The most common internet scams and how to avoid becoming a victim of them

We often think we're too clever to fall for online scams, but cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and creating new schemes that we can easily fall for. These days, criminal minds can reach further than ever before, into our private lives, our homes, and our offices, so we can't afford to make ourselves easy targets.

Given this scenario, we will list the most common internet scams and how to avoid becoming another victim.

The infamous email phishing

One of the most common internet scams These are phishing emails. More than a third of security incidents begin with phishing.

This type of scam has evolved and is a significant threat to both users and businesses.

The effects of phishing attacks can be overwhelming, so it's crucial to stay safe and learn how to detect and prevent them. Phishing scams rely on communications made via email or social media. In many cases, cybercriminals will send messages or emails to users trying to trick them into providing valuable and confidential information. These emails will often appear to come from an official source. Remember, if you have any doubts about an email, it's best not to open it or to call the sender to verify its legitimacy.

Malicious congratulations

Whether it's Christmas or another special occasion, we all receive greeting cards in our email inboxes that appear to be from a friend or someone we care about. Online criminals have taken advantage of this to create one of the most common internet scams so that malicious actors can collect users' most valuable data.

If you open an email like this and click on the card, you'll usually end up with malicious software downloading and installing itself on your operating system. Malware can be an annoying program that opens pop-up ads and unexpected full-screen windows. If your system becomes infected with such dangerous malware, it will become one of the bots that are part of a larger network of infected computers. If this happens, your computer will start sending private data and financial information to a fraudulent server controlled by cybercriminals.
To stay safe, we recommend that you use a specialized security program against these types of online threats.

Fake antivirus software

We've all seen this message on our screens at least once: “You've been infected! Download X antivirus right now to protect your computer!» Many of these pop-ups are designed to look like legitimate messages, but it's one of the most common internet scams. If you're lucky, it's nothing more than a harmless hoax that will annoy you by displaying unwanted pop-ups on your screen while you're browsing online. If you're not so lucky, your system could end up infected with malware, such as a Trojan or a keylogger. Be sure not to click on any pop-ups that annoyingly warn you that you've been infected with a virus.