Most big companies such as Google, Amazon.com, and other sites where you
submit personal information like credit card or bank account numbers, e.g.
banking or insurance web sites, have a security page. On that page, you can
usually find an email link to forward any fraudulent emails. If you follow
the link in a phishing email, it will take you to a fraudulent web site that
looks exactly like the one the email claims to be from. Companies that need
to maintain a high level of security, suchh as shopping or banking sites,
appreciate any forwarded phishing emails. It gives them the information they
need to find the fraudulent web site and shut it down.
Unfortunately, phishing emails are very common. They will often try to
scare you into giving them your personal information by saying that someone
has tried to compormise your bank account, for example. Don't fall for
this. Never give out your personal information without checking first to
see if it is really necessary.
To identify fraudulent messages, look for poor grammar and spelling--most
have many typos and poorly worded sentences in them. Also, they will usually
address you in a generic, impersonal way, e.g. "Dear valued customer," or
sometimes even no salutation at all. Always consider these emails suspect.
And, of course, if the message came from a company with which you have never
done business, you know for sure it is a phishing email.
To protect yourself and keep your identity from being compromised, never
open an attachment on an email that is unfamiliar to you. Also, it's safer
to copy a link from an email and paste it into your web browser, or simply
go to the web site's home page, than to click on a link in an email. If you
get an email from your bank, for example, saying that your security was
compromised and you need to click on a link to verify your identity, it's
safer to open your web browser, go to your bank's web site, sign in, and see
if you have any special messages about your security there. Don't forget
that you can also call most companies to verify any account problems.
I fell for a phishing email once and had to change my credit card number.
Luckily, when it asked for my social security number, I became suspicious
and closed the web page. In the last couple of months, I have been
receiving more phishing emails than ever before--probably two or three a
week. I have read that phishing emails are on the increase, too, so be
careful.
Hope this helps,
Deanne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ishe Chinyoka" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Very Important for GMail Users!
Hi Eleni,
Thanks for this alert as I am sure a number of people benefitted here.
This certainly applies to any online service and not Gmail accounts alone.
Well, if you happen to have any problem with Gmail or any Google-related
fishing problems, Google has got a protection policy. You should certainly
report this to Google by forwarding that suspicious message to:
[email protected],
The guy may be suspended from the Google services.
Optionally, you can choose to fill in this information online here:
http://checkout.google.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=phishing
Thanks for that message once again, Hope this helps.
Ishe
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eleni Vamvakari" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2010 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Very Important for GMail Users!
True, but newbies may not know how all these scams work and it's for
them that I was worrying. Better safe than sorry.
On 7/18/10, chris hallsworth <[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks for letting us know on this one. As for me common sense prevails.
It's suspicious they are asking you for a password in an e-mail.
Signed by Chris Hallsworth
E-mail and Facebook: [email protected]
MSN: [email protected]
Skype: chrishallsworth7266
Twitter: http://twitter.com/christopherh40
On 18/07/2010 15:37, Eleni Vamvakari wrote:
Wow! I just got a very serious and fraudulent e-mail. Please pay
close attention to what it says. Even the subject is wrong! "Email
Warning - We have come to realize that your account information on our
database system are out of date"
"Reply-To: Gmail<[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
We have come to realize that your account information on our database
system are out of date, as a result of that we require you to verify
your Information. Failure to verify your information will result in
account suspension. If you are still interested in using our email
service, Please click the reply button and fill the below spaces as
requested. Learn more
Account name:
Password:
Country :
Note: This email is only for Account owner.
Thank you for using Gmail !
The Gmail Team"
No bank, credit card company, e-mail service etc. will ever ask you
for your password and account in an e-mail unless it's during a
sign-up process and you're clicking on a link to create an account or
to change the password that they've just given you. Needless to say,
I didn't follow the instructions. Is there a way that I can tell
GMail about this scam? For now, I'm marking it as spam.
Thanks and be careful!
Eleni
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