Dodgy Emails

Most of us are doing emails these days and who doesn’t get Dodgy Emails which they call phishing.

What is Phishing?

“Phishing” is an illegal attempt to “fish” for your private, sensitive data. (1)

It is usually done through email, ads or by sites that look similar to sites you already use. For example, someone who is phishing might send you an email that looks like it is from your bank so that you will give them information about your bank account.

This is also known as a phishing attack. (2)

Scammers use any means they can to trick people into sharing personal information, such as – 
Fake emails
Pop-up adverts
Text messages
Phone calls (3)

Phishing emails or sites might ask for the following:

Usernames and passwords, including password changes

Social security numbers
Bank account numbers
PINs (Personal Identification Numbers)
Credit card numbers
Mother’s maiden name
Birth date (2)

Some may ask you to pay for services that you could get cheaper or even free if you used the official government service. (4)

So what do we do with our Dodgy Emails?

Are we bothered who is sending them?
Are we scared when we get them?
Are we dismissive when they land in our inbox?
Are we discerning to know if it is dodgy or not?

Are we too busy to even notice they are there?
Are we laughing out loud as they are so absurd?
Are we consciously present to notice they are dodgy?

WHY do we all seem to receive dodgy emails in our inbox?
WHY do they seem to be on the increase?
WHY do we have people in our world making a living from doing Dodgy Emails?

Do we ignore them?
Do we hope they will disappear and stop bugging us?
Do we worry “what on earth is going on” with this dodgy stuff?
Do we actually think there are humans doing this?
Do we think this is all computer-generated nonsense?
Do we pretend they will just go away one day?
Do we think someone else can take action?
Do we feel trying to stop them is a waste of time?
Do we care enough to want change once and for All?

PayPal Security states –

Approximately 90% of all emails sent worldwide falls into the spoof, phishing, spam and general junk category.

By submitting reports of suspicious email to us, you are helping to address this problem. Email: spoof@paypal.com.

Dear World

Let’s get real and let’s get honest here…

How many of us take the time to report this stuff?

Have we bothered to stop and question why on earth is it so bad – 90%?
Hello!

Action Fraud

If you have been a victim of fraud, report it to Action Fraud.
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

What we should do if we receive a scam email

Do not click on any links in the scam email.
Do not reply to the email or contact the senders in any way.
Do not open any attachments that arrive with the email.

If you have clicked on a link in the email, do not supply any information on the website that may open.

If you think you may have compromised the safety of your bank details and/or have lost money due to fraudulent misuse of your cards, you should immediately contact your bank. (5)

2011

Police believe that many people are too embarrassed to admit that they have fallen for scams. (6)

Mass marketing scams make up 25% of all reported fraud but accounts for 90% of losses, with the average victim who reports a fraud losing £27,000.

Roll on 6 years later, what are the real figures today?

One victim said she lost thousands of pounds after responding to requests for small amounts of money. (6)

Action Fraud also warn against opening links and attachments in scam emails as they may contain computer viruses. This could lead to a malware or Ransomware attack.

Ransomware is a computer virus that threatens to take action on computers like deleting files, unless a ransom is paid. (7)

June 2017 – University College London, a world leading university and a “centre of excellence in cyber-security research” was hit by a Ransomware attack.

Universities, which often carry out commercially sensitive research, have become frequent targets for cyber-attacks. (8)

Ransomware can also lock out important files that we have on our computer. (9)

Which Consumer Rights – 10 Tips for Spotting Scam Emails

Check the ‘from’ address

Is the greeting impersonal?

Check contact information and dates

Check branding

Check if the linked website is legitimate

Is it asking for personal or bank details?

Is there poor spelling, grammar or presentation?

Are they trying hard to be official?

Is the email trying to rush you?

Check with the real company, brand or department (7)

If we think about it – we have modern software designed for this ugly fake stuff and the box is called Junk.

What is junk?
Who invented junk?
Where does this word come from?
What purpose does it have for us?
WHY do we need junk in the first place?
What happens to our junk?

Do we all have junk in our life?
Do we all keep going with the junk that keeps coming at us?

Do we have a Solution for our junk like –

Ignore it?
Pretend it isn’t there?
Blame others?

Override it in our mind like it’s someone else’s problem?

Pile it up high and hope for the Happy day that we will deal with it?

Plan it in our diary to deal with knowing that day will never come?

Try and attempt to action but not really, as our words are just Hot Talk and no True Action?

