Protect yourself from 'phishing' email (1 Viewer)

[ProStockJunkie]

I recently received a suspicious email allegedly from Bank of America, my banking institution. I forwarded the email to their abuse email address and received a reply that they will look into the email I received. What is printed below was included in that email, and I thought I'd pass it along, as it applies to any 'phishing' email you may receive.

Stay safe from Phishing: Easy clues to help you keep your personal information secure.

The main goal of a phishing email is to get you to a site where you will provide your personal information. With these basic, but powerful, clues, you can easily recognize the threat and ensure the safety of your identity and finances.

1. Does the email ask you to go to a website and verify personal information? We won't ask you to verify your personal information in response to an email.

2. What is the tone of the mail? Most phish emails convey a sense of urgency by threatening discontinued service or information loss if you don't take immediate action.

3. What is the quality of the email? Many phish emails have misspellings, bad grammar, or poor punctuation.4. Are the links in the email valid? Deceptive links in phishing emails look like they are to a valid site, but deliver you to a fraudulent one. Many times you can see if the link is legitimate by just moving your mouse over the link.

5. Is the email personalized with your name and applicable account information? Many phish emails use generic salutations and generic information (e.g. "Dear Customer" or "Dear Account Holder") instead of your name.

6. What is the sender's email address? Many phish emails come from an email address not from the company represented in the email.

7. When in doubt, type it out. If you suspect an email to be phishing, don't click on any links in the email. Type the valid address directly into your web browser.

 

[Jim]

What surpises me is that if most of these people got regular postal mail asking for the same info or a phone call they would be highly suspicious. But send it in an email and it must be true.

 

[ProStockJunkie]

Yeah, go figure. I get the same stuff from PayPal and eBay.... and that is the reason I don't buy anything on ebay anymore, nor do I purchase anything if PayPal is the only form of payment accepted.

I've never sold anything on eBay. Yet, I get frequent emails with requests for further information about something or other that I'm 'selling' on eBay. I forward all of those emails to eBay, as that is the only way they can attempt to identify the sources of those emails and deal with them.

I keep the email addresses of eBay, PayPal and my bank and other accounts handy and all I do is paste them in the address line when I forward the email. They need the entire email, including header, so I just forward the entire thing to the abuse or spoof email of the particular group.