ChristiansUnite Forums

 Hello my friends.

 From time to time here on C.U. we get posters requesting e-mails from our members for one reason or another. One example is - for a survey. Another is - a person requesting members to mail a daily inspirational to him/her.

 It would be better if, in the case of the daily inspiration for example, you were to post the daily inspirational on the thread instead of e-mailing.

 If you want your e-mail address to remain private, then do not send anyone an e-mail. There are no doubt, good people who genuinely want nothing more than a correspondence between Christians brothers and sisters. There are unfortunately, others who want nothing more than to get a hold of our e-mail address for evil purposes. An experienced hacker can gain vital and private personal information through your e-mail address. Your computer can even be accessed using your e-mail address, by these type of people.

So please be very careful when considering sending e-mails to strangers.

Moderator

Thank you for the "heads-up" on the email addy thing.

I have a question... would this also apply to what I call "throw-away" email accounts, like one can get at yahoo, google, hotmail, etc.?

I can certainly see the risk using your ISP email addy, but it would seem that a "throw-away" email addy would be safe from such hackers.

Thanks for you feedback!

I think those type of e-mail programs should be safe.

More Information:

PMs on Christians Unite are safe and the best way to go in doing private mail with another user. The message system doesn't allow the vast majority of things that can cause big problems. So, the use of PMs on Christians Unite is really the best and safest way to go for communications between users. Clicking a link in a PM could still expose one to the type of problems that are associated with regular Email, but I would hope that most people would not click a link taking them to something unknown unless they know the person pretty well.

The other problems associated with regular Email involve being put on spam lists by the person you gave it to and all kinds of destructive problems. The spam is just irritating, but some of the other problems can put your computer out of business. For these and other reasons, it's really not a good idea to give out your email except to friends, family members, and people you do business with.

Regarding forum use, it is always smart to check the box that keeps your email hidden. It is simply smart not to broadcast your Email address to the entire world, as something bad will be done with it.

There are also some common sense things you can do with your Email program to provide you will considerable protection:   1) set your email program to plain text, 2) set your email program NOT to open pictures, 3) never open file attachments unless you know exactly what they are and they come from a friend or family member, 4) never click a link in an email unless you know exactly what it is, 5) remember there are numerous scams involving cons pretending to be a government agency, a charitable organization, and other bogus entities trying to either get your money or your personal identifiers that will help them get your money or do identity theft. Giving out your Social Security Number over the Internet is an absolute NO unless you are positive who you are dealing with!  Just these several security measures will avoid all kinds of problems.

There are also numerous completely free Spam programs that keep most of the dangerous junk and the spam out of your in box.

I honestly think that the biggest thing lacking for most folks is a basic education about how to protect your computer, how to avoid scams and con games, and how to avoid identity theft. As an example, it's amazing that the old Nigerian money scam still works, and I guess that it still works because of greed.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 115:13 NASB  He will bless those who fear the LORD, The small together with the great.