Recently, Halifax Bank closed its online facility after customers received e-mails asking them to click on a web site link and reveal their security details. The scam has also targeted Barclays, Lloyds TSB and NatWest customers in the past two months. This scam, known as “phishing” has also hit large retail banks in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and mainland Europe during the past few years. Phishing scams are very popular among criminals now.

These scams are not confined only to online banking. In fact, they have gone beyond that area of interest. There is a steep rise in online business scams in the past year alone.

In the late 1990s, a friend of mine received an email. It talked about an investment opportunity in an oil business. Since he was already in the same business, he found the proposal to be quite interesting. They talked about it more at length by email and it finally came to a point where all he needed to do was to hand over his share of the investment in person.

So, he traveled all the way to Nigeria. The next thing he knew, he was penniless and stranded in a foreign land. Fortunately, some good souls helped him get a ticket home.

As identity theft becomes an ever-increasing crime, scammers find newer ways to steal your identity. More than ever before, it’s important that you protect yourself.

Here are some of the most prevalent scams today, and what you can do about them.

Internet check cashing:

These scams target people who want to work at home, such as stay-at-home moms, or even the elderly who wish to supplement their retirement income. With this scam, individuals are found who are willing to cash checks for a company outside the US. When they do this, they will supposedly receive a generous fee. Most often, these scams target people looking for legitimate work.

Between the several online protection tools available in the world today, the Virtual Privacy Network (abbreviated as VPN) is one the most talked about. Maybe the reason for the talk is the novel concept that makes this program. The internet security VPN provides you with a tunnel to connect directly to one of the servers of internet security, which will then forward your online request to the World Wide Web. So, when you type the URL of a site you want to visit, you are routed through the online protection server and not through the server of your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Along with increased technological advances it seems there are increased ways for the criminal element of society to find ways to take advantage of it for nefarious purposes. The credit card industry is no exception to this rule and that is why it is crucial that you make yourself aware of the security features that are offered on credit cards today. Make sure that you investigate the card you choose carefully and get one that offers exceptional security. The credit card fraud problem is not just in the United States, it is all over the world and both the issuing companies as well as consumers themselves are looking for ways to protect against it.