[MartinSE]

The following is circulating. If you have an iCloud account, DO NOT CLICK ON THE EMAIL. (You can click on this picture of it, I have neutered this so it can't harm you).

Report this to Apple by forwarding the email to: reportphishing@apple.com

[Stu from NYC]

Thankfully most of the people who do this do not use an email that even looks like it comes from the company they say they are from.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Thankfully most of the people who do this do not use an email that even looks like it comes from the company they say they are from.

Yup, so true.

We need to keep reminding people, NEVER EVER click on links in emails from anyone - even if it looks like it is coming from a friend or relative. If you get a link from a friend or relative, ask them if it is real, and/or type it into your web browser, don't click it.

I know if sounds like over kill, but you will regret having your bank account emptied...

[davem4616]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Thankfully most of the people who do this do not use an email that even looks like it comes from the company they say they are from.

exactly

[Calisport]

I always then look at the fishy email it comes from like: pinklady$$$@∂EÒDy.cn

[fdpaq0580]

Hate thieves and scammers. Wish computers were able to 100% identify and locate scammer computer, send a tracer "pulse" back to it and blow it up. Not nuclear, just big enough to takeout the scammer/thief.
😈

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

Hate thieves and scammers. Wish computers were able to 100% identify and locate scammer computer, send a tracer "pulse" back to it and blow it up. Not nuclear, just big enough to takeout the scammer/thief.
😈

When you invent it will be first on line to buy it.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

Hate thieves and scammers. Wish computers were able to 100% identify and locate scammer computer, send a tracer "pulse" back to it and blow it up. Not nuclear, just big enough to takeout the scammer/thief.
😈

You are not alone. It is being worked on, but as you can imagine the entire world is using the internet now, and changing it will be hard and expensive. It was originally just a way for professors to share documents and chat. So, there was little to no security designed it.

There are several groups trying to figure out a way to solve the problem. We will probably have three internets soon, this one for "playing around", a "secure" internet for anything financial, and the dark web for people who feel the need to be secretive.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Thankfully most of the people who do this do not use an email that even looks like it comes from the company they say they are from.

...and yet there are still millions of people who fall for it, because millions of people don't pay attention to what they're clicking. That's why these scammers are so successful.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Yup, so true.

We need to keep reminding people, NEVER EVER click on links in emails from anyone - even if it looks like it is coming from a friend or relative. If you get a link from a friend or relative, ask them if it is real, and/or type it into your web browser, don't click it.

I know if sounds like over kill, but you will regret having your bank account emptied...

A cousin keeps sending "forwards" of e-mails with linked videos and websites and animated memes. I keep telling her I don't read them, I don't even open them, I just delete them because they're a security risk. She says a friend sent them to her so she knows they're safe. I gave up trying to explain that her friend didn't send them "to her." She sent it to everyone on her address list, as she was instructed to do at the bottom of that forwarded "message."

It's like some folks have totally forgotten how intrusive and annoying and potentially dangerous "chain letters" used to be, back in the days of actual chain letters.

They always ended up scamming people out of money (remember you'd get a dollar back from 10,000 people if everyone followed the chain by forwarding a copy of the letter on, and sending $1 back to the person named on the top of the list?)

It was a scam then, it's a scam now. Don't even OPEN forwarded mail from ANYONE, not even your mom, unless you personally requested it.

[MartinSE]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

A cousin keeps sending "forwards" of e-mails with linked videos and websites and animated memes. I keep telling her I don't read them, I don't even open them, I just delete them because they're a security risk. She says a friend sent them to her so she knows they're safe. I gave up trying to explain that her friend didn't send them "to her." She sent it to everyone on her address list, as she was instructed to do at the bottom of that forwarded "message."

It's like some folks have totally forgotten how intrusive and annoying and potentially dangerous "chain letters" used to be, back in the days of actual chain letters.

They always ended up scamming people out of money (remember you'd get a dollar back from 10,000 people if everyone followed the chain by forwarding a copy of the letter on, and sending $1 back to the person named on the top of the list?)

It was a scam then, it's a scam now. Don't even OPEN forwarded mail from ANYONE, not even your mom, unless you personally requested it.

Sadly, I agree. And there is a simple solution that would solve the problem and protect everyone. And it is incredibly easy to implement. DON'T CLICK LINKS IN EMAILS.

That's it. It is that simple. If NO ONE did it, the scammers would not make any money doing it, and would stop. The only reason they do it is people fall for it and they make money. The same is true of the spam phone calls, if no one fell for them, they would stop.

[Kevin2]

Originally Posted by MartinSE

Sadly, I agree. And there is a simple solution that would solve the problem and protect everyone. And it is incredibly easy to implement. DON'T CLICK LINKS IN EMAILS.

That's it. It is that simple. If NO ONE did it, the scammers would not make any money doing it, and would stop. The only reason they do it is people fall for it and they make money. The same is true of the spam phone calls, if no one fell for them, they would stop.

Wish it was easy. Most of us enjoy the convenience of the Talk of the Villages email and safely CLICKED the email link to get here. Unfortunately, scammers are slowly getting better and better at looking like our trusted emails. We are flooded daily with emails that MOST should NOT be trusted. Hopefully they will get better and better at taking these scamming creeps down.

[noslices1]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

Hate thieves and scammers. Wish computers were able to 100% identify and locate scammer computer, send a tracer "pulse" back to it and blow it up. Not nuclear, just big enough to takeout the scammer/thief.
😈

If that happened, your “Ex” would blow up your computer if you sent her/him a message they didn’t like.