PC Security - Spam Scams
You've seen it in your inbox - email subject lines screaming
at you about mortgages, gambling, prescription drugs, and much more. There
are numerous spam emails that are designed to get your money, although mostly
what they do is irritate us and cost us time. Some are true scams, however,
and you need to be aware of them.
Many years ago, the Nigerian bank scam started, and it still arrives in inboxes
around the world today. The email message will state that the person sending
it is related to a government official or something of this nature in Nigeria,
or some other 'out of the way' country. They usually have a very sad story
to tell, and it involves how money (millions of dollars) was deposited, and
can no longer be accessed. They need your help and will pay you handsomely
for your assistance. What they need is a few thousand from you, or your bank
account number for a wire transfer or some such nonsense.
There are also 'investment opportunities' cropping up, and many of these
are scams as well. They almost always claim to be risk free, but are not.
In fact, the only guarantee you have is that once you have 'invested' your
money, you will never see that money again - and most likely won't hear from
the scammer again either. Recently, there have also been scams for 'secured'
credit cards. You send in the security deposit, but never receive the card.
Obviously, even if you want a secured credit card, it is vital that you only
do business with a well established, well-known bank. Second, if any investment
opportunity sounds too good to be true, it is. You can't expect to invest
a tiny amount and reap huge rewards - it doesn't work like that.
Multilevel Marketing has been getting a bad rap for years now, mostly because
of the rampant MLM schemes that exist. With an MLM scheme, you buy huge
quantities of a product, which you are supposed to sell for a profit. While
this is a great concept, usually once you've paid for the product, the person
you are buying the product from takes the money and runs - without delivering
the product.
The best way to avoid being scammed by spam emails that you receive is to
remember that a legitimate, reputable company would never be sending you
spam in the first place. Legitimate companies only send email to those
individuals that have requested to receive such email.
Spam sometimes angers us to the point where we feel the need to reply and
'blast' the spammer. This does not work in our favor. All this accomplishes
is letting the spammer know that they have indeed hit a live address. They
may not send you spam again (or they may), but you can bet they will be perfectly
willing to sell your email address to other spammers as a live address. Clicking
on that handy 'remove' link in spam emails won't work either, as this again
just verifies that you have a live address.
Even if you do come across a spam message that piques your interest, be very
cautious. Remember that they sent you spam. This is an indication that the
company does not use ethical business practices, and this is definitely someone
that you do not want to share your credit card numbers, bank account numbers,
or any other private information with.
 PC Security: Index
PC Security:
Internet Browsers
PC Security:
Spam
PC Security:
Stopping Spam Part 1
PC Security:
Stopping Spam Part 2
PC Security: Spam
Scams
PC Security:
Email Security and Spam
PC Security:
Email Security
PC Security:
Computer Viruses
PC Security:
Protecting Computers From Viruses
PC Security:
Worm Viruses
PC Security:
Trojan Horse Viruses
PC Security:
Rootkits
PC Security:
Removing a Virus
PC Security:
Virus Hoaxes
PC Security:
Server Viruses
PC Security:
Home Network
PC Security:
Cell Phone Viruses
PC Security:
Spyware
PC Security:
Firewalls Part 1
PC Security:
Firewalls Part 2
PC
Security: Parental Control Software
PC Security:
Malware - Spyware and Adware
PC Security:
Data Backups
PC Security:
Pop Up Windows
PC
Security: Safe Public Computer
Use
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