Recently it seems I have been spending a lot of time on the phone or computer because of scamming or phishing. Between my home and mobile phone I have been receiving at least one call a day from "Microsoft" or "Windows" trying to convince me to give them access to my computer. The two calls from the "IRS" were particularly entertaining. I have received two emails this week that appeared VERY authentic from GoDaddy.com and Ancestry.com with links they wanted me to click so they could download malware to my computer.
I am pretty good at spotting the "bad guys" but even I almost got fooled by an email I thought was from GoDaddy.com that was a phishing scam. Good thing I called them to check. Only took a minute and saved me a lot of trouble.
Kim Komando's recent column in the Post & Courier did a nice job of covering the phishing/scamming topic. Click here to read the article. Please be diligent. Don't open ANYTHING or click on anything that looks even the slightest bit suspicious. If in doubt, make a phone call.
Paying exorbitant subscription fees for Norton or some other anti-virus program won't' help. If you open a bad email or click on a bad link, the anti-virus program will not project you. In fact, most of the anti-virus programs that charge $75-$100 per year don't protect you from much. The worst things that get into your computer and reek havoc are the things you let in yourself.
Be careful who you let in the door.
Be safe out there!
-- submitted by Denise Doyon
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