Short of burying your electronic devices in the backyard and never going online again, there’s no sure-proof method for protecting yourself from cybercrime. But you can do a lot to minimize your risk. Here are some of the top strategies for doing so. **Social Media** “Social engineering” is an effective tool for the cybercriminal. With the wealth of personal details the average social media user happily posts online, scammers have lots to work with as they create an attack targeted at a potential victim. To minimize your risk, keep your Facebook, Instagram and other social media profiles private from all but your carefully screened friends and contacts. And don’t accept connection requests from strangers. Make sure you know the person who’s reaching out to you with their friend request. Scammers are good at scraping their victims’ friend lists in search of new victims. So take note: just because an unknown contact is a “friend” of someone you know, that’s no guarantee they’re who they say they are. Also, it’s easy to “clone” someone’s social media profile. So just because you know the name and recognize the profile photo of someone reaching out to you doesn’t mean it really is that person. Take a moment to look over their profile. If they have few posts when you know they’ve been online for quite a while, you may be dealing with a fraudulent profile. **Spot the Red Flags: Common Schemes** Common scams involve a call or text purporting to be from firms like Microsoft, MacAfee, etc., warning you that your computer has a virus – or has been used in illegal activities. Here’s the biggest tipoff that the call is a scam: These legitimate firms never contact customers. If you’re getting these alerts – whether calls, texts, or emails -- they’re scams. Emails from a contact that is spoofed may look “different.” It’s easy to spoof or replicate someone’s email address. But it’s not always easy to make the body look the same. Also, if you doubt that the email is legitimate, take a look at the actual email address by moving your cursor to the sender’s email address and right-clicking your mouse to display it. *Fake links in emails are another common tactic for ensnaring victims.* So don’t click that link! Instead, open your web browser and type in the correct URL in the navigation pane. (Just as you can inspect a fake email, you can do the same thing with the URL in an email. Right-click that page link to display the actual web page.) (And yes, we recognize the irony of sending you emails with “Read More” links. So, if you prefer not to click the link, open your web browser and navigate to https://dmkadvisorgroup.com/market_navigator.) *Be careful what you download.* Cybercriminals may attempt to send you malware by sending you malicious attachments. You can protect yourself by inspecting the file extension. If it’s anything other than .pdf, be wary, and don’t just assume that “PDF” means the file is a safe bet. Scammers try to conceal their malware by inserting “.pdf” somewhere in the file name hoping that trips you up. Your computer’s operating system may make it harder for you to spot a fake, because both Windows and macOS may not display the full file name. If not, change your settings to “show all filename extensions.” There’s a long list of malicious file extensions to avoid, but they include .exe, .bat, .vbs, .docm, .xlsm, to name a few. Also, note that if an attachment is a .pdf or .doc file, you can usually safely “preview” a file without opening it.