Advice from Our IT Services Team in Atlanta on How to Tell Apart Legit Sites from Scam Sites?

The online environment is awash with many scam sites which are often used by scammers and hackers to target unsuspecting firms. Today, there’s a group of online crooks who are lurking on the internet looking for vulnerabilities in corporate networks that they can exploit and execute their schemes. Good news though, by partnering with a skilled IT services provider in Atlanta, you will be able to stay safe while using the internet for your business. Read on to learn more.

Schemes Used by Online Scammers

As a leading IT services provider in Atlanta, we have come across a number of scam sites that have been or are still been used by scammers to scam firms and individuals

  • Phishing email scams – A majority of security incidents start with phishing emails which are often sent to company employees. Most of these emails come messages worded in such a way meant to convince users to provide sensitive personal data, which these criminals consider valuable to them. They are likely to use some form of social engineering techniques which they will use to convince you to click on some malicious link that will lead to a fake site, where you will be required to use your log in details and some other personal information.
  • Fake antivirus scam – It is possible for scammers to send you a message that reads something like “you have been affected by a virus, download antivirus Y to protect your computer”. You might come across this as a pop-up when surfing the internet. By clicking it, you might have potentially downloaded a Trojan or key logger or, on worst-case scenario, some serious and dangerous ransomware.
  • Fake Shopping Scams – Everyone loves shopping, and apparently, the internet has made it easy for people to shop online with few clicks. Sadly, scammers have come to know of this too and some have come up with fake websites that look very similar to the real thing. Once you visit such a site, you will be required to key in your credit card details at checkout, unbeknown to you, the scammer is on the other end of this fake site harvesting your credit card details for their own gain.

How to Tell a Legit Site from a Fake Site?

  • Examine the security status of the site – A site with a padlock in the address bar is considered legit. By clicking on the padlock you can verify the details of the websites security.
  • Examine the site’s connection type – Look at the address bar, sites that have “https” designation are generally considered to be more secure and as thus legit.
  • Look at the content – Fake sites are known to have sloppy content with bad English. Simply put, no scammer will invest in proper content for such a site

Parting Shot

As seen above, there are many threats in the cyber space facing businesses. Contact us at MIS Solutions, Inc. and get to learn more on how our IT services team in Atlanta can help your business to navigate through and thrive in the cyber space.

Schedule a free 15-minute discovery call
We’ll discuss your IT requirements and assess whether we’re the right fit for you.

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