Why you should never give away your email address

(Source: Bulletfirst)

 

This happens all the time.

You log into your Facebook account, then you see a notification that says, "you have a new message". The message is from a total stranger, whose profile is usually adorned with a photo of a very beautiful young woman.
You then read the message and surprisingly, the person says she is in a country where Facebook is banned. She then tells you this is the reason she prefers to communicate using email. Without wasting time, she asks for your email address.
Excitedly, or perhaps overwhelmed, you give away your address.
“You should never do this”.
There are many reasons the person needs your email address. In most cases, the email address is used for fraudulent activity especially during the festive season. As soon as you give away your email address, the person will immediately try to use it to hack into your Facebook account. Hacking into Facebook accounts is not as difficult as it seems. It’s probably the easiest account to log into once you have the
person’s email address.
Once the person logs into your account, they will then acquire your other details as well as personal information about your friends.
It does not end there, hackers know that you are likely to use the same email account to access other social network sites such as Twitter or LinkedIn.
With your email account, the hackers will access several other accounts, the ultimate target being your online banking.
They will then hack into your email account then collect as much information about your contacts, passwords if any as well as other personal details.
This happens within a few minutes as hackers use sophisticated software to access your details.
Having your email account makes it very easy for them to access the rest of your personal information.
To avoid, never trust anyone with your email address, especially anonymous people who request it.