As with many other organisations, email is a main tool of communication for all people. Unfortunately, a large majority of these emails are just spam. The official advice for spam emails is to avoid opening any attachments or clicking on any links that are given. However, it seems that not everyone follows this advice. Today, I saw both sides of this.
The Email
While we have a spam filter running in work, there is the occasional email that manages to get through. Here is one such email:
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From: john_smith <john_smith@example.com> Sent: 18 September 2015 03:40 To: <removed> Subject: from: john_smith Hello, http://example.com/weather.php?glad=ta0qts006e JohnSmith |
Hopefully you’ve already noticed this is a spam message and have been looking for the delete button. Don’t worry, this one isn’t going to cause any damage.
The Good Advice
One of our staff members just wanted to check that it really was a spam email. Here’s what they wrote:
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From: <removed> Sent: 18 September 2015 07:34 To: Jon Hart Subject: FW: from: john_smith Hi I haven't clicked the link... is this a virus? Thanks |
It was nice of them to check. Just to let them know, I responded with the following:
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From: Jon Hart Sent: 18 September 2015 08:06 To: <removed> Subject: RE: from: john_smith Hi, Yes, every-so-often these links come in from parents who you've contacted. If you receive any more in a similar format, then you can safely delete them. For obvious reasons I cannot block the parents email address, to prevent any spam emails coming from them. My apologies for the inconvenience. Thanks Jon |
After this, they deleted the email.
The Staff Stupidity
The same “Good Advice” following cannot be applied to all of our staff unfortunately. Here’s what another staff member wrote in response to the original email:
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From: <removed> Sent: 18 September 2015 11:25 To: Jon Hart Subject: FW: from: john_smith Hi Jon, I received this e-mail (I think it's a parent but I'm not too sure) and I have no idea what it is! I tried to click on the link but it wouldn't work - are you able to see what it is? Thanks |
Once you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, as did I, then here’s the “telling off” I gave them:
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From: <removed> Sent: 18 September 2015 08:06 To: Jon Hart Subject: RE: from: john_smith Hi, Please do not click on the link. The parents email account has been hacked, and they have been sending out spam emails. If you have any other emails that look like this, please just delete them. Thanks |
All I can say is that I hope they’ve learnt the lesson, and a thank you to the spammer for not checking that your links work correctly.