Internet
Scams & Spam
With the increased
use of the Internet comes the increased misuse of the Internet.
Many individuals and organizations are using email and websites
to defraud users.
Spam, or unsolicited
marketing email, has become a huge problem for most email users.
The College is working on ways to try to filter such email, but
the College must choose a solution carefully so as not to prevent
solicited, valid email.
You can do something
about email you do receive. The Federal Trade Commission has a website
that addresses many topics about trade and the Internet, including
spam, deceptive marketing and money-making schemes. Visit their
site at http://www.ftc.gov. They
also allow email users to forward spam for possible investigation,
and they have an online complaint form if you have had a problem
with spam or you have been defrauded by a company. Also see the
Secret Service's website addressing two of the most common scams
at http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml.
Some tips from
their website and others:
Tips
to Avoid Being Defrauded Over the Internet
- Never give
out your credit card number to a company you do not know. Do not
release this number if a company claims to need it do determine
you are over 18. Many people later find unauthorized charges which
are difficult to stop.
- Keep in mind:
if it looks to good to be true, it probably is.
- Many schemes
involve working at home to make money. Most involve modest to
high investments with small or no yields. Check out any company
that wants you to do work for them before you sign on. Check out
any offers with your local Consumer Affairs Bureau (click here
for Massachusetts' Office) and State Attorney General (click here
for Massachusetts' Attorney General).
- Never give
out bank information or personal information to a company you
do not know and trust. Most reputable companies will not need
most of that information, or will not ask for it online or on
the phone.
Tips
Specific to Spam
- Try to avoid
listing your email in public. Once it is public, it becomes a
target for spam.
- Complain
to the sender's ISP; most ISPs have policies that ban the use
of their service for spam. Send the spam to them with full headers
on so they can identify the sender, and be sure to state in your
message that you are complaining about their email.
- Do not respond
to unsolicited email; this alerts an organization that may have
randomly hit your email address that the account is active and
may subject you to further emails, some of which may not even
appear to come from the same place.
- Spammers
can get addresses from jokes, pleas for emails going to a sick
person, or any other forwarded email with a list of addresses.
Do not forward such lists; if there is content in the email you
wish to forward, cut that content and paste into a new email without
forwarding all those addresses. This avoids inadvertently sending
your friend's address(es) back to the person collecting them.
Special
Virus Alert
And always remember
never to open attachments from people you do not know. The safest
practice when opening an attachment from someone you do know and
trust is to save it first and run a virus scan on it before you
open it. Be sure to keep your virus scanning program up-to-date
to catch the newest viruses. This not only protects you, but also
anyone you may email and everyone in your address book.
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