When should we not use our private email?

It used to be so easy to have a personal email account. Before scammers and hackers rule the internet, you could give your personal email address to pretty much anyone and any service, and you would have to worry about someone resetting your password in an attempt to lock you out of your own account.

You also did not have to worry about some shady business selling your email address to spammers who love to fill your inbox with male virility coupons and fake contests that offer cruises as a prize. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, and we have to be wary of who we give our personal email to. So here are a few signs that you should not use your personal email and instead use a temporary email service.

1. When the site is glitchy and has to be loaded several times. Not every site on the Internet is secure and professional. There are billions of small websites and blogs that everyday people create. Most of these small websites do not have good security, and the site has a lot of glitches because it is not properly formatted for monitors and smartphones.

But many of the small sites offer a free gift in exchange for an email subscription. While it may be tempting to support a small blog, remember that you can never take back your personal email address once it is part of a database. And the databases of small blogs are perfect for hackers and scammers, as their lack of security allows them to easily steal email subscriber lists so they can obtain new targets. Use a temporary email service when you want to obtain a free download from one of these sites as it will keep you safe from scammers.

1. If there is no SSL certificate, never sign up with your credit card as well as your email address. This should be rule 101 when it comes to using the internet safely. The SSL certificate is mandatory, and you should always look for it whenever you are about to input your credit card information and address into the purchase form of a store.

If you don't see the SSL certificate, do not purchase anything from the website, no matter how good the deal is. If they won't even put in the SSL certificate, don't trust them with your email either.

1. If your email is connected to your work email. Most people have a private work email but don't log into them because they can easily forward their work emails to their personal email. If your email is connected to your work email, don't give away your email address anymore. If someone steals your email address, then they can compromise your job.

1. If you are using public Wi-Fi, always use a temporary email address service. You would be shocked at how fast scammers can get your personal details when using public Wi-Fi. I once logged into my bank account while I was on a public Wi-Fi server, and less than five minutes later, there was already a charge on my debit card.

Public Wi-Fi is not as secure as you think it is, so always use a temporary email service whenever you're at Starbucks or your local library.