Hackers and internet bad guys are getting more and more creative in their efforts to take you down (or, at least, take control of your laptop). For example, you might receive an email claiming to offer you an Amazon gift card. You click on the link, which takes you to what looks like Amazon’s log-on screen, but really, it’s a bad-guy’s site and he wants to steal your Amazon log-on credentials, then use them to purchase what HE wants to buy with YOUR credit card. Or she might want to install a virus when you click Either way, our opinion here at Brigada is plain and simple: There’s so much corruption in the Internet landscape that, from this point onward, it’s best never to click on a link in any such email. It’s just too risky. Besides, to redeem an Amazon gift card email, you don’t have to click on it anyway. Read Amazon’s instructions at…

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201121200

Notice Amazon itself doesn’t even recommend clicking on links in gift card notifications. Period. Instead, they have you log on to your account (using your normal bookmark), then manually read and type in the code from the gift card email.

Does this mean Amazon gift card notifications are bad? Not at all. We’re just recommending you play it safe. By following these simple instructions, you avoid all the risk. The hackers will be crestfallen. But your computer will be happy.