Spam - electronic junk mail.

Most of it is readily identifiable as junk.

If you don't recognise the senders name or the name is gibberish and the subject is elaborately misspelled and erratically punctuated then this is spam.
If the subject line is clearly at odds with the senders name then it is possibly junk mail. The famous I LOVE YOU virus hijacked address books to send junk mail to the names on it. The mail I received from, apparently, my bank manager with the Subject Line 'I Love You', was junk mail.
The mail advertising prescription drugs is ALWAYS junk mail.
The email offering a percentage of millions of pounds (or dollars) to launder funds from a supposedly deceased engineer / cabinet minister / oil-company executive, is a scam and a dangerous one.
No-one buys lottery tickets for strangers. If you are asked to pay fees to release the prize that someone has won for you, it is a scam.

Some spam includes web addresses where you can, supposedly, get your name removed from their mailing list. When you reply you are confirming that the address they used is an attended. Don't help them. NEVER reply to Junk mail

Chain email

Chain letters are illegal. They are illegal via the post. They are illegal in email. You will not get large sums of money sent to you. If you send money to anyone on the list you will lose. I guarantee it.

This explains why chain letters and pyramid schemes can't work and why they are illegal ...

Scams

I find it incredible that people are still falling for these scams. Ludicrous deals are not to be trusted.

No one has bought lottery tickets for you and now wants to send you the winnings.
The money-laundering scheme from the family of the recently deceased dictator is not genuine. Even if it were it would be illegal.
The man who died without next of kin but a name similar to yours did not have a lawyer who wants to share a vast sum of money with you.

Don't think that because the letter is badly written that the author of it can be fooled by you. It has been deliberately written to give you that impression.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is; leave it alone.

Useful links

IT Security Awareness at ITSafe
Consumer protection at Consumer Direct
Safe internet banking at Bank safe Online
If you are receiving spam from edietsuk then Claire at edietsuk.co.uk can solve the problem, she says.

Last updated Sunday, 23-Dec-2007 00:16:09 GMT

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