Internet-based scams are nothing new, in fact, many of them are twists on pre-internet scams made faster and more lucrative for the crooks. It wasn’t too long ago that scammers were using emails that sent computer viruses that would allow them access to the infected computers. When email was a ‘new’ thing, people still opened many of the emails they received. There was little to fear as any links to a website or photos were not seen as a threat. Scammers used this to their advantage, leading to many problems for infected computers and their users.

Then came the spam filters that screened out those emails from the Nigerian prince who needed help and would pay for it. The scammers, not to be outdone, changed their tactics creating more and more unusual ways of getting innocents to click the link and get infected. Then came legislation that put spammer-scammer types on notice. Now, in order for one person to successfully send an email to another person, that person must be in your contacts list or the email ends up getting caught in that spam filter.

Google’s Gmail accounts have one of the most advanced systems in dealing with spam. And they have improved on that system to counter the further efforts of these spammer/scammers. Since the change in security measures meant that the infected emails would never see human eyes, the spammers realized that the only way to reach people through email was if those people were on their contact list. And since the spammer/scammers don’t want to send these emails to their friends and families, their only option was to hack into other Gmail accounts and use those contacts.

But Google stopped that assault dead in its tracks. They added an extra layer of security so that even if the spammers get a password correct, they still have to verify that they are the legitimate owners of the account. Their new ‘risk assessment’ tool determines how likely it is that the person signing on to the account is actually you. This has cut the number of hacked Gmail accounts by 99.7%, another reason to use Google’s email services.

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