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Internet Safety

The internet is a source for thousands of things. It is a source for information that you didn’t know, school work, work in general, and even just to watch funny cat videos to pass time. You even use it right now to read this blog! Anyways, we all know all the great things about the internet, right? Well, its time for me to open up your eyes and tell you all the dangers and precautions you should know about using the internet. In this blog, I will tell you what online scams are, different types of online scams and how to avoid them, how to stay safe on social media, and finally some fun facts. Hope you enjoy!

Online Scams

With the internet constantly growing and changing, a LOT of people are starting to use it in their everyday lives. I hate to break it to you, but not all of these people use the internet for good. Sometimes, people use it to get money from others or to trick others into doing something. This is what you call an online scam. An online scam is a scheme online that tries to trick people into doing things that can benefit the tricker and/or harm the victim. There are MANY different types of online scams, each getting worse and worse. There are prize scams, money scams, friendship/romance scams, and lastly fraud scams. It’s a bit overwhelming seeing all these types of scams that you’ve never heard about before, so I’ll now explain what each of those is and give some advice about how to avoid them. 

Prize Scams-  When using the internet, you may come across a sidebar or an advertisement saying that you won something. Prize scams include online lottery scams, scratchie scams and travel scams. These scams inform you that you have won a prize (eg. a large sum of money, shopping vouchers, a free holiday or travel related products), and to claim it you are asked to send money or provide personal information. You may be excited to win something, but beware! 99.999% of the time, these “prizes” aren’t even real! The whole trick is to make you want the prize, and then to make you give them your address. That is a HUGE no-no because by giving them your address, you are now vulnerable for your home to be reached by any random person online. You can avoid this type of scam by simply not believing that you won anything unless you hear it from a source you know for A FACT is legit. 

Money Scams- Sometimes when you are online shopping, you come across a website that has exactly what you want and a great price. You might think “wow! I can’t believe this is so cheap and convenient! I’m definitely going to buy this!” However, that’s exactly what the scammer wants you to think. The whole point of the scam is so that you put your credit card information on the website thinking that it will buy you what you want, but then next thing you know the things you bought never show up and you are missing hundreds of dollars! These scammers trick you into putting your credit card information, meaning they can now buy anything they want with it. Scary right? Well, there are many ways you can avoid this. You can make sure that it is a legit website with reliable customer reviews, and always shop from places like Amazon or eBay that you know are not a scam. 

Friendship/romance scams- Have you ever went online and found someone really cool to talk to? Maybe you even wanted to meet them in real life and start a relationship with them, whether it’s a romantic one or a friendship one. Well, I’m sorry but that is one of the most dangerous things you can do in your entire life! On the internet, you never really know who is on the other side of the chat or what they really want to do with you. Even if they tell you that they are who they say they are or even send pictures, never ask to meet them or tell them any personal information. Try avoiding online chats with people you don’t know in the first place, but if you do come across one, make sure you know the motto “Stranger danger!” and never send out any personal information. It may actually save your life. 

Fraud Scams- This is a big one. Everyone in their life has come across a fraud scammer some way or another. A fraud is someone who pretends to be someone else, and they don’t say who they actually are. There are many different types of fraud scams on the internet. I actually have some experience dealing with this kind of scam. One time, I was online looking for a babysitting job, and some lady contacted me saying she has 2 kids that need babysitting. She then sent me a  $2000 through the mail saying I was getting “pre-paid”, but then told me that I needed to send her 1500$ online. She did this because once you send money online, it immediately becomes available. Guess what though? THE CHECK WAS FAKE!! She was about to earn 1500$ and rid me of $2000 (that I didn’t even have)! Now don’t worry, I knew this was a scam so I didn’t follow along with it, but it still could have ended badly. These types of scammers do this to a bunch of people every day online, and my story was just a little something so you would know what it would be like. Never trust someone online when it comes to money!

Fraud scams continued- That’s not the only type of fraud scam. The first type was people pretending to be someone else trying to get your money, but the second type I’m about to explain is when scammers don't try to get your money, but they pretend like they already have your money. Say you’re doing something online, and somehow someone out there has access to your credit card and ID. With access to these things, they could literally pretend to be you and use all of your money! Anyways, you can avoid these types of scams by NEVER letting anyone online see any of your property that proves who you are (such as passport, ID, credit card etc). Scams like this easily ruin people’s lives, and you don’t want to be one of those people, do you? Follow my tips and you won’t be! 

How to be safe on social media

Now that I’ve covered the main issue on online scams, it is time to talk about something we all know a lot about. Social media! These days, people of all ages have many social media accounts. It is a great way to stay in touch with friends, look at trendy things, and see some celebrities around the world. Social media is great and all, but I think we all need to be educated on how to be safe when using it. In this section of my blog, I will tell you some tips about using social media and how to be safe with it. Enjoy!

Instant messaging- Always make sure that you are talking to who you think you are. You want to avoid any fraud scams (people saying they are someone else). Always be careful about what you send someone else because if it gets in the wrong hands you could get into some serious trouble. There is a little rule I like to follow, and I hope you’ll follow it too. It goes like this- “if you wouldn’t want your parents, teacher, or priest to see what you are sending, then don’t send it!”

Posting Pictures- When you are posting a picture online, remember to make sure you know that basically anyone can see this picture. This means that you can’t have any personal information showing, such as your address, phone number, credit cards etc. Also, keep your pictures appropriate for all audiences. It’s better to make your account private so that people you know can see this, and not just random strangers.

Using Strong Passwords- This should go without saying. If someone hacks into your social media account, then they can post anything they want and send any message they want pretending to be you. This can really harm your reputation and may even be dangerous to you because of how much personal information is on your account. Just use a strong password no one can guess and you’ll be fine. 

Know who is on your account- Always know who is following you and who can see the things you post. If it is someone you don’t know, block them. If it is someone you do know, talk to them in person about it to confirm that it is their real account and not a fake one. It is very important that you are aware of who can see who you are because it is very dangerous to be vulnerable to strangers. It’s best to have a private account and closely manage your followers. 

Fun Facts about the internet

There are currently seven people who hold the key to the internet. In the case of any event which makes the internet shut down, these 7 people have a key to reboot its internal part.

All of us are familiar with browser names like Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. But the very first and popular web browser was known to be Mosiac which started its services in the year 1993 and was a major part of internet till 1997.

 The Internet has gained about 5 million users in just 5 years. It took 13 years for TV to gather these many users.

There are over 1 billion internet users today which is about 20% of the world’s population.

An average surfing session lasts about only 51 minutes.

Sweden has the most number of internet users across the world with about 75% of the population using it.

The satellite-based internet availability has made it possible to access the internet all over the world. Still there are certain countries like North Korea and China who are denied access by the government.

It is estimated that people who use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are likely to spend their 10% of a lifetime on it.

Asia is a continent with the largest number of internet users.

19% married couple meets online, making it a suitable marriage bureau.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and learned something about the internet and how to be safe with it. Remember the information about online scams and social media so you can stay safe on the web! Thanks for reading, and good luck out there on the web!!