You know, that's not fair. It's also Bar Harbor, Hermon, Skowhegan, Millinocket.... Everywhere. But it seems my work email is on fire lately with someone trying to get me to click on some link. It's been everything from missed court dates, stolen car registered in my name in another state, etc. You all know the drill.

But I read online in the first weeks of quarantine, that email scammers/crooks had taken a bit of a downturn because of the pandemic. With everyone using their internet more, and having to often upgrade browsers and security to accommodate working from home. This put a damper on negativity for a while. And I enjoyed that.

Now, it's like my inbox is a place where trophy phishing happens. Like it's a digital bass tournament and the prize is my online identity. While in most cases I'd be flattered to have so many people clamoring for my attention, this makes me afraid to open my email half the time.

Luckily, us wicked smarty-pantses at work, have been extensively trained on how to spot these nasty, virus ridden emails. This one was pretty slick. Well, kinda. It rattles on about an unpaid fine, but it only sort of address me by name, doesn't seem quite clear on my gender, and nothing about my car such as plate or registration...

Photo J Stew
Photo J Stew
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It says nothing about what city this 'Dept. of Transportation' is in. Or county. If it was any more vague, you wouldn't even be able to tell what it was about. the sad part is, if someone didn't have enough tech savvy, or there was a language barrier of some kind, this terribly put-together email could definitely fool some folks.

The thing is, no police agency, or county courthouse, or whatever, is ever going to reach out to by email that has anything to do with money. Plus, there's almost always pretty vivid warning signs to watch out for. But if there's one singular piece of information that I can share with you that is always, always, always true....

Don't ever, under any circumstances, click on a link that takes you anywhere.

If you follow that one simple rule, you will potentially save yourself a world of trouble. Sure, the hackers are always looking for new ways to get to you. But at least, for the love of all that is holy, don't click on a link. It could save your computer at the very least. It could save your identity at the very most.

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