Protect your privacy, your cell phone number and email address
Phone scams are never-ending because they work. Scam texts are increasing, too. Here are five sure signs a text is junk you need to delete.
While we’re talking scams, I’d be remiss not to mention your inbox. Tap or click for convincing spam that landed in my email with not-so-obvious red flags.
One way to cut down on the endless attempts to steal your money and info for sale to marketers is to limit who has your contact information. Here are some simple, free ways to do it.
Hide your email address with a burner
Consider all the reasons you give away your email without thinking about it: Signing up for a new account, emailing a company with a question, or getting a coupon code — to name a few.
Whenever you give out your email address, you open yourself to junk mail, malware, and an inbox full of spam messages. This is where a burner email comes in handy.
Burner email addresses are disposable and can be used in place of your primary. There are several ways to get one.
- Temp Mail provides a temporary, anonymous and disposable email address. You don’t need to register for the free version. Remember that the service doesn’t automatically delete your temporary email address (that’s up to you), and you can’t send emails. Emails are stored for about two hours before they’re automatically deleted.
- 10MinuteMail is another popular option you can also use to send emails. As the name suggests, the email and address are deleted in 10 minutes. If you receive an important message you don’t want to lose, you can forward it to another email address. There’s no need to provide personal information to get started, which is a nice bonus.
If you’re an Apple iCloud+ subscriber, you get access to one of my favorite Apple features: Hide My Email. It creates unique, random email addresses that forward to your inbox. You can create as many addresses as you want and reply to messages.
- To create a new email address, go to Settings and tap your Apple ID.
- Go to iCloud > Hide My Email > Create New Address.
- Follow the onscreen instructions, and you’ll get a new email address you can manage from iCloud settings.
Gmail also allows you to create free aliases tied to your primary inbox. They are handy for filtering mail or seeing how your email address ended up on a spam list.
Stop sharing your real phone number with everyone
How many people and companies have your phone number if you had to guess? Maybe a hundred? Think again.
Want to be shocked? Your cellphone and landline number (if you still have one) are probably posted online where I found mine — at a people search site that doesn’t cost a dime. Tap or click here for sites that let you search for phone numbers.
5 ways to block or hide your number when making calls
Robocalls have been an annoyance for years, and with technology constantly advancing, it’s only going to get worse. And they’re not just interruptions these days. Many are calls from scammers looking to rip you off.
That’s why it’s important to be proactive and stop these calls dead in their tracks. You have several clever ways to keep scams and robocalls at bay. Tap or click here to stop robocalls for good. How are these callers getting ahold of your number in the first place?
Clever way to stop those annoying robocalls
The current plague of annoying robocalls, telemarketing and spam calls is bigger than ever, and it seems like it’s getting worse each day. This is why it’s so important to protect your personal phone number.
Treat it like it’s as confidential as your other sensitive information — your banking credentials, address, Social Security number. And don’t give it away willy-nilly as you probably did before.
Block your number when making calls
Before the onslaught of the pandemic, you probably didn’t use your smartphone to make phone calls very much. Now, carriers are reporting surges in calls as we seek more personal connections while following social distancing guidelines.