Stay in the comfort of the uncomfortableness that this junk produces, day in and day out?

Feel overwhelmed at the thought of getting on with this junk stuff?

Junk has a few meanings but the main one Google tells us is –
old and discarded articles that are considered useless or of little value.

Oxford English Dictionary tells us – useless or worthless articles. Nonsense. (10)

So, our computer is programmed with a box just for this nonsense and what do we do about it?

Is that enough to chuck it in there and forget about it?
Is that a bit like the junk room at home?
Is it like the junk drawer and cupboard we have?

What do we think about our worthless articles?

WHY on earth do we want anything that is useless?

WHY are we not on the bandwagon of quality, value, true action and purpose?

WHY do we like a moan and a groan but not take any true action?

WHY are we not consistent in taking action in our daily life?

WHY are we allowing this to simply continue, as we just accept it as part of email life?

Some of us have experienced or know of someone who has had a financial loss because of dodgy email scams.

So, is this ever going to stop and is it possible to nail it and make real change in the dodgy email department?

Are we ready to do our bit?

Do we feel we can make a difference?

Do we want to be on the front foot when it comes to taking Responsibility?

Have we heard what Einstein once said? –

The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

Is there something here for us all to at least consider?

Could this be a prompt to take True Action?

Would our Do Nothing, Do Something blog be of use here?

What would happen if we started taking Individual Responsibility?

What if True Actions speak louder than words and always have?

What would happen to Dodgy Emails if we done our bit?

Dear World

Have we ever stopped long enough to think what is possible if we Unite and come together to say NO TO ABUSE?

The Truth is, all dodgy fake emails are Abuse and we can call it whatever we want but to keep it plain and Simple – it is Abuse and we are allowing it to continue as we do nothing about it.

Any dodgy email is abuse and if we start to look at where else in our life we allow and accept abuse and we got Honest about this, things will Change.

Our part is to remain consistent in calling out and taking action to stop ANYTHING that we know and can feel is abuse.

Step by step taking Responsibility will guarantee real Change.

Call it a co-incidence, pot luck or whatever – as the author of this blog, I have reported consistently those dodgy emails where they want you to click on some link so they get access to your stuff.

Yes, it takes a few minutes and they do add up daily, so we might just want to Give Up.

As I am deeply committed to ALL areas of life, I see this ugly stuff popping up daily and by remaining steady and just staying on top of it with the reporting, bingo it has literally stopped.

Yes, there are spams but very few compared to the days when there was loads coming through.

A sure sign that there have been real changes by simply getting on with it.

That means taking action and doing something.

Doing nothing guarantees no Change.

Doing something that is true, guarantees real Change. 

Could it be that Simple?

 

References

(1) (2017). Report a Suspicious Email or Website. Paypal. Retrieved September, 1 2017 from
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/security/report-problem

(2) (2017). Avoid and Report Phishing Emails. Gmail Help. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8253?hl=en

(3) (2017, June 27). Avoid Phishing Emails, Fake ‘Virus’ Alerts, Phony Support Calls and Other Scams. Apple. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204759

(4) (n.d). Avoid and Report Internet Scams and Phishing. www.gov.uk Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing

(5) (n.d). Scam Emails. Action Fraud. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails

(6) (2011, February 26). Report E-mail Scams, National Fraud Authority Urges. BBC News. September 1, 2017 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12586742

(7) (n.d). How to Spot an Email Scam. Which? Consumer Rights. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-spot-an-email-scam

(8) (2017, June 15). Top University Under ‘Ransomware’ Cyber-Attack. BBC News. Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-40288548

(9) (2017, July). Phishing. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Retrieved September 1, 2017 from
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing

(10) Concise Oxford English Dictionary – Twelfth Edition. Oxford University Press. 2011

 

 

 

Share

Comments 19

  1. I found this blog really educational. I had heard of phishing but not had a full understanding of it or the massive percentage that spam emails are taking place. After reading this I went straight to my junk box to see and address what was there.

    This is yet another form of Abuse and we can stop it by taking responsibility for what comes into our in box and junk mail, as the author has shown from their own commitment to this. Thank you Simple Living Global for another great blog.

