Stop Spamming ME!!!!!
Let me start off with part of an email I received a year back from an anonymous sender from China.
“Hello Mr. Pitner, I am emailing you today to ask for your help to accept an inheritance of $8.2 million from my uncle that past away last week. I have talked with my lawyers and found that I will be unable to transfer the money directly into my own account. So, I instead have had to look for a person who is loyal and can be someone I can count on to transfer the money instead into their account. This person is you.
If you are willing to accept this proposition, then I will split the inheritance money in half with you. We can both get rich off of this. Just send your bank account information over so I can get the transfer set up.”
That’s right everyone, I can be the next multi-millionaire.
Emails like this one are sent to people all across the world, in hopes that some poor individual will actually buy into the spammer’s short story and give up his or her bank account information. If this happens, and a spammer receives your bank account information, you can say good-bye to all of that savings account money you were saving up for that new car you’ve been dreaming of.
Spam can be defined as being a message that is sent repeatedly to a large number of recipients over the Internet. Half of the time it is a company that wants to tell people more about its product, and the other half is people wanting to know your bank account information. Both equally as annoying. The question here is how do they grab a hold of your email and information? The answer is actually right in front of our eyes.
It’s the INTERNET!!!
Spammers have been notorious for finding emails that we put out in the Internet. Whether it is from Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, or even Twitter, if that @ symbol is located out on the web, then a spammer can find it.
How do we avoid spams you might ask? Well there really isn’t anyway to stop them from happening permanently. The reason why is because we need media! As explained by the Uses and Gratification Theory, “all humans have psychological needs. One way for us to satisfy our needs is through media.” We can’t help but use media to post about what we are doing and what we experience in our everyday lives. It’s part of our nature, and spammers take advantage of this need.
Another question you might ask is, “I thought my email is confidential though in all of these cites?” Well it really isn’t. Remember the first time you created a Facebook or a Twitter page? You had to list your email down and create a password in order for you to sign in. every time Spammers have technology now that can look for those @ symbols on the web and then use them to send thousands of fake advertisements into your inbox.
What can I do then?
Well, over the years computer companies have found ways to not let the spam cloud up peoples inboxes, by diverting all of the spammers emails straight to the junk section of your inbox. While this does stop you from seeing it, the spams will still be there.
Overall, spams have caught a lot of people off guard and have caused some real trouble to peoples lives. It is good to spread awareness of this problem and to make sure that you don’t fall for one of the these tempting stories that a spammer makes. To finish off, there was a Ted Talk made about spams that I feel you will enjoy.
