E-mail spoofing is here to stay because there are enough people who fall for the scheme to pay the costs of putting them on. It is very easy to think that the bank really wants us to click on the link, then go to a site that will take our information and passwords. It is very easy to assume that the bank is just e-mailing us so that we don’t have to go to the real website, call the number on our bank statements or credit cards, or visit the real bank in order to find out how to resolve the terrible „crisis“ that is described in the e-mail. We will easily fall for the online shopping site flyer that has such a convenient link for buying into that great deal of the week, just by clicking on a picture/link and entering our credit card data at the convincing and very realistic „shopping cart“ page. Go to the real site to shop! Never click on any e-mail links to „shopping sites“. If we have dealings with the IRS, we will be more than glad to respond to that „official“ letter, complete with the IRS logo that offers to settle our back taxes for pennies on the dollar, if we enter our critical data and pay at the conveniently provided link. This goes for the Department Of Motor Vehicles transactions, fishing licenses, social security over payments, parking fines, towing fees and all of the other ways that agencies use to collect our money. Go to the real website or call the official phone number! Never click on any e-mail links to „government sites“, especially when payment is demanded. How do spoofers know that we have IRS or other government issues? They don’t. But by sending out tens of thousands of spoof mails, they use the probability that someone will fall for the scam, readily resolving the issue by transferring funds, printing out the „receipts“, then sitting there, not knowing that it will probably take weeks for the truth to hit them that their money is gone! It is not expensive or difficult for spoofers to scan in real letterheads and documents, then modify them and incorporate them into interactive e-mails that link to convincing and interactive websites. Anyone can set up a website that can collect money, then move on without leaving a trace. If a trace is left, it does not matter. The fake identification that was used to rent office space and equipment, to set up internet service and websites, to cash out, then to launder the money is a piece of cake! Never open e-mails from companies, agencies or people who are not on your address list, even if they use your first name or other personal information in the title! Any decent e-mail service will warn you that the e-mail might not be safe. Set up separate e-mail accounts for your financial, personal, and junk online activities. Never give out your financial e-mail address to anyone but your actual credit or banking agency that has online services. Even when the least sophisticated of spoofers is caught, a little jail time, some fines that may never be paid, a plea bargain and some minor disruptions to an already messed up life will not stop them from their goal of taking online candy from internet babies. And people can become quite upset and unthinking when an ominous message arrives. Don’t open unfamiliar e-mail, no matter how enticing, friendly, familiar acting, „official“, „threatening“ or „important“ the title is. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society