Scams

Tis the season...

FOR SCAMMING.

Please be careful when opening email. In the last week I have received many spam/junk emails that are so deceptive that I'm sure many are falling for them. I just received one from service@paypal.com. It looks legit and it says that the IRS owes me around $500. Now I know the IRS will never send out emails and that they won't go out of their way to get me back money that is rightfully mins. In fact, that was my first clue that this was a scam. "The IRS wants to give me money? Hold on there, partner."

Following a few simple rules will help you out in the long run:

1. NEVER EVER EVER click on a link in an email. If you follow this one rule, it will save you months of headache. Your pal on Facebook sent an email to a link of their awesome pics. Well that's great, but go to facebook.com and then look at their profile. CapitalOne needs to verify you account info, so click this link to login? You bet, but first I will visit capitalone.com in my browser of choice. Notice I didn't click the link in either of those emails? NEVER CLICK A LINK IN AN EMAIL.

2. Something for free, too good to be true. IT IS. ALWAYS.
ALWAYS.
ALWAYS.
ALWAYS.

3. Even if you get an email from a friend and everything looks good, be wary. Spammers can piggyback on your friends email account, shoot emails out through his name and get you. It's like someone writing a letter and instead of their name and address on the return, it your friends.

Good luck and stay safe.

Late.