Why I do not click "Here" in emails and why you should to!!

 

tools4technow.com

That isn’t going to happen!!

It isn’t like I do not know what might happen, but before I even did anything I check out the link by looking up the domain which if you want to check out what I see you will see the there isn’t really a main site link at the top of the Google search.   Odd isn’t it, well I then looked at the urls that was after the domain name and I found:>

/-wqs-/generallaborer.com/Free/GetStarted.asp?aff=F7288B41-CC5D-4D08-B06C-FB03EF98DEFB

As you can see it looks to be a redirect to “generallaborer.com” with an Affiliate link that means someone gets paid for links that use that link.   You can tell that someone gets paid by the “AFF=”.   I also have my own affiliate links but you will know when I put a link on my site that pays me money when you use my link to buy stuff with.

Spam

It appears to be a scam or a way someone makes money when you sign up with a link to that site.   I do know know what actually happens because I did not click on those links.   I can only assume that it was a link spam and not a scam but I will never truly know and I am not really worried about that type of help from people who try to make money off you without telling you.   

You rarely know what the links really go to from emails.   They can be masked or hidden and you could even get a virus on your computer as easily as you can get one just surfing the net.   It could also make you think your are logging into a site you visit often but in truth you are giving your password away to someone who will use it for all sorts of purposes.   These are the main I will never click on links without some looking up of the domain in question.   You should never click links that your are not expecting or from people who you do not know!   Each one of these should be a first step to prevent something terrible from happening to you or your computer.

Ask the Readers: How do you fight text spam?

Text spam is a constant problem!

Lately I've been getting a lot of text spam for the Walmart spam in my text message box!  I've really gotten mad at AT&T because it seems that I've had nothing but spam from AT&T numbers.  I even tried to explain that to a local AT&T store but they kept trying to tell me what the customer does is their own problem.  In other words, we aren't the problem type of deal.  I even suggested that they might have a Security Issue where as people have found my Number through their database and I got shot down at that one too.  I'm sure they think they are like Apple and nothing could ever happen to their network.  I'm sure that is far from the truth in their network but I will let the engineers figure that one out!

Nothing but the Truth!

I've been getting only AT&T numbers sending spam to me and I'm quite confused, if they don't have issues then why are spammers using their network.  So far every number, that I've looked up in my little app has said that it was Cingular Network, LLC and thus I've not seen any spam from any other network since I've started using my HTC Android Phone on the AT&T network!  The local customer support said, that I wasn't on their network but Straight Talk, but yet the APN's that I used are ATT and not Straight Talk.  Boy, the people should keep up with other cellular networks.  

Don't Text Stop!

When I went into the local AT&T store, the guy suggested that I reply with the word "STOP" but I'm telling you that is the worst idea possible.  I didn't sign up to get this spam so I don't know what the spammer will do when he realizes that I've read his message and also received it.   Will he tell other spammers my number and enroll me in even more spam without my permission.  I always encourage people not let the spammer know you read and received their spam message.  Your best bet is to report it and hopefully that will slow or stop the spam all together.  I can however forward the message to SPAM (7726) since I'm on the AT&T network and report the number  that way.  I found that out talking to the guy, so at least I found an easier way to report a number on the AT&T network!

So it's your turn!

I'm wondering if there is an easier way to fight spam or is this going to be a constant problem.  I will be doing a followup blog post with people's comments or if they have more questions than answers that they would like me to discuss in detail about.  If you've got a question that you can't seem to figure out.  I encourage you to ask it here and I'll be sure to discuss it in one of my following blog posts.  This post is all about you and what you want to discuss to me or others and maybe we can come up with some unique ways to fight spam or solve a problem that you have!  If you don't ask, I can't help.  So start typing and contact me directly or indirectly by leaving a comment. 

Paul Sylvester

How Fake Antivirus writers try to fool you

Three ways on how to NOT waste your Money!

Walmart Text Spam and How to fight it!

Interesting text messages!

I've had a long weekend doing some stuff and I happen to get two different text from two different numbers, with the same text.   Now you if you've been an avid reader of this blog, you know I REALLY HATE SPAM!  I even talked about blog referrer spam and how it just looks bad on companies.  

Text Numbers So far:

310-435-9136

214-600-2674

You have been selected for a $1,000 Walmart GiftCard, Enter code "FREE" at http://www.walmart.com.xxx.biz/wm/ to claim your prize: 161 left!

Why spammers are using text messages now?

Most of the time, the reason spammers are going to text spamming now is that it is far easier to spam you on your text message then to use email.   Hey let's face it who is going to report the spam and who do you report it them too?  These are the reasons why spammers are going to go this route, it is much harder to block or report these spam messages and they know it.  So I figured if they are going to send messages my way, I'd send messages to the right provider and thus I went back to my old post about reporting text message spam.

I'm looking for Android Apps that do this!

I've been searching around for an app that does this, but most of them just block it and don't really report it! I'd really want to make it hard for the spammers to want to send text messages.   Right now the cost of sending text spam is low but if it starts to make it less profitable they will go somewhere else to spam.

Some of the Apps that I will try are:

• Handcent SMS -- Handcent SMS is a powerful free sms/mms tools for your android phone.  The most popular messaging app on the Android Market, Handcent SMS is a powerful, customizable, and free SMS/MMS app that fully unleashes the messaging potential of Android devices.
• Mr. Number Text, Call & Block -- Text and call the people you love. Block everyone else.  Mr. Number is a messenger, dialer, and contact manager with built-in call and text blocking (free application) and automatic reverse lookup for numbers you don’t know (Caller ID).
• Phone Spam Blocker --  NUMBERCOP blocks spam calls and text from 50.000 telemarketers & scam artists Getting SPAM CALLS or TEXT SMS SPAM ? NUMBERCOP is the easiest way to block them. NUMBERCOP knows 50.000 spamming phone numbers: Phone scams, phishing calls and annoying telemarketers.  NUMBERCOP blocks spam calls and text from 50.000 telemarketers & scam artistsGetting SPAM CALLS or TEXT SMS SPAM ? NUMBERCOP is the easiest way to block them. NUMBERCOP knows 50.000 spamming phone numbers: Phone scams, phishing calls and annoying telemarketers.

As you can tell some of these that I've found do check caller ID but I am hoping that it will be easier to find the carrier that is being used to spam but at least these do have some ways to block text spam SMS.   My only hope is that someone app developer will come up with a way to report text spam messages to the right company and thus making it extremely hard to send text messages and the cost would out way spamming people.

Paul Sylvester