Phishing
- Alex
This has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time now.
Here's a study posted at CNN: 1 in 4 targeted in phishing scams.
I'll grant you, a lot of my consternation comes from the fact that I work an IT job, and I hear a lot of stupid questions. And I mean a lot. So my
tolerance gets lowered for things like this.
That said, here's my Public Service Announcement for things like this:
You need to do two things: Read. and Think. I know that it's really hard to do both of those things, but try. Here's a quote from the CNN article:
"What's happening is that more and more people are actually engaging in transactions online that would generate e-mail traffic that the scammers are copycatting," said Tatiana Platt. . .
Well, kind of. The thing is, just about every corporation that I deal with to do things online doesn't send me an e-mail unless I initiate a transaction.
Amazon doesn't just email me out of the blue saying We know you haven't bought anything from us, but we really need to verify your credit card, social security
number, and your mother's maiden name. Could you please send us an email as quickly as possible?
It just doesn't happen. So if you get an email like that, it IS a fraud.
Also, if you get an email from a bank that YOU DON'T BELONG TO, they DON'T have any reason to want to verify your Social Security Number. Is that really so
hard to comprehend? Even if you DO belong to a bank that sends you out an email asking you for details, you DON'T have to respond to it. The e-mail is not going
to explode and kill you. Pick up the phone, as 20th century as it is, and call your local branch and ask for details. To save you some time, though, I'll tell you
that they'll tell you they didn't send the email, and that you should just delete it.
Finally, I will tell you that NONE of these corporations have advanced to the point that they're entirely paperless. If your bank really does need to get some
information from you, you'll get a letter via the US Postal Service. Trust me.
So just everyone relax about the e-mail, would you? Please? My blood pressure thanks you.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
