On Thursday, October 16, an email was sent to the school district to students from an assumed district staff member selling items from a deceased husband’s studio. Since it was perceived to be sent from a district staff member, some students quickly fell for it, scamming them out of at least $200.
Spam is a type of email, text, or call that tries to get peoples information in numerous ways. Spam often fishes out people and makes them think they’re getting good payments or job deals such as a job that pays $500 per hour for a week.
“I qualify [Spam as] anything that is leading you to a unknown link,” CKHS junior Nia Dilks said. “Whether that’s from a government website, someone claiming to be a part of the company, like Verizon, or UPS, or your random kid begging you for money.”
Spam can also linger on a certain service for a period of time, such as a couple of days to a few weeks.
“I used to have an old phone number for an old phone,” CKHS sophomore Hayden Vidotto said. “This lady had these subscriptions, CBD bills, and they were getting 10 messages a day.”
There are some ways to prevent getting spammed. SPAM can be detected by its grammar usage and links if they are not formatted correctly.
“[Spam] have different font sizes,” CKHS junior Chris Mader said. “Usually they’ll be too large or too small. And if it has a link, usually I’ve noticed the link size, it always says click here in very small font and just, if there’s a form, maybe just wait a few days and if it seems too good to be true, it definitely is too good [to be true].”
If spam does get through, there are some sources that you can report Spam such as private websites/apps as well as open public sources.
“Aura will collect your data that is online from 3rd party websites,” Dilks said. “It is a pay-to-use website. They’ve got a VPN and all.”
Aura blocks scam calls and creates a VPN for subscribers to use, keeping their identity hidden from leaks. They also offer educational videos teaching subscribers how to keep spam away and how to help when people get scammed. Google support is also another great resource to report spam if it goes through the emails.
“You can use services to delete your information from data brokers like ‘Delete Me’,” Vidotto said. “Data brokers legally have to provide or delete that information upon requests, and that should delete a lot of [leaked information].”
There are many more sources, tips and tricks to help prevent or report spam, but the main thing is if you see a spam, block it and report as fast as you could to prevent others from getting it.
“Just give your information to only trusted people,” Vidotto said. “Be aware of misspellings and things that look suspicious and have separate folders, if you can, for junk things that you might think are junk.”
