Spot Scams, Phishing and Virus-Laden Emails and Websites

Spot bad Emails and Websites | Tech Tips Video by PcCG

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One of the most frequent things we do here at Pc Computer Guy is virus removal and cleanup of computers hijacked by adware, spam ware or other bad stuff.

Nearly always, this is loaded by the customer. Contrary to popular belief, very few viruses just jump from computer to computer automatically. Nearly always, we invite these bad things into our computer.  The deceptive, difficult thing is identifying what is good and not good, what is genuine, and what is fake. The way we are tricked into loading something into our computers is by a product claiming to be an adobe update, when really it’s not; or when installing a program, we allow another program to slip through.

It’s very much like an identity thief calling a senior citizen, telling them that their Social Security is in jeopardy and they simply need to “verify” some information. It’s a scam. The only difference is, it’s the modern day internet equivalent.

As no one can tell you a simple “ABC” to thwart every phone scam, it’s difficult to give a simple set of rules for avoiding all internet scams and tricks. What we can do however, is show you a few examples, and point out how we can tell these examples are scams. By studying this video and tutorial, you’ll get a head-start on avoiding the pitfalls and infecting your computer.