Blogging About Dealing With Email Scams and Junk Mail In The Midst of Report Cards

I spent several hours this past week-end putting my report card grades into the computer at school. Imagine my shock this afternoon when I opened up the data to find that a lot of it had been lost.  I spent several more hours reloading the data but this time I printed copies of the report cards in case it happens again. So when I got home at 8 pm, I was  tired.  Two big pet peeves I have are scammers and junk mail. I hadn't planned to write a post tonight since I worked so late until I came close to getting suckered in by an email scam.

Email Scam alert

When I got home,  I had  received numerous emails from blogger acquaintances that read like this:

Your contact .................. invites you to participate in an iPad review program.
 Marketing research companies are looking for individuals who are interested in reviewing the new Apple iPad.  Sure they are, and donkeys fly too. The testing period lasts one month, after which reviewers can keep the device as a reward.
 To see more details or to register to our program, follow the link below:


.btincgroup   = scam


 Thanks,


 The Beta Testing Inc Group

At this time we are actively searching for people who will be willing to test the new Apple iPad. The testing period will take only two months, after which you may keep it as compensation.

Considering that the iPad has already been released, that put up a red flag for me. Inconsistencies on the site like 50,000 ipads to test in one spot while the FAQ's say 5,000 was red flag # 2. The biggest red flag of all was asking for my email  address and email password. No way am I giving that out! That is a sure sign to me that they are going to spam everyone in my email account. 

Junk mail

I have found a very effective way to deal with the unwanted junk mail or credit card offers that I get  in my mailbox. 

I got tired of so much junk mail being sent to my house that I didn't want. Even if you send them a nice letter asking to be removed from their mailing list, they keep sending the stuff. I started using the business reply envelope and putting all the junk back they sent in the envelope... along with something heavy like a thin piece of metal. Those companies stopped sending me stuff because I imagine that the postage they were paying was enough of a discouragement for them to remove me from their list! 


So, since I have to get up at 6, I am headed to bed. I hope all my blogging buddies forgive me for not visiting until tomorrow. I am one tired teacher even if I didn't have much of an appetite today. That fiber stuff worked its magic long into the night last night....sigh!