Weekly Review Blog (Scams and schemes)

With week thirteen drawing to an end, I am still proud to be a Spartan. We talked about many important things this week, and the lessons that we learned were awesome.

This week in my Introductions to Publications class, we talked about company scamming and scheming. We learned that companies will scam you out of your money, especially over the Internet. 

Our teacher also gave us key words and definitions to accompany our lesson for this week. 

Stop stealing, April 3, 2007

Scam: An attempt to trick someone, usually with the intention of stealing money or private information.

Identity Theft: A type of crime in which your private information is stolen and used for criminal activity.

Vulnerable: In a position that makes it easier for you to be harmed or attacked.

Phishing: When people send you phony emails, pop-up messages social media messages, texts, calls, or links to fake websites in order to hook you into giving out your personal and financial information.

One way that companies will try to get your money is buy sending you spam emails. Spam emails are emails that companies, or hackers, will send you that can potentially get your money or infect your computer with a virus. 

Here are some ways that you can protect yourself from online scamming:

Mailbox, March 29, 2010

- Avoid opening the message or email.

- Don't click on any links and don't download attachments (they could be filled with viruses).  

- Don't reply.

- Mark as "junk mail" or "spam" for your email provider, or report it to your social networking site.

- If you are concerned about an account you have with a company, contact it's customer service department by phone. Make sure you verify the company's contact information elsewhere online first.

Another thing we discussed is identity theft. Identity thieves might want your social security number, bank information, full name, birthday, current and previous addresses and phone numbers, driver's license, and passport numbers.

If your identity is stolen, the theft can open bank accounts in your name, steal you money, and they could basically do anything they wanted to while posing as you. 

If your identity is stolen, you could potentially develop bad credit, go to jail, lose money, be in debt, and, if needed, you would have to file for bankruptcy.  

Overall, this week has been great, and I hope that next week will be just as awesome. Until next week, happy blogging!