Here are a few of the latest spam emails going around. You get an email saying you have been videotaped in the nude, and click here to see the clip. You immediately think to yourself, it can’t be true. Can it? What if it is? I mean, what about all those tiny cameras available today, not to mention cellphone cameras?

If curiosity gets the better of you and you click the link, you will download malware to your computer. So don’t do it. It is just a scam. I get a few like this every day, even addressed to me personally.

Which brings me to another recent trend the spammers are using, and that is email addressed to you personally, by your first name, or even your full name. It is still spam. If you do not recognize the sender, do not open it. You may also receive email simply with a Subject Line “Hi”. You think someone is writing to you for a legitimate purpose. Wrong. Spam again. Do not open.

We usually think of identity theft as being carried out on the Internet. But in fact this accounts for only about 12% of all cases where the cause was known, for 2004. Believe it or not, a full 50% of fraud was perpetrated by friends, acquaintances or relatives of the victim! And this fraud cost the victim a lot more cash as well.

So be on your guard not just when online, but in your daily life also. How to be on guard, you ask? One thing you can do is keep close track of every single piece of snail mail or paper that has your name or information on it. Shred or burn it, instead of just throwing it out in the trash. That is a wide-open invitation to thieves.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here:
= > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

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