- Joined
- Mar 16, 2002
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Tips that can protect people from a majority of the scams out there.
1. NO large company will ask you to change/verify your email via an email message.
If they think that there is a problem, they will direct you to log in to the site, and won't provide a link because of the suspicion of that link. Legitimate companies will also never ask you to verify your email or any other account information via an email - they'll do it when you try to log into your account.
2. If a company does include a link on their emails, they will never have the IP address (i.e. the 211.239.151.144) in either the URL or the link text.
If you ever see that, you can KNOW it's a scam. For example, the host of that IP is melbourneit.com - which I'm pretty sure is not being used by PayPal. You can do an IP look-up on any of the major WHOIS search engines.
3. If you are unsure, when you hover over the link usually the url will show in the status bar at the bottom of your browser.
That should confirm that it is going to the right site - HOWEVER, this can be spoofed. If there is anything that you think might be suspicious, go to the company's site by typing it directly into your browser and looking for a message on their site.
4. Be careful of URLs
Often scammers, hackers and other data thieves will give you a URL that looks valid, like http://citibank.user.com. Notice that the root URL is actually user.com, NOT citibank. They may also try something along the lines of http://www.citibank.usaccount.com or http://www.l1bean.com (notice the slightly incorrect character) to pull scams. Again, if you suspect anything, go to the site directly, not through a link.
5. In general, if it makes you suspicious, ignore it
If a company is sending out crucial account information, they'll try it several times or inform you on the site. By trying to make something look official and urgent, they prey on those who react immediately without thinking it through. Don't react - think about what they are asking and respond accordingly.
Hope that helps - these are fairly basic, but they affect 75% of the scams out there.
(All the above pointers are from someone in the industry and has had a lot of experience dealing with spammers)
1. NO large company will ask you to change/verify your email via an email message.
If they think that there is a problem, they will direct you to log in to the site, and won't provide a link because of the suspicion of that link. Legitimate companies will also never ask you to verify your email or any other account information via an email - they'll do it when you try to log into your account.
2. If a company does include a link on their emails, they will never have the IP address (i.e. the 211.239.151.144) in either the URL or the link text.
If you ever see that, you can KNOW it's a scam. For example, the host of that IP is melbourneit.com - which I'm pretty sure is not being used by PayPal. You can do an IP look-up on any of the major WHOIS search engines.
3. If you are unsure, when you hover over the link usually the url will show in the status bar at the bottom of your browser.
That should confirm that it is going to the right site - HOWEVER, this can be spoofed. If there is anything that you think might be suspicious, go to the company's site by typing it directly into your browser and looking for a message on their site.
4. Be careful of URLs
Often scammers, hackers and other data thieves will give you a URL that looks valid, like http://citibank.user.com. Notice that the root URL is actually user.com, NOT citibank. They may also try something along the lines of http://www.citibank.usaccount.com or http://www.l1bean.com (notice the slightly incorrect character) to pull scams. Again, if you suspect anything, go to the site directly, not through a link.
5. In general, if it makes you suspicious, ignore it
If a company is sending out crucial account information, they'll try it several times or inform you on the site. By trying to make something look official and urgent, they prey on those who react immediately without thinking it through. Don't react - think about what they are asking and respond accordingly.
Hope that helps - these are fairly basic, but they affect 75% of the scams out there.
(All the above pointers are from someone in the industry and has had a lot of experience dealing with spammers)
