12 ways to beat Internet scammers to their game

The advent of the Internet as a means of transacting business has undoubtedly increased the ease and pace of financial dealings.

But with this significant technological leap has come the baggage of Internet fraud — in the form of identity thefts, malware injections and fraudulent transactions through e-mail, smartphones, websites, and chat rooms. 

Here are 12 ways to avoid falling victim.

1. INVESTIGATE, INVESTIGATE, INVESTIGATE

Make online verifications of the email address and name of the sender of a financial email to see if they have been identified as belonging to a scammer. Investigate their profiles on other social media platforms. Research the person to death!

You may use a WHOIS domain look-up to see the possibility of gleaning any information about this person. Many times, this will isolate pseudonyms or company names that can be used for further research. Be aware that scammers can and will use fake ID’s trying to come across as trustworthy.