Are Threatening Emails Alarming You?
If you have had an email address for any length of time, you are all too familiar with SPAM. For some reason, your email address gets on a list that uses your email and thousands of others for immoral purposes. Most likely to get you to click on a link and hold you hostage to their demands or to give them access to your computer files or worse, banking and other financial information. SPAM is a real problem and it’s not going away any time soon. You might be able to control the amount of SPAM, but you’ll always end up on a new list, so being careful is a must.
One type of SPAM (or Phishing) email you might have seen recently involves what they call an Infringement Letter. Many times they are for using images or photos on your website or blog. But you have to know the difference between a legitimate email and one that is SPAM.
Phish·ing
/ˈfiSHiNG/
noun
- the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
How To Tell If An Email Is SPAM
If you receive one of these emails, it can be intimidating at first, so you have to quickly figure out the legitimacy of the email. Doing so can prevent hours of needless aggravation and other compromised accounts.
FIRST
Look at the email and check the spelling. This is one of the first dead giveaways of a SPAM email. We haven’t found many SPAM emailers that can spell correctly. Check the spelling as well as grammar. Those that create these emails in many cases are not even in the United States so, bad grammar is another indication that this is a hoax email.
SECOND
Check the email address. In most cases, these emails come from an email address that looks strange. Many times, you might have seen an email from Microsoft asking you to log in to your account. But if you hovered over the email, you would find that it did not come from Microsoft. A word of caution. Never click on the email address, hover over to see where it came from.
THIRD
Never click on any links or attachments. Links or attachments, whether they are in PDF form or another document, are how a SPAM email turns into trouble. You might think you are opening a letter from an attorney asking you to take down that photo or image from your website, only to find out that now you have ransomware on your computer or worse, on your company server. If you suspect that an email is not legitimate, don’t click on anything and delete the email from your system. Not just your “deleted items” folder, but from your system altogether. If in doubt, throw it out! It’s not worth taking the chance and if it’s legit they’ll contact you in another manner.
What Images Can I Use On My Website?
If you are using the right images on your website, you will not have to worry about a legitimate infringement letter. Because you’ll know that you acquired photos the legal way. Use a legitimate service to acquire the legal rights for your website and blog usage. Many sources offer great images to use on your website and for not a lot of money. You can also ask your website developer and designer. As they are in the business of creating websites, they’ll offer you the best way to populate your website with legal images.
You can also, of course, take your own photos. Photos of your employees and clients are a great way to show those that come to your website or blog the real you. But of course, get their permission as well before posting their image on your website.
If you do get a legitimate communication asking you to take down images, we recommended consulting an attorney.
The Right Agency Delivers it All
Need more help or assistance in placing the proper images on your website or blog? Contact our team today. Did you get an email about copyright infringement and want some advice? Talk with our team to make sure it’s genuine.
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