Sunday, September 18, 2011

3 Effective Tips To Safeguard Yourself Against The Downsides Of Online Freebies

By Lamo Damo


In an age of rising identity theft and personal crime, protecting your personal details is of high significance. If you've used the Net to score yourself freebies it will not take you long to realise that along with the numerous benefits of online free stuff there are also some possible dangers to be conscious of, particularly when it comes to sharing your personal information and contact information. This article offers some great direction which will make your hunt for free stuff more safe and successful.

1. Utilize a dedicated e-mail

It's good practice to set up at least one email dedicated solely for signing up for free offers. If you don't, you run the risk of spam and unsavoury emails flooding your personal mail. Your work email address should definitely not be used! Some free offers only allow one sample per e-mail although not household address. Therefore , if you're a serious free stuff hunter, think about employing multiple e-mails to exploit this fact. By employing more than one email you can accept the same offer 2 or 3 times.

If you're looking to line up a dedicated e-mail for freebies, I highly recommended a service like Gmail. It's free and it offers great security and spam blocking. Another benefit of using Gmail is the ability to create instant expendable email addresses that have links to the same account. Just add +whatever to the username part of your e-mail. So if your email address was johndoegmail, in the freebies sign up form you would just enter your email as johndoe+freebiesgmail.com. You'd still get all emails sent to this address as normal, but if things ever get out of hand, you can simply make a filter to direct all mail sent to this address straight to your junk folder or trash.

2. Use a virtual voicemail service

You will also find it helpful to have a virtual voicemail. Some free offers need an active telephone number. Free accounts are readily accessible at sites like evoice.com and are quite straightforward to set up. All of the messages left in your voicemail will be sent to you as an e-mail or otherwise you can call and hear the messages if you like. By setting up a virtual voicemail you'll avoid any telemarketers and sales people that might otherwise harass you.

3. Utilize a PO Box

This is for the serious freebies hunter or those wanting that extra protection level. Using a Post Office Box service is an effective way to offer another layer of anonymity when supplying your details to freebie suppliers. Mail also usually arrives quicker at a PO Box than at a home or business address. If you use it for your other personal mail it could also provide a permanent destination for you, which is especially useful if you move around quite a lot.

With these great tips you are now able to hunt for free stuff, freebies and other giveaways with extra confidence. Go forth and sign away!




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