I’ve been noticing a growing trend in email scams that I wanted to point out to those who may not have seen it yet, or who may not to be savvy enough to spot spoofed messages.
I’ve recently gotten “Billing/Account Problem” emails from Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and Earthlink (to name just the few I can think of at the moment). The email addresses and website links look legit, and if you click on the links, you’re taken to a site page that looks legit. They’re not. It’s a credit card/password trap.
The emails usually say things like: There’s a problem with your billing information, or You have to update your billing information, or We changed servers and we lost your account info. They say that if you don’t log on right away and fix the problem, your account will be terminated.
Don’s fall for this. Don’t even take the link. If you think a message like this even MIGHT be legit, it’s easy to find out. Just go directly to the site and check your account info. If it’s not a scam, they’ll likely be a notice about any real account problems on the site itself. And if you go to the site’s message boards, you’ll see plenty of info about the scams, along with the hard luck stories of those who’ve fallen for them.
It’s really sad to think of all of the people who must be falling for this. Email all of your non-geek relatives (those friends and family members who are still falling for those Internet chain mailings and who are still circulating the “Save NPR!” petition)