Spam e-mail

If you get e-mail that you think might be spam, or a hoax, report it to your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Find out the ISP's email address for scams, and add it to your contacts so you can find it easily. Forward suspicious email to your ISP as an attachment so they can trace it. (Ask your ISP how to do this)  Even if it's not a threat, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Do not open attachments or click on links if you do not know who they are from. Attachments sometimes contain viruses.

Do not forward e-mail if you have an uneasy feeling about it. Just delete it! Whether it is a scam or not, you have saved the next person's time!

A Phishing scam is an email that wants personal information from you, like name, address, cell number, ID number, banking details. They will use the info to impersonate you and open accounts in your name. Just delete it. Beware of contact forms on websites unless you know and trust the website. Scammers pick up your personal details from forms.

Here are some suspicious e-mails you might get:

The bank is updating its records, or there is suspicious activity on your account. (Phishing)

SPCA, or other animal shelter, is closing down.

A missionary or Peace Corpse volunteer in Cameroon has fallen on hard times and needs to find a home for his dog. If you offer to pay shipping costs, or to pay vets bill to get it through the border, you will be scammed because there is no dog! 

A dog is missing. Read it carefully. Is the phone number correct, or is there a digit missing? Is it dated? Does it say what town the dog was in?

A child is missing. The child may have been found by the time you get the email, but you'll never know because spammers remove the date, location, phone numbers, & anything that can verify the authenticity of the matter.

A child is dying of cancer and if you forward the email, she will get money. Spammers play on the emotions. This may have started off as a genuine plea for help, but it has been manipulated by unfeeling baddies. The child may already have died, but the email still circulates as there is no way of verifying it.

A widow is dying of cancer and wants to leave money to "a good person," or "The Lord's work," or she needs to get it out of an African country. Can she have your bank details? Don't let anyone use your account. You will end up being robbed!

Some scam emails say if you forward the email, you will get money, a free cellphone, or good luck.

Bad luck will befall you if you do not forward the email within a certain time.

Many petitions are sent out by folk who are tracking the email and compiling lists of email addresses to sell to online marketers. The subject of the petition may be true, but passing it on is a waste of time and just slows down the internet.