How to identify fraudulent links!

If you're like me you get many emails these days telling you lies like your credit card is over the limit, or has possibly been compromised, or some other account you have is in danger, and you need to "click here" to resolve it.

Or you go to a website somewhere, and there's just an irresistable offer on the other side of a legitimate-looking link that you must click on to get there.

Once you click on any of these innocent-looking links you're sunk. When your browser displays the page it also lets in code that can then turn your PC into their personal slave, sending back things like every keystroke you make, or displaying all those pop-up ads that suddenly begin blossoming on your screen in rapid-fire fashion.

The problem is that hackers can make the link look perfectly legitimate. But there's an easy way for you to tell if it's not.

If the link in question arrived in your email, click on the subject line to select it, then right-click and in the resulting pop-out list, choose "Properties."

In the dialog box that opens, click on "Details" and in that window click on "Message Source." This will give the entire actual html code of your email message. Scroll down to where the link in question is.

If it begins with something like "123.123.234.121" (or any other set of numbers in that format), FOLLOWED by the actual domain name of who they purport to be, like:

123.123.234.121/www.yourbank.com

you'll know it's a fraud. If it was legitimate it would START with yourbank's dot com name.

Do not, repeat do not, rely on what you can see. What is actually displayed MAY NOT BE the true address!!!

If your email program has a "status bar" at the bottom of your screen, such as Outlook Express, an easy way to see the actual, true address is to hold the mouse over the "purported" link and look down in the status bar and you'll see it.

Again, if the true address begins with a series of numbers followed by the real website name, don't go there. If it BEGINS with the real website name, it's legitimate.

But even if it's the real website name, hackers could still have a load of malware code there, waiting to leap into your PC through your browser.

The bottom line is avoid the internet's "dirt roads" and its areas where huge numbers of people congregate. Because of it's popularity, MySpace is now being hit by hackers planting their bogus links to bogus sites, just waiting to infect your PC.

Just remember to surf defensively and beware of strange or unknown links!!!

BEWARE of public computers!!!

Not long ago the motel I was staying at had a desktop computer in the lobby for guests' use. I was in Branson, MO., and was using it to check football scores. I wanted to check my email at my hometown internet provider's website, but stopped short. Too risky.

Why?

A little program called key-loggers. Hackers secretly install them on public computers everywhere. What do key-loggers do? They record every keystroke on a PC. That means your user name and password! Hackers then gather up a key-logger's data and easily find them and use them.

Recently, news reports described the exact same thing was used to get the user names and passwords to online brokerage accounts. Investors would log into their brokerage accounts from public computers such as those in airports while waiting for their flights. You can guess what happened to the brokerage accounts, and it wasn't pretty!

I'm always ranting about computer and internet security, so please add this bit of advice to your brain.

DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE log into online accounts of ANY kind from a public computer. Don't take the risk that it may be logging your every keystroke.

This means those innocent looking banks of computers in your library, or in the lobby of the motel you're staying at, or in that airport while you're waiting out your flight.

Protect yourself, stay safe and DON'T DO IT!!!