Posted on Fri 09/23/05 in My So Called Blog
I’m not sure which irritates me more:
Forwarded emails warning me about scams OR Spam emails insisting that I need to enlarge my penis.
My considerations:
1. Emails that are mass forwarded can be modified to induce scams of their own. For example: If I am a scammer, I might modify the 809 Area Code scam email to claim that area code 208 is the area code scam. At the bottom of the email, I offer the “Government’s Do Not Call List” phone number… (809)555-1234, which I claim to remove you from the scammer’s list. But instead, you are actually calling one of the numbers the email is supposed to be warning you about. And after you call, you forward the email to EVERYONE in your address book to warn them.
2. My junk mail filter often picks up the penis enlargement emails and discards them automatically. No stress.
3. People don’t seem to forward the penis enlargement emails with the same urgency. Really, considering I receive at least one enlargement (or Viagra) email every day, I would think that the email is extremely urgent. Should I forward it to all my friends and warn them that their penis is too small?
4. I think about my email address being forwarded to a zillion people, only to end up in the Inbox of a Spammer… who uses the email list to send his next batch of Spam.
5. People seem to NEVER verify what they forward. With HTML prevalent in our email world, I only know one equation to be true:
More Email = More Scams
PERIOD!!!!
If I ruled the planet, this would be my encouraged equation:
More skepticism + Verify sources + Common Sense = Less Scams.
Conclusion: What irritates me more? Inaccurate, forwarded warnings about scams or penis enlargement emails in my junk mail? Figure it out.
And here’s one more warning for the road: Triple check the garbage you are forwarding to me, else be subject to my scrutiny.
Props to my Dad for sending me emails to verify their validity. My wife and sisters do the same, unless they just delete them first.
Finally, to prove I am not the only idiot who feels this way, visit: http://breakthechain.org/.
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