Today I received proof that you shouldn't automatically ignore every email that looks like spam.

About five years ago, I got an email from something called [email protected] with the subject line "Blue Cross Blue Shield Settlement Notice." You know the type. It looked exactly like one of those sketchy class action or phishing emails that usually end with someone in another country trying to sell you extended car warranties or steal your identity.

My first instinct was to trash it immediately.

But then I thought, "You know what? As long as I don't give them anything too personal, what have I really got to lose?" So I clicked through, filled out the form with basic information like my name and address, specifically avoiding anything sensitive like a Social Security number, and then completely forgot about it.

A few months later, I got another email saying my claim had been received and was being processed. Again, I mostly ignored it and assumed nothing would ever come of it. I completely forgot about it.

Then today, out of nowhere, I noticed a PayPal deposit for $189.04 from that same email address.

Well alright then. Dinner's on Blue Cross, apparently. Huzzah!

For those who don't remember, this was part of a massive antitrust settlement involving Blue Cross Blue Shield plans between 2008 and 2020. Since I had Florida Blue coverage when I first moved to Florida years ago, I qualified for a payout.

The funny part is that the original email looked exactly like the kind of thing we're all trained to ignore. And honestly, that's part of the problem these days. Scammers work overtime trying to make fake emails look legitimate, which means legitimate emails sometimes end up looking fake too.

Obviously you should still be careful. Never hand out sensitive personal information unless you're absolutely certain who you're dealing with. But at the same time, don't let fear of scams make you instantly throw away something real that could actually matter. They asked for my name, address, phone number, and an email address to send the Paypal payment too. I figured that wasn't too sensitive since it's all public knowledge. I'd never give them my SSN or bank account info.

Had I ignored that email completely, I would have missed out on almost 200 bucks!

Not a bad return for five minutes filling out a form a year ago.

LLAP
RR

P.S. But be careful, folks. For every one of those, I get a thousand spam emails and phishing attempts, so do your due diligence.