Dear Customers,
The world wide web, or “the internet” as I often refer to it, has been around for 35 years already. It’s hard to believe it’s been available that long, but it just celebrated its birthday on March 12th. My first contact with it was on a visit to the campus of Penn State when I went to visit my oldest son in his dorm room back in the early 1990’s. He was showing me all the neat things he could do with it, and I remember being amazed and confused by all it offered – from the comfort of his desk!
Since then, it has continued to grow like a weed, increasing and improving its capabilities almost faster than can be imagined. The entire world is connected to one another, allowing us to complete tasks and interact with others in heretofore unheralded ways.
Unfortunately, whenever something useful or helpful is invented, there are those who seek to undermine, ruin and otherwise corrupt it to serve their own disreputable purposes. For instance, it’s a rare day when I don’t get several “scam” e-mails or text messages designed to get my personal information into their greedy little hands. I even recently got several e-mails informing me I’d won a prize at the local Ace Hardware store. It only took one phone call to determine that I hadn’t won anything, except gullible father of the year!
A month or so ago, my poor octagenarian mother-in-law was the victim of a company that sold her an extended warranty on her SUV! For a measly $500 per month, she could get something she had already purchased at the time she got the car. My wife spent the next two days calling all the affected “legitimate” companies she deals with and straightening out her credit card information.
Since Moneysaver quit printing our weekly ad several years ago, we have made it a regular event to publish our weekly sales flyers and any additional in-store sales on Facebook because it easily reaches so many people. For the past year, I’ve averaged about 10 fictitious Instant Messages per day from random individuals threatening to close our account for misuse! Of course, I had to suffer my son’s disdain when I asked if he thought it was legitimate! Always check the return e-mail address. It’s never something recognizable – if it looks too good to be true – it generally is!