I have noticed a new influx of SPAM lately in my district mailbox. Perhaps you have received an inappropriate e-mail or an e-mail from someone you do not know asking for you to click on a link, download a file or send personal information.
Here are a few helpful e-mail DO or DON’TS to protect your privacy.
DO
Check the e-mail address of the Sender: Sometimes
an e-mail will appear to be from a friend or someone in your Contact List BUT
even if the name looks correct, the e-mail address that the message is sent from
is not! Many
scammers and phishers will use names that are familiar to you but the FROM
e-mail address will be something strange.
Look closely at the Subject line of the e-mail and the text in the
body of the e-mail: Many
e-mail scams will contain misspellings in the Subject Line or e-mail body text. There may
also be punctuation that seems out of place. Often the
grammar will not be correct either.
Go to a Fact Checking Website like- http://www.snopes.com to see if the claims and/or
announcements in the e-mail are TRUE or FALSE .
LOGOUT: Protect
yourself by logging out of your e-mail program and any social networking sites
when you are finished using them.
Be Cautious First: If
something is really important and is from a REAL contact of yours, they will
contact you again!
Ask Questions: Call or
e-mail the friend that the e-mail appears to be from or a friend of that
friend! Ask them if they are really trying to contact you.
DELETE DELETE DELETE: DELETE
any suspicious e-mails that you receive! CHECK
YOUR SPAM/BULK e-mail folder and if none of the messages are from confirmed
contacts, DELETE the messages!
DON’T DO THIS!
§ DON’T Click on
any links in the body of a suspicious e-mail!
§ DON’T Download
or Open any files attached to a suspicious e-mail!
§ DON’T Respond
to any suspicious e-mail!
§ DON’T Forward
any suspicious e-mail to your friends, family and co-workers!
§ DON’T Believe
everything you read in your e-mail Inbox or on the Internet!
