 TITLE: Four Ways to Reduce the Risk of Identity Theft CONTENT: 3\\. Secure Your Online Data\n---------------------------\nStopping mail fraud is pretty straightforward, but protecting yourself online can be a lot trickier because criminals employ many tactics to steal your identity. Here's what you need to do:\n*   **Be cautious with links**: Phishing scams involve a thief using email to trick you into giving them personal information. These messages often look like they're coming from a reputable business and can take an eagle eye to spot. If something seems off about an email that's asking you to click a link to an offer or action, don't click. Instead, hover your cursor over the link and check the destination URL. If the link would take you to a different website than you were expecting, or seems otherwise illegitimate, ignore it. Additionally, these emails can include attachments that, if opened, install information-gathering malware.\n*   **Monitor your online accounts**: Staying up to date on changes to your financial accounts can be helpful in catching fraud as soon as it happens. Set up push notifications on your smartphone or other mobile devices, and pay attention to any alert emails you may get from financial institutions.\n*   **Be careful with public Wi-Fi**: Public Wi-Fi can be a convenient way to get access to the internet. But whether you're at a coffee shop or the airport, be careful about what you do while you're online. Hackers and others can set up their own free Wi-Fi networks and use them to scrape your data. Even legitimate Wi-Fi networks can be hacked, allowing the thief to \"eavesdrop\" on your connection and steal data. Make sure the network you are connected to is legitimate and can be trusted, and also use a virtual private network, or VPN, to add an extra layer of security and prevent eavesdropping.\n*   **Watch out for unsecure websites**: Before you enter payment or other personal information into a website, check to make sure it's secure and trustworthy. If the URL starts with \"HTTP\" instead of \"HTTPS,\" it's not secure and hackers can eavesdrop and steal information you share. Even if the site does have a secure connection, it can still be a front for a scam. If you don't recognize the name of the company, be diligent to make sure it's legitimate and trustworthy. END