Seriously.

I got this phishing scam in my email box today, and, I must admit, if I was some poor idiot and didn’t notice the numerous grammatical errors, I’ probably would’ve clicked on it:

From: Internal Revenue Service
to: Cameron Newland
date: Jul 29, 2008, 12:34 AM
subject: Tax refund (28371231) $620.50
You have get a Tax Refund on your Visa or MasterCard.
Complete the formular, and get your Tax Refund.
(Your Refund Amount Is $620.50)
http://REDACTED-IP-ADDRESS/www.irs.gov/portal/
Copyright © 2008 - Internal Revenue Service. All rights reserved.

You’d have to be completely retarded to even think about clicking through on this.

A few evenings ago, I was dining at Nordstrom Grill with my girlfriend and there was a table full of young Russian wives, mostly in their early thirties. They were AMAZED, just AMAZED at one woman’s suggestion, that you should never click on links in your email that appear to come from banks because it was obviously a phishing scam targeting your personal information. (Banks often note that they will never ask for your personal information in an email.) This realization was some sort of surprise to some of these women.

Never underestimate society’s insatiable need for mindlessly communicating information that we already know. Just look at Oprah and Dr. Phil. They make their living doing exactly that.

THIS JUST IN! Don’t let your kids meet strange adults on the internet. Exercise and eating well may improve your health. Don’t give out all your personal info if an email requests it. You don’t say!

Bashing Dr. Phil and Oprah for raising awareness among the braindead masses is a little misguided. After all, if it wasn’t these two clowns telling us how to live our lives, we’d probably be taking advice from prescription-drug-swilling talkshow host Rush Limbaugh, the adulterer Jessie Jackson, or, GASP, Bill O’Reilly.

The service that Dr. Phil and Oprah provides is unquestionably positive, I just wish people would be intelligent enough to reason on their own so that they wouldn’t need to rely on television personalities for their conversation material.

Seriously.

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