A final check of the day at my Inbox. Email 1&2 were headed. I have hacked your computer. I voiced a few expletives. Cautiously I read through the messages. Somehow the sender had quoted part of a nickname I have used in the past, but he/she claimed it to be my password. Then details of internet sites I visit. He/she claims I am a regular visitor to porn sites. Then claims that he/she has filmed me, via my computer camera, scenes of me sexually self abusing. Clever, very clever. I have never used my camera and I am sure my urologist would agree such to be impossible. Then to the nitty gritty. The threats and demands. I could be freed from further publication etc of the aforesaid details, simply by paying $400. Oh! and, all sorts of malware and trogens etc have been downloaded to my hard drive. I sat back and laughed. I use Webroot to safegaurd my computer, so a quick scan. No threats found etc. So. I often state that the internet can be a very useful tool but also a very dangerous one. With all the privacy laws etc, how do these cranks get our email addresses and how do they gather some bits of our usage?
Use Linux on your PC, and Android on your smartphone - Then just ignore everything, as now you'll never get hacked.
I used to collect the stamps from the nigerian prince scam letters before email became so prevalent. I kept them on a cork board at the office. I miss the old ways.
We had that one too, some time back. https://haveibeenpwned.com is a good place to check if your Email and passwords have been stolen.
Lately I have been responding by applying for a job with the scammers. I am glad spring has come because that is obviously a sign of winter boredom.
I just use the virus protection that comes with Windows Most scam e-mails go straight to junk unseen. I use Firefox with adblocker plus. So I don't see ads on YouTube or messageboards. I always delete all cookies other than those that save passwords every night.
@MIKE ALLEN, I've had some of those too. I laughed, then blocked them. I especially like the one where they claim to have hacked my computer camera, which I don't have. They also claimed to have my passwords. I change mine on a regular basis, and they get more intricate every time I do. @Dirtmechanic, any luck with getting a job? I never had any real letters from scammers, and now I feel sorry I missed out. I have noticed that I get a lot of phising and scam e-mails after I've been active on one of our Norwegian buy-and-sell sites. Then they slowly disappear over two-three weeks. I avoid that site as much as I can now. Most of these go in the spamfilter, but I routinely check that since some of the e-mails I want also end up there.
Haha! Mostly I delete emails that are wonky but occasionally I get sucked in by a craigslist ad when I inquire about the low priced item. Too good to be true! Those folks I spend time with to level up my yin since they yanged me.
I had so many phone calls from the Microsoft scammers I started answering calls from unknown numbers with: Welcome to the international police department for internet scams. If you wish to report a scam, press 1. If you are a scammer, hang up and stop bothering us. I sort of never got past the international police department-bit before they hung up.
As soon as you go on any site they are likely to put a cookie on your laptop, some won't even let you enter the site without agreeing to accept them. Amazon annoy me because they will put a boat-load on. It's all about your search habits. I have bought a few records through Discogs in the past, but haven't been on their site in months, I still get the odd cookie of theirs on my laptop now and again, but it gets deleted with the rest of the unwanted ones every night. YouTube is the worst, if you use it regularly the cookies will build up and exceed 100. But it's easy enough to delete them and log in again.
It's annoying, isn't it? Especially the having to accept all cookies. I use DuckDuckGo as a browser on my phone and tablet, so no cookiecrumbs there. Has anybody here taken the trouble to try and scroll through the list of companies with "legitimate interest" in that cookie-thingie? There are so many! And I can't even begin to guess what they want with my browsing habits. Unless, of course, they are very into plants and nurseries. If I can't opt out of cookies I usually close the tab.
On most sites these days there is the Accept None option for Cookies. I use that if I want to look at what is on the site. You often have to go into the Cookies request to find it. Usually says something like Accept none and exit.
