A while back, I started getting emails saying, "I'm a professional hacker and now own your computer. Before I lock it up, send $ to *some address that's obviously a front*. I'm serious! I'll lock your computer up if I don't get the $ by *very soon*.

If you don't open any links in mail like that, no worries - no trouble at all for me after 20 or 30 such ransom attempts. I downloaded malwarebytes anyway and am glad I did.

What I'm getting now is very legit looking mail saying I'm eligible for... *mostly a big discount, but I did get a tempting offer of a nice laptop pack pack for free*. But these offers to a "loyal customer" are from businesses that don't exist here in very rural Nebr.

The consistent thing I see with them is spelling that's almost right. Like wallmart dot com or Lowwes dot com - minor glitches like that. Opening links in those would be a very bad idea beyond doubt! So I don't. But the scam page is a spot on copy of how that business's correspondence really looks.

There oughta be a law against it! SW