How To Spot Common Spam Scams
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We’ve all received spam trying to sell us things such as prescription medications, cheap mortgages and internet gambling. Most people just hit delete and move on, but there are some scams that are a little more serious.
One of the most common is the Nigerian bank scam. Someone sends you an email pretending to have some kind of relationship to a government official who has recently died, most often in Nigeria. They claim to know about money that was deposited in a secret account that is not accessible to them. In exchange for paying the “transfer fees” and accepting the money in your account, you get to keep a large portion of it. Of course, there is no money and they just want to get your bank account information and the transfer fees you send them.
Another fairly common scam is investments with extraordinary returns. They’ll claim to be risk-free but this is obviously not the case. Once you send them your initial investment, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever hear from them again, unless it’s to ask for more money.
These scams can also effect legitimate businesses you might be dealing with. Because there is so much spam these days, the email services are working hard to filter it out. These filters can sometimes stop legitimate messages, however, and you may not receive something you wanted.
How To Avoid Getting Scammed
Firstly, never ever reply to spam, either by hitting reply or by clicking a link in the email. These things will only serve to confirm your email address is active and you will shortly start to receive much more spam than you do already.
Above all, never give your credit card number, bank account details or private data to anyone unknown over the Internet. PayPal, for example, and other legitimate online businesses will never ask for your password in an email. One common scam is to fake return addresses and tailor subject lines and content so the message appears to be from them or another financial institution ‘confirming’ your information. Don’t fall for them.
Spam isn’t an easy things to stop, but if you don’t recognize the person sending you the message, and it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Besides, how many dead Nigerian dictators with huge bank accounts can there really be?
