Dealing with spam and avoiding common internet scams
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In normal life, if someone wants to scam you, they have to do it one on one.
But online scammers and spammers write programs to do it for them, then plug in a million email addresses and let it go to work. If only one in ten-thousand people fall for it, that’s still a hundred victims.
But once you can spot a scam, you can keep yourself safe.
Some scams happen at websites, but many come to you as spam – that is, junk email.
Spam is generally trying to sell you something: often pornography or pharmaceuticals that turn you into a towel rail.
I’ll talk about spam generally in a moment, but first, let’s look at the most common internet scams.
Probably the most common one is the bank email scam.
Dear Customer, the ABC Bank needs to confirm your account number and password. Please send it by return email so we can update your records, or use the attached link.
This email looks official. And so does the attached website. But if you do what it says, the scammer will have all your money about a minute later.
Your bank will NEVER send such an email. So just delete it.
Next is the Nigerian 419 scam.
Dear Sir, you have been recommended to me as a person of good character. I am Tuwumbi, Deposed Prince of Nigeria. My father the former King hid nine million American dollars of oil money in a secret account, and I need your help to unlock my inheritance.
Eventually he’ll ask for a bank account number, so he can transfer the money through it, giving you ten per cent as his agent.
But what will really happen, is he’ll take a hundred per cent of what you’ve got.
People do fall for this. Some even agree to meet the Prince overseas, when they’re promptly kidnapped.
Again, hit delete.
Modem jacking is an issue for people on dial-up. In order to access some website, you’ll be asked install a little piece of software. When you do, it hangs up the modem and dials a premium-rate phone number, where you’re charged many dollars a minute for the privilege of remaining online.
The worst part is, you have no idea this has happened, so you can spend hours on the internet and never realise the bill you’re running up.
So don’t agree to installing software just to see a website.
Buying things online is another place to be scammed. I don’t want to scare you off it all together, as online shopping can be brilliant, but you should only deal with reputable companies.
For example, thousands of people were scammed in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, by a very clever website that sold fake tickets to Olympic events.BeijingTicketing.com looked like the real thing, but was actually a real fake. So it’s worth knowing who you’re dealing with before you hand out your money.
Some other things that you should watch out forinclude:
– ‘Free’ offers that nonetheless require a credit card number.
– Sellers at online auctions who want to do the transaction privately, away from the auction site.
– Offers for mobile phone content like ringtones, because you can be trapped in a very expensive deal without realising it
– Any email wanting identifying details or credit card numbers.
– And beautiful Russian women on Australian dating websites, especially if the emails they send you are entirely generic.
I am looking for serious romance with handsome man like you. I like walks on beach, sexy lingerie and good times. PS, please send money for my sick grandmothers kidney operation.
Just remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
So how do spammers and scammers get hold of your email address? Lots of ways.
– From forms you fill out on dodgy websites.
– From email lists you’ve subscribed to.
– From unscrupulous companies who have your email address for legitimate reasons, but also sell it on.
– And especially from publishing your email address on a website!
For example, if you’re the treasurer of the local bowls club, your email address might be on the club’s website as a contact.
Spammers have programs called bots which search websites, looking for email addresses to add to their lists.
And once you’re on a list, your address will be sold and resold between spam companies.
Most internet service providers have a spam filter, which attempts to weed out the spam without deleting good emails. This is the best way to handle it, because then you don’t have to download it all before deleting it.
If spam’s getting through or good email is getting caught in the net, you can sometimes fiddle with the spam filter settings, to help it work better.
You can also teach some spam filters, by marking the spam emails for them – so in future they’ll reject emails from the same address.
And now there are two newer types of spam to be aware of. One is called zombie spam!
That’s when a program sneaks into your computer and sends spam from you! You need to have good security software to avoid this issue.
And there’s also a thing called spoofing, where the spammer sends someone else an email with your address on it, making you look like the spammer! Don’t panic, just ignore it and it should stop.
The rules for dealing with all spam are simple:
– Avoid giving out your address out in the ways I’ve mentioned.
– NEVER reply to spam, it just confirms that your address works. Don’t even use the unsubscribe button.
– Don’t buy the stuff they’re selling.
– And delete it without opening it. If you hold the shift button while pressing delete, it skips sending it to your deleted folder, and just kills it on the spot.
(Go back to the Tech Mate index.)
Source From: (http://www.abc.net.au)
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