"If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call
If it's somethin' weird an it don't look good
Who ya gonna call"
Recognise the theme song for Ghostbusters the movie, it came to mind as I see so many people still fall for scams, spam and phishing. When you consider that the World Wide Web is still young it has been around for 25 years (with the internet having been around for 45 years) and with the majority of people coming online in the last decade it isn't surprising that so many are not accustomed to how vulnerable they are if they ignore some basic principles.
There are some simple things that I constantly educate my customers about and the number one rule is
If you don't know what it is and you don't understand where it came from leave it alone
Actually it is curiosity that gets the best of us, can we truly get our hands on millions of dollars in a foreign bank account, will clicking on this really save me money or give me larger appendages, curiosity today isn't killing the cat but it is destroying people's computers, data and accessing all their secure information.
Some simple rules to follow to help you curb your curiosity:
- If you receive an email from someone you don't know and they claim to be sending you a refund or payment request, assign the email to spam/junk without clicking on any links.
- If you receive and email from someone you do know and they send you a link or a strange request, their account has in all likelihood been hacked, don't click on the link or open the attachment. If you think it might have come from them reply and ask if they did send this to you and perhaps they could give you more detail, at the very least it will tell them that they have been hacked.
- I regularly receive notifications on domains that I must pay an exorbitant amount for a domain renewal, of course I can immediately identify these as spam but I do wonder how many people pay these scammers and then still end up losing their domain when they don't pay the real invoice. Don't pay anyone unless you verify that they are the right people to pay.
- Banks and utility companies will not ask you to give personal information in an email and if they give you a link to do so it is recommended that you do not use the link but instead access them via the app or website to find the information that you need.
- When you're looking at an email that says it comes from Amazon (for example) but in the email header it says Amazon <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> then you can be certain that it is coming from a spammer/phisher block the email and ignore.
- If you receive an email with a link and you're not expecting it and you don't know if the link is viral it is simple to identify the hyperlink by simply hovering the mouse over the URL and it will show you the origin of the URL if it doesn't say amazon.com//index..... (for example) then it is almost certain that Amazon is not the originator of the link - DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.
It if for many of these reasons that I highly recommend that people or businesses that have a website domain i.e. www.leapingahead.net use this domain for their emails. I am usually distrustful of businesses that send me mail with a @gmail address as so much spam is generated from any generic provider.
In closing, if it looks too good to be true- it probably is, if it is not familiar to you - it probably isn't, wants personal details - don't do it. If a company or person inappropriately words their email I will double check before I jump in. Basically, curb your curiosity and be safe.