spam

Jimmy woke up to dozens of text messages claiming that he's been calling and texting people non-stop. Leo says that his number has been "spoofed," and the only thing he can do is wait until the spoofers move on to a new number. It's called "Neighbor Spam," and it's being used to get people to answer a local call. Eventually, enough people will block the phone number, and then they will move on to yet another number. Unfortunately, there's not much else he can do. 

Anne is having issues with people texting her for someone else. How can she stop it? Leo says it's likely that Anne got the number and people are still trying to contact the previous owner. But it could also just be SPAM, which has become an epidemic. UP to 80% of texts are spam. She can block the number, but that's like playing a game of wack-a-mole. But check with the carrier. Anne's is Comcast Xfinity, they have a robocall blocker called HiYa.

Steve Martin also uses a Windows computer and an iPad, and often they don't talk well together. He's also been getting a lot of his emails being routed into SPAM. He's had to physically move them back to the Inbox, and he's worried that he'll miss an important email from business or friends. Leo says that the SPAM filters have gotten so good, that they're now starting to get false positives as ISPs get really aggressive with the spam filters.

Linda is frustrated that some of her contacts always end up in the spam filter. Leo says that somewhere the email program learned that those contacts were sending spam, and it may be due to the content of the email. Leo recommends setting up a separate filter that will keep those contacts in the inbox. They may also be called "rules."

Valerie is having issues with her email, she can receive but she can't send. Leo says that's due to a validation issue since her email provider doesn't support standard protocols. Google will block email IP addresses due to spam. Leo recommends using Gmail or other well-known email providers. So get a new email provider! 

Christina keeps getting text messages from a number she doesn't recognize. And it's creepy. Leo says sometimes those messages are spoofed with a number id that doesn't exist and it's largely SPAM. Not much you can do but have your cellphone company block them. If it's the same number. If the number changes, it's a real problem to stop it. And if it's harassment, it may be a crime.

Suzanne uses Hotmail and all of a sudden, she's getting hundreds of spam from subscribed newsletters. She also got an email about an order for a GoPro camera bought at Walmart. Leo suspects that someone doesn't like Suzanne or has stolen her identity. It's a new scam where hackers overwhelm your email address with bulk emails to distract you from the actual identity theft going on. It's called "Chaff." The idea is to be so overwhelmed with spam and bulk emails, you miss the stolen credit card activity. Shame on companies that allow signups without a double opt-in via email.

Gary has Google Fi and would like to block calls by area code. Leo says that robocalls are the bane of smartphones and studies show that by next year, up to 80% of all calls will be robocalls to cell phones. Blocking an area code is extreme, but Leo says that Google is working on a technology that will route robo calls, or require them to identify themselves. Google Voice already does that. There's also an app called PreFixer which will block a number by prefix.

Richard has been having problems emailing a friend because his emails go into her spam folder. Rich says that she may have accidentally marked one of his emails as spam by mistake and Yahoo is now looking at all of his emaiil as spam. He should go into her spam folder and click on the message to report as "not spam". She can also mark his email as a safe sender, and create a filter that will reroute the email back into her inbox.