Never in my life have I pleasured myself in front of a computer. Have you? That is rhetorical. I do not want to know.
So, today, when I received an email that appeared to come from an Intuit account, I know that it was a scam. I googled some keywords from the email, without opening the email, and the amazing people of Google showed me this:
That most excellent online store, Amazon, is proud to announce that it has taken down tens of thousands (two-tens) of scam sites that have tried to take advantage of Amazon customers. If you receive a call, text, or email from someone who may not be from Amazon, you can report it at amazon.com/reportascam
I've noticed scores of emails that display bogus "order numbers" that might be from Apple, or EBay, or Wayfair. If one has placed an order somewhere, it is best to verify with the site rather than open a random email.
Two-factor authentication is a bit of a nuisance, but far less of a nuisance than losing access to an account!! So, maybe one should go along with it... on the same principle as the sign in the dentist's office where they say, "You don't have to floss every tooth, only the ones you want to keep."
Why ever would you share with strangers your pet name, nick name, schools you attended, links to your family members, and your real birth date? For many, it is too late to delete that stuff, but if you shared it on a social networking site, the bad hats probably have that info.
Make sure your "secret" answers to security questions do not involve relatives' names, addresses, or important locations that you have shared openly. A memorable series of lies might work, as demonstrated in the Kelsey Grammar movie "Like Father" (where he cheated in a couples game).
Any scammer can type in any name on the "from" line. Why is this legal? And why can't something be done about it? So, if in doubt, hover your cursor over the FROM name, and also check the REPLY TO address. If still in doubt, check by some other contact method without replying to the sketchy email.
Finally, and nothing to do with scams, but possibly to do with devastating loss of information, if you have a You Tube or Gmail account that stores splendid stuff, but might appear to be dormant to a bot, you need to log in to that account before December to reinvigorate the account and save it from permanent oblivion.
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
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