Be Careful What You Put In Out-Of-Office Emails

from the say-what? dept

Someone in the UK seems to have come up with an idea for a potential scam, and then decided it was important to warn everyone of the possibility of the scam coming true. Nevermind that there's no evidence that anyone is actually doing this. So, a warning is going out to workers not to put too much info in your "out of office" email message when you go on vacation this holiday season. They're afraid that someone will use that info to figure out when you're away from your home and then break in. Seems like a long shot to me. However, they suggest you don't say that you're away, but just direct calls to a colleague (as if the dimwitted scammers who would do this can't see through this elaborate ruse). They also suggest (here's the really helpful part) that you don't put your home address in an "out-of-office" email. Huh? Did anyone ever put their home address in such an email? If so, they probably deserve to be robbed.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    COD, 4 Dec 2002 @ 12:41pm

    No Subject Given

    I have to admit, I have thought of this. I purposely make my out of the office message vague. However, an automated "don't expect to hear from me" message pretty much says "I'm not here" no matter how vaguley you word it!

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.