Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
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It's a scenario we're all familiar with. As you expand your online presence — whether on professional networking sites, in chat rooms or through online commerce — your personal email becomes increasingly exposed. Trolls and search bots find email addresses on websites and boom! You might receive a few suspicious emails or get hit with several spam messages. Spam filters send some of the unwanted emails to your junk folder rather than your inbox, but unsolicited marketing emails and sophisticated phishing attempts often make it through the filters.
Marketing emails are generally harmless. Annoying, but harmless. When your inbox is inundated with emails, you might even find them more annoying than the unnaturally high-pitched voices used in the 1969 Monty Python skit that email spam derived its name from in 1993. But still, harmless.
Scam and phishing attempts, however, pose security threats that could cost you money, leave you with malware on your device or steal your identity. Though only about 2.5% of all spam emails are scams and fraud, it's still a good idea to keep your contact information as private as possible to prevent potential problems. This extends beyond email addresses to phone numbers as well. Similar to phishing, smishing refers to attacks via texting.
Messages, a new KSL Marketplace feature that will be fully functional later this month, was designed with your privacy in mind. It gives you more control over who you choose to share your contact information with, preventing spam and potential fraud before it occurs. Say (or sing!) goodbye to scammers. (Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na , hey hey hey, goodbye!)
Communicate quickly and confidently using Messages
When adding listings on KSL Marketplace, you'll have the option to use Messages to communicate with others rather than making your phone number and/or email visible on the listing. Communications are limited to KSL Marketplace members with verified email addresses and sent through our secure platform.
Messages is accessible anywhere you see the paper airplane icon on KSL.com or within the KSL Classifieds app. You can use the feature to inquire about listings on any section of KSL Marketplace: Classifieds, Cars, Homes and Jobs. Conversations can be grouped by item and organized according to who listed the item or which section of KSL Marketplace an item is in.
Buyers and sellers can also choose from prewritten messages such as "Is this item still available?" making it possible to send a question with a single tap or click. Or, craft your own body content with more specific questions. We recommend using the KSL Classifieds app and allowing Messages to send push notifications whenever correspondence hits your inbox. This expedites the purchase process for both parties.
Stay in the loop and win some loot
Feeling lucky? To celebrate the official launch of Messages, we're giving away cash and prizes during a monthlong contest dubbed Lucky Listings. Sellers receive one entry for each listing they add (up to four per account) on KSL Classifieds or KSL Cars and enable Messages. You could win thousands of dollars in prizes during September. Complete details will soon be available on KSL.com. Keep your eyes peeled!
More reasons to use Messages
Using Messages as your primary source of communication within KSL Marketplace is the best way to prevent fraud attempts. But if something slips through our security that appears more sus than a Sharpie-wielding toddler, you can flag the correspondence and report it directly to our CommuniTeam — which supports our customers and keeps our online commerce community safe. You also have the ability to block certain users if they are overly persistent or problematic.
If we determine an individual using Messages on KSL Marketplace is likely fraudulent, we will alert others who have been corresponding with this person so they can discontinue conversations or transactions. Using Messages prevents inappropriate communications that violate our Terms of Use from hitting your inbox, too.
The launch of this private communication platform also allows us to develop more security tools in the future. We are keeping a close eye on the fraud detection and prevention market, which is predicted to exceed $63 billion in 2023, and continually looking for ways to improve KSL Marketplace.
Connecting communities
Protecting your privacy and keeping KSL Marketplace a safe, respectable environment for everyone are always our top priorities. From cool jobs to hot rods, home construction to music instruction, KSL Marketplace is the region's go-to commerce community. We're glad you're a part of it!
