Have you ever wondered why there is so much spam in our lives? It’s gotten to the point where you need to be cautious with each email or message you receive. Clicking on a link is now extremely dangerous because you don’t know where, or to what, it may lead.
Years ago, before the computer age, there was “junk mail”. Your postal mailbox was frequently filled with advertisements of some kind. At least then, the company sending it had to pay for postage. With email and messages, it doesn’t cost anything to send. That’s probably the reason spam has become so dangerous. Those messages no longer are limited to advertisements; some are sent by shady people for nefarious purposes.
I even receive spam comments to my blogs. Sometimes the messages come in a foreign language and other times they are in English, but you can quickly tell they’re spam. Anything that includes a link gets thrown into the spam filter, unless I know the person from whom the comment came. It’s a dangerous time. Here you think you’re doing something good for people and there’s some entity out there that’s trying to do you harm.
This all leads to today’s topic: Scams and Spams. There are all sorts of bad people in the world who try to take advantage of others. They don’t stop with the rich and famous; they often times target the elderly, people known to have good hearts, or people with medical conditions who may appear vulnerable. Having Myasthenia Gravis places us in that category.
Sometimes bad people just go phishing for anyone who will pay attention, but sometimes their schemes are targeted at people who are desperate to find relief. A person with any kind of medical condition is targeted with all these ads for products that may or may not work, but it’s those personal messages that play upon your kindness and empathy that are the most dangerous. Remember, spams often lead to scams.
While I like to think that most people are good, I have to realize there are a few out there that would and will take advantage. I try to be uplifting and perhaps even inspiring in my blogs, but there are those that consider those intentions as a weakness; a vulnerability that could be utilized to cause harm. For that reason, I’m extra careful. If you send me a message or comment and I don’t respond or you discover I’ve labelled your comment as spam, please know that I’m not being rude; I’m just attempted to protect myself and my website.
So, what can you do to protect yourself? Below are some tips to avoiding spams and scams:
- Veryify Before You Trust – Always double-check information, whether it’s an email, phone call or text message. If it seems suspicious, it very well could be. If it’s from a company, contact that company directly using a verified number on their website. Never use a number provided in the message.
- Don’t Share Personal Information – Never give out Social Security numbers, bank details, passwords, or verification codes unless you’re 100% sure the request is legitimate.
- Beware of Urgent or Threatening Messages – Scammers often attempt to pressure you to act quickly by claiming your account has been compromised, your subscription is expiring, you owe money, or you’ve won something.
- Be Cautious with Links and Attachments – Never click on a link or open an attachment unless you’re absolutely sure of the person who sent it. Scammers now have the ability to make their message or email look official, including the use of logos from the companies they’re claiming to represent. Don’t click on the links or attachments, but instead, contact the company directly using a verified number or website.
- Check Who Is Sending the Email – This takes a little finesse, but sometimes hovering your cursor over the email sender’s name will reveal the email from where the message was actually sent. Don’t click on the sender’s name, just hover over it. You may find a message supposedly coming from a company, like Amazon or your bank, is actually being sent from an individual’s email address or fake email account.
Hopefully these tips will help protect you. Always read your email and messages with just a bit of skepticism. If something looks suspicious, it probably is.
It’s one more way we can stay #MGStrong together!