Unfortunately, there are some sad people who spam others for enjoyment or to make money in unscrupulous ways.

Genuine vs spam Santa letters

Who could prevent a baby or child this delight?

What’s sadder is that there are even people who would use children’s love of Santa and the magic of Christmas, and the love of adults for those children, to try getting money out of others.

We were very pleased to find that PC mag Australia wrote about this problem and gave two reputable options for Santa letters rather than the scammers – Australia Post (for a non personalised letter) and Love Santa (for personalised letters with additional touches).

Staying safe

As well as sharing our excitement at getting such an unexpected mention, this article inspired me to give some tips on avoiding spam…

• if you’re unsure, do NOT click on any links in emails. Type out the URL yourself so you go to a real site (there are emails that look right but have links that will take you somewhere unexpected)
• don’t just rely on emails – check their website or Google them for reviews and comments. Personally, I don’t trust anyone who advertises by emailing strangers!
• if in doubt, only make payments through trusted sites, such as paypal or a direct deposit from your banking facility. And NEVER give credit card details via email.
• look at the email address – does it come from a domain that seems valid (eg a relevant business name)? does the name in the email match the email address?
• read the website – does it feel genuine (this comes through even more in a blog and articles which are less sales-orientated), do the photos look like real people, are there contact details, and so forth.

Here’s to getting rid of spammers!