Over the past couple of weeks, I have noticed a lot of spam in my email account. There seems to be a surge of spam emails and then the spam tends to back down. It’s a wave of messages that are suddenly swept away by tools to combat the growing problem. Spam affects us all – whether we realize it or not. There could be dire consequences if we fall for these false messages.
SO WHAT IS SPAM?
Spam in a sense is kind of like the junk mail that you get. All spam is is digital junk mail. Often spam is from people you don’t know – pitching their products and services or possibly stating you won money of some sorts. Some spam even goes as far as putting malicious software, adware, spyware on your computer that could grant them access to your personal data.
Don’t think that spam stops just at email accounts. Spam also affects people who use Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites. Be wary of anyone who you don’t know and the information that they send to you.
SPAM SCAMS
I laugh at some of the spam email that I get because some of them are totally preposterous. If it seems too good to be true, then it more than likely is. If you don’t know or recognize the email from someone you know then it is more than likely spam.
There have been cases where people have been asked to provide personal information such as names, addresses, SSNs, bank information. Your bank will more then likely never ask you for your bank information over email. If you receive an email asking you for this information it is best to contact the bank and see if they really did send you an email message asking for this information. Even if they did, email is not the most secure way to deal with these kinds of issues and should be either done in person or over the phone.
Here is a complete list of email scams that have been plaguing many email accounts. Click here to view.
TOOLS FOR PROTECTION
There are numerous ways to combat spam. Many email services like GMail and Yahoo have anti-spam software built right into their email services. They also offer a spam folder for messages that the service weeds out as potential spam. However, some mail that isn’t spam gets placed into this folder so it’s crucial that you screen the folder to see if any mail gets placed in there that shouldn’t be.
If you’re getting spam from one particular person or company often, you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission by clicking here.
Use and update your spam feature from your anti-viral program. MCafee and Norton both have products to help combat spam. If you don’t have Virus protection on your computer it may be wise to do so. If you’re using a Mac computer, like myself it is up to you whether or not you would like to use Virus and spam protection. There are fewer products and services for Macs because there haven’t been as many attacks on Macs than PCs. However, there are products available if you do chose to make that decision. I have decided to use protection since I use a shared network at my University.
Don’t make rash decisions. Take a couple days to think about it before doing anything. This will help you think things through before acting.
