Welcome to Gaia! ::

1. Remember real staff members have coloured names and NO staff member of Gaia will ever send you a PM asking for or asking you to change your password to text they send in the PM. They don't need it. This is the first clue to it being FAKE!!!!

2. Offers of free Gaia items or Gaia Gold Generators via clicking of a link is also fake. DON'T CLICK THEM! You will not get Gold, a nitemare scarf, Angelic Halo or Angelic sash. These links are designed to steal your account, thorough password phishing, keylogging etc. THERE IS NO WAY TO GET FREE GOLD OR ITEMS FROM THESE SITES. DON'T FALL FOR THIS SCAM. THE ONLY OFFICIAL WAY IS THROUGH GAIA SUCH AS THE CASH TREE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

3. Beware of links that are not what they seem. Only ever log into www.gaiaonline.com, anything else is more then likely a fake site. It looks exactly like gaia but the Http is wrong, many people miss that.

4. Do not give out the email address you used to activate your account to anyone, except in the case of filing a ticket, then they need it to contact you.

5. Make sure to never leave your account logged in and walk away from your computer, whether you are at home or in a public place. You must be vigilant when it comes to your online safety.

6. If you think you have been hacked or your account has been compromised. Scan you computer for Keylogger software. Use a virus scanner and a spy ware scan to do this. Also get a good virus scanner and a good mal-ware scanner for your computer. Such as : AVG virus scanner or Mal-ware bytes software, which you can get at Cnet under the download section

7. When the Keylogger or mal-ware (if you have one), is off the computer, change the password immediately.

8. To safeguard your account make sure your password is classified as a strong one:

Strong passwords are:
~ long, random strings of characters
~ 14 characters or longer is ideal
~ mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and other symbols (when allowed).

Make sure that your password is not:
~ the same password for different sites. It will make it easier for the hacker to get to your account.
~ a dictionary word (like bicycle or pencil)
~ a favorite show, food, movie star or hobby (like ice cream, Naruto, Heroes, etc)
Go to your account page to turn on IP verification, and confirm it through your email. This will make sure that your account can only be accessed in locations that you approve. Any time you try to log in from somewhere else it makes you approve it through email. Anyone who tries to log on from somewhere else won't be able to get in, unless they have access to your email and add their location.