I often get a kick out of
seeing what my Yahoo news feed brings me each day, and no, I am not going to go
into that today—there are no decrepit Elizabeth Hurley bikini pictures in the
feed, so why bother?—but I am going to talk about something that is almost as equally amusing.
And that is my spam folder, an area that anyone with email has.
Your spam folder is supposed to contain emails that are a bit left of center, maybe a bit dangerous, click bait for viruses and such.
Some are so obviously warped that anyone with a brain would never open the messages, but on the surface, some are just so inane that you can get a laugh without even opening them up.
Occasionally, I will get an email in my spam folder that doesn’t belong in there—such as something for work with a title that meets the parameters of a scam or of spam—but generally, the stuff I get in my spam folder really is so obviously ridiculous that it is something that I would never open.
I read somewhere that 70 percent of all email is spam, so everyone should be monitoring their spam folder.
Have you checked your own spam folder lately, just to make sure that the stuff in there actually belongs in there?
I have, so let me talk about the “highlights” of the content that is in my spam folder … or is it the lowlights?
“Affordable Heater” and “Choice Home Warranty” are probably things that might show up in my regular email folder, but for whatever reason, show up in the spam folder—probably because I have received them in my regular folder, deemed them as spam, so that is where they now go.
No harm, no foul.
“You’ve won $5000 Chevron Cash Card” is where things start to get fun. I get these “winning” emails all the time, and if I clicked on these things, all I would win would be computer viruses and perhaps much worse, attempts to get at my bank accounts “to send my winnings to,” or similar stupidity.
Nope, not going to open these things, and I do mean never.
“Note From xxxx xxxx” are also ones to stay way away from. They take one of your actual contacts—people that you know, or people you correspond with--appropriate their name, and send you an “urgent” message, with links to places you don’t want to go to. I occasionally get these as supposedly “innocent” messages in my regular email folder, but I automatically mark them as spam and do away with them. I have also often contacted the people whose name is used and let them know that their name is being used for these types of email.
No, once again, these types of emails are never going to be open by me.
And then we have the potentially most fun of the lot—
The sexually oriented ones, which promise to teach me everything I need to know about sex, help me reach my peak of manhood, or train me to get my partner into an absolute period of ecstasy that must be experienced to fully understand.
Nope, these are never, ever opened, because you just know where these are going ... sand you don't want to go there.
So no way Jose, these are never opened—and I didn’t put their email names in this story because this is a family blog, and I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about anyway.
Things have changed in the spam folder over time, and I would imagine that they will continue to change as we move on through the years.
I remember that when the Internet was new, we would all get emails from Nigeria and other places on the African continent pretty much asking us for money in a variety of ways.
People fell for these things, and they didn’t make a fortune by replying to these emails, they ended up losing money because they fell for whatever this supposed intermediary said.
But we are supposedly smarter now, and while these do come up from time to time, I know that I have seen many less of them than I once did.
I also think that people that use the Internet like I do—I am on there every day whether it be for work or pleasure—get more spam emails than others do, simply because we are out there, and thought to be ripe for the taking.
I have become very careful in what emails I open—even those in my regular email folder—and I mark certain emails as spam on a regular basis.
You can’t be too sure nowadays, and with the dark web as a presence now, you certainly don’t want any of your information to get into that abyss.
And with spam emails still out there, I have to wonder about the mental capacity of people who create them and those who send them out.
Have they nothing better to do with their lives than this?
I am sure it is very easy money to create these things, and sending them out to many users at once is a snap, but how can they get personal satisfaction out of trying to dupe others?
Everything and anything for a buck, I guess.
And that is my spam folder, an area that anyone with email has.
Your spam folder is supposed to contain emails that are a bit left of center, maybe a bit dangerous, click bait for viruses and such.
Some are so obviously warped that anyone with a brain would never open the messages, but on the surface, some are just so inane that you can get a laugh without even opening them up.
Occasionally, I will get an email in my spam folder that doesn’t belong in there—such as something for work with a title that meets the parameters of a scam or of spam—but generally, the stuff I get in my spam folder really is so obviously ridiculous that it is something that I would never open.
I read somewhere that 70 percent of all email is spam, so everyone should be monitoring their spam folder.
Have you checked your own spam folder lately, just to make sure that the stuff in there actually belongs in there?
I have, so let me talk about the “highlights” of the content that is in my spam folder … or is it the lowlights?
“Affordable Heater” and “Choice Home Warranty” are probably things that might show up in my regular email folder, but for whatever reason, show up in the spam folder—probably because I have received them in my regular folder, deemed them as spam, so that is where they now go.
No harm, no foul.
“You’ve won $5000 Chevron Cash Card” is where things start to get fun. I get these “winning” emails all the time, and if I clicked on these things, all I would win would be computer viruses and perhaps much worse, attempts to get at my bank accounts “to send my winnings to,” or similar stupidity.
Nope, not going to open these things, and I do mean never.
“Note From xxxx xxxx” are also ones to stay way away from. They take one of your actual contacts—people that you know, or people you correspond with--appropriate their name, and send you an “urgent” message, with links to places you don’t want to go to. I occasionally get these as supposedly “innocent” messages in my regular email folder, but I automatically mark them as spam and do away with them. I have also often contacted the people whose name is used and let them know that their name is being used for these types of email.
No, once again, these types of emails are never going to be open by me.
And then we have the potentially most fun of the lot—
The sexually oriented ones, which promise to teach me everything I need to know about sex, help me reach my peak of manhood, or train me to get my partner into an absolute period of ecstasy that must be experienced to fully understand.
Nope, these are never, ever opened, because you just know where these are going ... sand you don't want to go there.
So no way Jose, these are never opened—and I didn’t put their email names in this story because this is a family blog, and I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about anyway.
Things have changed in the spam folder over time, and I would imagine that they will continue to change as we move on through the years.
I remember that when the Internet was new, we would all get emails from Nigeria and other places on the African continent pretty much asking us for money in a variety of ways.
People fell for these things, and they didn’t make a fortune by replying to these emails, they ended up losing money because they fell for whatever this supposed intermediary said.
But we are supposedly smarter now, and while these do come up from time to time, I know that I have seen many less of them than I once did.
I also think that people that use the Internet like I do—I am on there every day whether it be for work or pleasure—get more spam emails than others do, simply because we are out there, and thought to be ripe for the taking.
I have become very careful in what emails I open—even those in my regular email folder—and I mark certain emails as spam on a regular basis.
You can’t be too sure nowadays, and with the dark web as a presence now, you certainly don’t want any of your information to get into that abyss.
And with spam emails still out there, I have to wonder about the mental capacity of people who create them and those who send them out.
Have they nothing better to do with their lives than this?
I am sure it is very easy money to create these things, and sending them out to many users at once is a snap, but how can they get personal satisfaction out of trying to dupe others?
Everything and anything for a buck, I guess.
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