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Welcome to Techsurvivors => Community => Topic started by: Xairbusdriver on April 04, 2008, 09:49:10 AM

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 04, 2008, 09:49:10 AM

I'm monitoring my wife's email while she is busy at an out-of-town conference. But I saw one come in yesterday concerning safety tips for women. I opened it and read the "tips," most of which had some element of value but some of which were simply contrary to what I'd heard elsewhere.

Sure enough, a quick search at Snopes.com revealed the origins of the message. As in most cases where a long line of people try to pass along a specific message, by the time it gets to the other end, the message is somewhat less than what was intended at the beginning. Many of you may have seen, on your local TV stations a 'filler' made by a gentleman who is preaching appropriate responses to attacks and not just on women. An attendee of one of these seminars apparently wrote what he thought the gentleman said and that got the "urban legend" started many years ago. Many thought the original message was too long and it was edited down several times resulting in what is currently making the rounds as a "Forward this to as many people as you are concerned about" email. Obviously, the current version is only a shadow of what was originally was said.

If you are really concerned for the safety of your friends, male or female, please tactfully reply with a link to the Snopes article so they can get truly useful and tested advice without the half-truths and faulty information now circulating. And then, pass that along to those you want to know how to protect themselves.

<9 crucial tips>

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Gregg on April 04, 2008, 12:20:11 PM

I always take the stairs. I get more exercise that way.

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Paddy on April 04, 2008, 09:23:37 PM

That one has been going around for years. The general rule of thumb applies; if you get a forwarded, mass-mailed email purporting to warn you about something, you can be 99.9% sure that it's a hoax. The thing with email hoaxes is they all have at least a ring of plausibility - someone in some official-sounding position is quoted (this person may or may not exist, but probably didn't say any such thing if he/she does in fact exist) or some very real-sounding situation is recounted in some detail. And people fall for it - over and over again.

Of course, when it comes to scams,  apparently men are more vulnerable than women according to this!

http://www.macworld.com/article/132836/200...cyberfraud.html

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 05, 2008, 11:34:03 AM

Uhmm, I probably a bit biased...but if the linked report in the Macworld page is really correct, I don't see any mention of "men" or "women" in the report.

And I would think there may be more specifically 'male' oriented scams than for women. There may actually still be more men surfing/emailing than women, also.

Wonder if the headline is just a 'hook' to reel in the reader?

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Gregg on April 05, 2008, 03:34:57 PM

QUOTE

China has been named as the source of many online attacks over the past year, but it didn’t make IC3’s list of top 10 countries by perpetrators.

Leading the list were the U.S., the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

Well, I'm confident that the U.S. does not lead per capita...

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Paddy on April 05, 2008, 07:52:57 PM

Think you need to download the entire report - that's just an outline, Jim.

http://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreports.aspx

And apparently, women do outnumber men online (slightly): http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1004775

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Xairbusdriver on April 05, 2008, 08:33:43 PM

Nah! I don't like to be confused with facts! But I'll agree the men around here seem to be outnumbered!

Title: "Nine Safety Tips for Women" email
Post by: Gregg on April 06, 2008, 07:22:40 PM

QUOTE(Paddy @ Apr 5 2008, 07:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And apparently, women do outnumber men online (slightly): http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1004775

Shopping trumps that other "s-word" eh?

Good for the economy, maybe on both counts.