  2. Great point about emails – and it being a reflection of how we are running our lives, and that attention to detail is needed. I have four email accounts – three are work related, one is ‘hotmail’ where I use for ordering goods from the internet. In the past I have had back logs of unread emails, not dealt with spam, and when I went to my email accounts it felt overwhelming. Nowadays instead of 15,000 emails that were backlogged at one stage, I have no more than around 30 at a time in my inbox and all are dealt with, read or deleted on the day they come in. When I receive emails that are ‘newsletters’ or circulation emails giving me details that I didn’t subscribe to I always unsubscribe, or write to them. I also block dodgy emails that come from overseas that are obviously phishing so I won’t respond to them. It is rare if at all nowadays that I feel overwhelmed when go to my email inbox, in fact it is a joy as not only are they dealt with – I have a brilliantly organised filing system for the ones I need to keep too.

    1. Jane your post is inspiring.

      I’m working on email overload, bit by bit, getting a system.

      It’s slow, but I can feel what you say is true: our email is “a reflection of how we are running our lives, and that attention to detail is needed”.

      Much needed attention here.

  3. ‘Are we ready to do our bit?’

    This really hits home.

    It’s so easy to ignore this sort of stuff – delete and pretend it isn’t there.

    But this blog is absolutely right: if we aren’t prepared to say no and do our bit by reporting abuse, then we shouldn’t be surprised if it keeps getting worse.

  4. If we do not take responsibility for our life, then we are allowing something else to run it.

    It may seem easier at first to not deal with stuff, but eventually it comes back around, and when it does it is more complicated.
    And it can get to the point where we feel we have no control of our life. Then blame, because we do not want to feel the fact that we are responsible for the life we have created.

    The internet is a great example of this. If we do not take responsibility for how we use it, it can become something that is harmful. I feel this is already happening, in many aspects of it.

    Unless we speak up and call out what is not working, the internet will become a huge problem that will become increasingly more difficult to control.

    But if we can use it wisely it can be a powerful tool to re-unite humanity. It is our choice.

    1. “The internet is a great example of this. If we do not take responsibility for how we use it, it can become something that is harmful. I feel this is already happening, in many aspects of it.”

      I could not agree more, Ken.

      Like cyber abuse.

      We all know it’s there. Hateful comments and conduct all over the internet. How many of us see it and do nothing? It is easy to report it, but how many people do?

      If everyone reported cyber abuse – a collective NO – what change would we see?

      Responsibility = power.

  5. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog Simple Living Global – it is so real life, informative and factual. I actually felt inspired reading it knowing that I won’t let any dodgy emails slip past me now that you have given us the tools to deal with them and not get overwhelmed.

    You letting us know that you’ve actually taken action and it works, says a lot about the power of sharing what we live with others.

    Could this be the reason why as one reader I feel so inspired?

    This blog feels alive, a very different feeling to reading something when someone shares knowledge that they don’t live themselves!

    1. Plus 1 to that, Shevon. You can feel the difference when someone is speaking from experience, versus something they thought up or read.

  6. Since reading this blog I found this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41116177
    This is a huge sum of money being fraudulently taken and I’m sure this is just one of many taking place around the world. I feel we all have a responsibility to bring an end to this and can by acting on what the author has shared in this blog, dealing with our own email inbox and junk. It’s really helpful to have the links you have provided to report this kind of fraud, thank you.

  7. Having done my Junk mail I am now addressing my emails. Thank you for the inspiration.

    If we all put a little time aside each day to address this so much change could take place.

  8. Appreciation and Thanks to Simple Living Global and all the amazing people commenting, for talking about a subject that l have felt needs to be exposed but did not know how to begin.

    This is the case for all the topics on this website.

    This website and its supporters is what is needed to get our world back on track!

  9. Do we treat our email account like we do our home and our body? I have to say no I haven’t done. I have left many emails unread, have had a huge backlog in my inbox, the larger it gets the less I wanted to look at it. This blog and it’s author has inspired me to address it in full and I don’t feel overwhelmed by it just keen to get it sorted, a few at a time.. and it will soon be done, then I can get a system going so that a build up doesn’t happen again.
    It feels great to bring order to this part of my life.

    Thank you Simple Living Global.

  10. To what levels of desperation must a person go to make a living knowingly deceiving another person?

    Everyone is born with a natural sense of respect for another person. To live intentionally hurting another person has to take a huge toll.

    Is this part of the reason for all the crazy behavior in the world. Feeling like in order to live we have hurt another person?

    Again we need to take individual responsibility for the world we have created. We can not blame someone else.

    Yes there is alot to do but if you take a step forward, l have found that there is amazing support available to us.

