During the last couple of weeks, I have received an inordinate amount of emails telling me that I've won contests; that a long-lost relative with millions of dollars (in Africa--if that isn't an oxymoron, what is?) has died and left it to me! That I have won the British Lottery! That a dear friend was held-up at knife point in London and now has no money for a ticket to get home. That I can get all the drugs I want for pennies (most especially those that grow the male member).
Hold everything!
If I didn't go into my spam folder at least five times a day, my computer would explode and there'd be emails stuck to the walls, the ceiling and the floor.
Apparently there are no end to the scammers out there. (And the pirates stealing my books. I'm sure my editor gets bombarded with emails from all his authors just about every day telling him of the newest rip offs. We learn about these illegal copies via Google alerts.)
There have always been nasty, evil people out there, but the Internet lets them steal and scam with relative anonymity. And how many people fall for this crap?
I guess I have no point other than: STOP IT, PEOPLE.
And worst of all, real emails that I WANT to read get trapped in the Spam Folder. My Williards from Susan Branch. Emails telling me I have comments from this very blog. Fan mail. Emails from my bank. And on and on and on. (Now you know why I check my Spam Folder so often.) When people sign up for my newsletter, the confirmation note to them ends up in THEIR Spam Filters and without opening it, they won't get my newsletters. (Next one slated for September.)
How tired are you of the spammers?
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