Avoid over-sharing. Think twice before sharing information such as your name, address, or date of birth online. Your new online "friend" may be a scammer trying to take your money.
Keep your password to yourself. Sharing passwords with friends or family reduces the control you have over your accounts. Change your passwords regularly, and make all your passwords unique and complex, using a variety of letters and characters. Don't use your birth date, maiden name, Social Security number, or other numbers that identify you.
Strengthen security settings. Familiarize yourself with the security settings of each of your online accounts, such as e-mail, online banking, and social networking. Restrict access to any information you don't want to be publicly available.
Encrypt data. When using a wireless router, make sure your network is secured. Having a secured wireless network makes it very difficult for someone to access your home computer or internet.
Be careful where you click. Pop-up ads, attachments, or links in email messages may be part of a scam to get your personal information. Even if you trust the sender, beware. Hacking has become so prevalent that a message from a family member or friend could be a scam sent through a compromised account. Be especially cautious if an e-mail contains only a link and/or a generic line, such as "Check this out!" Before you click or open the attachment, call your friend or the business directly to verify its legitimacy.
Attorney General DeWine also is warning consumers of a fake anti-virus scam in which a pop-up tells consumers, "Your computer has been infected. Click here to resolve this matter." When consumers click on the ad, the virus hides their documents and other personal information saved on their computer.
The scam also shuts down consumers' ability to connect to any internet sites except the scammer's own site. Plus, it triggers a virus alert warning that appears whenever consumers run an application and stops only when consumers enter their credit card information to pay for the scammer's anti-virus software. To protect themselves, consumers should always use trusted anti-virus software and update it regularly. For more information on the scam, search the internet for the words "fake anti-virus scam."
Consumers may report potential scams to the Ohio Attorney General's Office at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov or 800-282-0515.
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