Like you, I get two or three e-mails every day from one crooked outfit or another, promising me big bucks for being a secret shopper or winning some fabulous prize. The spam filter doesn’t catch them all, so we need to fine-tune our common sense filters. If the e-mail says “you have already won,” you haven’t. If it says “your free airline tickets are reserved,” they’re not. Trust me.
Consider this from Kiplinger’s Retirement Report, April 2006:
The Social Security Administration is warning beneficiaries
to ignore e-mails purporting to be from the agency. The bogus e-mails notify readers “that someone illegally is using your Social Security number and assuming your identity.” The agency never asks for credit card information, and consumers should never provide a Social Security number unless they know the source. Report suspicious e-mails to the Social Security’s Office of Inspector General at 1-800-269-0271 or online.
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