Hook, line & sinker
And still they come. Day after day, spam email after spam email. The wonder is that the spammers are still finding that elusive thing they need for online profits — the sucker that P.T. Barnum said was born every minute.
Sometimes, it’s straight-up email frauds, fingering their way into your inbox to attempt to fish out information they can use to target your bank accounts or other finances. Other times, it’s out-and out appeals to greed. Agree to spend some seed money to help bring millions of dollars out of some far-off land — except the money won’t actually arrive. Believe the note that says you’ve won a lottery didn’t even have a ticket for, and all you have to do to receive your prize is to send a small payment for taxes and processing. Heck, sometime it even looks like a legitimate message from your bank, telling you to reset your personal identification number — even though, over and over and over again, banks warn you that they don’t send emails asking you to type in your passwords. After all, they, more than anyone, already know your passwords. Sometimes, it’s online dating scams, some quite sophisticated, that depend on love and loneliness to syphon ever more cash from the desperately hopeful.
The newest case? A former municipal worker from Toronto who lost $450,000, the combined totals from her life savings and the sale of her condominium, over a period of seven years. She’s far from alone. The RCMP told the Canadian Press this week that 748 Canadians lost more than $17 million to online dating scams in just the last year alone.
The world has always been full of people who are willing to take advantage of the weaknesses of others — the only difference now is that the Internet puts a window right into your home, a window that scammers can open and walk right into your life, if you let them.
There are some universal truths: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
If you have even a scintilla of suspicion about something, there’s probably a reason for you to feel that way.
And if it comes to you unbidden in your email, right there when you log in on a sunny hopeful morning, promising undying love or illicit riches, it’s probably a scam.
Don’t bite.
“My name is Staff Sgt. Evans Poole. I am serving with the U.S. military in Afghanistan with the army infantry division, I have some amount of funds I want to move out for safe keep and investment. Please email me for more details. I appreciate your prompt reply. Thank You Evans Poole.” “Hey friend, Have you already seen that stuff? It is so great that I’m sure you’ll love it, check it out (open link). Masa”