All spam emails we receive every day in tens or hundreds are annoying
and disgusting. But
the worst
of them are scams, hoaxes,
and illegal schemes aimed
at defrauding
you of
your money, private information, and
even your life. Being aware of how
the spam scams work
you will be able
to protect yourself against the spammers-fraudsters and not
to become a victim of their fraudulent schemes.
A lot of spam scams arrive in the form of
a great investment offer. It usually works as a Pyramid
scheme. Spammers ask
you to pay money for a membership,
goods, or simply to "invest" promising you much money as revenue. Your revenue will come
from those people who will
invest after you. Your investment
is distributed to those who joined before you. At some point the pyramid ruins
because there are not enough new
investors to keep the money flowing. The spammer is at the top of the pyramid and he is the only one who
benefits. The scan
may not always look like an investment offer. The spammers
can ask you to distribute some advertising letters to a
list of email addresses, for remuneration.
Although they will tell you
that the list contains only opt-in email addresses, its not true, and you will be
sending spam directly from your computer.
Another fraudulent scheme you may meet looks like a letter coming from a company that you do business with. Usually the spammer asks you to follow a link within the message supposedly to update your account. But actually this is done to worm you out your personal and financial
information. If you click on that link, you will be brought to a page that will look like a companys web site. While you are logging in or filling the form in, the program is recording your keystrokes and
all your private information account number, user name, password, social security number is disclosed. Never click on the links included in such
emails. Just
open a companys web site in a separate window and check your account details out.
Nigerian spam is one of the most dangerous email scams. The mechanism of the scam is simple. The spammer sends you a badly spelled letter on behalf of a government
official, deposed ruler, or relative of a ruling family asking you for help.
They have some
goods, money, or
jewels that they cannot access due to political reasons.
They ask you to allow them transfer large sums of money into your bank account. They
promise to remunerate you for your kindness, or
even leave all money to you. Attractive
offer, isnt it? Dont be a dolt, dont believe them. They tempt you into a trap. Their object is to obtain your account number and bank transfer information. They also may ask you to send them a fee to bribe some corrupt government officials. Further you may receive additional officially looking letters where you will be asked to provide further documents, private information, and money. When they have played with you
long enough, or believe that you may suspect to be led on, they will rob you and quite.
Take care! Dont react upon
any spam message whatever
tempting offer it contains. Delete it at once, or let an
anti-spam filter delete all spam before you download it into your inbox.
Julia Gulevich is a technical expert associated with development of computer software like AATools, Advanced
Email Verifier, G-Lock EasyMail, Spam and Junk Email Filter
http://www.glocksoft.com/sc/ More information can be found at Anti Spam Filter Resources
http://www.glocksoft.net/sc/.