Being robbed in the internet era

[north woods gal]

Sky, very sad to hear, but, yeah, it's part of the digital age. I don't think a day goes by without getting emails about how some of my online accounts have "suspicious activity" or need "updating" so please sign in and clear things up, blah, blah, blah. A lot of them, of course, are rather clumsy attempts, but some are now quite convincing, but phony, all the same. It's a constant irritant in a digital world.

As for your riding, hang in there and ride when you can, even if the motivation isn't high. Riding has always been my best therapy when life turns a bit sour. Don't need no stinking' pills. Just get me on a bike and let me ride. Hope it works for you.

[Crankin]

Ugh. Yeah, I can't believe people click on stuff. It's usually quite obvious...
I guess it's obvious to me because I mostly get emails from store's websites/online retailers many times a day. I mostly just delete those. If I want to look at something, then I read it closely. I've received a few of those "click on this, your account needs to be updated." I assume all of those are fake.
The best one came just yesterday. It was addressed to me by a woman, whose name I did not recognize, and said, something "hey, this is the bike you want to look at, click on the link." That's the kind of email that would be easy to assume it was from someone in the cycling community, but it seemed fake to me. Delete!

[ny biker]

It's usually obvious but not always, especially when you're in a hurry and just scanning through things. I try to be careful but it's not easy to always be safe online.

I'm glad you got that ride in, Sky King, and you at least were reminded that there are still some good people out there.

[shootingstar]

I'm sorry that happened SkyKing.

I'm pretty brutal on email and voicemail deletes/hang-ups. For the latter, as soon as someone talks about a commercial deal or survey that I know doesn't sound right, I hang up. For those who want to reach us and who we know personally face to face, they can. I'm actually quite abrupt. There's no point being civil and giving the other person "a chance", when the caller has only 1 financial illegal goal in mind.

Note: One of the things as professional librarian for many years before I switched career paths, is teaching people about computer information literacy and knowing how to assess information sources based on priority criteria. It's obvious now with "fake news" real or claimed.

It's even more bewildering when some people can't believe true govn't sources...that it is this organization who will mostly try to give you the latest/accurate/helpful information about a govn't program, service and govn't employee has no right/interest in "ripping" you off financially at all.