    Simple Living Global’s Back to Basics program has been a huge step forward for me. It has turned my life around. l am accessing the true commitment to life l have always felt. I am ready to do whatever life presents for me to support humanity to get back on track.

  11. This is a great blog Simple Living Global and one that affects every one of us that has an email account.

    With the advent of a lot of technology, like the telephone, the internet, the mobile phone, emails have become an integral part of our lives now and for many it is the main form of communication.

    With most things though, it is open to abuse from the less scrupulous of us.

    The ingenuity of scammers is such that many emails look like they come from a reputable source but there are usually signs that will alert us to their fraudulent use.

    To that end, it is our responsibility to be aware of any emails that look suspicious and that any ‘Dodgy Email’s’ are reported to the relevant body or authority.

    As this blog says, if we do nothing, nothing will change.

  12. I was just thinking how easy and convenient it is to ignore dodgy emails.

    Also how some people would see dodgy levels. In other words, some of us think the mild dodgy stuff is ok and take no action but if it really was big stuff, then we would do something about it.

    Recently, I got those dodgy emails saying they are abroad, lost their passport and need me to put money in the account – click the link.

    Another regular in the inbox is they have a huge number and say they are dying and they have no one to leave their money to and I have been chosen to receive some of this.

    The classic one is money has been paid in error from our bank and they want to return it, can we give them our bank details.

    What if we are in a certain state of mind and it catches us so we fall for this stuff?

    What if we think people are honest and these are genuine email requests?

    What if we are so dis-connected that our inner compass, which can feel right and wrong is not on the radar?

    What if we live so checked out and ignore these emails and one day it catches us and causes calamity beyond anything we could imagine?

    ALL the above is worth considering if you ask me.

    I had someone recently share with me how they got caught with a dodgy email and getting out of it meant ringing the bank, explaining and having to shut down cards as it was a messy situation. Above all it caused a lot of stress and anxiety.

    When I was shown the email, I spotted all the mistakes and it was clear as day to me. They said they had noticed a few errors, not all of them, but chose to override and fall for the fraud.

    I know that I see more than others, simply because of the way I choose to live.

    In my daily life, I ask questions and keep asking questions and leave no stone unturned so I can learn, understand more and be aware more of what is actually going on. I call it ‘reading between the lines’. It would be true to say that I am not easily fooled because I choose to keep building my awareness by this constant questioning, if things do not feel right. By way of asking, I get to the answers and this wisdom is priceless if you ask me and well worth the daily commitment.

  13. Metro News – 18 August 2020

    Phone and email scams in the UK have gone from 25,000 to 45,000 in lockdown.

    Some of the methods included threatening messages to call the police unless personal information was divulged. The most common was fake offers of tax rebates with HMRC receiving more than 203,000 reports of phone scams.

    Before lockdown, how many of us were even aware of how big this scamming stuff actually is?

    Is this simply an opportunity for scammers to really play on people’s fears and create new ways to swindle money that is not theirs in the first place?

    Where will it end and how can we stop or ensure it does not happen to us?

    Are we asking enough questions?

    Are we talking about this stuff at the dinner table and in the community in our conversations?

    Are we hoping we got lucky and wishing we don’t get caught in this type of scam nonsense?

    What is clear is that scammers are on the front foot whilst we, the general public you could say are on the back foot. We are not seeing this as a 911.

    What can we do collectively?

    How can we become more alert and aware?

    Why is this happening in the first place?

    No questions, doing nothing and simply reading news stories like this and moving on will guarantee no change, other than more scam schemes will be coming. These guys are creative and know what and how to carry out their ways to deceive others.

    What if we take a look at how we discern in life, as it may give us a small indication as to why we are so blind sighted when it comes to something suspicious like a phone or email scam?

  14. This is Money – financial website
    https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-9054805/Christmas-scams-Watch-DPD-Royal-Mail-dupes.html

    During this time of year, people in Britain are bombarded with fake emails as fraudsters pose as parcel firms or Royal Mail in order to access personal and card details.

    After shopping online, waiting for deliveries at Christmas means the public need to be discerning and aware of spam emails claiming to be from the delivery company DPD, telling them it is unable to deliver their parcel. It is at this point recipients are asked for up to date address information so that the parcel can be redelivered and shipping cost is requested and card details have to be given. Being fooled in this way is mentioned in this blog under the heading “phishing”. The aim is to steal money from bank accounts or to commit identity theft.

