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General Safety Tips

Chain letters
How to deal with them.

Hoaxes, rumors and urban legends
How to tell the difference between a hoax and reality.

Obtaining E-mail Headers

Phishing
Tips for protecting yourself and your phone.

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How others will try to trick you.

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Spoofing

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Phishing

How to tell a phishing attempt from a legitimate e-mail

Phishing...don't get caught!Explanation :: Detection :: Solution :: Prevention

You may have seen a phishing expedition and not have known it. Many people fall prey to e-mail scams for the simple fact that such notifications look legitimate. Phishers will use a trusted company’s logo, tag line, and seemingly, similar e-mail address.

There are several things to look out for regarding phishing attempts

Typical phishing e-mails will tell you that your account has come under review, may be in danger of being suspended and/or cancelled, and some piece of information needs to be verified or updated, i.e.: your credit card number, bank account number, social security number, or other personally identifiable data. Look for phishing e-mails with spelling typos, i.e.: “Account Veerification Request”, or characters in odd placement: “Requesting : Account : Update”

When you think of phishing, think of fishing. Similar to how anglers use bait to lure fish, online scammers use certain tactics to lure us into giving them our valuable information under false pretenses. Since information is so readily available to everyone via the Internet, recognizing our online weaknesses will help us correct them.

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Parts of this Web site were taken from Parry Aftab's book The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace. Marvel and all character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. TM & © 2004 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com. Super Heroes is a Co-owned registered Trademark.
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