Free email addresses aren’t free. You did you know that, right? Your free email service provider gives you that email address at the price of – responsibility.
It’s true – although it isn’t an upfront, out-of-pocket expense, the long-term costs can be staggering. Few commodities like millions of “free” email addresses are harvested and sold with as much frequency or success. If you’ve got a free email address though Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc., you are a target.
Surprised? Don’t be
It is on you and everyone on the planet that uses these free email providers with a healthy dose of trepidation. As much as you think you know about safe email practices, the bad guys know what you know – and they know how to defeat those practices also.
The Best Remedy to Getting Spammed Into Oblivion?
In a word – information. Know about any sender you aren’t sure about. Do a reverse email lookup. Find out more by doing a reverse cell lookup. No cell number? Do a reverse phone number lookup. Last but not least you could do a reverse address lookup. Take advantage of them. The money you save by knowing who you’re dealing with well be worth its weight in gold – and sanity.
If It Doesn’t Smell Right
The direct byproduct of spamming is basic, simple theft. Someone offers you a way to turn $10 into $143,897 by this time next week? Such a deal right?
That was a rhetorical question, but you would be surprised at the number of people that gleefully send their $10 to scam artists knowing they will achieve exactly this result. The scammers know it’s a numbers game.
They only need one out of 100 to respond. Not many takers you say?
Right! That isn’t much money or return is it? How about when you get one out of 100 and send 10 million emails to those willing to gamble with ten bucks? Lotteries exist for very good reasons – they make money.
Are those better odds? For the scammer? For the buyer?
At 1% of 10 million, that’s 100,000 orders! Multiplied by $10 a shot makes that a cool one million bucks – for the spamming scammer!
Still think there isn’t any money or return in spamming?
As for the buyer, he/she will get some circa 1999 information about how to write ebooks and build an online publishing empire.
Yeah, right!
That’s some solid get rich quick info, isn’t it? There have only been about 432 million people that have tried that one – and this scam well still flies today – perhaps even better given our current economy. These are just a handful of potential scams that are found online.
Reversing is an Accepted Practice
So, what do you do about it?
Check Everything!
Do reverse cell phone lookups, reverse email lookups and even reverse phone lookups for any kind of phone they culprits may have. Get satellite phone info if you can. Assume the role of an aggressor – and you’re protecting the things closest to your heart – your money and your state of mind.
There are no substitutes for protecting yourself in a proactive way. This is the practice of online “hygiene” and there is no substitute for questioning things that you get by email, phone or mail that are from people you don’t know or worse – have never heard of before. The small investment of time and a couple of bucks may save you thousands of times what you might lose by acting impulsively – just one time. That’s all it takes.