So, here I am sitting on my computer, filtering my 200 unread messages in my personal mailbox. Of these messages, I have the MLS listings, the tech newsletters and my regular dose of spam, ham and scam. Nope, I am not trying to confuse you here.
Spam you already know about, that advertisement email that you didn't subscribe to or really want. Ham is legitimate email, that simply looks like spam (like those Aloha Airlines alerts for $100 last-minute flights to Maui!!). Scam email is the most devious of the bunch. Scam email attempts to trick you into doing something that you really do want to, like buying puppies online.
I know, you wouldn't be buying puppies online. Puppies are cute, but grow into dogs which then pee on the carpet. Been there, done that. Unfortunately for you, scam email is trying to capture your personal information. For example, tonight I received an email from eBay, informing me that someone did not get their item they purchased from me. OMG! I've sold something on eBay?!? What's a Dell 2010?? I better logon to eBay and check it out! I click the link embedded in the email and wa-la, there's an eBay logon screen.
Now, why is this eBay logon screen referencing a Charter.net website?? Why isn't this eBay screen using the latest 3D Verisign image. Hmm, something phishy (pronounced fishy). So I type in my username and password, "IDontThinkSo" and "hahahahaha" respectively, and up comes the error stating that my username and password is invalid. OK, but this site has eBay.com in the URL, not charter.net.
What just happened? Well, the scammer put up a false store front. They grabbed a few logos, copied the text from an official warning message, then sent out spam messages to everyone and their mother. This false website, very likely captured my username and password (which are totally bogus mind you), recorded it in some master database, then passed it along to eBay to make it all look good. If I did use my correct username, I would have been likely redirected to the normal My eBay page.
So as a warning, if you get an email from your bank, broker, barter, don't use the links embedded in the message. Take the extra steps and logon by opening a new browser window and type in the correct address. (CTRL+T, open a new tab in your browser, type in "eBay", hit CTRL+Enter to resolve to www.eBay.com and open the page!). This will save you having to explain to eBay, why you bid $10,000, on those pure-bred puppies in Peru and then declined to pay.
:)
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