Scams and spam

I’ve suddenly started getting spam e-mails, fake sms and dodgy telephone calls. The calls are either machines or dead lines. Ring them back, and the number is not recognised. Of course not. They can spoof something that looks like a real number so easily.

I got a spam e-mail this morning asking for a favour for a friend. Ignore it.

I guess I’m getting 20 things a day right now. It seems I am on someone’s list and it will go on for a time.

If you respond to text messages saying you can opt out of something you never opted into, be careful. It could be £5 a text.

You didn’t win lottery you didn’t enter.

One caller asked me if I was the main owner of the Internet. Sadly no…

If the bank ‘security’ rings, or Amazon Prime or whatever, don’t engage. Check your accounts, then you ring them on an official number. The bank or whoever will not mind that at all.

Don’t answer these things. If they know you are there they will never stop.

Some of them are very believable, but treat everything with suspicion. If you are getting fake calls on a mobile, block the number. It won’t help much, but it helps. Report it to your provider.

Use good spam detection for e-mails. Most e-mail systems have something. Teach it what is good and what is not. Things will still get through, but it helps.

Treat everything with caution, even if it appears to come from your best friend. If it’s genuine, they will come back.

The B**** Bus

We had an election in London recently, for Mayor. This is not the Lord Mayor who has a show, but the Mayor who is responsible for law and order, transport etc.

The winner was Sadiq Khan, who starts his third term. He first became Mayor in 2016. I am not a big fan of Mr Khan, or what he has done, but voted for him, as I’m sure many did, because the alternatives were so much worse.

In a speech, Khan said he intends to make London a great city. No-one asked him why he hadn’t done it in his first two terms, but that’s politics – you can say what you want and no-one questions it.

He did say one thing he was going to do – remove Boris buses from our streets by 2030.