Arrrrr! Here be 5 mighty ways to fend off those pesky spam messages after the jolly holiday season!
2023-12-28
Avast ye, me hearties! If ye be plagued by scurvy spam after the holidays, fear not! The jolly Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson be sharin' five tips to lessen the pestering missives and grant ye a merrier season o' mirth and merriment.
As the year comes to an end, you might be feeling the pressure of the holiday season. You have a lot on your plate, from spending time with your loved ones to celebrating your festive traditions. With so many things to do and so little time, you don’t need any extra hassle from annoying spam calls or emails. That's why we have prepared five tips to reduce spam and enjoy a more peaceful holiday season.To send scammers straight to voicemail on your iPhone, you need to have iOS 13 or later installed. Some phone carriers let you detect spam calls and silence them, while some carriers only show you the caller’s business ID information when calling. You can also silence unknown callers, which is a great option to send any call from someone you don’t know directly to voicemail.
Google devices like a Pixel that are updated or are from 2018 or later have a feature to filter out spam calls automatically. You can block (and sometimes report spam) calls in your phone’s settings. Robocalls are often a result of data brokers selling personal information to telemarketers and automated calling services. Data brokers can get your information in many ways, by accessing public information like government records or gathering data from loyalty card programs, surveys, and social media.
Mobile apps can also share your personal information with data brokers. Even your online browsing habits are valuable to data brokers. Your data profile can be sold to many different buyers, including targeted advertising and marketing companies, as well as government agencies. You can request that data brokers remove your information. But with hundreds of them in the U.S. alone, it can be a daunting task. That’s where removal services come in.
The National Do Not Call Registry is a free program that blocks telemarketers from calling you within 31 days of registering. You can register up to three phone numbers at a time. Be sure to provide your email to acknowledge the confirmation and begin eliminating robocalls. Remember that the Do Not Call Registry does not stop all unwanted calls, such as those from political organizations, charities, and debt collectors.
One of the best ways to avoid spam emails is to use an alias email address. With an email alias, you’ll be able to still access the email you created for a specific purpose AND keep it separate from your inbox. Not only do they help you avoid spam mail, but alias email addresses come with the added bonus of helping keep your primary email secure if your information is ever stolen. If someone hacks or steals your alias email address, they will not be able to access your main email address or the accounts linked to it.
If you feel like you're getting too many emails from lists you subscribed to, you can unsubscribe. However, be careful when unsubscribing from emails, especially if they appear to be spam emails. Some hackers are using emails that are either extremely vague or look like real emails you may receive from a company you're not interested in. The email may ask if you'd want to "unsubscribe" from future emails, or they may offer you a link to cancel a subscription.
Both Android and iPhone allow you to block any unknown or potentially dangerous numbers from texting you. The iPhone gives you the option of both filtering unknown numbers and blocking them. Android similarly offers two services to help you evade spam text messages using Spam Protection, as well as simply blocking certain numbers.
Avoiding spam goes hand in hand with protecting your privacy online. A lot of data brokers have easy access to your information. It's important that you keep your data safe and out of the hands of anyone who could harm you, your family, or your wallet.
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