Protect Yourself from Spam

Suppose that you receive this e-mail from Your Best Friend.

From: Your Best Friend; friend@yahoo.com
Date: December 24, 2011 5:50:17 AM PST
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Holiday Trip...Your Best Friend
Reply-To: friend1@yahoo.com

Just hoping this email reaches you...well,i'm sorry for this emergency and for not informing you about my urgent trip to  London,United Kingdom but I just have to let you know my present predicament. Everything was fine until I was attacked on my way back to the hotel, I wasn't hurt but I lost my money, bank cards, mobile phone and my bag in the course of this attack....I immediately contacted my bank in order to block my cards and also made a report at the nearest police station. I've been to  the embassy and they are helping me with my documentation so i can fly out but I'm urgently in need of some help from you to pay up my hotel bills and my flight ticket back home...My return flight back home is scheduled to leave in few hours from now...Now am freaked out....Please i need your help..

Hope to read from you soon.

Thanks and Regards.

Your Best Friend

= = = = =

I received the above e-mail from a friend. Of course, I change the friend's name to "Your Best Friend."

1) Many spam messages contain typos or other errors in the text.

2) Always check the Reply-To address. If it's different from the From: address, you can be assured that the e-mail is spam.

Note that your friend's real e-mail address is friend@yahoo.com and the reply address is friend1@yahoo.com.

The subtle difference is designed to fool you.

3) If possible, phone your friend. This alerts your friend immediately that someone has hacked into his or her system. You might also send an e-mail to your friend, using the real e-mail address for your friend.

4) Notifying the police is useless. Most spam comes from places that are beyond the control of your local police.

5) Never reply to a spam. This will give the spammer your e-mail address. Then the spammer can add your e-mail address to a spam database for more spam or sell the list to other spammers.

In this case, you receive an e-mail that promises good things if you forward it to five (or ten or fifty) of your friends.

The e-mail may also suggest that you will suffer misfortune if you fail to send it to others.

This is nonsense on both counts.

This type of scam is designed to collect the e-mail addresses of your friends. Then the spammer will add them to a spam database.

What to do: Delete the e-mail.

Your friend sends you a collection of photos that are absolutely amazing.

Or, your friend sends you a PowerPoint slide show. Or a video. Or something fantastic.

And your friend encourages you to share this amazing stuff with others. After all, it's absolutely amazing.

Don't do it.

It's possible that this e-mail contains code that will harvest your e-mail database or send your e-mail address to the spammer.

What to do: Delete the e-mail. Do not forward or send it to anyone.

If possible delete this e-mail without opening it. Then ask your friend to stop sending you this amazing stuff.

These look so real that they fool people.

It's an "official" e-mail from your bank, credit card company, or favorite merchant. It may also come from ebay, paypal, UPS, FedEx, amazon, or some other major business.

The image at the right is a screen shot of real spam. It pretends to come from AT&T. But it came from att@e.att-mail.com, which is a bogus e-mail address.

These e-mails will state that you either have a problem with your account or that you need to update your record.

Don't do it.

None of these companies send out such announcements.

All of these e-mails are scams designed to collect your login info (user ID and password) or personal information.

Once the spammer has this info they can rob your account or sell the info to other spammers.

If you receive such a notice, log on to the company's web site using the login info that you keep on file. That is, use the web address that you know instead of the link provided in the e-mail.

Or, phone the company to check if there really is a problem.

Note: If you use the link in the e-mail, you will land on a web site that looks completely legitimate. The spammer has copied everything (logo, fonts, text, and so on) to make this bogus page appear real.

As soon as you land on this bogus page, the spammer will know that you landed there. And often the spammer now knows your e-mail address.

1) Never respond to spam.

If you reply, the spammer will get your e-mail address.

2) Never click on a link in a suspect e-mail.

This can launch a virus or send your personal info to the spammer.

3) Never forward spam.

Obviously, this sends the spam to someone else who might be hurt by it.

4) Never send e-mail to a list of addresses using the To: field.

If you do this, everyone on the list will receive your entire distribution list.

Use the BCC: field instead.

5) Never use a company computer for private e-mail.

The company computer system will save all the e-mails that you send and receive. These are then accessible by people with a need to know, such as the HR manager.

1) Use a meaningful subject.

Include info in the subject that shows it's a real e-mail (instead of a spam). For example, refer to an interest, organization, topic, or something that the receiver will recognize as being legitimate.

2) Read your e-mail before sending it.

Typos, bad grammar, and misspellings can cause major problems. For example, there is a huge difference between "not" and "now," such as: "The meeting is NOT in Chicago" versus "The meeting is NOW in Chicago."

Also, make sure that the subject is free of typos. Most spam goes out with misspelled words in the subject to fool spam filters.

3) Use complete sentences.

Incomplete sentences leave the actual meaning to the reader. This can cause major problems.

4) Use proper formatting

This includes using capital letters, punctuation, and carriage returns.

Special Note: I realize that it's popular to use slang and abbreviations. This may be okay with friends. But it can be deadly at work.

5) Write for the public.

Send messages that could be written in the sky above your home or office. People have ruined careers by sending insults, lies, and threats in an e-mail.

6) Be friendly.

People are more cooperative when someone is kind. No one responds favorably to hostile messages.

And people save e-mails. So a nasty message may linger to haunt you.