Are you as bombarded with bogus inquiries on line about your ‘business opportunity”?
Sometimes I think people are just board on the internet and this is the new; “ring the doorbell and run” prank that we used to play as kids to homeowners.
Sometimes you can tell when there is a fake lead from your auto responder and sometimes you can’t. (Example, Name: OJ Huxtable, Phone: 888-515-5555, Email wantoj@gmail.com). Now really is this for real? I think not. I wouldn’t even attempt to waste my time or energy to even pursue this as a credible business partner let alone a lead!
Let’s discuss what makes a credible lead? Name, Phone Number, Email all these can be fake, phony, no good, and so on. How do you tell if it is credible?
The best advice I can give:
What about the name. Does it seem somewhat normal? (Joe, Jim, Candy, Amanda) I think you get the picture.
What about the phone number?
If you have a list of area codes for the United States that’s not to hard to figure out. A great site for information is All Area Codes.com ( All Area Codes. Com ).
What about the email address?
Bogus email addresses are used more then they are less and with identity theft as big as it is; people are scared to even leave a good email address to contact them at. Are you protecting your identity? Do you use a system such as Legal Shield’s Identity Theft Program? Contact Anita Corrigan at Anita Corrigan Legal Shield. Or do you use Life Lock? Life Lock Of course there are other’s but these are the only two the are recommended by Donald Trump!! (No politics here but he is a great business man).
Well than what’s the answer?
Be wise and go with your “gut” instincts. The gut never lies! It’s pretty easy to tell a real serious interested client than someone just playing jokes on you. Is there a simple solution to the problem? YES!
Protect Yourself
- Encrypt a current email address: Another way to protect your email privacy is to use Thunderbird with Enigmail; Mac Mail with GPGTools; Outlook with GPG4Win. These tools allow you to encrypt a current email address and offer a suite of security enhancements to ensure that your data is being protected. Warning: these tools require some tech-savvy and can be tough to figure out.
- Use a secure email provider! There are a number of email providers that have a model for providing top-notch security for free or for a nominal fee. The following tools provide a secure VPN for all internet browsing, a USB-key necessary email entry, and free email protection for your smartphone (iOS or Android) respectively: Unspyable, Countermail,
and Shazzle.
- Filter your spam (and keep your favorite inbox) If you are one of the many email users who doesn’t enjoy having a full inbox, especially one chock full of spam, you can create various filters to put particular emails into different inboxes. According to The Online Privacy Blog The Online Privacy Blog (In our survey, 39% of people say they set up filters in their email to automatically delete and stop spam.This technique is not only helpful for keeping spam out, but also keeping track of important emails (like bills). Most times, the ability to create filters is located in your email client’s “settings” menu, and the filters can be created based on specific words, addresses, subject lines, groups of people, and many other criteria. This is a nice stop gap solution to stop spam from getting to your inbox. )
- Unsubscribe Even if the techniques above seem like too much effort, at the very least, unsubscribe from the emails that simply stuff your inbox. Most marketing emails that you find are just sent far too frequently will have an option at the bottom saying something like “Unsubscribe” or “Remove Me.”Clicking “Unsubscribe” usually takes you to an external website that lets you unsubscribe from receiving any further email from that particular sender. Make sure you click the option that completely removes you and doesn’t just limit emails.
Unsubscribing is one of the easiest ways to cut down the amount of spam entering your inbox on a daily basis, and over half of those we surveyed–51%–report unsubscribing to deal with spam.
Irritating as it may be solutions to the problems always exists.
As Always,
Gain The Advantage!
Alicia Osmera
footnotes: Email data is from The Online Privacy Blog The Only Privacy Blog
