I received a strange email yesterday and I'm thinking it is a scam--maybe some of you can give me some insight about this. The email was from someone wanting to order 10 of my higher priced birdhouses for an orphanage camp in Ghana. (That was the first of several "red flags" I saw as I read the email) This would amount to $1500. He wants me to email a shipping company ( he provided an email address) to find out the shipping cost and then email him with the total amount so he can give me his credit card # to charge them. I'm pretty sure this has to be a scam--have any of you been approached for something like this? I'm curious what you would do if you received this. I'm thinking if I followed through with this I'd probably end up out of a lot of money. I don't plan to reply to the email, but I was curious if anyone else has been approached. Thanks, Carol

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  • That's very common and a good example of how email is not secure. Never put a credit card number in an email. The bad guys run programs that read the contents of your emails, which is why after sending an email, you might receive a message from a name very similar to the one you sent the day before. Do a Google search for sniffing email to read more about it..

    Larry Berman
    Digital Jury Services
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
  • It’s useful to know that, Larry. Sometimes I believe it’s a scam just from the subject line and trash it immediately. Sometimes, though, the sender or subject line makes me think it’s legitimate, and I open it, then realize it’s a scam. I thought it was fine as long as I discarded it then. Not sure what to do when the sender has a name similar to that of some of the listserves I subscribe to, though. Recently I’ve seen a lot of that.

    Larry Berman said:
    It's always a scam. I never open those e-mails. Sometimes the e-mail contains a tracking code so your e-mail address is validated when you open it and the amount of spam you get increases.

    Larry Berman
    Digital Jury Services
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
  • Anyone that has art work on a website will eventually get one of these emails. The message varies, but the scam is the same. Somewhere along the line they want you to give someone money!
  • It's always a scam. I never open those e-mails. Sometimes the e-mail contains a tracking code so your e-mail address is validated when you open it and the amount of spam you get increases.

    Larry Berman
    Digital Jury Services
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
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