Pages

Monday, December 15, 2014

Do I Know You?

Spam exhausts me.  From robo telephone calls to emails to regular mailings, I find the scope exhausting and unnerving.  And I suspect that most of you feel the same.  Its intrusive, and worse, a lot of it are scams. 

Lately, one such robo call, and you know who they are because it takes a couple seconds after you say hello for it to switch to either a live person or automated message, responds to my hello with the phrase "Don't hang up...".  I have no idea what comes next because I always hang up.  Another call that I get comes from someone who tells me that my pc has a bug and they have been notified to get in touch with me to help fix it.  Right!  Or you might just win that dream vacation!

On the email front has come a number of requests from Dropbox to tell me that a friend has sent me a file to open.  At first glance, one might click the hyperlink but truth is, the email does not come from Dropbox.  For each of these suspect emails, a quick look at the full email address indicates that it actually comes elsewhere, with many addresses containing the .edu email address.  Spam bank emails also want me to open some attachment too.  But the worst are the ones that look like they come from someone you may know, but clicking on the email address shows that only their name was borrowed, not their true email address.  At times, I believe I get more spam emails a day than real ones.  Delete, delete, delete.

I suspect that the many attempts occurring these days from spammers/scammers must ensnare a few or more people each day.  A shame for the unsuspecting who should be careful what they click or share with unverified accounts.  Unfortunately, its looking to be a growing business.  So be careful what you click.