    In a push payment scam, they may also use obtained details to contact victims to claim their finances are at risk by posing as their bank or a police officer, in order for them to send money directly.

    £207 million in these types of scams were stolen in the first 6 months of this year.

    Apparently phishing scams like the above mentioned have been particularly rife this year amid the pandemic. Other organisations include NHS, HMRC, Amazon, Tesco and Netflix where fraudsters have spoofed the email addresses and phone numbers.

    4.2 million suspicious emails were reported to the new Suspicious Email Reporting Service, run by the National Cyber Security Centre and the City of London Police. This figure was between end of April to end of November.

    222,000 scams and 43,000 fraudulent links removed.

    531% rise in scam emails sent to motorists, DVLA reported between July and September compared to the same 3 months in 2019. The scams included asking drivers to verify their driving licence details, fake vehicle tax refunds or highlighting a failed vehicle tax payment and asking for bank details.

    Poor language and grammar are always a sign that we all need to pay more attention to the detail so that we can address this scam stuff. But how difficult would that be if in daily life we pay zero attention to the small stuff, the detail in everything? Chances are we are not going to be aware or have our antenna sensing something is not right.

    We can report suspicious emails in the UK – report@phishing.gov.uk

    We can also check on a computer the email address of the sender by hovering over the link and we can also view the real email address behind the display name.

    But how many of us can be bothered to carry out these checks or do something about making the effort to report it.

    If we are not bothering to even tidy up our backlog of emails or have some form of email housekeeping as this blog presents –
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/emails-housekeeping-guide/
    then it is a given that things will get worse and our criminals will continue to take advantage where they can of our lack of responsibility. This means we cannot blame or judge, because these fraudsters are in business as we pay little or no attention to what pops up on our screen when it comes to emails of this kind.

  15. Evening Standard – 10 May 2021

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/nhs-richard-branson-dominic-raab-priti-patel-ppe-b934132.html

    The pandemic has seen a 15-fold rise in scams being taken down by the UK’s cyber security agency – NCSC

    Cyber crime saw a number of phishing attacks using NHS branding to dupe victims, with the vaccine rollout used as a lure via email and text message to gain personal information for fraud.

    43 fake NHS Covid-19 apps hosted outside of the official app stores were stopped.

    “…fake vaccine shops, fake PPE shops” demonstrate that criminals have no bounds on what they will abuse and the fear that they engender to try and harm and defraud people, according to Dr. Ian Levy – technical director of the National Cyber Security Centre.

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) remains the most copied brand used by fraudsters, totalling over 4,000 campaigns, followed by the Government’s own UK website and TV licensing.

    700,500 campaigns were taken down, which equates to 1,448,214 URLs. This information comes from the 4th Active Cyber Defence report.

    Also highlighted were fake celebrity endorsement scams.

    Dr Levy says “they are really convincing, well created and no surprise people fall for them.

    Could it be possible that our focus has not been in the right place and so we are where we are at post pandemic?

    Can we pose a few questions to our government officials –

    Hello – where were you all that your website is being scammed by fake emails on your behalf going out to the public you vow to protect?

    Why have you been in so much re-action that the call to action stuff like this type of fraud was not on the agenda to address for the public?

    Next – to ALL of us, the rest of us general public –

    Did we take our foot off the pedal, so to speak in anyway?
    Can we get real and super honest?

    Did we get a bit too relaxed with this ‘stay at home and no need to make the effort to move much’?

    Did our awareness get dulled with all that home baking, excess eating, TV watching and un-necessary Social Media time, followed by excess alcohol and late nights?

    Did we drop the ball somewhere and that means our compass, that sense we connect to inside of us that alerts us to things we can literally smell are off or not right was just not there?

    In other words, we can no longer discern when something is not right as we simply have lost our connection, so no internal alarm can be heard from our body.

    Could we learn a thing or two from the criminals who don’t waste a moment because they are busy planning what is coming and where they need to go to next to maximise their potential? We could call it a game but regardless of what name we give, these guys are winning. That means they are on the front foot – reading what is ahead of the game and taking action.

    We all like to blame and then have our say and move on but very few stop to question and dig deeper with a line of questioning that may just expose and reveal some truth.

    This comment is for ALL of us and whilst we give our cyber security lots of work, we may want to look at our part – what is our responsibility as individuals?

    Scams will never go away as long as we are busy with our distractions and lifestyle choices that are irresponsible. Time we got real and wake up, as things are seriously getting worse.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *