The holiday season and the poor economy are bringing out all kinds of e-mail spam scams. Here are the latest you may receive or will soon receive — don’t respond to them:
Survey and Gift Scam: An e-mail comes from a financial institution stating, “You’ve been selected to take part in our quick and easy eight-question survey. In return, we will credit $80 to your account.” You’re directed to an online survey page where you’re asked innocuous questions and then asked for your bank account information. Don’t do it — these scammers will simply use that information to drain your account of cash.
Investment Proposal Scam: The e-mail writer urgently needs your help in getting a person’s money out of a country by using your bank account as a place to electronically deposit the money. They’ll need your account access information, of course, to set up the transfer. And there will, indeed, be a transfer: All your money transferred from your account to the scammer.
Get Quick Cash Scam: Money’s tight, and these scammers know it. They entice you with seemingly quick and easy loans, transferred immediately into your account. “All applications accepted. No credit check,” the e-mail promises. Click the application link or call and, once you’re approved (you always are), give them your account info. Don’t fall for this scheme.
Remember: As a rule of thumb, unsolicited e-mail schemes are never legit. Free offers that are made to look like they come from legitimate businesses and institutions you’ve never dealt with are almost always scams.
Times are tough — don’t let e-mail scammers make them harder for you.
Don’t forget the lesson of the good-natured woman who simply wanted to help someone in need and responded to an e-mail plea for help. She lost $400,000 to heartless thieves.
These scammers didn’t care that they cleaned…