Valentines Day Gifts and Greetings - Beware of Frauds and Scams

Valentine's day is a special occasion for all to show love. Everyone's buying gifts, whether it be grand ones like diamond fashion jewelery or as simple as candles, flowers, or cards. People, these days, prefer to buy gifts or send greetings online. After all, it is a fast and easier way out. However, this easy method hides in itself, potential to cause immense trouble. A special day, like the Valentine's day, when people are most liberal and least cautious in buying gifts, is perfect for hackers and other cyber criminals to take advantage of. However, if certain precautions are taken, online purchasing and greeting can become safe and fun.

• As far as possible, use your own computer and avoid paying from any shared system. You never know, who'll be accessing your information.


• Be extremely careful while filling up your personal information. These can be misused by the mischievous elements. Its better to buy a gift from a site where you had been doing regular online shopping or some other trusted sites referred to you by your friends (not by promotional advertisements).


• Don't open any electronic Valentine's Day card sent by a "secret admirer". It could be from a hacker trying to break into your computer. If you click on the link, you'll be guided to a grand greetings web site, where you'll will be prompted to install a program or flash player to play the card. This installation may contain spyware or malicious software that will be downloaded into your system. Now, they can sneak their software onto your computer, send out spam, steal your digital identity, take your credit card information and banking information. So, never open an e-mail without a known name or if it says it's "from a secret admirer," or "a friend" or " a classmate". You should also have an appropriate protective software installed on your system.
  
  


• In yet another form of scam, an e-mail is sent to a mass list of potential victims. It says that the gift you have for the Valentine's day would not be delivered unless you log in to confirm your credit card information. If, however, you click on the link, you'll unknowingly share your account information with the scammer. Don't deal at all with such gift sites.


• If dealing with such sellers whom you've found on some online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements, ensure whether such online community is in anyway involved in any transaction or not. These communities often do not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer "buyer protection" or "seller certification". So don't get carried away by such claims. Never wire funds via wire services. Anyone who asks you to do so might be a scammer. Avoid deals involving lucrative shipping or escrow services and be aware that only a scammer will "guarantee" your transaction. If going through such communities, deal locally with people whom you can meet in person.