Phishing is a word you hear a lot in the news these days. This question brought it to mind:
I've received an email from "suspend@msn.net" asking for billing details and threatening the end of my MSN service. Contacting MSN resulted in referral to a support alias, but no answer. Is this a problem, or a forgery?
Well, you're right to be suspicious.
This definitely sounds like a phishing expedition.
Now, in the example above, it's obvious you're not at eBay if you click through ... but if the destination site looked like eBay, you could be fooled into thinking it was legitimate.
So if you're tempted at all, hover your mouse over the link, and look before you click:
The actual destination should match what you expect. Exactly. If the link claims to be eBay, http://ebay.hacker.com is not where you want to go. Nor is http://www.ebay.cc (note that it's not ".com"). In the original question, "msn.net" as a return address is not the same as "msn.com" ... that's a big red flag.
The actual destination should be a name, not a number. If the destination of the link takes you a link that has numbers, such as http://72.3.133.152, chances are it's not valid.
The actual destination should be secure. That means it should begin with https:. If the target destination begins with the regular, unsecured, http:, chances are it's not legitimate.
The single, most important rule regarding these emails is simple: if they provide a link to click on, ignore them. Never click a link in the email itself.
If you must satisfy your curiosity, then type what you know to be the correct URL into your browser by hand, and login to your account as you normally would. If there's something you need to do or verify, then you'll probably see it then.
And if you're still not sure ... give the institution a call. Trust me, they'd rather have you ask than have to deal with the possibility of identity theft.
From : Ask-leo
I've received an email from "suspend@msn.net" asking for billing details and threatening the end of my MSN service. Contacting MSN resulted in referral to a support alias, but no answer. Is this a problem, or a forgery?
Well, you're right to be suspicious.
This definitely sounds like a phishing expedition.
Phishing is very much like fishing, except that you're the fish, and that threatening email is the bait. If you bite, you run the very real risk of identity theft and all the hassle that entails.
What happens is this: phishers create email that looks VERY much like an official email from some important entity, like eBay, MSN, Paypal or perhaps a bank. The email asks you to visit some site, which again, looks very official and proper. There you're then prompted to enter all your personal information again in the guise of "verification".
The problem is that you've just handed over all your personal information to a thief.
The single biggest clue is simple: legitimate businesses simply shouldn't, and the majority don't, ask you for your private information via email. Ever.
The second clue is the link they're asking you to click on. It may look like it links to eBay, but in fact is goes somewhere else entirely. Here's an example: http://www.ebay.com/
In most browsers if you hover the mouse over that link, you'll see that it does not go to eBay, (you'll see the real destination either in popup text, or in the browser's status line near the bottom of the window). But it looks like it does. If you click on it, you'll be taken somewhere else entirely. The same tricks work in HTML formatted email, which is what most of these phishing attempts use.
Now, in the example above, it's obvious you're not at eBay if you click through ... but if the destination site looked like eBay, you could be fooled into thinking it was legitimate.
So if you're tempted at all, hover your mouse over the link, and look before you click:
The actual destination should match what you expect. Exactly. If the link claims to be eBay, http://ebay.hacker.com is not where you want to go. Nor is http://www.ebay.cc (note that it's not ".com"). In the original question, "msn.net" as a return address is not the same as "msn.com" ... that's a big red flag.
The actual destination should be a name, not a number. If the destination of the link takes you a link that has numbers, such as http://72.3.133.152, chances are it's not valid.
The actual destination should be secure. That means it should begin with https:. If the target destination begins with the regular, unsecured, http:, chances are it's not legitimate.
The single, most important rule regarding these emails is simple: if they provide a link to click on, ignore them. Never click a link in the email itself.
If you must satisfy your curiosity, then type what you know to be the correct URL into your browser by hand, and login to your account as you normally would. If there's something you need to do or verify, then you'll probably see it then.
And if you're still not sure ... give the institution a call. Trust me, they'd rather have you ask than have to deal with the possibility of identity theft.
From : Ask-leo
