You might not think this is advice your granny would be giving you but some octogenarians are more tech savvy that you’d think… In today’s modern society it is important to be up-to-date with digital technology and the dangers of giving too much of your personal information away on online sites. Every time we subscribe to a new website, buy shoes from an online store or flight tickets we have to create an account with our email address. However how can you tell if the site will sell on your details once you have given them. Spam mail can be dangerous so here is a simple technique to spot the culprits. Read on to get one of granny’s greatest tech tips!
Steps:
1) When you subscribe to a website, take care to use the website’s name as your surname instead of your real name. See below for an example.
2) If you start to receive emails with your “name + the website’s name” then you will know straight away if the site has sold on your details without your agreement.
3) If this happens then you should report the site and the spammers who are sending you emails to Signal-Spam (This website is a public-private partnership that allows users to report spam sent to them by email in order to assign it to a public authority or professional.)
You should also remember that it is now possible to unsubscribe from mailing lists that you have subscribed to by going to the bottom of the email. Click on the link so that you no longer receive spam mail. It is normally written in very small, grey writing so that you’ll struggle to find the link… Websites don’t make it easy! You might have to get the glasses out if you don’t want to miss it!
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