Ever wondered why people want to steal you email address?
The answer is pretty logical. If someone has your email address then they can pretend to be you. If they pretend to be you then they can carry out crime in your name and get you into trouble whilst they make a mint out of their ill-gotten gains.
The main use of email addresses is for that of phishing and spamming. Email theft can convince others that any communication is from a legitimate business. Therefore, business email addresses are often stolen. If you think a communication is from a legitimate company then you are more likely to share personal details with them. This is known as phishing.
Another reason to steal identity is to spam. Most spam will be blocked by the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Someone perpetrating email identity theft sends an email to an individual or firm under the guise of someone legitimate and it is less likely to get blocked.
How to combat email crime and stop yourself being accused of spamming:
- avoid being blocked yourself by using a different domain registrar to that of the web hosting company
- think about a second hosting company just in case anything goes wrong and you are blocked - the second account can be your backup service
- don't share a IP address (shared hosting) - if someone you are sharing with gets blocked for spamming then you don't have to be
The rise in email identity theft means that we have to get wiser and smarter than we have been before.
Identity Theft and breach of online identity is a serious crime. Visit Eric Harwell's resource at newidentitytheft.com.
