Hey, if you're sort of new to the web here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Don't answer unsolicited emails. They're info farming.
Don't freak out about internet warnings. Go check out SNOPES.com to verify internet warnings before spreading the news.
Don't answer weird emails from your friends. They may have become infected with a spam bot and are spamming their entire address book. Call them or send them a separate email to confirm the first weird one.
Don't buy into the cheap stuff, the offers for money for you to exchange for strangers, the letters saying you had a long lost relative die, etc., etc..
And don't fall for those stupid as Facebook stunts that say resharing this will get some rich dude to share his money with you. Rich dudes do not share. They earned it and believe everyone needs to earn their keep.
If you're tempted to open a link, just delete the email. Or hover your mouse over the link to see that even though the link text might say "bob's best juicing machines," hovering your mouse over the link will show you the real link, like "server.catch.email_address.net/stupid/people/c.ick/here."
Also, if "your bank" or other financially operated institution fires you off an email asking for your password or to follow a link to sign in, DON'T. Go open a browser, manually go to your bank or whatever site the email says it's from, and then log in. If you have a message, it should be noted once you sign in with your legitimate website in the messages section.
Just saying.
So what sparked this? A few cute spam emails I had in my inbox today.
-There's the one that pleads in the title, "Please do not neglect"
-There was an unsolicited email with my full name in the title. Again, unsolicited offer for a free book or something.
-I found a few years ago that ATTRACTA was a dubious entity. Not evil, just crappy business practices. So I avoid them.
-I had a "dear {email address}, you have a FedEx Delivery" Um, last time I had anything sent to me using my email address as my name was NEVER. Idiots.
-I had one of those "messages" to me, from LinkedIn. Riiight. I went directly to the site and saw that I did not have any messages.
-And I won something from Coca Cola. Or to be more exact, my email address won something where I would need to follow a link, "sign in," and blah, blah, blah.
So be careful out there. Sometimes the timing and wording of some junk spam is pretty good, and that's when they get you. But if you work consistently at not believing anything you received that you did not send for, then so be it.
OH, also, I don't open any humor or videos or attachments from ANYONE I know. They may unintentionally passing on bad stuff to you. I wait until I get to work to use work's computers to open stuff that I'm curious about.
NEVER break that rule, or any of the guidelines above and you should be fine.
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Don't answer unsolicited emails. They're info farming.
Don't freak out about internet warnings. Go check out SNOPES.com to verify internet warnings before spreading the news.
Don't answer weird emails from your friends. They may have become infected with a spam bot and are spamming their entire address book. Call them or send them a separate email to confirm the first weird one.
Don't buy into the cheap stuff, the offers for money for you to exchange for strangers, the letters saying you had a long lost relative die, etc., etc..
And don't fall for those stupid as Facebook stunts that say resharing this will get some rich dude to share his money with you. Rich dudes do not share. They earned it and believe everyone needs to earn their keep.
If you're tempted to open a link, just delete the email. Or hover your mouse over the link to see that even though the link text might say "bob's best juicing machines," hovering your mouse over the link will show you the real link, like "server.catch.email_address.net/stupid/people/c.ick/here."
Also, if "your bank" or other financially operated institution fires you off an email asking for your password or to follow a link to sign in, DON'T. Go open a browser, manually go to your bank or whatever site the email says it's from, and then log in. If you have a message, it should be noted once you sign in with your legitimate website in the messages section.
Just saying.
So what sparked this? A few cute spam emails I had in my inbox today.
-There's the one that pleads in the title, "Please do not neglect"
-There was an unsolicited email with my full name in the title. Again, unsolicited offer for a free book or something.
-I found a few years ago that ATTRACTA was a dubious entity. Not evil, just crappy business practices. So I avoid them.
-I had a "dear {email address}, you have a FedEx Delivery" Um, last time I had anything sent to me using my email address as my name was NEVER. Idiots.
-I had one of those "messages" to me, from LinkedIn. Riiight. I went directly to the site and saw that I did not have any messages.
-And I won something from Coca Cola. Or to be more exact, my email address won something where I would need to follow a link, "sign in," and blah, blah, blah.
So be careful out there. Sometimes the timing and wording of some junk spam is pretty good, and that's when they get you. But if you work consistently at not believing anything you received that you did not send for, then so be it.
OH, also, I don't open any humor or videos or attachments from ANYONE I know. They may unintentionally passing on bad stuff to you. I wait until I get to work to use work's computers to open stuff that I'm curious about.
NEVER break that rule, or any of the guidelines above and you should be fine.
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