Important Must Read

• Maintain and be in charge of the information you post. Consider restricting access to your page to a select group of people, for example, your friends from school, your club, your team, your community groups, college mates, or your family,  
• Keep your information to yourself. Don’t post your full name, National insurance number, address, phone number, or bank and credit card account numbers. Also don’t post other people’s information, either. Be cautious about posting information that could be used to identify you or locate you offline. This could include the name of your school, favorite shopping places, sports team, clubs, and where you work or hang out.
• Make sure your screen name is discrete. Don’t use your name, your age, or your hometown. Even if you think your screen name makes you anonymous, it doesn’t take a genius to combine clues to figure out who you are and where you can be found.
• Post only information that you are comfortable with others seeing and knowing about you. Many people can see your page, including your parents, your teachers, the police, the college you might want to apply to next year, or the job you might want to apply for in five years.
• Flirting with strangers online could have serious consequences. Because some people lie about who they really are, you never really know who you’re dealing with.
• Be wary if a new online friend wants to meet you in person. Before you decide to meet someone, do your research: Ask whether any of your friends know the person, and see what background you can dig up through online search engines. If you decide to meet them, be smart about it: Meet in a public place, during the day, with friends you trust. Tell an adult or a responsible sibling where you’re going, and when you expect to be back.
• Trust your gut if you have suspicions. If you feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, tell an adult you trust and report it to the police and contact pomlesltd on pomlesltd@googlemail.com. You could end up preventing someone else from becoming a victim.
• Computer Protection: Maintenance of your computer is very important, ensure that you have installed recognized firewall software and keep updating your anti-virus program on your computer not forgetting spyware or adware blocker software this will prevent virus, spyware or adware programs from infection. Another important point is being wary of downloading or opening files sent to you, even from people you know. Many viruses pretend to be as someone you know. And hacking tools and programs (such as Trojan horses) can give someone a backdoor to your computer, all your passwords and banking information.

For More information please refer to the following websites for Safety tips
http://www.wiredsafety.org/resources/pdf/socialnetworktips.pdf
www.staysafe.org
www.i-safe.org
www.OnGuardOnline.gov
www.getnetwise.org
Market place safety tips
Never send your item before receiving the money
View properties in person and with another person present for safety reasons. Never make payments to rent a property without seeing it chances are it does not exist.  Never send or wire money to landlords.
Never send or wire money to sellers or buyers. Fraudsters tend to use this ways. Use secure payment methods like PayPal ,Africacombined doesn’t offer any sort of buyer protection/ payment programs. Any emails you receive that talk about such systems are scams, even if they may have the Africacombined logo.
Never provide your personal or banking information (e.g. credit card, switch card number) to others over the Internet.  Do not provide bank details when applying for a job
Scams to watch out for
Make yourself aware of common scams and fraud   

• Brand name spoofing/phishing: You get an email that claiming to be from Africacombined, eBay, Paypal, or another company that offers online payment system services. What these emails do is they request you to send money or provide personal information such kind of emails which require urgency need for personal details should be treated with caution and reported to Africacombined’s Staff team.
• Cheque overpayment: Don’t accept a cheque for more than your selling price, no matter how tempting the plea or convincing the story. Ask the buyer to write the cheque for the purchase price. If the buyer sends the incorrect amount, return the cheque. Don't send the goods. If you accept the cheque you will loose all your money be wary
   Fake escrow sites: A buyer or seller or prospective tenant/ landlord suggest using an escrow service to complete the transaction. Often these escrow web sites are run by fraudsters (even though they may look "official") and they will take your money and never send you the product.
• Work from home scams: Some common examples (http://www.oft.gov.uk/oft_at_work/consumer_initiatives/scams/work)
• Addressing or stuffing envelopes: this scam involves you paying a registration fee to join in return for simple advice on how to place similar advertisements to attract other people into the scam 
• Home assembly kits: this scam involves you paying a fee to receive a kit for making things from baby boots and aprons to toys. However, the kit is usually inadequate for making the goods required. Then the scammer either promises to pay you for the goods but then rejects them because your work is sub-standard or the scammer suddenly tells you that you have to sell the goods yourself and when you come to do so you find that there is no market for the goods.
• Home working directories: this scam promises you a variety of different home work opportunities however once you pay the fee of £10 to £25, you only receive a directory of other companies who have their own registration fees and a list of shopping catalogues
• 419 Scams: You get an email saying that your help is needed to take money out of a country and that you will be paid a commission for your help. Eventually they will ask you for money to help them take the large amount of money out of the country and once you pay you will never hear from them again.
• Pet Shipping Scams Watch out for sellers who will claim to have a pet and will offer to ship them from an overseas location, or even get you to book seats on a plane! These are usually sought after dog breeds such as English Bulldogs, Yorkshire Terriers and other breads. These ads are usually accompanied by ‘staged’ pictures. The pets don't exist and the fraudsters simply try to get you to pay money upfront. Remember: be wary of overseas sellers.
• Love scams:Be wary of people you meet online, take note expecially if the photo is of the person is so good looking. Take a step a back and ask why, after a while of communiting with the person, your asked to send money or a ticket so that the person can come meet you, when you send, the person never travels. Nigeria scams are costing the lonely in UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and America thousands.

How do I know it is a scam?

• They will ask for money up front
• They promise large sums of money for performing simple tasks
• they use a post office box address or a mobile phone number so you never meet them and cannot find them once you realize it is a scam
• The advertisements will not state clearly what is involved.

How to protect yourself:

• don't pay any money up front - genuine employers will not ask you to pay money before you start working
• Stop, think and be skeptical. Ask yourself these simple questions: does it sound too good to be true? Is there actually an offer of work or just an offer to tell you more about finding work? Does it claim to be a big money opportunity? Does the work sound too easy?
• be wary of offers to buy back the goods you have made, as the conditions attached may be impossible to fulfill
• find out more about the company you want to work for - if it is legitimate it should be happy to provide you with information for free
• if you are looking for work to do at home, think about approaching local companies.
• ask for advice -  by contacting info@africacombined.com Team