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We have all heard the word spam and no it’s not the greasy food synonymous with WW2 and the Americans, rather the spam we get each day in our inboxes. Everything from diplomas to Viagra, watches to car insurance is available according to the e-mail’s we receive each day. Believe me, this sort of scheme is worth billions of dollars each year and the professionals make many millions of dollars on the back of these scams. Some are caught but many are invisible to the authorities or in some cases the authorities don’t care. But it’s a global concern and one which every country should address by some sort of international body set up to rid us all of this scourge.
Most of the time your email account will catch all this spam with their advanced spam protection and either put it in the spam bin or as in the case of Google’s Gmail spam filter system or Microsoft’s Hotmail, send it straight to the normal bin used for everything else. Sometimes though spam does get through and make it to the inbox as these spammers are getting more and more sophisticated, but as they grow so do the email providers and it’s not long before they have updated their spam software to counter the threat.
Some of the mail one gets is from scammers who are trying to extort security details from you. This can be in the form of mails supposedly from banks claiming your account has been compromised, illegal withdrawals have been made on your account, or to update your security details. But no matter if you do bank with the banks they are supposed to come from it’s important to NEVER open them or follow the links in the email. This can lead to Trojans being secretly installed onto your computer which will secretly send information back to the hacker. Information like usernames and passwords that you may use will be available to an unscrupulous person at the other end of the planet. If you do click on the link and are fortunate enough to not receive a Trojan then the next stage would be to input all your security details onto the page that’s open. When you do that and press submit or enter, your information is sent to the hacker straight away and your bank account has now been compromised. This will allow the hacker to access your bank account and empty it at a time that suits him.
Other scams to be aware of are from people allegedly being God fearing Christians who haven’t got long to live. Mails from a Lottery organisation and even the F.B.I. have been used with one thing in common. To get you to part with your money on the pretence of you receiving millions of dollars back. What utter bullshit. Sorry but there’s no other way to put it. These mails are after one thing like I said and that is to scam you for everything you have. When you make contact they claim the money is stuck somewhere and you will have to pay a charge to release it. When you do the scammers either disappear or, if they think they can cream more money from you, will make up another excuse until the victim either becomes aware it’s a scam or ends up penniless which in most cases does happen. These originally started from Nigeria hence the nickname, 419 Nigerian scams. Nowadays they come from other places, mostly in Europe.
How Do They Get Your Email Address?
Every time you enter an email address on a website you are a potential risk of email harvesters. These are small programs rather like the bots which trawl the internet like Google Bots. The difference being these email harvesters are after one thing: yes that’s right, to harvest your email address so scammers can bombard you with spam emails. Many internet websites are now cottoning on to the harvesters and are making it difficult for them to gain email addresses, but as with everything else these scammers are getting more technical by the day.
What Can You Do?
Well there are a few things you can do to stop spam emails without stopping using the internet all together.
1 Do not under any circumstances open emails from people you don’t know especially if the email has made it into the spam bin.
2 If you do open the email do not download any attachments that come with the mail or follow any links even if it’s from the bank you use. Instead open another page and access your account the normal way online.
3 If you do open an email and it turns out to be a scam, change your passwords immediately and contact the bank so they can lookout for any suspicious withdrawals from your account.
4 What you shouldn’t do is to click on the unsubscribe button if there is one in these emails. All that does is send confirmation to the scammers that the email address is active so they can spam you more.
5 If anyone is asking for help, wants you to accept money, or any other scheme which sounds too good to be true, then delete them as they are too good to be true and a scam.
6 If you use PayPal or eBay then you can find out if the email is actually from them. One way with Gmail is too use an add-on which checks the link first then informs you if the link is suspicious. Another good way is to forward the email to them and they will, most of the time email you back and let you know if it’s really from them. I use this on a regular basis, not because I think it’s a scam (as it usually is) but to inform them that yet more emails are out there. They can then look into the email and make the appropriate changes etc.
7 With free email accounts a plenty online these days many people have more than one account. A good thing would be to use one specific email address when you need to sign up with websites. That way if spam does make it to your account you will know it’s just that, spam and delete it accordingly.
Don’t let spam worry or stop you from enjoying the wonders of the internet. It truly is a magical place where you can do almost anything including learn and make new friends from all over the globe. Just think before you give out any details about yourself, don’t open any suspicious emails and maybe use one email address for all the websites you sign up to. All this will go a long way in combating spam, staying safe online and make the internet a safer and more enjoyable place to be.
