Moms Guide to Online Safety.

Remember all of those pearls of wisdom your mom would use whenever you got into trouble? Well if your mom is anything like ours, she rarely even touches a computer, but you can put her advice to good use and use them to help avoid online scams and to stay safe online.

• If it sounds too good to be true…:

  If there really was a miracle cure for something, or if there were a legitimate way to make $5,000 by sitting at home with no products to sell and no calls to make, everyone would be doing it. This is probably the single-most important lesson to remember because in this life, nothing comes free. Or easy.

• Don’t take candy from strangers.:

  Candy, toys, $150 books or videos detailing how to flip residential properties for no money down and no risk… pretty much anything from a stranger is dangerous because A) they’re a stranger, and B) you don’t know their intentions. Sadly there are a lot of bad people out there who want to take advantage of and/or hurt you in some way, so avoid them if at all possible. Mom knew it, and you should take it to heart.

• If your friends all jumped off a bridge…:

  A lot of web sites use testimonials as an indication of trust by other people, but any fool can find a picture of someone online and add a fake quote underneath. Use your judgment when reading testimonials and ask yourself if they read like something a real person would say, or like a speech from a corporate shill.

• Your room computer is a pig sty.:

  Keeping your computer clean is just as important as keeping your kitchen clean. Keeping old software up to date, deleting unused files, and wiping out any junk will help keep things more organized and easier to keep up with. And if you keep it clean all the time then you won’t have to rush when company comes over. 😉

Do yourself a favor… listen to your mother. Sure, she doesn’t get your friends, or your music, but she knows how to keep you safe. And if nothing else, you can tell her you listened and that’ll make her feel better. 🙂