OutlookPower's official recommendation is to never, ever open or click on any email coming to you from a big-name site. Instead, go there directly by typing the address into the browser bar. Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7 have some good anti-phishing features, so you might want to consider upgrading to one of these browsers.

Falling prey to a scam: a personal recollection
Now that you know a little bit about the terminology involved with Internet fraud, you can see how easy it is to fall prey to the hackers. It does not mean you are stupid or computer illiterate if you fall for one of the scams. In fact, it can be very easy to become a victim. In the late 90s, when I first became involved with the Internet, we were using America Online, and every time one of us logged on, it came up with a dialog box requesting our name and password.

My girls thought it was funny as did I and we began putting fake information in the box. After it became more irritating, I called AOL for guidance and was told I had a Trojan horse on my computer, and they would send me a link to removal software. It took not only the removal software but manual removal through the Safe Mode to get all of it off my computer. It then reappeared again in a period of a few days after I removed one anti-virus program and purchased and installed another.

How did it happen with virus software installed? I wondered myself at the time. I later discovered that my youngest daughter, who was 13 or 14 at the time, received an email from a friend -- or someone she thought was her friend -- with an attachment she innocently opened.

After she found out what had happened, she apologized profusely, even telling me that she thought it was odd because the email was not in her friend's usual font. It's easy to fall for their scams, and today this same daughter is an IT major in college and constantly gets on me about keeping my firewall on and my anti-virus protection up to date.

Do not think because you received an attachment from your favorite grandchild that it is safe to open. Instead of risking computer problems, send a separate email or make a telephone call and find out if your relative sent you something.

ow to undo the damage
What if you have already been attacked and fallen prey to a scammer or become infected with a Trojan horse program -- what can you do? Before you do anything else, you want to put your financial institution on alert in case any unauthorized charges are placed on your account. Do not cancel the cards until there is some activity (or unless your bank advises you to do so) because you prevent any possibility of the bank being able to prosecute the scammer if you do that.

If your computer has a Trojan horse, before you do anything else, you need to get it off your computer. If your virus protection cannot remove it, you may need to go online and find a Trojan remover or a manual means to remove it.

Until you know it is off your computer, do not bother changing the passwords because the hacker will be able to obtain the new ones. After you are sure the malicious program is off your computer, you need to change all your passwords and those of other family members who may have access to your computer.